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Tobacco - Virginia
View showing a tobacco field near a Virginia road. In the foreground, tobacco plants grow. An African American man and woman, possibly agricultural workers, walk near a large, wooden shed in the field. In the left, a car drives down the road towards the viewer., Title from manuscript note on verso., Date inferred from photographic medium and car in the photograph., Gift of Joseph Kelly, 1982., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
[Trio gem lantern slide of scenes from Uncle Tom's Cabin] [graphic].
Lantern slide with three sequential scenes from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s "Uncle Tom’s Cabin." Depicts scenes from chapters 26, 40, and 41. Chapter 26 image shows the deathbed scene of Eva St. Clair. Shows Eva in bed, seated up, holding a bouquet of flowers in her lap, and surrounded by people. Eva's parents Mr. and Mrs. St. Clare sit on either side of the bed and Miss Ophelia kneels and cries behind Mr. St. Clare. Mrs. St. Clare holds a fan, has a handkerchief in her lap, and looks toward Eva. Mr. St. Claire, rests his head in one hand, and has his other hand on the bed. In front of Eva, the enslaved men and women of the household, including Tom, kneel, stand, pray, hold handkerchiefs, and cry. The setting also includes a window with open drapes, a curtain behind Eva's bed, and a side table adorned with a vase of flowers. Chapter 40 scene represents the beating of Tom by his enslaver Simon Legree following the escape of the enslaved Cassy and Emmeline. Shows Tom, with grey hair, a grey beard, and barefooted, lying on a pile of cotton on the floor of a shed. Legree stands over him with one hand clenched in a fist toward his chest and the other clenched by his side as he raises up one of his feet. Chapter 41 scene shows an adult George Shelby visiting with the beaten and dying Tom after locating him in order to see if he "couldn't buy him back." Shows Tom lying on a pile of cotton near the opening to a shed. An open book lies near him by his hand. Shelby leans over Tom and holds his hand. In the background, outside of the opening, Legree stands, with his hands in his pant pockets and watching the men., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from format., Printed on cover glass: Gem Slide. Gem Slide., Contains ornamental pictorial details in the corners of the cover glass., Contains label with series number: 107., Gift of David Doret., RVCDC
The trombone soloist. [graphic] / William H. Rau, photographer, Philad'a., Pa.
Genre portrait with a racist tone showing an African American boy, seated on a stool, and holding a trombone by the braces and down toward his left knee. He is attired in a neutral-color, buttoned jacket; short pants; white, collared shirt; and a black top hat. The boy is posed at a three-quarter angle, right profile. His head is tilted slightly to his left., Title printed on negative., Name of publisher/distributor stamped on mount., Curved grey mount with rounded corners., Gift of David Long., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
higgins
Portrait photograph showing two African American men, side-by-side, attired in suits, as well as top hats with advertising text for Charles S. Higgins Company soap. One hat reads "Try it" and the other reads "Higgins German Laundry soap is the best." One man holds a swagger stick and the other a walking cane, and both stand in front of a backdrop depicting a bucolic mountain scene. Charles S. Higgins Company, established by Higgins's father W. B. Higgins in Brooklyn in 1846, manufactured "German Laundry soap" beginning around 1860, when Charles assumed the business. The laundry soap was packaged in a wrapper illustrated with an African American woman washing in a tub. By the early 1890s Charles S. Higgins left the firm still operated under his name and formed Higgins Soap Company. Court proceedings over trademarks and tradenames ensued and Higgins Soap Company became insolvent by the mid 1890s., Title supplied by cataloger., Photographer's imprint printed on verso. Includes illustration of a paint palette., Purchased with funds from the Albert M. Greenfield Foundation.
Two dromios
Double exposure depicting a large African American man, attired in a cap, a short-sleeved shirt torn at the elbows, and an apron. He leans on a ledge and crosses his hands while smoking a pipe and looks to the right in the first exposure and to the left in the other, creating the illusion of "Two Dromios" or twins. Dromio was the name of enslaved twins in Shakespeare's, "Comedy of Errors.", Title from manuscript note by photographer., Signed by photographer on verso., Gift of Elsie Wood Harmon, 1982., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Wood, a Philadelphia artist, turned to photography in the 1880s exhibiting his work, including genre studies of African Americans, at national and international photography exhibitions. His photographs won several prizes.
