Editing Nathaniel Currier

{{Short description|American lithographer (1813–1888)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{more citations needed|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Nathaniel Currier
| image              = Nathaniel Currier.jpg
| caption            = 
| birth_name         = 
| birth_date         = {{birth date |1813|3|27}}
| birth_place        = [[Roxbury, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{death date and age |1888|11|20|1813|3|27}}
| death_place        = [[Amesbury, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| resting_place      = [[Green-Wood Cemetery]] in Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
| movement           = 
| known_for          = [[Lithography]]
| works              = 
| relatives          = {{plainlist|*[[Edward Wilson Currier]] (nephew)
*[[Jon Gould]] (great-great nephew)<ref>{{Cite news |last=O'Conner |first=Kevin |date=September 12, 2004 |title=A Privat Warhol Art Collection Pops Up in Brattleboro |work=Rutland Daily Herald |pages=E4}}</ref>}}
| awards             = 
}}

'''Nathaniel Currier''' (March 27, 1813 – November 20, 1888) was an American [[lithography|lithographer]]. He headed the company [[Currier and Ives|Currier & Ives]] with [[James Ives]].

==Early life and education==
Currier was born in [[Roxbury, Massachusetts]],<ref name="MET">{{cite web |title=Cottage Life – Spring |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/415801 |website=www.metmuseum.org}}</ref> to Nathaniel and Hannah Currier. He attended public school until age fifteen, when he was apprenticed to the [[Boston]] printing firm of [[Pendleton's Lithography|William and John Pendleton]].

==Career==
The Pendletons were the first successful lithographers in the United States, lithography having only recently been invented in Europe.<ref name=HumanitiesWeb>{{cite web|url=http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=g&p=a&a=i&ID=692 |title=Nathaniel Currier |first=Jim |last = Lane |work=Humanities Web |date=May 15, 2000|access-date=September 14, 2006}}</ref> Currier learned the process in their shop. In 1833, he subsequently went to work for M. E. D. Brown in [[Philadelphia]], in 1833. The following year, in 1834, Currier moved to [[New York City]], where he intended to start a new business with John Pendleton but Pendleton backed out, and the new firm became Currier & Stodart and lasted only one year.

===Currier & Ives===
In 1835, Currier started his own lithographic business as an eponymous sole proprietorship, initially engaged in standard lithographic business of printing sheet music, letterheads, handbills, and other publishing-related products.

However, he soon took his work in a new direction, creating pictures of current events. In late 1835, he issued a print illustrating a recent fire in New York City, ''Ruins of the Merchant's Exchange N.Y. after the Destructive Conflagration of Decbr 16 & 17, 1835'' was published by the [[The Sun (New York City)|''New York Sun'']], just four days after the fire, and was an early example of illustrated news.<ref name=HumanitiesWeb /> In 1840, Currier began to move away from job printing and into independent print publishing. In that year, ''The Sun'' published his print ''Awful Conflagration of the Steam Boat 'Lexington' in Long Island Sound on Monday Eveg Jany 13th 1840, by Which Melancholy Occurrence Over 100 Persons Perished'', another documentation of a news event, three days after the disaster; the print sold thousands of copies.

In 1850, James Ives went to work for Currier's firm as [[Bookkeeping|bookkeeper]]. Ives' skills as a businessman and [[Marketing|marketer]] contributed significantly to the growth of the company; in 1857 he was made a full partner, and the company became known as [[Currier and Ives|Currier & Ives]].

Currier & Ives are best known as creators of popular art prints, such as Christmas scenes, landscapes, or depictions of [[Victorian era|Victorian]] urban sophistication; however, the firm also produced [[political cartoon]]s and [[banner]]s, significant historical scenes, and further illustrations of current events. Over the decades, the firm created roughly 7,500 images.<ref name=HumanitiesWeb />

Currier retired from his firm in 1880, and turned the business over to his son Edward.

