A bran new coon in town
Racist, satiric postcard depicting an African American family (portrayed as racist stereotypes) welcoming a “new” member, a baby. Shows the grandfather standing and weighing the infant on a hand held scale, as the grandmother, attired in a head kerchief, a floral shirt, a skirt, and an apron, cradles the baby’s head. In the right, the father smiles as he stands leaning down with both hands clutching a small table. In the center, a young boy sits at the table eating as he looks up at the baby. In the left, the mother sits smiling beside a stove as she pours water from a kettle into a cup., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Copyright, 1898, and published by Knaffl & Bro., Knoxville, Tenn., Originally published in an 1898 edition of Leslie's Weekly as part of "The Blackville Gallery" series under the title "Weighing the Christmas Baby.", RVCDC, Accessioned 1999., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Digitized with funding from a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
Mrs. Lena Mason's Chautauqua meetings, Aug. 1st - Sept. Phila, Pa.
Postcard showing an African American Chautauqua meeting. Depicts African American men, women, and children gathered near several tents. In the foreground, an African American woman and man, possibly Mrs. and Mr. Mason, stand and look at the viewer next to a wooden chair with a hat on top of it. Chautauqua meetings, developed from the Lyceum Movement, were traveling tent shows providing education and entertainment to early 20th-century audiences., Title and date from item., Photographic paper company's imprint on verso: Mermont Photo Paper Co., New York., Purchase 2001., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Digitized with funding from a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
Pony riding, Camp Emlen, Norwood, Montg. Co., Pa. Conducted by Wissahickon Boys Club, Germantown, Phila.
Depicts four African American boys riding on ponies near tents set up at Camp Emlen in Morwood, Pa. The four boys sit on the ponies in a line and face the viewer. Six tents are set up in the right. The Wissahickon Boys' Club opened in 1896. It was the first boys's club to serve the African American community. In 1906, the Philadelphia clubs joined with forty-nine other organizations to form the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. John T. Emlen, the long-time president of the Wissahickon Boys' Club, donated twenty-seven acres in Morwood, Montgomery County, Pa., as a summer camp., Title from item., Date inferred from content., The title should be Morwood but is mistakenly printed as Norwood., Sheet number: 138B21., Divided back. Stamped August 14, 1936., Gift of George M. Brightbill, 1999., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Digitized with funding from a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
Three black crows
Racist, satiric postcard depicting three young African American boys perched from oldest to youngest on a branch as "Black crows." The boys are attired in loin clothes. The middle child is crying with his hands over his eyes and falling off the branch. In the left, the oldest boy attempts to hold him up. The youngest, a baby, pats the middle child's shoulder with his right hand., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Copyrighted, 1899., Accessioned 1999., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Digitized with funding from a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
William Still, dealer in Lehigh & Schuylkill coal, 1216, 1218 and 1220 Washington Avenue, Philadelphia.
Title from item., Date inferred from dates of operation of advertised business., Price list template ("Present prices per ton") printed on verso for various kinds of Lehigh, Schuylkill and Bituminous coal., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Gift of Emily Phillips, 1883., Digitized., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
"Wish you'd hush"
Racist postcard depicting an African American boy looking exasperated at the crying African American baby beside him. The children are shown from the waist up and are bare-chested. The older boy has a glistening substance around his mouth and on his cheeks. The baby holds, possibly, ice in their hands., Title from item., Publication information and date from copyright statement: Copyrighted, 1905, and published by Knaffl & Bro., Knoxville, Tenn., Accessioned 1999., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Digitized with funding from a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
World War One
Shows the memorial, sculpted by J. Otto Schweizer and erected by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1934 in memory of all African American military men who have served in wartime. The top of the monument is a sculpted eternal flame, the "Torch of Life," surrounded by four American eagles. Below the torch, a female allegorical figure of justice stands holding wreaths symbolic of honor and reward. She is flanked by five figures of African American military personnel from each branch of the armed service. A dedication is inscribed into the memorial's granite pedestal which is adorned with a wreath. Erected after much controversy on Lansdowne Avenue, the memorial was moved in 1994 to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway opposite the Franklin Institute., Numbered 8419 on verso., Sheet number: 88L01., Divided back. Text on verso.