A Broad-Wheeled Road Waggon 

James Ward, born in London in 1769, made this pencil drawing of a broad-wheeled road wagon. Ward was celebrated for his animal paintings and rural scenes during a period of significant social and economic change in England. This sketch offers a glimpse into the era's transportation and trade. The broad-wheeled wagon, likely used for hauling goods, symbolizes the movement of commodities and the labor intertwined with it. We might consider how such a vehicle facilitated commerce, but also how it reflects the lives of the working class, those who relied on such transport for their livelihoods. The covered wagon could represent privacy, while equally suggesting itinerancy and potentially also the conveyance of enslaved people. What does it mean to obscure the contents of the carriage, while also implying movement? Ward’s detailed sketch invites us to consider the intersections of labor, trade, and the personal stories embedded within the everyday objects of the past.