Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon of Philadelphia.: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This colorful chromolithograph contains an animated scene of the Union volunteer refreshment saloon located near the Navy Yard at Swanson and Washington Avenues in Philadelphia, as it appeared in November of 1863. Located on a railroad hub linking the North and the South, the saloon was staffed by volunteers and provided relief for Union troops to soldiers on their way to or returning from battlefields in the South. Its services included warm meals, temporary housing, medical services, and washing facilities. From its opening on May 27, 1861, to its closing on December 1, 1865, over 800,000 men were assisted in this saloon and served over 1,025,000 meals. In the print, a crowd of civilians and a few wounded soldiers line the street to welcome a formation of soldiers who parade down the road towards the saloon. At the right, men another unit depart the saloon and board a Philadelphia, Wilmington, & Baltimore railroad car, bound for the battlefront. A band dressed in road uniforms performs patriotic songs while American flags are waved in the crowd and dot the skyline of the scene. The names of men who were involved in collecting donations for the saloon are listed in the lower margin along with the names of its committee members.

The Philadelphia saloons received support from the United States Sanitary Commission, a relief agency approved by the War Department on June 18, 1861 to provide assistance to sick, wounded, and travelling Union soldiers. Although the leaders of the Commission were men, the agency depended on thousands of women, who collected donations, volunteered as nurses in hospitals, and offered assistance at rest stations and refreshment saloons. They also sponsored Sanitary Fairs in Northern cities, raising millions of dollars used to send food, clothing, and medicine to Union soldiers.

The print was created by James Fuller Queen, a pioneering chromolithographer active in Philadelphia, who served in a Civil War militia between 1862 and 1863. Its printer, Thomas S. Sinclair, was a Scottish immigrant to Philadelphia who worked in the lithographic shop of John Collins, before taking over the business the next year. His firm was profitable into the 1880s, producing maps, city views, certificates, book illustrations, political cartoons, sheet music covers, and fashion advertisements.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date made: 1861
• lithographer: Sinclair, Thomas
• artist: Queen, James
• Object Name: Lithograph
• Object Name: chromolithograph
• Object Type: Lithograph
• Measurements: image: 16 1/4 in x 27 in; 41.275 cm x 68.58 cm
• place made: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
• Subject: Architecture, Domestic Buildings
• Subject: Children
• Subject: Patriotism and Patriotic Symbols
• Subject: Marriage
• Subject: Uniforms, Military
• referenced: Civil War
• Subject: Railroads
• Subject: Civic Associations
• ID Number: DL.60.3799
• catalog number: 60.3799
• Credit Line: Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.