Two little nigs
Racist portrait depicting two African American boys, attired in torn and worn clothes, seated on a plank on a barrel in a field. The barefooted boy in the left, attired in a hat, a torn shirt, and worn pants, sits with his hands folded on his lap. The boy in the right, attired in a hat, a worn shirt, torn pants, and dilapidated shoes, sits with his hands between his legs., No. 119., Photographer's imprint printed on verso., Title from manuscript note on verso., Warped orange mount with rounded corners., Gift of David Long, 2002., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Two souls with but a single thought.
Lantern slide formerly owned and probably used in art lessons by Philadelphia painter, photographer, and art teacher, Xanthus Smith of a racist depiction of African Americans in caricature by comic artist, Thomas Worth. Depicts a young and dapperly-dressed African American couple eating a piece of watermelon on a porch as the parents of one of the couple watches them from a doorway. Seated on a bench, the woman, wearing her hair tied up with a pink ribbon and attired in a blue shirt with buttons down the center, a white skirt with ruffles at the bottom, red and black checked stockings, and black shoes, sits beside the man, attired in a gray bowler hat, a white shirt with stripes, a gray waistcoat, gray and black striped pants, and black shoes. They hold a large slice of watermelon up together and bite from it while looking at one another. In the left, the mother, attired in a blue and pink plaid head kerchief, a pink and black striped shirt with a white lace collar, and a pink skirt, and the father, attired in a white collared shirt, a black waistcoat, and black pants, looks on at the couple from an open doorway. A banjo hangs from the post of the porch in the right. In the background, trees and the night sky is visible., Title from label on mount on verso., Gift of Edna Andrade, 1994., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Type "C" loader with swiveling belt conveyor storing coal at University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
a Product advertisement, probably from a trade portfolio, showing the Link-Belt coal loader in action behind a small ivy covered building on the campus. In the foreground are large piles of coal. In the center, a coal shooting loader is set up and an African American man, attired in a brimmed hat, stands and oversees the operation. A laborer shovels coal from the back of a dump truck. Link-Belt Engineering Co. was founded by William Dana Ewart, inventor of the link-belt, in 1874., Title from typed note on verso., Date inferred from photographic medium and content., Inscribed in negative: 9249., Purchase 1990., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Uncle Jimmie, Beaufort, S.C. [graphic] / Photographed by Wilson & Havens, Savannah, Ga.
Stereograph depicting “Uncle Jimmie,” an older African American man knitting the corner edge of a mesh fishing net extended out in front of him from a pole on the porch of a wood cabin. Shows the man, with receding, short, cropped hair, seated, and in profile. He wears a white, long-sleeve, button-down shirt; dark-colored pants; and work shoes. The man, possibly Gullah, uses a flat rule and needle on the edge of the net. Behind the man, in the background, an open door to an entryway with an open window is visible. A vertical beam is also visible in the left of the image. Knitting fish net was and is one of a number of Gullah traditions (customs developed by enslaved Africans living along the Atlantic coast of South Carolina) practiced in Beaufort, S.C., Title from manuscript note on verso., Date inferred from active dates of Wilson & Havens partnership., Orange mount with rounded corners., Description reviewed 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Uncle Ned's school [graphic].
View, photographed with a black background, showing a small narrative plaster after the John Rogers' bronze sculpture patented in 1866. Sculpture is comprised of the figure of an African American girl, an older African American cobbler, an African American boy, and a ramshackle cabinet. All the figures are barefoot. In the left, the young female charge of the cobbler stands, holds a book, and points to a page that she has been reading. In the center, the cobbler, his hair receded, leans over, and looks at the book as he has one leg swung over a rickety cabinet and the other behind it. He holds a shoe buffer in his right hand that rests on the book and a boot over his left hand and forearm that rests on his hip. A second boot stands at the base of the cabinet near the girl's feet. In the right, the cobbler's male charge reclines next to the cabinet. He has his left hand behind him and his left leg outstretched, as his right hand touches the base of the foot of the hanging leg of the cobbler. An open book rests in the boy's lap. The girl is attired in a straight neck, off-the-shoulder dress that is cinched at the waist. The cobbler wears rolled-up shirt sleeves, pants, and an apron at his waist. The boy wears shirt sleeves and pants with a hole at the knee. Rogers' original sculpture "Uncle Ned's School" was exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1866. Rogers mass produced and sold tens of thousands of plaster sculptures after his bronzes 1859-1893., Title from title carved in base of depicted sculpture., Date inferred from style of mount and 1866 patent of sculpture., Yellow mount with rounded corners., John Rogers (1829-1904), a New York sculptor and artist, specialized in sculpted narrative group scenes beginning in the late 1850s. He established a workshop for the mass production of his sculptures at affordable prices that were marketed as "Rogers' Groups." Rogers retired in 1893., Gift of David Long., RVCDC, Description and access points reviewed 2022.
