Florence Stover from the Richmond and Von Boyle Comedy Company by Matthew S. Morgan of Strobridge Lithographing Company: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This colored print is a bust portrait of Florence Stover. She is wearing a pink dress with a white lace collar and golden pearls and earrings. The print advertises on the top of the poster that she will be appearing at the Newark Opera House, which was built in 1885 in New Castle County, Delaware.

Florence Stover was an actress who, in 1880, married the vocalist, dancer, and comedian Harry G. Richmond (1847-1885). Harry Richmond was born Augustus Van Boyle in Brooklyn, New York and performed with the Haverly Minstrels in 1878. The following year he produced The Candidate with his brother Aeland Von Boyle. A Florence Stover’s later performed in early film roles including Santa Claus vs. Cupid (1915), A Broth of a Boy (1915), and The Last Sentence (1917).

This chromolithograph was produced by Strobridge Lithographing Company and Matt Morgan. The Strobridge firm was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio ca 1847 by lithographer Elijah J. Middleton (cited in some sources as Elijah C. Middleton). Middleton was known as one of the pioneers of chromolithography in the United States. By 1854 another lithographer, W. R. Wallace, along with the bookseller Hines Strobridge (1823-1909) had joined the firm as partners. After the Civil War, Strobridge acquired sole ownership of the company and renamed it after himself. Strobridge and Company became especially well known for circus, theater, and movie posters. After leaving the company, Elijah Middleton established a reputation as a portrait publisher, producing prints of George and Martha Washington, Daniel Webster, and other American historical figures.

Matthew Somerville Morgan (1837-1890) was a British-born artist and cartoonist. As a young man, Morgan studied scene painting in London and worked as an artist and war correspondent in Western Europe and Africa. He also established a London humor magazine, becoming especially well known for his attacks on the British royal family. He immigrated to the United States in 1870 and continued to work as a caricaturist and New York theater stage manager. His works included political cartoons drawn on behalf of liberal Republicans who opposed President Ulysses S. Grant. From 1880-1885 he was manager of the Strobridge Lithograph Company where he worked to improve theatrical lithography. In his later years he painted large panoramic scenes of the American Civil War.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date made: n.d.
• depicted: Stover, Florence
• maker: Strobridge Lithographing Company
• maker: Morgan, Matt
• Object Name: chromolithograph
• Object Type: Chromolithograph
• Physical Description: paper (overall material)
• Physical Description: ink (overall material)
• Measurements: image: 25 1/4 in x 17 in; 64.135 cm x 43.18 cm
• place made: United States: Ohio, Cincinnati
• Subject: Theater
• ID Number: DL.60.3056
• catalog number: 60.3056
• accession number: 228146
• 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. The displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation.