From 1834 to 1907 the lithography shop of "Currier & Ives" produced over 1 million prints ( more than 7500 different titles), recording the history of mid to late 19th century America in picture. The thrust of a forthcoming PBS documentary is that Currier & Ives launched the beginning of mass media as we know it today. In a picture-less society, the firm became one of America’s greatest business success stories by tapping America's thirst to see things for themselves. While many of the prints are highly romanticised versions of American life and some are overtly racist, Currier and Ives provided trotting enthusiasts with a wonderful collection of portraits of the great horses and events of the opening decades of the sport.
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