Profiles and Family Record of Uriel Bradley (1804-1887) and Phebe G. Phelps Bradley (1799-1893)

Date1829-1833

Attributed to The Letterpress Artist (active 1828-1834)

MediumCut wove off-white paper with pencil and watercolor embellishments and black paper(?) backings, the two profiles separated by a strip of green, plain-weave, silk ribbon, all above a sheet of cream-colored wove paper with ink

DimensionsSilhouette primary support as found, i.e., not unfolded: 3 7/16 x 9in. (8.7 x 22.9cm); and Data primary support: 6 15/16 x 8 15/16in. (17.6 x 22.7cm); and Framed: 12 11/16 x 10 7/8in.

Credit LineGift of Mary B. and William Lehman Guyton

Object number1994.305.1

DescriptionA framed family record, the frame being divided to enclose, at the top, a pair of hollow-cut profiles of a man and woman cut into a single wove piece of paper and facing one another. (Currently, 4/12/2006, this piece of paper is folded under to accommodate the frame space). The lower section of the frame encloses a partly press-printed, partly hand-lettered sheet of wove paper noting various family data. The data sheet is ornamented with various press-printed ornamentation at its perimeter.
Label TextPress-printed forms increasingly replaced hand-drawn family records during the first half of the nineteenth century. Like birth and baptismal certificates, family records were available blank or partially completed.

Records by the Letterpress Artist usually combine handset letterpress type on printed forms placed below paired hollow-cut profiles in separate panels of a veneered frame. Often, as here, a strip of green ribbon separates the profiles of husband and wife.
InscribedSee "Marks," where both handwritten and press-printed wording is transcribed together.
MarkingsThe following inscriptions are press-printed (excepting the second dates, i.e., the death dates, associated with each name and excepting the latest two children's names and their relevant dates, all of which are handwritten in ink in script). In columnar form in various kinds of typefaces is: "FAMILY RECORD./NAMES./BIRTHS./DEATHS./ MR. URIEL BRADLEY, AUG. 22,1804. Dec. 30th 1887./ MISS PHEBE G. PHELPS, NOV. 17, 1799. Dec.16th 1893./MARRIED AUG. 22, 1827./THEIR CHILDREN./LYNDE PHELPS. MARCH 3, 1829. May 26th 1913/HELEN MARIE./ JAN. 16TH,‚ 1832.Dec. 26th 1911/JAMES WOLFE. NOV. 20,1833 July 38th 1887./Hoyt Herschel September 22. 1835 Oct. 1st 1864./ Mary Eliza July 6. 1837 Dec. 6th 1893".
ProvenanceGuyton (see "Source") provided no history of prior ownership for this piece, stating that it was "a very early addition to the collection."