Details
Contributor Donaldson Brothers (Firm), printer.
Title Clark's trade mark 36 Mile-End spool cotton [graphic].
Publisher Five Points, N.Y. : Donaldson Brothers
Publisher N.Y. New York. 1880
Date [ca. 1880]
Physical Description 1 print : chromolithograph ; sheet 11 x 7 cm (4 x 3 in.)
Description Trade card promoting Clark Thread Company and depicting a racist caricature of an African American man minstrel drummer. Shows the man, in near profile, smiling and beating drumsticks on a drum strapped to his chest. The drum is a giant spool of thread labeled "Clark's Mile-End spool cotton." He is attired in black shoes; blue pants with a yellow stripe; a white jacket with pink flowers and long tails, with large buttons; a white ruffled shirt with a high collar; and a white top hat with a black band. The George A. Clark & Brother Company, manufactory of embroidery and sewing thread, was founded in 1863 in Newark, N.J. The firm was renamed Clark & Co. in 1879, and in the 1880s created a six-cord, soft finished thread called "Our New Thread" or "O.N.T." The business merged with J. & P. Coats in 1896, which lead to a series of mergers with fourteen other companies. Into the 21st century, the company continues to manufacture thread under the name Coats & Clark.
Notes Title from item.
Date deduced from history of the advertised business.
Advertising text printed on verso: Clark's trademark Mile-End spool thread. Best six cord. All numbers from no. 8 to 100. The colors are especially dyed to match. All shades of dress goods and can be used instead of silk by dress makers and families. The black is strong and smooth, and of the purest dye. It will retain its very deep black hue as long as silk fabrics. The white, black and colored is the standard for use upon all sewing machines.
Gift of David Doret.
Subject Clark Thread Company.
African American men -- Caricatures and cartoons.
African American men -- Clothing & dress.
Drums (Musical instruments).
Marching percussion.
Minstrels.
Racism in popular culture.
Smiling.
Thread industry -- New Jersey -- Newark.
Genre Chromolithographs -- 1870-1880.
Trade cards -- 1870-1880.
Printer Donaldson Brothers (Firm), printer.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| Goldman Trade Card Collection - Clark [P.2017.95.32]
Accession number P.2017.95.32