| Maker(s): | Hitchcock, Orra White
| | Culture: | American (1796-1863)
| | Title: | print: Confluence of the Connecticut and Deerfield Rivers
| | Date Made: | 1835
| | Type: | Print
| | Materials: | paper, ink, watercolor, glass, wood, paint
| | Place Made: | United States; Massachusetts; Boston
| | Measurements: | Sheet: 8 1/8 x 11 3/16 in; 20.6 x 28.4 cm
| | Accession Number: | HD 91.063
| | Credit Line: | Gift of Mrs. Harold G. Duckworth
| | Museum Collection: | Historic Deerfield
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Description:
Lithograph on paper titled "CONFLUENCE OF CONNECTICUT AND DEERFIELD RIVERS." by Orra White Hitchcock (1796-1863) colored in greens and browns, and in a silvered and gilt frame. The print is inscribed in the lower left, "Mrs. Hitchcock del." and in the lower right, "Pendleton's Lithography Boston." and in the upper right corner, "Plate VIII." The daughter of Jarib White and Ruth Sherman White, an affluent farmer in Amherst, Massachusetts, Orra White was educated in boarding schools in South Hadley and Roxbury, excelling in science, art, Latin and Greek. She was working as an assistant instructor at Deerfield Academy when she met her future husband Edward Hitchcock (1793-1864), who held the post of preceptor from 1816-1819, and married in 1821. Considered one of the earliest female artists and illustrators in America, Orra was an accomplished artist who prepared these prints which appeared in "Plates Illustrating the Geology and Scenery of Massachusetts" (two editions, 1833 and 1835) as a supplement for her husband's book, "Report on the Geology, Minerology, Botany and Zoology of Masachusetts" (Amhurst: J.S. and C. Adams, 1833), and in his "Final Report of the Geology of Massachusetts" (Amherst, 1841). The lithographer, William Pendleton, pubished both the 1833 and 1835 editions. Edward Hitchcock, who had been raised in Deerfield and attended Deerfield Academy, moved his family to Amherst where he was appointed Professor of Chemistry and Natural History in 1826, a position he filed until 1845 when he was appointed President and Professor of Natural Theology and Geology. He served as President from 1845 until 1854. During that time, Hitchcock was responsible for Amherst's recovery from extreme financial depression. In 1854 Hitchcock retired from the presidency and became Professor of Natural History and Geology, a position which he held until his death in 1864. The print shows the Connecticut and Deerfield Rivers flowing on each side of a hill with its tree-covered summit and fields below; a covered bridge built in 1806 crosses the Deerfield River on the left, and a more substantial bridge bult in 1825 crosses the Connecticut River on the right, linking Greenfield with Montague; and rows of trees in the foreground obscures the confluence of the two rivers.
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