Details
Contributor Bumps, E.R., distributor.
W.J. Morgan & Co., printer.
Title It stands at the head. "Domestic" sewing machine [graphic].
Publisher Cleveland : W.J. Morgan & Co. Lith
Publisher OH. Cleveland 1880
Date [ca. 1880]
Physical Description 1 print : lithograph ; sheet 8 x 12 cm (3 x 4.5 in.)
Description Racist trade card promoting Domestic Sewing Machine Company and depicting a caricaturized genre scene of an African American family looking to their right at a billboard on the side of a building. The figures are portrayed with exaggerated feaures. Shows an older, squat man, a woman, and three children seated and standing in a horse-drawn cart halted on a dirt road. An older boy stands behind the cart. The man, attired in a top hat; a ragged jacket; a shirt with bowtie; and pants with patches on the knees and suspenders sits smiling and holding in his hands a stick and the reins of his horse that wears blinders. The woman, attired in spectacles; a straw hat with a decorative ribbon that is tied under her chin in a bow; a long-sleeved dress; and a shawl stands up inside the cart. She holds a baby in her left arm and points at the billboard with her right hand. A boy attired in a long shirt and pants sits beside the man in the front of the cart. Behind the man, a girl attired in a bonnet stands. The boy outside of the cart is barefooted and attired in a cap; a shirt; and ragged pants with a hole at the knee, and carries a basket. A dog, its tail between its legs, hunches underneath the cart. In the left, the billboard is illustrated with a sewing machine in the center of a star with the advertising text around it. Text reads: "It stands at the head : Copyrighted by the "Domestic" Sewing Machine Co. The star that leads them all. Unequalled for simplicity of construction ease of operation and durability. The light running "Domestic" sewing machine." In the distant right background a house is visible. William S. Mack & Co. and N.S. Perkins founded the Domestic Sewing Machine Company in 1864 in Norwalk, Ohio. The White Sewing Machine Company bought the company in 1924.
Notes Title from item.
Date deduced from history of the advertised business.
Distributor's imprint printed on recto: E.R. Bumps, jeweller, Waldoboro, ME.
Gift of David Doret.
Subject Domestic Sewing Machine Co.
African American children -- Caricatures and cartoons.
African American families -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Billboards.
Carts & wagons.
Dogs.
Horses.
Pointing fingers.
Racism in popular culture.
Sewing machine industry -- Ohio -- Norwalk.
Sewing machines.
Smiling.
Genre Lithographs -- 1870-1880.
Trade cards -- 1870-1880.
Associated name Bumps, E.R., distributor.
Printer W.J. Morgan & Co., printer.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| Goldman Trade Card Collection - Domestic [P.2017.95.51]
Accession number P.2017.95.51