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- Title
- [Checks, bank notes, billheads, and receipts specimens]
- Description
- Series of checks, bank notes, billheads, and receipts, containing allegorical and patriotic vignettes and ornate pictorial details. Vignettes depict allegorical female figures, including Liberty, Hope, Justice, and Bounty; animals, including the American eagle, a dog protecting a safe, and bucks; and patriotic figures, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Ulysses Grant. Other vignettes depict a view of a traveling locomotive; the seal of Pennsylvania; and views of harvested produce and grains. Businesses represented include A. Exton & Co., cracker manufacturers; Heywood, Kilburn & Co., chair and cottage furniture dealers; West Branch National Bank; Perry County Bank; Reed & Schell, bankers; First National Bank of Sunbury; and Jefferson Savings Institute., Title supplied by cataloger., Several of series printed in color ink, including blue, green, tan, and violet., Print P.9399.390 inscribed to John Mayer for $23.00 three months after date [illegible]. 24 Feb. H five. Feb 23rd., Various printers, including Ehrgott & Fobriger; Lehman & Bolton; Theodore Leonhardt; Wm. F. Murphy's Sons (& Sons); and Paul & Lindsay., Originally part of Specimen Album [P.9349]., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
- Date
- [ca. 1860-ca. 1870]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Specimens Album Loose Prints Collection - Checks, etc. [P.9349.341, 369, 371-372, 375, 379-381, 383, 385-390, 392- 394, 396, 398, 400, 410, 415, 423, 426]
- Title
- Fairbanks' standard scales. Buy only the genuine
- Description
- Trade card depicting a scene on a farm. A farmer, sits on a rock, and watches as an agent weighs a horse-drawn cart loaded with hay with a "Fairbanks Standard Scale." In the background, another Fairbanks' agent weighs cows on a platform scale in a pen. View also shows hay stacks in the distance. Fairbanks' Scales was established in 1830., "Principal Warehouses," including in Philadelphia listed on verso., Originally part of Specimens Album [P.9349]., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
- Creator
- Major & Knapp Engraving, Manufacturing & Lithographic Co.
- Date
- [ca. 1865]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Specimens Album Loose Prints Collection - Advertising Specimens [P.9349.366]
- Title
- [Geo. S. Harris & Sons print specimens]
- Description
- Series of specimens, primarily for trade cards and labels, printed by the prominent Philadelphia lithographic firm. Subjects include fanciful, allegorical, and sentimental scenes and portraiture with women, children, and flowers; hunting and recreational scenes; international iconography; animals (dogs, horses, and an alligator clutching a Black baby in its jaws); political and military imagery, including President James Garfield; land and marinescapes; and mythological and fairy tale views. Collection also includes specimen without an imprint and probably printed by Harris showing a plantation scene with a white man, attired in a straw hat, a white collared shirt, white pants, and a sword on his waistband, placing his right hand on the shoulder of a barefooted Black man, attired in a straw hat, a white collared shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows, and white pants that are torn at the bottom, who carries a hoe. They stand before a body of water surrounded by flowers and trees with the plantation in the background. Racist scene shows a white female angel with wings pouring packages of tobacco from a cornucopia to a group of men and women from various ethnic groups and nationalities, including Native Americans, Chinese, Spanish, and Middle Eastern people, many of which smoke cigars, hookahs, and pipes. Specimen depicting a man, attired in a turban with a dagger in his waistband, kneeling with a rifle beside him. Surrounding him are palms and desert plants. In the right background, a lions stands and looks on., Title supplied by cataloger., Publication date inferred from content of one print depicting President James Garfield., Originally part of Specimens Album [P.9349]., Gift of Margaret Robinson, 1991., RVCDC, 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.
