Alexander Hamilton 1922

Timothy Cole created this engraving of Alexander Hamilton in 1922. The image presents Hamilton as a respectable statesman in a striped jacket with a ruffled collar. Prints like this one helped shape public memory and cultural values in the early 20th century in the USA. This engraving comes after the surge of new interest in the founding fathers, which was prompted by world war one. Timothy Cole was commissioned to create images of famous people. He made many engravings for magazines, books, and other publications. These images helped form a shared sense of national identity. The images and their proliferation in popular media helped construct a narrative of the nation's history. To better understand images like this, we might investigate the history of American nationalism, printing technologies, and popular culture, using books, magazines, and archives. The meaning of art changes depending on its social and institutional context.