
07/08/2025
It’s National Cow Appreciation Day, and the Curatorial Department takes the opportunity to share some bovine history and take a tour of cow-related objects found in the collection.
Cows are an important resource as beasts of burden (plowing and carting), food (meat and milk), and material (hide and horn). They have also had a significant impact on human cultural evolution as seen in their depictions in myths and art across the world.
Archaeology and DNA points to early domestication beginning ca. 10,000 years ago in Anatolia from wild aurochs. Travelling along major migration routes like the Danube River, Mediterranean Sea, and to North America by Spanish colonizers in the 1400s, cows have come to dominate agricultural landscapes across the world. Interbreeding with regional bovine populations, additional isolated domestication events, and the human selection of desired traits has led to many of the distinct breeds we see today.
First, we look at an assortment of objects related to the processing of milk. The bucket, milk can, churn, and butter molds track the lifecycle of milk from collection to processing into butter for long-term keeping. Accompanying this, we present a recipe for lemon cake from a cookbook, ca. 1862. Like most recipes today that call for some combination of butter and milk, this lemon cake calls for one cup of both.
Next, a small collection of objects made entirely, or in part, of horn. The examples here include a Texas steer horn cup, decorative hair combs, and powder horns; the latter having become a symbol of American colonization.
Finally, cows in art. Starting with a painting by 17th century Dutch artist Paulus Potter, known for his animal landscapes that hold a fascination with our bovine friends. Then, a contemporary painting by Len Tantillo titled “Misty Morning,” and an unattributed 19th-century painting titled “View of Homestead,” both showing cattle integrated into everyday life.
The "Flavors of Change: Food Stories from the Mid-Hudson Valley, 1680-1800” exhibition, currently on display at HHS, explores additional intersections around community, eating, and agriculture.