Vigo County Historical Society
Historical Treasure Article
August 18, 1988
By David M. Buchanan
Vigo County Historical Society
Prints tell story for the curious
Everyone likes a good story. In the 1890s, stories came primarily from books and tellers of tall tales.
One other form that told a story, to a much smaller degree, was the art-print.
James M. Vickroy of Terre Haute produced art-prints for the masses. His name first appears in the city directories in 1887. The next year he was listed as a book agent. In 1889 he was dealing in lodge supplies and records. The second half of the 19th century saw an explosive growth in secret societies and men’s organizations. Vickroy published and supplied books and ledgers for the various lodges.
In the 1894 directory, he promoted himself as an art-publisher. He published this week’s historical treasure in 1895. The artist of the print was Otto Decker. He is not listed in any of the city directories so he may have lived in the county or in another city and simply contracted with Vickroy to produce the print.
The colored lithograph is mounted on cloth and titled “Pioneer and Modern Scenes.”
The bottom shows pioneer days from an idyllic viewpoint. Almost everyone is working; a woman and a girl are sewing and spinning at one cabin, a hunter is gathering a brace of squirrels, other people are cutting wheat or picking up kindling. The forest is not threatening nor wild. Flowers climb the porch columns and are planted around the cabins. A rather oblique reference to the trials of pioneer life may found in the woman in the lower right. She’s trying to get the mud off her shoe by scraping it across the rough bark of a tree.
In contrast to the pioneer scene is the “Modern” (1890s) viewing. The entire background is completely landscaped. No one in this view is working. Three women sit in conversation with a picnic basket at their sides. A young couple appears to be having soft conversations while little children pluck flowers from the garden. An older gentleman helps the other children while the animals, two well-cared for sheep, appear only as pets and playthings.
Apparently the modern life wasn’t without its problems. This may be seen in the middle two sections of the print. Closest to the top is a young man leaving his home and loving family to make his way in the world. He is being lured into what must be a wicked place, for a red light glows above the door.
In the central panel of the young man’s travels a vagabond is shown being ignored by two well-dressed people passing in a carriage. That is followed by a view of three men. One lurches drunkenly against a column, another staggers about, and the third lies upon the ground. A nervous horse is shown with one leg lifted as if it is about to lash out at the leg of the man on the ground. The last frame shows an old and lonely man, missing a leg, and carrying a crutch.
Problems for women may be found in the lower middle series of views. A young woman sits on the porch while a young man passing in a carriage tips his hat. The matronly chaperone has her back turned and misses the two. In the next segment the young man is being accosted by the irate guardian of the young woman. His cane is lifted as if to strike the young man.
The central panel is of a dark and gloomy night. The pair is eloping. The young woman is crossing the yard away from the ladder leaning against her home. Her young man waits in the carriage while a cohort has removed the boards of the wooden fence to help with the escape. (How he removed the boards without waking up the neighborhood or the father is not shown.)
Tragedy is found next. The man is quickly walking out the door while the young woman lies unconscious on the floor. And in the final frame two nuns hold a prayer vigil over the young woman as she lies sick or dying on the bed.
“Pioneer and Modern Scenes” has been annotated to show that is was listed in the Library of Congress by a Miss E.J. DeHass. The library has no reference on the artwork. Such a listing simple meant that Vickroy contacted the library to prove he had produced the work in the event others wanted to copy.
No written narrative to the story is portrayed in the artwork, at least none that survived with the picture. But that doesn’t stop the story-telling.
In fact, it may even help. Viewers can make up stories while viewing the different frames. They can incorporate every scene or simple make up a story for each one. That is probably how the artwork was conceived and works today.
People still stand in front of it, especially with friends, and tell each other their views on what’s happening in the pictures. We all love to hear a story, even if we’re making it up as we go along.
The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St., is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.