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Photo, Print, Drawing Conflagration of the Steam Boat New Jersey on the Delaware River Opposite Philadelphia, March 15, 1856, in Which 50 Persons Lost Their Lives. Conflagration of the steam boat New Jersey on the Delaware River opposite Philada. March 15 1856 in which 50 persons lost their lives

About this Item

Title

  • Conflagration of the Steam Boat New Jersey on the Delaware River Opposite Philadelphia, March 15, 1856, in Which 50 Persons Lost Their Lives.

Other Title

  • Conflagration of the steam boat New Jersey on the Delaware River opposite Philada. March 15 1856 in which 50 persons lost their lives

Summary

  • George G. Heiss was a mid-19th century Philadelphia lithographer, who specialized in views of fire-fighting equipment. This lithograph shows, in the distance under the winter night sky, clouds of smoke rising from the Philadelphia and Camden Ferry Company steamboat New Jersey as rowboats race to the wreck. In the right of the image, a partial view of the ferry Dido traveling to the rescue is visible. The New Jersey caught fire as the result of defective boilers while in mid-voyage to Camden from Philadelphia via an alternate elongated route necessitated by heavy ice. With the fire spreading rapidly, Captain Ebenezer Corson retreated to Arch Street Wharf in Philadelphia. He came within ten meters of the pier when the pilot house collapsed, leaving the boat impossible to control. Corson survived by leaping ashore before the ship drifted back out on the river, but 50 people died. Heiss, whose studio was located near this event, rushed this lithograph into print. Heiss was born in Philadelphia in 1823. He exhibited at the Artists' Fund Society 1840-43 and was also known as a portrait painter. He worked closely with Thomas Wagner and James McGuigan's lithography studio from 1847 to 1855, when he opened his own establishment at 213 North Second Street. From then until the early 1860s, he mainly lithographed and published views of fire-fighting engines for local volunteer companies. Heiss published The Illustrated National Alphabet illustrated with lithographs in 1865. He left lithography in 1868 and established an artists' materials emporium at 25 North 11th Street, which he operated until about 1885.

Names

  • Heiss, George G., 1823-circa 1885 Artist.

Created / Published

  • Philadelphia : George G. Heiss, 1856.

Headings

  • -  United States of America--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia
  • -  1856-03-15
  • -  Delaware River (New York-Delaware and New Jersey)
  • -  Disasters
  • -  Fires
  • -  Lithographs
  • -  Marine accidents
  • -  New Jersey (Ferryboat)
  • -  Rowboats
  • -  Steamboats

Notes

  • -  Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
  • -  "Digital catalog number: POS 155"--Note extracted from World Digital Library.
  • -  Original resource extent: 1 print : lithograph, tinted with one stone and hand-colored ; 14 x 21 centimeters.
  • -  Reference extracted from World Digital Library: Heiss, George G., Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary, Library Company of Philadelphia, http://www.lcpdigital.org.|Piola, External Erika, "Gory and Graphic: The Production and Consumption of Nineteenth -Century Disaster Lithographs in Philadelphia," http://www.udel.edu/hagley/fellowsconference/abstracts/Piola%20final.pdf External
  • -  Original resource at: The Library Company of Philadelphia.
  • -  Content in English.
  • -  Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.

Medium

  • 1 online resource.

Source Collection

  • Philadelphia on Stone

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2021670388

Online Format

  • compressed data
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

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Credit Line: [Original Source citation], World Digital Library

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Heiss, George G., Circa 1885 Artist. Conflagration of the Steam Boat New Jersey on the Delaware River Opposite Philadelphia, in Which 50 Persons Lost Their Lives. Pennsylvania United States of America Philadelphia, 1856. Philadelphia: George G. Heiss. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021670388/.

APA citation style:

Heiss, G. G. (1856) Conflagration of the Steam Boat New Jersey on the Delaware River Opposite Philadelphia, in Which 50 Persons Lost Their Lives. Pennsylvania United States of America Philadelphia, 1856. Philadelphia: George G. Heiss. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021670388/.

MLA citation style:

Heiss, George G., Circa 1885 Artist. Conflagration of the Steam Boat New Jersey on the Delaware River Opposite Philadelphia, in Which 50 Persons Lost Their Lives. Philadelphia: George G. Heiss. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021670388/>.