Currier & Ives · General George B. McClellan

**Currier & Ives** was a leading American printmaking firm based in New York City, renowned for its affordable, hand-colored lithographs that captured the spirit of 19th-century American life. Founded by Nathaniel Currier in 1835 as N. Currier, Lithographer, the business became Currier & Ives in 1857 when James Merritt Ives joined as partner. The firm operated under that name until its liquidation in 1907, producing more than 7,500 images over seven decades.

Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888) began his career apprenticing in the Boston lithography shop of William and John Pendleton before establishing his own business. Ives (1824–1895), initially the firm’s bookkeeper, brought organizational skill and an eye for popular taste, helping expand the range to include political portraits, sporting scenes, landscapes, and current events. The partners employed talented artists such as Frances Flora Bond Palmer, Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait, and Louis Maurer, whose designs were transferred to lithographic stones and hand-colored by teams of workers in an efficient assembly-line process.

Among the firm’s many Civil War-era portraits is the hand-colored lithograph *Maj. Genl. George B. McClellan*, one of several images depicting the Union general. Other notable works include winter scenes like *American Homestead Winter* (1868), sporting prints such as *A Brush for the Lead* (1867), and panoramic views like Fanny Palmer’s *Across the Continent* (1868). These prints, sold for pennies to a few dollars, adorned homes across the country and documented everything from disasters and politics to everyday Americana.

Currier & Ives left a lasting legacy as visual chroniclers of Victorian America. Their images remain highly collectible today, with originals prized by museums and enthusiasts, while reproductions continue to evoke 19th-century nostalgia—appearing even in popular culture such as the Christmas carol “Sleigh Ride.” The firm’s output provides an invaluable pictorial record of the era’s tastes, events, and values.