George Girdler Smith

George Girdler Smith (September 8, 1795 in Danvers, Massachusetts – December 18, 1878 in Boston, Massachusetts) was an engraver in 19th-century Boston.^[1] He kept a studio on Washington Street.^[2] Collaborators included William B. Annin (Annin & Smith, 1820s-1830s),^[3] Charles A. Knight and George H. Tappan (Smith, Knight & Tappan, ca.1850s).^[4]

Smith belonged to several civic and social groups in Boston, including the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, Boston Light Infantry, and the Freemasons. "In the year 1819 he was initiated a Freemason in Columbian Lodge, and in 1826 became its master, holding the position, at intervals of time, for 7 years. ... He was subsequently master of the Massachusetts Lodge, and deputy grand master in 1837-1839."^[5] He died December 18, 1878, in Boston.^[5]

Image gallery

Engravings by Smith

• 
  Portrait of Joanna; frontispiece to John Gabriel Stedman's Narrative of Joanna, an Emancipated Slave of Surinam (Boston: Isaac Knapp, 1838)
• 
  Gore Hall, Harvard College, 1840
• 
  Ribbon badge, William Henry Harrison Convention, Bunker Hill, Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1840
• 
  Fort Duquesne; plan of the field of battle and disposiotion of the troops: as they were on the March at the time of the attack July 9, 1755

See also

• Annin & Smith

References

1. William Dunlap (1918). A History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States. 3. C.E. Goodspeed & Co. OCLC 847945617.
2. Boston Directory. 1848.
3. "William B. Annin. Born and died in Massachusetts. He was probably a pupil of Abel Bowen, as he was working for Bowen in 1813. After doing considerable work over his own name, in 1823, he became a partner of George Girdler Smith." Cf. Catalogue of an Exhibition of Early American Engraving Upon Copper: 1727-1850. NY: Grolier Club. 1908. p. 7.
4. Boston Directory. 1858.
5. New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 33, April 1879, p. 276

Sources

• "George Girdler Smith", Memorial Biographies of the New England Historic Genealogical Society: 1871-1880, Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 7, 1907

External links

• WorldCat. Smith, George Girdler 1795-1878
• Bostonian Society. Works by G.G. Smith.
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Works by G.G. Smith.
• Massachusetts Historical Society. Work by Smith
• Boston Public Library. Plan of Boston comprising a part of Charlestown and Cambridge, by G.G. Smith, 1846. Later versions: 1851, 1855, 1857, 1858, 1859, 1860.