Souvenir Spoons


    The drawing (top) is from a 16-page BROCHURE titled A Brief Sketch of the Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe, put out by Wm. Rogers Mfg. Co. of Hartford to promote the sterling silver souvenir tea spoon they began making and selling for $1.75 shortly after Stowe's death in 1896. Stowe's sister Isabella Hooker, the author of the brochure, says there that she "designed this Souvenir Spoon as a memento of my sister," and promises to donate some of the profits it might earn to charities Stowe herself would have approved.

    The photograph of an actual spoon above shows slight design differences in the handle, though it's not clear whether the differences reflect two versions of the spoon, or simply the difference between what Mrs. Hooker designed and what Rogers made. MAGAZINE ADS showed the spoon as it was drawn for the brochure. You can compare the two handles by CLICKING HERE.

From the collections of Mary Schlosser &
the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, Hartford, CT.

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