While scrolling through the digital collections of the Library of Congress recently, I came across the work of Philadelphia-based artist James Fuller Queen.
Queen sketched and painted during the mid-19th century and apparently made several trips into the Coal Region in the years before the Civil War. But one particular piece caught my eye. It was a birds-eye view of Mauch Chunk and the Lehigh River, likely created in the late 1850s.
I’ve uploaded a version of it below, but I’d highly recommend visiting the Library of Congress website and checking it out yourself in luxurious high definition (click on the TIFF file for incredible detail.)
More on James Fuller Queen’s artistic adventures to the Coal Region coming soon!
Featured Image: Close-up of James Fuller Queen’s 1850s sketch of Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, Library of Congress
Wynning History 