Details
Creator Baillie, James S., active 1838-1855.
Title Dancing for eels at Catharine [sic] Market N.Y. [graphic] : A scene from "New York as it is" as played by Chanfrau and Winans, at the Chatham Theatre N.Y.
Publisher New York : Published by James Baillie, 87th St. near 3rd Avenue
Publisher N.Y. New York. 1848
Date 1848
Physical Description 1 print : hand-colored lithograph ; sheet 26 x 36 cm (10.25 x 14.25 in.)
Description Print after the theatrical advertisement published by Eliphalet Brown, Jr. and James Brown depicting the most popular scene from the mid-19th century play about the lives of the New York city lower classes. Shows an African American boy, attired in torn and worn clothes, street dancing while surrounded by a crowd of spectators. Spectators include an African American man, boy, and woman marketer with a basket; Mose, the central character of a fireman b'hoy, and a white man fish monger, attired in torn and worn clothes. Also shows a white woman vendor near a broadside titled "Mose" to the right of the image and the slip in the background. From the 18th century, Long Island enslave people would cross the East River to sell produce or to street dance to earn money, fish, or eels at the Catherine Slip Market. The performances transformed into impromptu dance contests paid for by market customers.
Notes Title from item.
Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1848 by J. Baillie in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Southn Dist of N.Y.
Created postfreeze.
Purchase 2005.
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 the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Subject African American boys -- New York (State) -- New York.
African American men -- New York (State) -- New York.
African American women -- New York (State) -- New York.
African Americans -- Dance -- New York (State) -- New York.
Dance -- New York (State) -- New York.
Fishmongers -- New York (State) -- New York.
Markets -- New York (State) -- New York.
Poor persons -- New York (State) -- New York.
Spectators -- New York (State) -- New York.
Street entertainers -- New York (State) -- New York.
Street vendors -- New York (State) -- New York.
Geographic subject Waterfronts -- New York (State) -- New York.
Genre Lithographs -- Hand-colored -- 1840-1850.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| *GC - Entertainment [P.2005.10]
Accession number P.2005.10