Haskell & Allen - American Trappers - ca 1875 - Unisex Heavy Cotton Tee Design

This historic lithograph by Haskell & Allen shows a lone trapper at work in the North American wilderness, drawn from the mid-nineteenth-century fur trade.

Visual Elements & Composition

The scene centres on the trapper himself, engaged in the demanding labour of setting and tending traps. Around him sit the tools of the trade and the traditional clothing of the frontier, so the figure reads as a working man rather than a posed portrait. The open landscape frames him, and the isolation of the figure against that wide space is the image's main visual statement.

Meaning & Symbolism

The trapper stands as the iconic figure of American westward expansion. His solitude, endurance and self-reliance speak to the national myth of the pioneer searching for fortune in uncharted territory, and to the complicated relationship between settlers and the untamed land. Haskell & Allen, a Boston publisher, produced affordable lithographs of exploration, military and rural life for a public eager to see its growing nation, so this print documents how the frontier was popularly imagined in the 1870s.

Wearing the Trapper

A tee carries its design across the chest, where it is seen at a distance and then up close as the wearer moves. The trapper's solitary figure sits well on a plain shirt, letting the detail of tools and clothing hold attention in everyday wear. Each time you put it on, you carry a piece of the frontier's working history with you.