Information & history on rear of plaques:
7991 Spring - During the unsophisticated days before camera and movies, Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt succedded in recording the growth of America in colored lithographs. Currier and Ives captured the sentimentality, prejudice and daily life of people, including rural America, which is preserved in their American Homestead Series. Later generations added decorative dormer windows and porches onto houses, as illustrated in "Spring," created in 1869. In restoring these homes, owners would tear off the obtrusive appendage and reveal the dignified and conservative lines of American homesteads.

7992 Summer - Nathaniel Currier began publishing lithographs in 1834, but "Currier and Ives" was not established until James Merritt became a partner in 1857. It was after this partnership that the firm gained its greatest fame. They provided newspapers with a much needed pictorial record of a wide assortment of events. Originally, they intended their work for a mass audience and didn't focus on the artistic value. It may have been easier for currier and Ives to depict a model city home or mansion, but they choose to illustrate the typical American dwelling in a rural setting. "Summer" was created in 1868. This house is squarish in design and typical of homes still in New England today.

7993 Autumn - Currier and Ives have been called "The print makers of America," and rightfully so! During the firm's near 75 years in existence, they produced more than 10 million reproductions of more than 7,000 different lithographs. There is no other pictorial history with its record of facts, places, disasters, successes, achievements, and failures. Completed in 1869, "Autumn" is one of the final selections in the American Homestead Series. This style home was neat and sturdy, while making great use of its space. Even the stairs were compressed into a steep and narrow flight.

7994 Winter - Currier and Ives were America's unsuspecting preeminent romanticists. Nearly every home had at least on eof their pictures in the mid 19th Century. While fulfilling the needs of the home decorating mania during this era, Currier and Ives lithographs cast our memories back in a portrait of a now bygone world. This portrayal of a rural winter, contrived in 1868, revealed little influence of European architecture through its construction of native materials. In fact, it was probably built without the benefit of any architect's plan.

7995 Apple Harvest - Currier and Ives prints reflect the common themes which contemporary artists and writers employed and to which the public enthusiastically responded. This scene is a detail of the "Autumn" Homestead print. Lush fields, rolling pastures and fruitful orchards, which were the owne's chief means of livelihood, encompassed the American Homestead. Harvesting was a family event for many.