Details
Contributor Wanamaker, John, 1838-1922, distributor.
Title Merrick Thread Co. "If this was not Merrick's thread I'd get that coon." [graphic].
Publisher [Philadelphia] : [publisher not identified]
Publisher PA. Philadelphia. 1885
Date [ca. 1885]
Physical Description 1 print : chromolithograph ; sheet 8 x 11 cm (3 x 4.5 in.)
Description Racist trade card promoting Merrick thread and depicting a scene of a dog confronting an African American boy stealing a chicken. Shows the smiling African American boy kneeling on the ground and lifting a triangular-shaped wooden cage off a chicken as a large, grey pit-bull like dog lunges at him from the right. The boy is dressed in a blue and white plaid vest, a red shirt, blue pants rolled at the cuffs, and black shoes. The dog is tugged back by a white thread tied around its red collar and pulled from a large spool marked with the "Merrick Thread Co. Best Six Cord 8" logo. Behind the dog is a wooden dog house. Two African African boys watch from above and behind a fence with missing wooden panels. All figures are portrayed with exaggerated features. Print also contains an image on verso depicting a partially opened box of several spools of thread, on which the thread company's tagline "Merrick Thread Co's Ready Wound Bobbins for Sewing Machines Warranted 200 Yards" is printed.Merrick Thread Co. was founded in 1865 by Timothy Merrick, Austin Merrick, and Origen Hall in Mansfield, Connecticut. After its founding, the company established mills in Holyoke, Massachusetts. In 1898, the company merged with thirteen other independent thread and yarn manufacturers to form the American Thread Company. John Wanamaker opened his dry goods store the Grand Depot in former Pennsylvania Railroad sheds in 1876.
Notes Title from item.
Date inferred from content and genre of print.
Advertising text printed on verso: Buy Merrick Thread Co.'s Best Six Cord Soft Finish Spool Cotton For Machine & Hand Sewing, Warranted 200 Yds. Also. Be Progressive. Try the ready-wound Bobbins and save both time and labor. Use them once and be convinced. Made for all Sewing-Machines. Same price as six cord.
Distributor's imprint printed on verso: John Wanamaker, Thirteenth, Chestnut & Market Sts.
Gift of David Doret.
Subject Merrick Thread Co.
African American boys -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Chickens.
Dogs.
Racism in popular culture.
Robberies.
Thread.
Thread industry -- Massachusetts -- Holyoke.
Genre Chromolithographs. -- 1880-1890.
Trade cards. -- 1880-1890.
Associated name Wanamaker, John, 1838-1922, distributor.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| Goldman Trade Card Collection - Merrick [P.2017.95.121]
Accession number P.2017.95.121