- Date
- [ca. 1881]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Specimen Album Loose Prints Collection - Geo. S. Harris [P.9349.279, 283-284, 292, 298-307, 309, 317-318, 321, 328-329, 332, 436-437, 439, 441-442, 447, 451-453 & 455-456]
- Title
- [Proofs from specimen album loose prints collection]
- Description
- Contains proofs, primarily of advertising vignettes, depicting views of factories and storefronts predominantly in Ohio. Businesses depicted include manufacturers of saddlery hardware, "burial cases," sewing machines, and glass; dealers of liquor, dairy supplies, wallpaper and painter supplies; and engravers, printers, and lithographers. Vignettes often include street and pedestrian traffic. Prints also show portraits of men, women, and children; genre and satiric scenes, including the stereotype character "Uncle Remus" (portrayed in racist caricature) designed for trade cards; pictorial and border details designed for certificates, labels, and billheads; machinery and transportation vehicles; trademarks and seals; and a rocking chair. Series also contains a reward of merit designed as a stock certificate and an uncut sheet of six illustrations titled in German. Illustrations primarily depict historical and religious scenes, including the conversion of Saint Eustace., Title supplied by cataloger., Various printers, including H.J. Toudy & Co. and W.J. Morgan & Co., Originally part of Specimens Album [P.9349]., Gift of Margaret Robinson, 1991., RVCDC, 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., 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.
- Date
- [ca. 1860-ca. 1882]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Specimens Album Loose Prints Collection - Proofs [P.9349.296, 308, 320, 339, 342, 344-347, 349, 351-353, 360, 365, 416, 419, 427-430, 443, 445]
- Title
- [Label specimens]
- Description
- Series of labels, primarily textile (wool, silk, mohair), containing allegorical, patriotic, and nationalistic vignettes and pictorial details. Vignettes and details depict Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, coats of arms, the female allegorical figure of Columbia, and a view of a flock of sheep among a grove of trees. Brands represented include Bradford Make, Collingwood Brand, Favorite Ottoman Reversible, Lady Washington, and Royal Shawl., Title supplied by cataloger., Print P.9399.285 stamped on recto: Wm. S. Skinner. David M. Test., Originally part of Specimens Album [P.9349]., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
- Date
- [ca. 1860-ca. 1870]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Specimens Album Loose Prints Collection - Label Specimens [P.9349.275, 285-286, 289, 322, 337, 355, 420 & 435]
- Title
- Scrapbook
- Description
- Scrapbook compiled by Philadelphia socialite Minnie Campbell Wilson (neé Harris) containing primarily place, greeting, holiday and calling cards predominantly issued in the United Kingdom and the Northeast United States. Majority of the cards are printed and or chromolithographs, with a small number illustrated with drawings by hand. Many cards also contain ornate border details, embossing, and adornments, including ribbons, fringe, lace, a wishbone, and overlays. Contents also include die-cuts of fans, horse shoes, a spoon, a flamingo, one-quarter moon, a woman’s leg, and a bird as a cover for a H. O. Neill & Co. illustrated hat catalog. Cards often depict sentimental and genre imagery including cupids, butterflies, flowers, vases and baskets; religious, historical and Asian-themed scenes, figures and/or decor; seasonal landscape views; women, children, and costumed figures; animals, including birds, chicks, dogs, and cats; and fruit. Other imagery includes two witches flying on brooms holding a "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year" banner; London printer