Museum Collections

Silk firemen's banner of Wards 23 and 24, New York City; blue silk front panel with a painted central medallion of a bearded fireman holding a trumpet in his left hand and raising his right in front of two firemen fighting a blaze, he wears a helmet that reads, "NY/ EXEMPT/ ASSOCIATION/ JAN VAN H."; the banner is inscribed above the medallion, "EXEMPT FIREMENS/ BENEVOLENT FUND ASSOCIATION"; and below, "23RD and 24TH WARDS"; backed with yellow silk; gold metallic ribbon trimming along the edges of the banner; two metallic (oxidized) fringed tassels hang from the base; four blue silk ribbons sewn across the top; silk and paint fragments (b).