Much of the items produced to celebrate the US Bicentennial shared common imagery. Occasionally, I’ll be researching the pieces borrowed from and providing commentary.

The painting now titled “Spirit of ’76” was used in numerous 1976 manufactured collectibles. Not just the (mostly) plates on these pages, but cups, posters, buttons, and more.

Then

Archibald M. (McNeal) Willard painted the first “Yankee Doodle” in 1875 for display during the 1876 Centennial Exposition. It’s a widely recognized work whose imagery has inspired postage stamps¹ and Hollywood parodies.² The first version was massive, at 8′ wide by 10′ tall. A. M. Willard went on to paint a total of 14 “originals” (all slightly different) as the painting became popular.³ A quick search online reveals some of the various versions with apparent differences, mostly in the backgrounds.

And Now

There are numerous places online to find the history of this piece and its creator, so I won’t rehash it all. But for this site and collection, I think the more interesting question is: why was used in so much of the Bicentennial merchandise? In the late 1800’s, it became wildly popular with the public (so much so that several of the versions went on national tour after the Centennial Exposition)⁴, so its pop appeal was probably part of it. The painting also appears to have been in the public domain by 1976 (older copyright laws), making it easily accessible. Given the fact that so many “collectibles” were designed to be inexpensive, I happen to think the latter probably had more to do with it.

The simplified version that appears on all so-called collectible memorabilia I’ve observed conveniently leaves out the dying soldier at the feet of the drum and fife players. And while the subject matter is obvious and pays homage to Willard’s work (even to the point of putting his name on it), I also see no examples of any of the “original” paintings on Bicentennial plates.

Disney made a Bicentennial plate with Goofy, Mickey Mouse, and Donald Duck in the places of the drum players an fife player, respectively.

The original (first) “original” hangs in Abbot Hall in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

1. Smithsonian National Postal Museum, “American Bicentennial Issue: The Spirit of ’76“
2. Wikipedia, and originally from
   PAULY, T. H. (1978). IN SEARCH OF “THE SPIRIT OF ’76”. In L. Zenderland (Ed.), Recycling the Past: Popular Uses of American History (pp. 29–49). University of Pennsylvania Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt19631ks.5
3. Rebel Seed Studio, “The Spirit of ’76 (Yankee Doodle)“
4. Town of Marblehead Massachusetts, “Marblehead’s “The Spirit of 76” Painting“