Home About Time Traveler Map Search Exhibits Additional Info My Exhibit

Member Exhibit HOME   >>  EXHIBITS  >> MEMBER EXHIBIT     Exhibit Name: "The marriage of his faculties with nature"- Nature and Industry in 19th Century Oakland     Overview: This exhibit surveys thoughts on nature in the 19th century as embodied in this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson- "Fire, steam, lightening, gravity, ledges of rock, mines of iron, lead, quicksilver, tin and gold; forests of all woods; fruits of all climates; animals of all habits; the powers of tillage; the fabrics of his chemical laboratory; the webs of his loom; the masculine draughts of his locomotive... The world is his tool-chest, and he is successful, or his education is carried on just so far, as is the marriage of his faculties with nature, or the degree in which he takes up things into himself."      Exhibit Objects H26.372 This painting by William Hahn borrows from the Hudson River School style of painting, creating a very idyllic pastoral scene. This shows Lake Merritt as farm land, but the reality was even by this time in 1880 the area was developing as the urban core of the city. H26.2300J This pencil sketch is of one of the many grand houses that were built in the mid 1800's around Lake Merritt in Oakland. The fountain and grounds demonstrate the idea that took hold at this time of home as a place of refuge with a park like setting to escape from the toils of commerce. H97.66.1 This pottery jar was probably used to store food and was made by the San Antonio Pioneer Pottery Company. While such crockery met the needs of the local farms, San Antonio Pioneer Pottery?s big customers were local municipalities. The company made sewer and drain pipes for the rapidly industrializing area. 2000.1.1439 A photo of Lake Merritt with a teeter totter for children. Lake Merritt is a perfect example of 19th century though about nature. The first wildlife refuge of the area, it was praised for its "natural" beauty and seen as a place of refuge from the life of commerce. Yet, it was an area that had been completely reshaped by man and was surrounded by a rapidly industrialized city- not to mention a stray cow or two. H68.217.1 Portrait of the prominent African American Shorey family. Captain Shorey was the only black captain on the Pacific Coast sailing ships prior to the 20th century. While he spent much of his career on whaling ships sailing out of Alaska, he settled his family in West Oakland near the waterfront. Oakland was a busy port, especially after the gold rush. H72.219.1A This shows the busy Oakland port and industrial area that developed by the mid 1800's. The development of the port demonstrate the idea of nature as commodity- the carving up of land and the development of it for profit making enterprise. H98.69.6 A photo of Samuel F. Rodolph, doctor, founder of the Alameda Homeopathic Society and his family. As one of the first homeopaths of the Bay Area, perhaps Rodolph believed that there was an internal nature that needed to be balanced, and that certain tonics or foods could balance that nature. Just as the Victorians believed that there was certain idyllic state of nature that could be achieved through its mastery and cultivation, perhaps Rodolph believed this to be true of human nature as well. As Emerson said - His body is a jar in which the liquor of life is stored..- 2000.1.1083 A bucolic farm in the Leona Heights neighborhood. This area would be converted to iron and sulphur mines at the turn of the century. S74.12.12A Sulphur and pyrite mines supplanted farms in the Leona heights neighborhood of Oakland by the end of the 19th century. This shows a piece iron sulphate from the area.