Talk:Louis Prang

Civil War prints
There is much more detail on this series in the Neely book, and no doubt other sources, and this section of the article could probably be usefully expanded. DES (talk) 16:10, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

Prang telegraph map.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/13/news-of-the-wired/

Telegraphic news of the war effort stimulated the spread of maps as well as newspapers. Among the most popular were those made by Louis Prang, who had emigrated from Germany in 1850 and built a thriving printing business in Boston. Prang’s initial success came from small prints and cards (including the first Christmas cards), but with the arrival of the war he began to issue maps. And he could do it with lightning speed: within a day of learning of the attack on Fort Sumter, he had all Boston newsstands selling his newly engraved map of Charleston Harbor. Ultimately he sold 40,000 copies.

David Rumsey Collection, San Francisco War Telegram Marking Map. CLICK TO ENLARGE

These were among the first war maps ever printed in America. The most successful was his War Telegram Marking Map, which Prang designed after hearing of the Union plan to invade the Virginia Peninsula. In February 1862 General McClellan confidently ferried thousands of troops to Fort Monroe in Virginia, planning an ambitious assault that would culminate with the capture of the Confederate capitol at Richmond. With similar confidence, Prang announced that his was the most distinct map of Virginia ever created, for he concentrated on the region “where the decisive battles of the Union will be fought.”

Prang was responding to the public’s desire not just for news, but the immediacy of “telegraphed” news. Unlike other battle maps which were issued after the fact, his was designed to follow the march in real time. He issued colored pencils — red for Confederate forces, blue for Union — to mark the advances, retreats and clashes that would be regularly reported by telegraph in any newspaper throughout the Union home front. Rather than waiting for maps to be issued after the battles, Prang enabled the viewer to track the invasion as it unfolded, with both victories but also terrible defeats and missed opportunities.

The map was a success, and went through six editions during 1862 alone. Prang’s innovation reminds us not just of the centrality of the Peninsular campaign, but also that Americans in the 1860s were experiencing a revolution in communication that would come to define modern life. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Stampdxer (talk • contribs) 15:43, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: A History of Color
— Assignment last updated by Lilagreene4 (talk) 02:30, 27 January 2024 (UTC)

Art supply?
Did Louis Prang's company also produce art supplies? TooManyFingers (talk) 02:34, 6 April 2024 (UTC)