"Discovery of the Mississippi by De Soto, A.D. 1539", circa 1903
Singer Sewing Machine Company
USA, TX
circa 1903
paper
overall: 4-3/8 x 7-1/8 in.
Print; "Discovery of the Mississippi by De Soto, A.D. 1539", circa 1903; print from 2005.34.124 in the collection of Captain Richard C. Mears (1829-1899); print copy of an original painting of the Spanish discovery of the MIssissippi by De Soto; printed on front "DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI BY DE SOTO, A.D. 1539"; printed on back "The Singer Tapestries/ Illustrating the Exploration of the MIssissippi Valley/ THIS picture, from the original painting/ by Powell, which hangs in the Capitol/ at Washington, D.C., has been beautifully/ reproduced in silk stitching on bolting cloth,/ in size 4 1/2 feet by 3 1/2 feet, all the work/ being done on a Singer Sewing Machine,/ without special attachment of any kind./ It is a wonderful example of woman's/ work on a sewing machine and is one of/ five similar tapestries, illustrating the dis-/ coveries by the Spanish and French in the Mississippi Valley, during the 16th and 17th/ Centuries. The description of this subject/ is taken from Woodrow Wilson's History,/ as follows:/ Discovery of the MIssissippi by De Soto, A.D. 1539/ 'In 1539 Hernando de Soto brough to the Bay of/ Espiritu Santo nine vessels, with near six hundred/ men and more than two hundred horses, and set out/ with a great force for the interior of the continent./ 'With contempt of danger, meeting out bitter scorn/ and cruelty to every human foe, and facing even/ pitiless nature itself without blanching or turning/ back -- they forced their way onward to the great/ waters of the MIssissippi. From the mouth of that/ river, in boats of their own construction, some three/ hundred survivors reached Spanish posts on the/ Gulf -- but without their leader. De Soto had sick-/ ened and died as they beat up and down the wilder-/ ness which lay along the great stream of the MIssis-/ sippi -- and there they buried his body beneath its/ sluggish waters.'"
2005.34.124.7