[Unidentified African American man]
Three-quarter length portrait of a bearded Black man attired in a white collared shirt, a bowtie, a sack coat, and light-colored pants. He sits on a wooden chair facing slightly left with his right hand tucked into his coat., Title supplied by cataloger., Photographer's imprint stamped on verso., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of unidentified portraits. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Schreiber & Son(s), a Philadelphia partnership of George Schreiber, and his several sons, specialists in portraiture and animal portraiture, were in business from 1857 until 1900, operating at 818 Arch Street from 1867 until 1879.
[Unidentifed African American man]
Three-quarter length portrait of a seated African American man superimposed in front of a background of an ornate parlor interior. Sitter, attired in a white collared shirt, a bowtie, a waistcoat, a jacket with large, decorative buttons, and pants, sits facing forward with his hands on his knees and his head slightly looking right., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from attire of the sitter., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Accessioned 1982., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
[Unidentified African American man in militia uniform] [graphic] / Cheston's 227 Lombard St., between 2d and 3d, Philadelphia.
Full-length portrait photograph by African American photographer Gallo W. Cheston depicting an African American man in a light-colored militia uniform. The man stands, turned slightly toward the right. He holds a long rifle in front of himself with his gloved hands. His left foot is slightly in front of his right. His uniform includes a Shako cap; jacket with epaulettes, buttons, and service stripes; shoulder strap marked "4"; belt; and pants with a dark vertical stripe down the leg. The tip of a rifle and holster is seen below his back. Portrait also includes, to the man's left, a pulled-back drape propped up on a pedestal. Following the Civil War and during Reconstruction (1865-1877), several African American militia units formed, particularly in the South., Title supplied by cataloger., Name of photographer from photographer's label pasted on verso: Cheston's 227 Lombard St., between 2d and 3d, Philadelphia. All the various styles of pictures known to the art, made in a manner as near perfection as possible; and all Improvements or additions introduced as soon as made and perfected. Your patronage is solicited. N. B. Old pictures copied to any size, in an artistic manner., Date inferred from tenancy of the photographer at the address listed on his label pasted on verso., Photograph mounted on board, rounded at the corners, and with a printed oval-shaped, frame-like border surrounding the image. Border adorned with ornaments and filigree., Photograph altered with ink and watercolor details highlighting parts of the sitter's uniform, including his cap, epaulettes, service stripes, shoulder strap, belt, and buttons, as well as his eyes, eyebrows, and sideburns. The pull of a drape included in the studio setting is also hand colored., Purchased in part with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., Description reviewed 2022., Access points revised 2022., Gallo W. Cheston (ca. 1846-1882) served as a private of the Pennsylvania National Guard 1871-1873.
[Unidentified African American man with a dog]
Full-length portrait of an African American man, wearing a mustache and attired in a white collared shirt, a waistcoat, a jacket, a riding coat, and pants, standing in front of a backdrop adorned with ornate decorative columns. He holds a walking stick, crosses his right leg over his left, and leans on a balustrade on which a top hat rests. A white and brown spaniel dog lies in the foreground., Photographer's imprint printed on verso., Title supplied by cataloger., Purchase 2001., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Parlor Gallery, operated by Lewis Horning, was in business at 523 South 9th Street from around 1876 until 1885.
[Unidentified African American woman]
Three-quarter length portrait of a young woman wearing her hair parted in the middle and tied behind her head with long curly bangs and attired in a shirtwaist with buttons down the bodice and a long skirt. She sits facing slightly left with her left arm resting on the chair's armrest, which is decorated with a patterned fabric and fringe. Her right hand rests on her lap., Title supplied by cataloger., Photographer's imprint stamped on verso., Possibly by Philadelphia photographer Isaac G. Tyson., Slightly discolored and faded., Purchase 2000., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
[Unidentified African American woman] [graphic] / J. Fenton's photograph, ambrotype, ferrotype and photo miniature gallery, No. 729 South St., below 8th, north side, Philadelphia. N.B. Formerly of Ninth & Market Streets.