==Personal life and death==
Currier married Eliza West Farnsworth in 1840.<ref name=AmericanSilversmith-Eliza>{{cite web | url = http://www.americansilversmiths.org/makers/silversmiths/196483.htm | title = Eliza West Farnsworth | work = American Silversmiths | date = 2005 | publisher = William Erik Voss | access-date = April 25, 2020}}</ref> The couple had one child, Edward West Currier, the next year.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.americansilversmiths.org/makers/silversmiths/196484.htm | title = Edward West Currier | work = American Silversmiths | date = 2005 | publisher = William Erik Voss | access-date = April 25, 2020}}</ref> Eliza died in 1843.<ref name=AmericanSilversmith-Eliza /> In 1847, Currier married Lura Ormsbee.

In addition to being a lithographer, he was also a New York City volunteer fireman in the 1850s.

He was a [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]].

Currier was a friend of [[P.T. Barnum]] of [[Barnum and Bailey]] fame.

Currier was fond of fast horses and kept several at a barn in his [[Massachusetts]] residence, which he purchased, ordered dismantled, and had delivered by horse to his estate.

Currier died eight years after retiring, on November 20, 1888, at his home on Lion's Mouth Road in [[Amesbury, Massachusetts]] and is interred at [[Green-Wood Cemetery]] in [[Brooklyn]].

== Gallery ==
<gallery>

File:Ruins of the merchant's exchange N.Y.- after the destructive conflagration of Decbr. 16 & 17 1835 LCCN2001704218.jpg|''Ruins of the Merchant's Exchange N.Y. after the Destructive Conflagration of Decbr 16 & 17, 1835''
File:Awful Conflagration of the Steam Boat Lexington in Long Island Sound on Monday Eve, January 13th, 1840, by which melancholy occurrence, over 100 Persons Perished MET DP853624.jpg|''Awful Conflagration of the Steam Boat 'Lexington' in Long Island Sound on Monday Eveg Jany 13th 1840, by Which Melancholy Occurrence Over 100 Persons Perished''
File:The Drunkard's Progress - Color.jpg|''[[The Drunkard's Progress]]''. Lithograph. Version of the ''[[Lebenstreppe]]'' that supports the [[Temperance movement in the United States|temperance movement]], 1846
File:Military College of Chapultepec2.jpg|"Military College at [[Battle of Chapultepec|Chapultepec]]", hand tinted lithograph published by Nathaniel Currier as a sole proprietor, c. 1847
File:Whig primary 1848c.jpg|"An Available Candidate: The One Qualification for a Whig President".  Political cartoon about the 1848 presidential election which refers to [[Zachary Taylor]] or [[Winfield Scott]], the two leading contenders for the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]] nomination in the aftermath of the [[Mexican–American War]].  Published 1848, digitally restored.
Image:Charles R. Parsons, "Central-Park, Winter- The Skating Pond".jpg|Currier & Ives' ''Central-Park, Winter: The Skating Pond'', 1862
File:Battle of Williamsburg Currier & Ives.jpg|Civil War [[Battle of Williamsburg]], 1862
File:Currier and Ives Liberty2.jpg|The [[Statue of Liberty]]: ''The Great Bartholdi Statue, Liberty Enlightening the World: The Gift of France to the American People'', 1885
</gallery>

==References==
{{reflist}}

*{{cite book |first=Linda S. | last=Chase |chapter=Currier, Nathaniel |title=American National Biography Online |year=2000 |chapter-url=http://www.anb.org/articles/17/17-01567.html}}

== External links ==
{{commons category}}
{{Wikisource author|wislink=Nathaniel Currier|title=Nathaniel Currier}}
* [http://www.currierandives.com/ The Currier & Ives Foundation]
* [http://www.green-wood.com/burial_results/index.php Green-Wood Cemetery Burial Search]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Currier, Nathaniel}}
[[Category:1813 births]]
[[Category:1888 deaths]]
[[Category:Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery]]
[[Category:American Unitarians]]
[[Category:American lithographers]]
[[Category:People from Roxbury, Boston]]
[[Category:People from Amesbury, Massachusetts]]