DAR Museum Tuesday Talk: From Maps to Mermaids: Carved Powder Horns in Early America
12:00-1:00pm
Free, drop-in
Few objects from colonial America had such a personal connection to their owners as the powder horns used by soldiers, settlers, and American Indians to store the gunpowder necessary for their survival. In a world where firearms were necessary tools, the powder horn— made from the lightweight and hollow horn of a cow— served as the constant companion of thousands of frontier residents. While many were quite plain, hundreds, if not thousands, were carved with names, dates, maps, and a variety of purely whimsical figures, offering tantalizing clues about their owners and times in which they lived.
Highlighting examples from the DAR Museum collection as well as those displayed in the recent Fort Pitt Museum exhibition, From Maps to Mermaids: Carved Powder Horns in Early America, this presentation will explore the historical and artistic significance of these fascinating early American artifacts.
Speaker: Mike Burke, Exhibit Specialist, Fort Pitt Museum