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V4 2001 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 4, Number 19, May 6, 2001, Article 9 WHEN ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER While surfing the net, your editor came across references to Imprint, the journal of the American Historical Print Collectors Society (see http://www.ahpcs.org/). Their web site features chronological and subject indices to the journal, and there are a few articles of interest to paper money collectors. One such article is "The Angel in the Factory: Images of Women Worked Engraved on Ante-bellum Bank Notes" by Francine Tyler (Spring 1994, Vol 19, No. 1, p2-10). Back issues of the journal are available from the society. One of your Editor's favorite pastimes is bibliography- diving; one of the first things I look for in a newly discovered book or article are references to other books or articles that may be of use. Footnote 7 of Tyler's article references an article by Charles Toppan Carpenter, "History and Progress of Bank Note Engraving" from The Crayon, February 21, 1855. The Crayon was "considered by many to be the best American art journal of its time", according to one bookseller who has a partial set in stock. Another favorite area is ephemera, and another of the article's footnotes describes a banknote printer's advertising piece: "An advertising circular of the Jocelyn engravers stated that the cost of engraving four notes on copperplate was $250.00 and produced 6,000 good impressions; the cost of engraving four notes on steel was $500.00, producing 35,000 good impressions. Printing cost $2.00 per hundred impressions. Advertising circular of N. and S. Jocelyn, New York and New Haven, 2 May 1831, in The Jocelyn Family Papers, 1810-1835, collected by Foster Wild Rice, Connecticut Historical Society, Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford." A web search for information on "Jocelyn" turned up this reference on a page about the Amistad case: "On November 17, 1840, John Quincy Adams, sixth President of the United States, and then serving in Congress, visited thirty-six African men being held outside of New Haven, Connecticut. The Africans who had mutinied on a Spanish slave ship were being tried for piracy and murder on the high seas...." "...three prominent abolitionists intervened: Lewis Tappan, a merchant and industrialist who had raised funds to defend and care for the Mendians; the Reverend Joshua Leavitt, editor of the antislavery journal, Emancipator; and Simeon S. Jocelyn, an engraver active in the antislavery movement." Could Simeon S. Jocelyn be the "S" of "N. and S. Jocelyn? (see http://www.npg.si.edu/col/amistad/) The question was answered on another web page, this one containing bibliographies of "Jackson-Era Characters." "Jocelyn, Nathaniel 1796 - 1881: b.1/31,d.1/13 Painter and engraver, who was born in, and mostly lived in, New Haven. Brother of Simeon Jocylyn, who tried, in association with the New York Tappans, to establish something between a college and what today would be called a trade school for African Americans. Son of a watchmaker; helped found the National Bank Note Engraving Company; began painting portraits at 25; was exhibited, and praised, at the National Academy. He was somewhat of a protégé of Samuel F. B. Morse, who encouraged him in the early 1820s when they both lived in New Haven. He traveled and studied in Europe in the late 1820s through 1830, and at least crossed paths with Morse over there. Back in New Haven, he set up a studio, and got into trouble for promoting the idea of the negro school. Made a famous portrait of Cinque, the leader of the Amistad revolt, which hangs in the building of the New Haven Colony Historical Society, along with a portrait of himself. (Source: DAB; Wyatt-Brown, Lewis Tappan, p87ff)" (See http://216.202.17.223/BIOG-J.htm) So "N. and S. Jocelyn" were Nathaniel and Simeon, who were certainly men of their times who led very interesting lives. Who knew where the footnote would lead? That's the fun of it!

Wayne Homren, Editor

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