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Overview: Prosperity for All?

America was founded on the principles of equality, freedom, liberty, and respect for individual rights. But these ideals have not always applied to everyone, and many Americans have fought since the founding of this country to broaden those values so that they apply to all Americans.

Painting of white woman in voluminous grey dress with white sash and large locket around her neck seated before a window holding a prayer book and looking at the viewer.

Object Story: Portrait of Elizabeth Stone Coffin

Portrait of Elizabeth Stone Coffin painted by John Brewster Jr. in 1801.

Everybody Collects

The kinds of objects, artifacts, and artworks that people collect communicate different ideas. They can be a record of events that happened in society.

Doing Detective Work

Being a historian or archaeologist is a lot like being a detective. You start out with clues, which are pieces of evidence that people leave behind.

Folk Art, Vernacular Art, or Naïve Art?

Many of the objects in the Fielding Collection such as Still Life with a Basket of Fruit, Flowers, and Cornucopia attributed to Joseph Proctor are often considered “folk art.” Some people prefer to use related terms like “naïve,” “vernacular,” or “nonacademic” instead of “folk.” All of these terms describe work by artists who may not have had extensive, formal training or decided not to follow the teachings and ideas of traditional art instruction.

Icon with a light bulb, star, and shapes above a pencil.

Activity: Think like a Collector

Examine a museum collection for themes and commonalities and consider what the collection represents about a community.

View of eight quilts displayed in a museum gallery with a spinning wheel placed in the center of the room.

Object Story: Stitching Statements and Sentiments

Explore quilt patterns that reflect women’s perspectives on the world and current events.

Print on paper showing arrangement of squares; within each square there are strips of colored rectangles that are arranged asymmetrically in shades of red, blue, white, and black.

Object Story: African American Quilting

Contemporary African American quilt traditions and their transformation into new artforms.

Front view of ovoid jar with handles near the top, decorated with blue pigment and incised decorations, with a flower in a checkered pot at the center and the initials “IS” below.

Object Story: Jar

Stoneware jar with unique decorations.

Painted tin document box mounted with original brass handle; decorated with red, white and yellow on three sides and the top; typical of the workshop of Elijah and Elisha North.

Object Story: Decorated Document Box

Decorated tin document box; decorated with red, white and yellow typical of the workshop of Elijah and Elisha North of Stevens Plains (now Westbrook), Maine 1806-1840.