Mrs. M. ———— invites you to read her reflections on her journey to the Columbian Exposition and a new object she purchased there. She also provided instructions for its display in her absence that one of her assistants has shared here.
I visited the Columbian Exposition and picked up this George Washington vase from an agent of a British fellow by the name of Sydney Starkey. He was ecstatic about this creation, even raving about Starkey's successful patenting of the vase just a year before. I glanced at it myself, and requested a copy for my archives. It is such a peculiar object, I am continuously ruffled by sheer amount of British craftsmanship here at the Exposition.
I was drawn to George's gaze and struck by how unsettled it made me feel, I couldn't escape his stare. The amount of George Washington Character Jugs available for purchase here is astounding! A George for any occasion!
I wonder if George knows the fractured patriotism he now represents... oh how I wish he could encompass a more complete idea of America. Yet, I've never seen George quite in this guise before, perhaps he and his friends belong in my collection for their curiosity alone!
Mrs. M. ———— communicated to one of her assistants that she wished to display George in the style of a miniature diorama to explore her ideas of America as a crucible for the mixing of ideas, people, and not simply the white "New England" she found at the Exposition. Mrs. M. ———— was perturbed by the fractured patriotic narrative present at the Columbian Exposition. Who does George Washington really represent?
By turning George on his head, Mrs. M. ———— feels that she can best express her hopes and desires for her cosmopolitan country by disposing of the racial and cultural biases she witnessed and experienced into a pot where they belong! Mrs. M. ———— notes, that she would now like to "fill" George's head with the "smelting pot"- a wonderful expression she read once in a Ralph Waldo Emerson piece. With this action, Mrs. M. ———— wishes to remain critical of George Washington and the ideals he represents while creating a fruitful progression that includes the viewpoints she's collected from around the world.
