Image of a firefighter's exempt membership certificate from the City of Buffalo made out in manuscript for Charles M. Tainter (presumably Charles M. Taintor) dated February 23, 1857, and signed by Mayor Frederick P. Stevens and City Clerk William H. Albro, with a top center vignette of a fireman standing in the center of a town square in Buffalo, New York, next to a woman and child, a man dressed in a costume similar to that of a Roman soldier with a robe, spear, sandals, and hat, and a kneeling woman writing a document that begins "Certificate of Disch[arge]", with firefighting equipment in the foreground including a hose, ladder, hat, rope, and speaking trumpet, and buildings, a statue, fire hydrant, lighthouse, steamboat, ship masts, and the shores of Lake Erie in the background and a flying angel with wings and a trumpet at top center obscuring a banner that reads "Buffalo Fire Department."; the certificate has a blue embossed seal of the City of Buffalo and a vignette at bottom center of firefighting equipment including preventers, censers, and ax. Date span based on certificate history and date certificate was issued to recipient; the city of Buffalo ordered a design for a certificate to be made by W. G. Miller and engraved on wood by W. J. Richardson in 1845 (Endres, M., ed. History of the Volunteer Fire Department of Buffalo, N.Y., 1906, page 16). "Miller Del."--text, artist's signature in stone, lower left of image. "Richardson, Sc. Buffalo"--text, artist's signature in stone, lower right of image. Buffalo [Fi]re D[epart]ment. This is to certify that Charles M. Tainter has served as a Fireman in the City of Buffalo the full term required by Law, and is entitled to all the exemptions and privileges secured thereby. Witness the hand of the Mayor, This 23d day of February 1857. and the Seal of said City. F. P. Stevens Mayor. Countersigned Wm. H. Albro, City Clk,"--text of certificate, printed and handwritten.
Type
image
Extent
1 engraving : color printed ; overall 69.37 x 48.26 cm (27 5/16 x 19 in.)
Buffalo (N.Y.)--Pictorial works Buffalo (N.Y.)--Buildings, structures, etc.--Pictorial works Fire departments Fire extinction--Equipment and supplies--Pictorial works Fire fighters--Pictorial works Buffalo Fire Department Intaglio prints--Color--1825-1850. (gmgpc) Intaglio prints--Color--1850-1875. (gmgpc) Certificates. (gmgpc)
Place
Buffalo (N.Y.)
Source
Jay T. Last Collection Firefighting Large Size The Jay T. Last Collection of Graphic Arts and Social History, Huntington Digital Library
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