This talk will trace the story of silver in early America—from its colonial origins in family workshops to its symbolic role in the new Republic—revealing how silver reflected both personal aspiration and national identity. Long before independence, silver was a medium through which colonial Americans expressed lineage, faith, and economic standing. Philadelphia’s silversmiths, such as Philip Syng Sr. and Jr., Joseph Richardson, and Richard Humphreys, shaped objects that connected local craftsmanship to global trade and imperial networks, their work linking the colonies to the Atlantic world of enslaved labor, mined silver, and mercantile ambition.

Drawing upon works from the Dietrich American Foundation collection of silver from Philadelphia, New York, Boston and elsewhere, the talk will explore how silver objects —tankards, teapots, flatware, and presentation pieces— underscores the transformation of colonial society into a new nation. The Dietrich American Foundation, founded in 1963, preserves and shares this history through its collection, lending to museums across the country. The foundation’s extensive silver collection is on permanent loan to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.