The home-life of the millionaire’s family
Subject(s): Dwellings, Families, Family, Homes, Manners and customs, Millionaires
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The vacant home of a millionaire appears at center, surrounded by vignettes showing the whereabouts and activities of the millionaire’s family members. His wife and a daughter are on the golf course, a son is cruising on a yacht, another daughter is at the seminary, and another son is marking time on a ranch, while “Papa [gambles] at Monte Carlo” and the pets spend their days in the kennel.
Comments and Context
Besides showing off Ehrhart’s considerable talents as an illustrator-cartoonist, this cartoon is benign group of drawings whose points illustrate the sharp observations of critics like the economist Thorstein Veblen. The critique of Veblen’s controversial but influential book The Theory of the Leisure Class (Macmillan, 1899) focused on the excesses of the wealthy. It described an unflattering pattern of the accumulation of personal wealth and its inevitable corrupting effect on societies. Veblen introduced the phrase “conspicuous consumption” to the language, and Ehrhart’s cartoon of a mansion made redundant by its family’s outside activities, could serve as an illustration of Veblen’s critique.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1903-03-18
Creator(s)
Ehrhart, S. D. (Samuel D.), approximately 1862-1937
Period
U.S. President – 1st Term (September 1901-February 1905)
Repository
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Page Count
1
Record Type
Image
Resource Type
Rights
These images are presented through a cooperative effort between the Library of Congress and Dickinson State University. No known restrictions on publication.
Citation
Cite this Record
Chicago:
The home-life of the millionaire’s family. [March 18, 1903]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277246. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Ehrhart, S. D. (Samuel D.), approximately 1862-1937. The home-life of the millionaire’s family. [18 Mar. 1903]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 12, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277246.
APA:
Ehrhart, S. D. (Samuel D.), approximately 1862-1937., [1903, March 18]. The home-life of the millionaire’s family.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277246.
Cite this Collection
Chicago:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 12, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs.
APA:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs.