Near full-length portrait showing an African American woman attired in a narrow-brimmed, high-domed, ornamented bonnet; dark-colored, button-down shirt waist; and white skirt with ruching at the hips. A broach with a four-leaf clover detail adorns her collar. She stands between a post to her right and a stringy, hay bale-like prop to her left. She rests her left hand on the prop and holds a parasol perpendicular to the floor in her right. A photographer's head clamp is positioned to the left of the post and a backdrop illustrated with an outdoor setting is visible in the background. The studio is partially visible in the left of the image., Title supplied by cataloger., Accompanied by detached photographer's label (P.2017.14.4b)., Date inferred from "N.B." on photographer's label., Description and access points reviewed 2022.
[Unidentified African American woman and boy]
Copy print of a circa 1850 daguerreotype of a fair-skinned African American woman, seated, holding the hand of a fair-skinned boy, probably her son, who stands next to her. In the right, the woman wears her hair with waves, parted in the middle, and tied behind her head and is attired in a long-sleeved, striped dress with white cuffs and a white collar or scarf tied around her neck. In the left, the boy wears his hair parted to the right with waves and is attired in a long-sleeved shirt with buttons down the center, a white collar or scarf around his neck, and light-colored pants., Title supplied by cataloger., Photographer's imprint stamped on verso., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of unidentified portraits. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Schreiber & Son(s), a Philadelphia partnership of father, George Schreiber, and his several sons, specialists in portraiture and animal portraiture, were in business from 1857 until 1900, operating at 818 Arch Street from 1867 until 1879.
[Unidentifed elderly African American man]
Three-quarter length portrait of an African American man seated in a wooden Windsor chair in front of the doorway of a house with walls that are cracked with exposed wood. Sitter, wearing white hair and sideburns and attired in a white shirt, a dark-colored jacket and pants, and a dark-colored coat with paint splatters on the elbow and sleeves, holds a hat in his hand as he looks directly at the viewer., Title supplied by cataloger., Originally part of a S.W. Dwayne scrapbook., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
[Unidentified young African American man]
Full-length portrait of a well-dressed young African American man. The man, attired in a white collared shirt, a bowtie with a pin, a jacket with a boutonniere, striped suit pants, and shoes, stands his left hand resting on a plaster block in front of a backdrop painted with a tree and grass., Title supplied by cataloger., Photographer's imprint with insignia stamped on mount., Photographer's advertisement on verso., Mount contains gold border., Accessioned 1988., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
[Joseph C. Anderson] [graphic] / Keystone Art Studio, Phila., 1895.
Full-length portrait of a well-dressed young African American man. The man, attired in a white collared shirt, a bowtie with a pin, a jacket with a boutonniere, striped suit pants, and shoes, stands his left hand resting on a plaster block in front of a backdrop painted with a tree and grass., Title supplied by cataloger., Photographer's imprint with insignia stamped on mount., Photographer's advertisement on verso., Mount contains gold border., Accessioned 1988., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
[Unidentified young African American woman]
Full-length portrait of a young African American woman standing and resting her left hand on the balustrade behind her. She wears her hair tied behind her head and is attired in a fur cap and a long-sleeved dress which has large, decorative buttons that are placed in the middle and run the length of the dress flanked on either side with pleated ruffles with two rows of ruffles around the base of the skirt. In the right is a table covered in a tablecloth and a drape which hangs down., Title supplied by cataloger., Photographer's imprint including vignette and business advertisement stamped on verso., Purchase 2001., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Parlor Galleries operated at 523 South 9th Street from 1876 to 1885.
