Paper Souvenirs > Washington, D.C.
Intended as a commemorative souvenir, this nineteenth-century folded fan has a format reminiscent of a paper snowflake. Inside, twenty-eight lithographic prints illustrate the major buildings of Washington, D.C. Printed in Hamburg, this die-cut novelty was one of a series of fold-out roses that were originally issued in envelopes.
The fan is part of the American Viewbook Collection in Avery Classics, which includes nineteenth- and twentieth-century souvenir books illustrating the built environment of the United States. As in St. Augustine, Florida, the logic behind the novelty formats of some of these pieces can be difficult to decipher.
The fan includes views of the Lunatic Asylum, the Columbia Armory, the U.S. Navy Yard, the Willard Hotel, Georgetown College, the U.S. Post Office, the Military Asylum, City Hall, the Observatory, Brown's Marble Hotel, the Smithsonian, the War Department, the U.S. Arsenal, the U.S. Patent Office, the National Hotel, the Jackson Monument, the Capitol, Mount Vernon, the Senate, the Church of St. Matthew, the White House, Trinity Church, the Treasury, Washington's tomb, the House of Representatives, and the Washington Monument.