By Joanne Kosuda Warner

A recent acquisition to the Hunting Tavern is an idealized depiction of a Mid-19th Century Parlor, perfect to display in our re-imagined parlor at the museum. Titled “Home and Friends” the recent acquisition is a gift from Don and Vera Liddle. This hand colored lithograph was printed by the Hartford, Connecticut firm of Kelloggs and Comstock around 1848 – 1850. Kelloggs and Comstock were rivals of the Currier and Ives printers of New York City.

Both firms were happy to produce prints which they thought would be of interest to the public. Political figures, temperance meetings, pretty children with pets, landscapes and scenes of happy family life were popular subjects. Kelloggs and Comstock distributed their prints to stores in the Northeast, South and Mid-West, and there is evidence that they had traveling salesmen taking their products to small towns throughout the country.

This print depicts a couple seated in their parlor entertaining friends. The parlor is furnished with a figured carpet, heavy draperies, wallpaper, an oil lamp and a gilt framed landscape on the wall. The 1840s and 1850s was the period that saw many changes for the homeowner in the availability of household furnishings as industrialization took hold. The textile, furniture and wallpaper industries all expanded their offerings as machinery replaced hand work. Prints like this one gave families, and possibly tavern owners, ideas on how to furnish their homes.~