[Unidentified young African American woman]
Bust-length portrait of a young African American woman facing slightly left. She wears her hair tied back behind her head in a bun and is attired in small hoop earrings, a puffed sleeve blouse with a high collar over her neck and decorative stripes of ribbon across the shoulders in a patterned fabric., Title supplied by cataloger., Date based on the photographer and attire of the sitter., Missing lower right corner of mount. Surface badly scratched., Purchase 2001., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon and Hospital
Series of titled views of the exterior and interior of the facilities of the Civil War volunteer relief agency near the Navy Yard at Swanson and Washington Avenues in Philadelphia. Predominately shows the patriotically adorned refreshment saloon with male and female members of the working committee, staff, and a patient in a robe posed among rows of tables set for a dining service. Also includes a view of patients posed near beds and a model ship in a ward at the hospital and a large crowd of men and boys standing in front of the hospital and saloon. Exterior also shows a parital view of the cannon, known as "Fort Brown." Situated at the transportation hub between the North and the South on land leased en gratis from the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad, the agency in operation between 1861-1865 provided meals, hospital care, washing, sleeping, and writing facilities to military personnel, refugees, and freedmen., Yellow mounts with square corners., Accompanied by publisher's labels inscibed with titles., Created postfreeze., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of materials related to the Cooper and Union Shop Volunteer Saloons and Hospitals., Digitization funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Added to African Americana Digital Collection through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
[United States Department of the Interior] Quartermasters Interior Depot, 21 and Oregon Ave., May 24, 1917 [sic]
View of a crowd witnessing the military performing a flag folding ceremony at the Depot under construction in Philadelphia during World War I. In the center, the soldiers hold a large American flag. More soldiers stand in formation in the right. Surrounding the soldiers are depot workers, some African American men, who watch the ceremony. In the foreground, men observe the scene while seated on a trailer and sitting and standing on stacks of cinder blocks. In the left, a man sits on a bicycle beside a building. Scaffolding is visible in the background., Title from item., Manuscript date written on recto should probably be 1918 not 1917., See related: P.P.9260.428., Purchase 1989., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
An unpleasantness in Swampoodle
Photographic reproduction of a print drawn by Helen M. Colburn, daughter of New Jersey artist Rembrandt Lockwood, depicting an altercation in the post-Reconstruction African American and Irish northeast Washington, D.C. working-class neighborhood "Swampoodle." The figures are drawn with racist and caricatured features and mannerisms. In the center, an African American woman holds an ax up to another African American woman who stands with her hands at her hips, and with a look of surprise on her face. A third African American woman to the left of the woman with an ax attempts to reach for the weapon, while a fourth African American woman holds a switch and looks on with a stunned expression. Beside the stunned woman, a small African American boy stands in front of a fifth African American woman leaning over to pick up a rock. In the far left, an African American police officer is being led by an African American boy to the group of women. A shadowy depiction of a crowd of men, women, and children, some holding up brooms and sticks, is visible in the background. Scene also includes wash buckets, switches, and weeds on the ground near the central figure's feet. The central figures wear worn shirts and long skirts or dresses. The woman threatended wears the most worn cloths and rags on her feet. Three of the women wear kerchiefs and two wear aprons. Robinson, married to Washington U.S. Treasury clerk Rollinson Colburn, lived in the Capitol between circa 1870 and her death in 1912. In 1887 eight of her works, some purported to be based on her own eye-witness accounts during the 1870s, showing African American life in the city were published as a collectible series of photographs. Occassionally, Colburn described and signed her descriptions of the scenes on the versos of the photographs., Title printed on mount., Date from copy right statement printed on mount: Copyright 1887., Written in lower left of original print: Copyright 1887., Written in lower right of original print: Mrs. R. Colburn., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
[Vegetable cultivation at demonstration center at Little Wakefield, Germantown]
Group of young women, including an African American woman, from the National League for Women's Service with plow, wheelbarrow, watering can, and other tools working in a vegetable garden. Shows eighteen women spread out over the garden tending to different plants. In the center, the African American woman stands holding a pitcher. A voluntary organization in support of the homefront during World War I, the League used the Little Wakefield estate as a demonstration center. They held classes in home economics and canning and preserving, grew fruits and vegetables, and cultivated bees. Little Wakefield was built by Thomas Rodman Fisher in 1829 on property adjacent to his father's estate, Wakefield, located at 1601 Lindley Avenue. La Salle University purchased the land in 1989., Title from published postcard., Date inferred from content., Photographer's blind stamp on recto., Purchase 1989., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Vegetable dealer Bermuda [graphic].
Postcard depicting an older Black man with a beard, seated in a mule-drawn cart. Bunches of root vegetables, a basket, and a barrel lay behind him in the cart. A partial view of a building with three windows is visible in the background., Title from item., Date inferred from design of verso of postcard: Undivided back and "Post Card" in thin serif letters, Manuscript note written on recto: How would you like to ride [in that?] [ illegible]., Name and address of recipient in manuscript on verso: Miss Mabel McClure, 328 Preston St., W. Phila, Pa. U.S.A., RVCDC, Description reviewed 2022., Access points revised 2022.
View in old park
View looking north from the south garden, adorned with trees and benches, at the Fairmount Water Works on the Schuylkill River. In the left, an African American, attired in a bowler hat, a white shirt, a dark-colored waistcoat, and pants, possibly a groundskeeper, stands with a broom. Two park guards stand and converse in front of the Diana statue at the base of the promenade leading to the inclined walkway on Reservoir Hill. Another man walks down the promenade toward the guards. In the foreground, a man, attired in a bowler hat, a white shirt, and dark-colored pants, stands leaning his left arm on a tree with his back to the viewer. The waterworks, originally built between 1812 and 1822 after the designs of Philadelphia engineer Frederick Graff, were altered and expanded until 1872. The south garden was laid out in the 1830s., Attributed to James Cremer., Title from manuscript note on verso., Orange mount with rounded corners., Accessioned 1989., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Digitization funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
View in the Park. [graphic].
