Lithographs

The collection includes over 6,000 separately published lithographs fully cataloged in the General Catalog.

The lithograph collection was established as a separate entity within the department in 1928, when Charles H. Taylor, publisher of the Boston Globe and one of the Society's most generous donors, gave AAS his lithograph collection. He continued to give the Society hundreds of lithographed items each year, especially prints and illustrated books.

In recent years, the purpose of additions to the lithograph collection has been to acquire prints with significant historical content, whether political, social, or cultural. Following Taylor's own collecting interests, the Society still tries to obtain the products of the early Boston lithographic presses--those of the Pendletons, Thomas Moore, and John H. Bufford. Gifts from Jay T. Last have enriched this collection and have enabled the Society to acquire prints of American subject matter published abroad, such as views and reproductions of American paintings.

Access

The collection of separately published lithographs is fully cataloged in the General Catalog.

Important lithographic collections that should be mentioned include the Cross Family Collection, George Dubois Family Collection, the David Claypoole Johnston Family Collection, and the Louis Maurer Collection.

An online exhibition, Louis Prang and Chromolithography, features selections from the Society's Prang archive.