Description:
This pencil and watercolor schoolgirl map of the world was made by Mary Stebbins of Northampton, [Massachusetts] and is dated 1822. The map is designed as a double hemisphere map with drawn parallels and meridians and countries are outlined in blue and yellow. Inscribed vertically in black ink in the center of the map in a combination of Gothic and Roman script: "A/Map/of the/World" and "Executed/ by/ Mary Stebbins/Northampton/1822." The map is applied to heavy cardboard stock, backed with linen, and was once trimmed along the edges with a sewn light blue silk ribbon border. Fragments of the silk remain. On the reverse of map is the pencil inscription "Map of World/ by Mary S_" Historic Deerfield owns other schoolgirl maps of the world such as Achsah Hubbard's [2003.23] and Hannah Peck's [82.077]. Condition: The map is stained and toned a tan color all over. There is a layer of a varnish or glaze on the paper that is flaking off in areas. There are many possibilities as to the exact Mary Stebbins listed as the artist. A Mary Stebbins was the daughter of Daniel Stebbins; and another Mary Stebbins was the daughter of Samuel Stebbins; both men were heads of their respective households and residing in Northampton, MA at the taking of the 1820 and 1830 U.S. Federal Censuses.
Label Text:
This world map is an example of cartographic “schoolgirl art” created in the first half of the nineteenth century by young girls and women in schools or shortly after completing their education. Mary Stebbins created this manuscript map of the world in 1822, possibly after her education in a regional school. Stebbins included her name, date, and residence, Northampton, on the map to identify herself as the maker. She likely copied the drawing from a preexisting engraved map or print source. Like many young women from wealthier families, Stebbins likely attended a female academy in western Massachusetts, where she learned pictorial needlework, weaving, painting, and decorative “fancy” work.
Boys and girls learned geography in grammar school, often using globes and maps to identify historical places, trades routes, geopolitics, and western exploration. Students, often young women, copied maps from books and atlases to learn memorization, penmanship, and drawing. Stebbins selected a double hemisphere format for the map, a format often used for world geography lessons in grammar school textbooks.
Across the map, she included precise details and labels for each continent or region. She also hand-colored portions of the map, including the subtle shading and line demarcation around continents. Several labels, including “Nubia,” “New Holland,” and “Persia,” reference the nineteenth-century date of creation and Stebbins’s understanding of world geography. Moreover, Stebbins’s handling of the map showcases her attention to detail and understanding of world geography. Maps created by schoolgirls in the early nineteenth century also showcase an awareness of geo-political boundaries and their understanding of place. Geographic literacy and map skills became important to the education of young women as young American citizens during the early republic.
Tags:
maps; geography; education Subjects:
Cotton; Linen; Silk; Watercolor painting; Maps Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2024.2 |