Exterior view of the colonial residence built 1763-1767 by master carpenter Jacob Knor for Philadelphia attorney Benjamin Chew at 6401 Germantown Avenue. A white man, attired in a top hat and suit, stands and looks at the viewer with a dog on the front lawn. A white boy lies in a hammock, and another white boy stands beside him. Chew House, also known as Cliveden, was the site of the turning point in the Battle of Germantown in 1777. The Chew family enslaved people of African descent in the city of Philadelphia and in Germantown during the 18th and 19th centuries. The estate was the Chew family residence until 1972 when it was acquired by the National Trust for Historic Preservation., List of titles printed on verso., Title from verso., Yellow mount with rounded corners., Gift of Raymond Holstein, 2011., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
[View of operating room with Dr. J.H. Mudgett and African American men physicians and African American women nurses at a surgical procedure at Dr. J. H. Mudgett’s Private Hospital and Training School for Nurses, 2030 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia] [graphic
View shows Dr. John Herbert Mudgett and African American physicians and nurses surrounding an African American person lying on a surgical gurney and covered in surgical drapes in an operating room. Mudgett, center and looking at the camera, and attired in a surgical cap and gown, rests his hands on the patient. To his right stands a nurse, attired in a cap and a white surgical gown who looks with a side glance at the camera. To her right, a man anesthesiologist, in right profile, is seated, and holds his hands above the face of the patient. In the right foreground, two men physicians, attired in surgical caps and gowns stand over and have their hands on the patient. One man looks at the patient and the other man looks at the camera. In the left, center background, possibly Miss Harris, super-intendant of the nurses, attired in a striped, nurse's cap looks over the shoulder of Mudgett. In the far right background, a nurse attired in a surgical cap and gown looks, with a slight frown, at the camera. The face and head of another nurse wearing a surgical cap is seen behind her. View also includes two uncovered windows in the background., Dr. J. H. Mudgett’s Private Hospital and Training School for Nurses was established by New Hampshire-born white (per census records) physician John H. Mudgett and chartered in 1919. Mudgett served as the medical director of surgery. In 1921, the school was one of a number of nursing schools advertised in the “Evening Public Ledger” as offering "Free Tuition, Board, Lodging, and a Nominal Fee" to be trained as a nurse. Mudgett, graduated Dartmouth Medical School in 1896 and resided in Philadelphia as a physician by circa 1905. By 1925, he was listed as only a physician with no listing for the training school. Mudgett, a member of the First African Baptist Church, died in 1945. At the time of his death he was in a multiracial marriage with Adeline Mudgett (1889-1958), a former dressmaker. His race on his death certificate had been altered from white to "colored.", Title supplied by cataloger., Name of attributed photographer from complementary photographs., Date inferred from photographs with complementary content and article about "Mudgett’s Hospital Has Its First Commencement," Philadelphia Tribune, July 19, 1919., See also complementary group portrait photographs - Education - M [P.2022.5.1 & 2].
View of the old Capitol. [graphic].
Reproduction of an 1837 print "View of the Capitol at Washington" engraved by C.J. Bentley after the work of W. H. Bartlett and published in N. P. Willis's American Scenery;... (London: George Virtue, 1837). Shows the Capitol building with the Bulfinch dome that was removed in 1856. Also shows street and pedestrian traffic, including horse-drawn carriages, a man on horseback, and a group of Black men and women in non-European attire in the foreground. Reconstruction of the Capitol building after the designs of Charles Bulfinch was completed in 1826., Title from label., Date inferred from content and active dates of the photographer., Gift of Sandra Markham.
Views of the Wilson family on their estate.
