Today we added the final design element to the wall behind the Audubon case.  The decorative border (and the bird) came from a source contemporary with Audubon–a book of specimens that a printer would show a client who was looking to publish a book, like sales samples, which we found in the wonderful D. B. Updike collection on printing at the Providence Public Library:

Specimen of Printing Types and Ornaments, from the Type and Stereotype Foundry of William Hagar and Co. (New York: [s.n.], 1841).

Shown here is Melissa, the installer from the sign company (ArtFX).

My fabulous designer, Arley-Rose Torsone, took this little bitty ornament and the bird (which is the size of a quarter), did her magic, and produced a design that the sign company then fabricated into vinyl.

It really pops–the text has a much more finished look, and the frame draws the eye to it.

Now we just have to get the floor finished, and we’ll be ready to go!