William Dickes series of women in native costume from Switzerland, Russia, and Norway; a holiday card that opens to a sledding scene of children holding letters spelling "Merry Christmas"; and a Valentine Day card showing a letter slot filled with valentines. Scrapbook also contains watercolors and drawings, trade cards, programs, menus, invitations, ribbons, photographs, etchings, newspaper clippings, including an announcement of the wedding of Adelaide Watson, and a post card from "cousin Will." Trade cards advertise businesses, including J. E. Caldwell & Co., Stephen F. Whitman & Son, P. Fleischner & Co., Sharpless & Sons, F. T. Howell & Co., A. Ripka & Bro., J. H. Way & Bro., and Automatic Signal Telegraph Co. containing four scenes showing a robbery and fire and police and fire department., Scrapbook contains a number of items depicting Asian people or decorative themes, including a greeting card that reads, "A Happy New Year to You," and showing a Japanese woman, attired in a kimono, sitting and watering a potted plant [p. 9]; a card that reads, "Miss Harris," and depicting a Japanese woman, attired in a kimono made of fabric, standing and facing left [p. 18]; a card titled, "Bric a brac," and showing a blue and white porcelain bowl, vase, and pitcher bordered by hand fans and three flying cranes [p. 29]; and Asian men attired in kimonos having their noses pulled or pulling noses [p. 47]., Watercolors and drawings depict a woman attired in early 19th-century garb in a pumpkin patch, marinescapes, and an anthropomorphic frog. Photographs include a half stereograph showing a croquet match in front of a resort hotel and a photograph of Fifth and Walnut streets (Philadelphia) “taken by Chris in "88." Etchings include a portrait of an elderly man and one signed F. A. Stokes showing a man at a table. Other ephemera includes a hand-made tablet with a cover containing a watercolor depicting birds; a cloth padded bird figurine; a metamorphic playbill for the play "French Flats" at Union Square Theatre; a typewritten engagement announcement composed as a poem; a Christmas Hymnal booklet; handwritten word games, including 'Progressive Conversation"; a Pennsylvania Railroad "Old Point Comfort" tour schedule; and a train schedule scrap annotated with a doodle and inscribed text., Black binding, stamped on cover: Scrapbook., Label pasted on verso of cover: Patent Back Scrap Book. Pat. March 28, 1876., Inscribed on front free end paper: Minnie Campbell Harris Philadelphia. January 12, 1887., Provenance and date of majority of contents identified by brief inscriptions. Provenances include Nannie (i.e., Mary Jaudon) Harris, Lucy and Susan Jaudon, Mai Philler, Carrie (i.e., Caroline) Biddle, and Helen Morton., Printers include Philadelphia firms Craig, Finley & Co., Dreka, Rowley & Chew, and Sunshine Pub. Co.; Boston firm L. Prang & Co.; and British and Irish firms William Dickes, Marcus Ward & Co., and Eyre & Spottiswoode., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Housed in phase box., Gift of Elizabeth McLean., Inventory available at repository., Mary Campbell Harris (known as Minnie), daughter of U.S. Naval Commander Thomas Cadwalder Harris (1826-1875) and Mary Louisa Bainbridge Jaudon (1835-1914), was born in New York on December 27, 1862. Descended from Commodore William Bainbridge and Thomas Harris, the first surgeon-general of the United States Navy, Harris and her family resided in Philadelphia by 1866. In 1893, she married John L. Wilson (b. 1850), later treasurer of Coal Land Corporation and the couple resided in the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood. Harris was active in the Sedgely Club and often attended and held card parties, teas, and luncheons noted in the local press. Harris spent her later years residing in Bryn Mawr where she died circa 1948.
