Details
Title A tale of the Rising Sun stove polish. [graphic].
Publisher [New York] : Donaldson Brothers
Publisher N.Y. New York. 1885
Date [ca. 1885]
Physical Description 1 print : chromolithograph ; sheet 9 x 15 cm (3.5 x 6 in.)
Description Racist trade card circular advertising Rising Sun Stove Polish. Depicts four scenes in which a white woman, identified as Mrs. Smith, buys cheap ineffective stove polish from a "crafty shopkeeper" and proceeds to purchase the more effective Rising Sun Stove Polish. In the background of the scenes in Mrs. Smith's kitchen is her African American housekeeper, Dinah. Also depicted in the scenes are Mrs. Smith's friend Mrs. Jenkins, her husband Mr. Smith, and a small white dog. Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Jenkins are attired in elaborate and colorful dresses, hats, and hair pieces. In the scene titled "The wretched household," Dinah frowns and is attired" in a yellow dress with the sleeves rolled, a white apron, yellow shoes, white socks, and a yellow headwrap. She holds a brush in her left hand. In the scene titled "The happy home," Dinah smiles and is attired in a blue and white dress with a yellow skirt visible beneath it, black flat shoes, and a red and white cap. She holds a brush in her left hand and raises it triumphantly. In both scenes, she is depicted with exaggerated features. Rising Sun Stove Polish Company was founded in Canton, Massachusetts by Elijah Morse in 1864.
Notes Title from item.
Text printed on recto: The crafty shopkeeper. "It's just as good!" the shopman - he was a vile deceiver. And Mrs. Smith, unused to guile, alas, was a believer. And on the rascal's oily words and lying tongue depended, and bought the swindling compound that the shopman recommended. The wretched household. Next day wise Mrs. Jenkins called on Mrs. Smith, her neighbor, and found the house all upside down, herself distraught with labor: the fire unkindled in the stove, and Dinah vainly trying to black the stove with that vile stuff her mistress had been buying. The dinner not commenced to get, and Mr. Smith expected, each moment home - no wonder that his wife appeared djected. Wise Mrs. Jenkins gazed in tears upon the scene - said she - "For all your troubles, dear, I know a sovereign remedy."
Text printed on verso: The beautiful chromo. Wise Mrs. Jenkins and her friend a little ramble took, and at a splendid chromo in a window took a look. Said Mrs. Jenkins (verbum sap), "'twill all your cares abolish, if you will use the best of all - the Rising Sun Stove Polish." The happy home. "Home, home, sweet home," entranced we gaze upon the peaceful scene, a happy home where everything is quiet and serene. Within the polished stove the fire is burning bright, and on old Dinah's face appears a smile of a calm delight. Kind reader, heed the moral taught, and then our story's done - no stove polish is "just as good" as is the Rising Sun.
Gift of David Doret.
Subject Morse Bros. (Canton, Mass.)
African American household employees.
African American women -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Polishes industry -- Massachusetts -- Canton.
Racism in popular culture.
Stoves.
Genre Chromolithographs. -- 1880-1890.
Trade cards. -- 1880-1890.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| Goldman Trade Card Collection - Rising Sun [P.2017.95.149]
Accession number P.2017.95.149

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