Views show the Wilson family recreating on their estate. Depicts the family reading, picnicking, sitting and lounging in their yard, walking and working in their gardens, harvesting corn, playing with family dogs, posing near a small footbridge, and eating on their porch. Several members of the family are seated on their horses in a few of the images. One image includes an African American man, attired in a white chef’s hat and apron, overseeing a meal under a tent. Also shows exterior views of the family's two-and-a-half story residence with porches on the first two levels, a stone barn, and outbuildings. American flags are included in several of the images., Title supplied by cataloger., Date based on content and attire of the people., Photographer's labels pasted on versos., Stereograph [P.9439.17] contains manuscript note on verso: "For Mr. Wilson with compliments of the artist.", Contains twenty-two photographs, seventeen printed on yellow mounts with square corners and five printed on mint green mounts with square corners., Purchase 1993., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
Views of Tuskegee Institute
Collection of views of the campus and the outlying areas of the African American vocational school organized by Booker T. Washington in Tuskegee, Alabama. Established in 1881 as a normal school for Black teachers, the school relocated in 1882 to an abandoned plantation and evolved into a co-educational vocational school active within the local community. The institute trained students in academic and industrial subjects including farming, dairy work, masonry, sewing, nursing, bible studies, and agricultural science. The majority of the campus was constructed by the students., Contains exterior views of several campus buildings including the Men's Industrial Building; the women's or Alabama Hall, and Phelps Hall containing the bible training school, as well as workshops, the brick kiln, the chapel, and Booker T. Washington's house. Also depicts scenes and portraits of daily life at and near the school including W.V. Chambliss, faculty member in charge of the dairy herd; a group portrait outside a nearby "Negro school house"; use of "the well" by whites and Blacks; teams of horses and oxen steered by students; and a "dress parade" and "inspection" of uniformed male students. Also includes exterior views of unidentified buildings; views of the main street of campus; street views of Dixville, Virginia; and a series of scenes depicting African American boys "scrabbing for a dime" on railroad tracks in North Carolina., Gift of Katherine Vaux McCauley and Mary James Vaux, 1999., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., The Vaux family, a trio of siblings and Philadelphia photographers, included Mary M. Vaux (1860-1940), George Vaux, Jr. (1863-1927), and William S. Vaux, Jr.(1872-1908). The Quaker siblings, members of the Photographic Society of Philadelphia, worked collaboratively in photography, traveled extensively, and supported many philanthropic and educational organizations. Two of the siblings, Mary and George, joined the Photo-Secession movement at its founding in 1902.
[Village street scene]
Village street scene, possibly in Cuba, with pedestrian and street traffic including a woman, a Black man, and a horse-drawn wagon. The roofs of the buildings are tinted green., Title supplied by cataloger., Purchase 1988., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Rich, a professional Philadelphia landscape photographer, was an avid traveler.
A Virginia slave child in 1863
Three-quarter length portrait of five-year old child emancipated from enslavement, Fannie Virginia Casseopia Lawrence, with her adoptive mother Catherine S. Lawrence. Freed in Virginia by Lawrence, a military nurse, Fannie was publicized as the "redeemed slave child" baptized by Henry Ward Beecher at Plymouth Church in Brooklyn in May 1863. Depicts the fair-skinned Fannie, attired in a straw hat, a cape, and a dress, standing and holding the gloved hand of the seated Catherine Lawrence, attired in a bonnet with a black lace veil and a bow under her chin, a dark-colored dress, and a cape., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1863, by T.C. Fanning, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York., Photographer's imprint stamped on verso., Manuscript note on verso: Plymouth Church., Copyrighted by T.C. Fanning. Possibly New York publisher, Thomas C. Fanning., See Kathleen Collin's "Portraits of slave children" History of photography 9 (July-September, 1985), p. 187-210., Purchase 2002., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
"Watching Grandma smoke"
Genre scene depicting an older African American woman, attired in a head kerchief, a long-sleeved, patterned dress, and a striped apron, smoking a pipe. She is seated on the steps to the open doorway of her dilapidated, wooden house surrounded by her three young grandchildren who intently watch her. A small, barefooted girl, attired in a dress and a torn and worn jacket, sits with her legs stretched out across the bottom step. A barefooted boy, attired in a shirt, a jacket, and shorts, sits on the next up above with his right leg crossed over his left knee and looks up at his grandmother. Standing in the doorway is a girl, attired in a dress, a jacket, and shoes, who looks down with her hands at her side., Photographer's imprint stamped on mount., Title from manuscript note by photographer on verso., Signed by photographer on verso., Manuscript note on verso: No. 4. Class A., Gift of Elsie Wood Harmon, 1982., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Wood, a Philadelphia artist, turned to photography in the 1880s exhibiting his work, including genre scenes of African Americans, at national and international photography exhibitions. His photographs won several prizes.