- Creator
- Wilson, Mary Campbell Harris, 1862-approximately 1948
- Date
- [ca. 1877-ca. 1890]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums - Harris [P.9682.1]
- Title
- [Scrapbook with periodical illustrations, comic valentines, and patent medicine advertisements]
- Description
- Eccentrically-arranged scrapbook predominantly containing newspaper clippings, patent medicine almanac advertisements, and comic valentines. Also contains scraps, trade cards, and labels. Clippings, many published in the sensational periodicals “National Police Gazette” and “Days’ Doings” primarily depict illustrations of murders and violence, crimes and punishments, human curiosities, animal attacks, human peril, women in distress, gender non-conforming people, evocative theatrical performances, acts of daring, and comic scenes in silhouette. Illustrations include H. P. Peer's 1879 jump from the Niagara Falls bridge and a fight between the elephant "Bolivar" and a camel in Van Amburgh's menagerie. Patent medicine advertisements primarily promote the products of Barker’s Horse, Cattle, and Poultry Powder; C. I. Hood’s Sarsaparilla; Dr. Morse’s Indian Root Pill; and E. S. Well's Rough on Rats. Valentines satirize various professions and gender and ethnic stereotypes, including a cook, music teacher, machinist, hatter, seamstress, “French nurse –(from Ireland),” “novel reader,” “prudish young woman,” and “an old bore.”, Also contains some sentimental and genre imagery, including mothers and children, children playing, and pets; landscape and cityscape illustrations; racist caricatures of African Americans; Tobin trade cards depicting comical views of baseball players (p. 21); an advertisement for The Electric Era/ German Electric Belt Agency (Brooklyn, N.Y.); Dalziel Brother illustrations of scenes from popular Charles Dickens novels like “Nicholas Nickleby”; chromoxylograph illustration from Aunt Matilda series “The Little Deserter” (McLoughlin Bros., ca. 1869); illustrated children's book covers; and a finely-designed chromolithographic advertisement depicting allegorical figures, flowers, and produce to promote gardens (Lowell, Mass.)., Title supplied by cataloger., Small number of pages contain hand-coloring., Also originally included tucked-in partial editions of N.Y. newspapers issued in 1890. Issues housed in mylar and with scrapbook., Scrap depicting two racing horses and their jockeys pasted on back cover., Housed in phase box., Purchase 2012., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
- Date
- [ca. 1869-ca. 1890, bulk 1880-1890]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *albums (flat) [P.2012.42]
- Title
- Library Company of Philadelphia scrapbook
- Description
- Scrapbook containing newspaper clippings, photographs, ephemera and prints predominantly issued between the 1930s and 1970s documenting exhibitions, loans, collections, events and the history of the Library Company. Clippings include newspaper articles about a loan of American political cartoons to the Toledo Museum (1936); exhibitions commemorating the centenary of librettist W.S. Gilbert (1936); the tercentenary of Swedish Settlement (1938); and the library's African American history collection (1971). Columns also describe the presentation of the Christopher Sower library (1909); the return in 1876 of a book 99 years overdue since the American Revolution (1938); the demolition of the Library's Juniper and Locust streets building for a parking lot (1939); and the vandalism of the former Ridgway Building at 901-933 Broad Street (1969). Photographs predominantly depict the exteriors and reading rooms of the library buildings at Fifth and Library Streets, Juniper and Locust Streets, and Broad Street (Ridgway Building). Other photographs include a series of views from the 1939 unveiling ceremony of the James Logan memorial (to be erected in Fairmount Park) on the steps of the Ridgway Branch. Ephemera includes invitations (several from The Women's Committee), brochures, catalogs, announcements and placards related to library events; bulletins and pamphlets describing collections; dues notices and book plates; the variant 1884 and 1906 "Rules of the Library Company"; an off-print of the 1882 Louise Stockton entry in "A Sylvan City..." about "The Old Philadelphia Library"; and a 1961 citation from the city recognizing the library as a "Philadelphia first.", Title supplied by cataloger., Cut outs of the seal and motto of Library Company from bookplate pasted on title page., Some contents annotated with dates and typewritten descriptions., Several loose photographs removed and rehoused as "Library Company of Philadelphia Scrapbook Photographs Collection" [P.2010.17]. Contains a ca. 1865 portrait of library donor John A. McAllister misidentified as librarian Lloyd P. Smith, a ca. 1935 portrait of librarian George Abbot, and interior and exterior views of the library buildings, including artifacts, at Fifth and Library Streets, Juniper and Locust Streets, and Broad Street (Ridgway Building)., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Typewritten index inserted in volume., The Library Company of Philadelphia, America’s first successful lending library and oldest cultural institution, was founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin as a subscription library supported by its shareholders. Until the 1850s it was the largest public library in America. It was transformed into a research library in the 1950s.
- Creator
- Library Company of Philadelphia
- Date
- [ca. 1865-ca. 1971, bulk ca. 1936-ca. 1945]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *albums (flat) [P.2010.17], Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Library Company of Philadelphia Scrapbook Photographs Collection [P.2010.17]