Memento or charm
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1837-1873
Measurements
1/2 in x 1/2 in x 1/2 in
Materials
Unidentified material
Credit Line
Historic Odessa Foundation, The David Wilson Mansion, Inc.
Accession Number
1971.1515
Inscription
"1773" and "1873" are inset on opposite faces; “TU / DOCES” is opposite the metal eye.
“Memento of / The Sanitary Fair / held in Academy in Phila / in 1873 to commemorate the / throwing over the Tea in / Boston Harbor 1773, + the / funds of the Fair for Hospitals / of Civil War” is written in ink on an attached label.
Provenance
Ex coll. Mrs. E. Tatnall (Mary Corbit) Warner
Comments
The cube, cast of an unknown material, probably a ceramic, has a metal eye set into the middle of one face that allows it to be suspended as a charm. The dates 1773 and 1873 are cast into opposite faces, the dates representing the centennial of the Boston Tea Party. The face opposite the metal eye has “TU / DOCES,” Latin for “you teach.” The detailed label, written by Mrs. Mary Corbit Warner, indicates that this charm was made for a Sanitary Fair held in Philadelphia at the “Academy” in 1873. Sanitary Fairs began in 1863 as a means of raising money for hospitalized Union soldiers.
The Academy referenced in the label may have been the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts or the Academy of Music. In 1873, the Fine Arts Academy was midway through its construction of a new building, which still stands. It is possible that enough of the building had been complete to allow a fair, although the formal opening was planned to coincide with the Philadelphia Centennial of 1876.
The likely site of the fair was the Music Academy, housed in an 1857 building built as an opera house (also still standing). An article in the November 1, 1873, issue of the Philadelphia Inquirer references a meeting of the ladies of the “Centennial Tea Party” committee contacting the Academy of Music for its use. The event seems to have occurred on or about December 17.