We uses pears soap fo' de complexun
Racist scene depicting three young African American girls in summer dresses sitting on a fence inscribed with chalk in the vernacular, "We Uses Pears Soap fo' de Complexun." The girl in the left, attired in a long-sleeved, cotton dress and shoes, sits with her left hand on her knee and her right hand on her lap. In the middle, the barefooted girl, attired in a striped, long-sleeved cotton dress, smiles with her feet crossed and resting her hands on her lap. In the right, the girl, wearing long, curly hair and attired in a long-sleeved cotton dress with fraying at the bottom, striped stockings, and shoes, rests her hands on her lap and looks at the viewer. Andrew Pears first produced and sold Pears soap in 1807. In 1835, his grandson Francis Pears joined the business, and the firm was renamed A. & F. Pears. Lever Brothers purchased the firm in 1920., Title from item., Gift Elsie Wood Harmon, 1982., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Wood, a Philadelphia artist, turned to photography in the 1880s exhibiting his work, including genre studies of African Americans, at national and international photography exhibitions. His photographs won several prizes.
Wendell Phillips
Bust-length portrait of the radical Massachusetts abolitionist, orator, women's rights and labor advocate. Phillips, attired in a white collared shirt, a black bowtie, and a jacket with velvet lapels, faces left. Phillips, a Garrisonian, served on the Executive Committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society, argued that the Constitution was a pro-slavery document to be nullified, and advocated for Black equality following the Civil War., Title from manuscript note on verso., Date inferred from active dates of photographer and presented age of sitter., Gift of Richard P. Morgan, 1996., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Sarony, the leading photographer of celebrity portrait cabinet cards in the 1870s and 1880s, paid the highest sitter fees of the time and often acted as artistic designer as opposed to technician of the portraits.
"We's done all dis s'mornin'." [graphic].
Racist scene showing, in the foreground, a young, African American girl and boy standing behind a large basket of cotton in a cotton field. The girl faces the camera and the boy looks behind him and with his head turned away. The girl wears a bonnet, dark-color, long-sleeved shirt, and a light-color skirt. The boy wears a long-sleeve, light-color, smock-like shirt. In the background, African American men, women, boys, and girls work in the field or are posed to stand and face the camera. One man sits, high up, on bales., Dates from copyright statements on recto and verso: Copyright 1899, by B. L. Singley. Made in U.S.A. and Copyright, 1913, by the Keystone View Company., Title from recto of item., Title printed in five different languages, including Italian, French, and German, on verso., Variant title on verso: 9506-"We'se done all dis's mornin',"-Picking cotton on a Mississippi plantation., Several lines of text printed on verso, often describing in racist terms, the culture, conditions, and economics of the cotton industry in the South., Curved grey mount with rounded corners., Gift of David Long., RVCDC, Description reviewed 2022., Access points revised 2022., Keystone View Company was founded in 1892 by B.L. Singley, an amateur photographer from Meadville, Pennsylvania. Keystone View Company was the leader in promoting stereographs for educational purposes. In 1912 the company purchased rights to some Underwood & Underwood negatives for use in educational sets, and in 1922 purchased the remaining stock of Underwood materials. The company remained in business until 1970.
"We's done all dis s'mornin'." [graphic].
Racist scene showing, in the foreground, a young, African American girl and boy standing behind a large basket of cotton in a cotton field. The girl faces the camera and the boy looks behind him and with his head turned away. The girl wears a bonnet, dark-color, long-sleeved shirt, and a light-color skirt. The boy wears a long-sleeve, light-color, smock-like shirt. In the background, African American men, women, boys, and girls work in the field or are posed to stand and face the camera. One man sits, high up, on bales., Date from copyright statement: Copyright 1899, by B. L. Singley., Title from item., Title printed in five different languages, including Italian, French, and German, on verso., Cruved buff mount with rounded corners., Several lines of text printed on verso about the "rich resources" of the state of Arkansas, including fertile soil for a "variety of crops"; "grazing lands"; mountains: "all kinds of building stones"; rivers; "excellent common school system and several higher institutions of learning"; and "Hot Springs." Text concludes: "The cotton fields once the dread of the Virginia slave, have lost nothing of their picturesqueness with the abolition of slavery, and nowhere in the United States can primitive negro life be better studied.", Gift of David Long., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Keystone View Company was founded in 1892 by B.L. Singley, an amateur photographer from Meadville, Pennsylvania. Keystone View Company was the leader in promoting stereographs for educational purposes. In 1912 the company purchased rights to some Underwood & Underwood negatives for use in educational sets, and in 1922 purchased the remaining stock of Underwood materials. The company remained in business until 1970.

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