when a centaur dies, the horse half obviously goes to hell, but the human half ascends to heaven, detached and missing its lower horse body, forced to go about the rest of its afterlife mourning the loss of something vile and profane, which is in a sense its own kind of hell
We’re starting off the week with a new addition to a growing digital collection. This well-dressed horse was Moseman’s Harness Wareroom’s contribution to the Centennial International Exhibition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Held in 1876 in Fairmount Park, the Exhibition was both a celebration of the 100th anniversary of American Independence and the first major U.S. world’s fair.
This photograph was found in an album documenting the Exhibition, with no accompanying explanatory information. This does leave us with a bit of a mystery on our hands (what’s your deal, horse?). But it does seem that this four-legged friend was a bit of a mascot to the Moseman brothers’ enterprise, with one advertisement in the March 30th, 1873 New York Herald offering up the (sort of) joke; “Why are Moseman’s Harness Warerooms like a clock run down?” “Because there is ‘no time here’”.
The digitizing of the Centennial Exhibition photograph and ephemera collection (Accession 2003.255) is an ongoing project here at the the Hagley Library. Our digitized collection currently contains over 500 advertising cards, newspapers, photographs, illustrations, advertisements, and other materials. You can view it online now by clicking here.
Sir Harry Chauvel's horse with the rider's boots set in reverse. The horse followed the gun carriage during the funeral procession to Springvale Crematorium.