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Historical Context: Where Was the United States By the Late 19th Century?
Historical Context: Where Was the United States By the Late 19th Century?
The United States had placed itself as an industrial and agricultural power decades following the Civil War (1861-65). The advent of American consumerism was marked by the rise of department stores and mail-order catalogues, popularized through periodicals that promoted urban culture and its promise.
It is important to highlight how Patrons (Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, and middle-class consumers) promoted an American Renaissance to create an aesthetically pleasing metropolis. This was through civic monuments, grand mansions, and public sculptures. However, there was a clear struggle to create a distinct American style far removed from European models (Jaffee).
The same year Sophia Schliemann presented the 177 Trojan Artifacts to the National Museum (now the Museum of Natural History) was also the year of Chicago's World Columbian Exposition, marking 400 years since the arrival of Christopher Columbus (as well as an olive branch to Italy in regards to anti-Italian sentiments and lynching in the US). The Columbian Exposition was a cornerstone of combining modernity with classical antiquity, and cementing the international stature of the United States as a global power, which over the decades would culminate with the Spanish-American War (The War of 1898) and the annexation of territories such as Hawaii, Guam, Panama, and Cuba.
The extreme Industrialization of America brought about a desire and nostalgia for a pre-industrial past, presented advently with the painters of the Hudson River school, such as Thomas Cole during the early 19th century, presenting paintings of an American landscape untouched by industry. Another movement that was taking place was the Arts and Crafts Movement, beginning in Britain and making its way to the United States through journals, newspapers, and societies. The movement was anti-mechanization and pro-workmanship, emphasizing handcrafrsmanship, traditional skills. Both were geared towards romanticizing the past and being hostile towards the United States' rapid industrialization, imperialism, and gearing towards global dominance on the world stage.
Heinrich Schliemann and his second wife Sophia Schliemann during a trip to Germany,1883, Public Domain.
How did they get to the US?
How did they get to the US?
Schliemann wished to use the artifacts as political leverage, seeking the position of the US Consul to Athens
He died in 1890 before this could happen, but his wife, Sophia, then donated 177 of the objects to the Smithsonian Institute in 1893
This transfer occurred during a moment when the Smithsonian was eager to raise its international prestige by acquiring Old World antiquities.
What was Expected in Return?
What was Expected in Return?
Believed that bequeathing these artifacts would cement his place in the historical record as a leading expert on Troy and and Trojan Archeology
The artifacts would serve as a “favor” or bribe to secure Schliemann a US diplomatic position in Athens
He expected increased status and legitimacy in American scholarly and political circles and formal recognition by the US government in the form of an appointment and position that might grant him privelage and immunities that would allow him to carry our further excavations
Because the gift was actually carried out by his wife, very little was expected- instead she likely sought to keep her husband’s legacy as both an American citizen and archaeologist alive in the capital city of America.
Photo of Heinrich Schliemann courtesy of The Art Newspaper
Schliemann's Place in the US:
Schliemann's Place in the US:
Heinrich Schliemann fitted well into the American and Victorian imagination. Representing the ideas emanated through the late-19th century, such as the self-made man, "individual self-realization, social movement, and historical progress (Flouda 19), as well as pulling yourself from your bootstraps. The Trojan War artifacts legitimized the United States not only as a preserver of Classical Greek but also as a symbiosis of modernity and history.
His role in exciting the world with his discovery of Troy fascinated not only the United States but the world. The anxiety of industrialism created an extreme desire to romanticize the past, selling the fantasy of Troy and its mythology.
The Objects' Role in the US Now
The 177 artifacts owned by the Smithsonian are in controlled storage for conservation reasons
They are catalogued and maintained for research rather than exhibition
They are occasionally loaned, photographed, or examined
They are seen by some scholars and used in provenance ethical research especially regarding 19th-century archaeology and imperial collecting practices
The artifacts in the possession of the Smithsonian are not available for public viewing, but other Trojan artifacts are on display in the Troy Museum in northwestern Turkey and the Pushkin State Museum for Fine Arts in Moscow, Russia
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