Description:

Bartholdi Frederic

1886 Statue of Liberty Banquet Invitation from Civil War Veterans

 

Lafayette Post No. 140, a New York based chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic, hosted a banquet on November 2, 1886 at the Hotel Brunswick for Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi and French Statue of Liberty delegates.  The thick cream stock with scalloped edges is printed in colored and gilt ink. A few professional repairs to corners and some adhesive remnants along the left edge, otherwise in very good to near fine condition. Bright and appealing colors. The invitation measures 5.5" x 8.5."

 

The front of the double-sided invitation is entitled "Lafayette Post No. 140 / Department of New York" and depicts an American eagle poised above an American flag, a French flag, and a star-decorated heraldic shield emblazoned "GAR", the acronym for the Grand Army of the Republic. Printed verso: "Banquet / M. Bartholdi and Delegates / To dedication of / Statue of Liberty, / Tuesday, November 2, 1886 / at / Hotel Brunswick, / Fifth Avenue, / New York."

 

The Grand Army of the Republic was a veterans' fraternal organization formed in 1866 that regularly convened for reunions and encampments around the country. Lafayette Post No. 140, named after Revolutionary War hero the Marquis de Lafayette, was established in 1880 by Edward Henry Kent. As a part of the G.A.R. network, its members pledged Fraternity, Charity, and Loyalty and hosted parades, Memorial Day celebrations, and other patriotic events, like this banquet celebrating the inauguration of the Statue of Liberty. Post No. 140's former commander Wilbur Fisk Brown published his history of the chapter in 1900.

 

24th U.S. President Grover Cleveland (1837-1908), along with Bartholdi and dozens of dignitaries, had attended the dedication ceremony of the Statue of Liberty on Bedloe’s island in New York Harbor on October 28, 1886. Ticker-tape parades, celebratory dinners, and general Francophilia swept New Yorkers into a frenzy. New York City's veterans joined in celebrating a statue that symbolized the values that they had defended in the Civil War.

 

The Hotel Brunswick, a stylish hotel located at 5th Avenue between 26 and 27th Streets, was one of about a dozen hotels located along the affluent strip listed in an 1882 business directory. A period advertisement touts the hotel’s “Restaurant & Café” which catered to a clientele accustomed to the “well-known style of this house”. The Hotel urged guests to enjoy its wine selections, cake, ice cream, and pastries.

Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904) studied painting, sculpture, and architecture under well-known instructors like Viollet-le-Duc in Paris. Following his service in the Franco-Prussian War, Bartholdi became increasingly interested in sculpting monumental works celebrating resistance against oppression, and Enlightenment ideals like Freedom. Bartholdi later conceived of the design of the “Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World”. The fundraising phase of this process would take years, and indeed long surpass the actual 100th anniversary of the United States. Yet once it was installed in 1886, the massive 151-ft tall copper-clad sculpture of a standing woman would fundamentally change the cityscape.

 

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