Album containing photographs of railroad bridges and stations along the B&O Railroad's Philadelphia Division taken on a trip made by a small group of B&O Railroad employees who surveyed the line, March 1891.
One of four volumes of prints and drawings issued in 1878 by prominent Philadelphia lithographer, etcher, and artist Augustus Kollner (1812-1906). The twenty-four views primarily depict landscapes of Fairmount Park. Also contains views of Philadelphia and Bucks and Montgomery counties. Several of the lithographs from this volume were based on sketches he executed in the 1840s.
Collection documenting the Centennial Exhibition of 1876 in Philadelphia, which celebrated the 100th anniversary of American Independence. The Centennial Photographic Company was granted exclusive rights to photograph the World's Fair.
Collection of bas-relief small carvings depicting the primary exhibition halls at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876. The exhibition celebrated the centennial of the United States through an international exhibition of industry, agriculture, and art.
Album of photographs documenting the Philadelphia, Middle, and Pittsburgh divisions of the Pennsylvania Railroad, incorporated in 1846. The consolidated company sought to build a trunk route from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh through the Allegheny mountains in order to compete with the Erie Canal for freight traffic. In 1854, rail passage through the Alleghenies via the "Horse Shoe Curve" was achieved and spurred the establishment and growth of the several towns depicted along the route.
Two volume set of albums containing predominately cartes-de-visite photographic portraits of prominent American 19th-century figures in politics, education, and the arts, ca. 1870.
Photograph album of African American government worker Richard DeReef Venning, a member of the African American middle-class Stevens-Cogdell and Sanders-Venning family, and containing predominantly unidentified portraits of African American and white men, women, and children, including family and friends. Contains bust, half and full-length portraits, often studio portraits. Several of the female sitters wear ornate hairstyles and many sitters also wear crosses. Also contains a carte de visite reproduction of a painted portrait of possibly George Cogdell (p.16) and a carte de visite inscribed “Pete” and “Sam” showing two men in checkered patterned jumper costumes, wigs, hats, and full-face masks (p.18). Identified sitters include Samuel Le Count Cook (p.2, photograph dated 7/4/[18]90 and imprint of DC photographer Rice on verso, ), Edward W. Venning (p.13, photograph dated 1869 and imprint of Philadelphia photographer G.W. Cheston on verso), Sarah Venning (p.13 &14, imprint of Philadelphia photographer Larkin on the verso), Richard DeReef Venning (p.13, photograph dated 12/7/[18]74 on recto and imprint of Philadelphia photographer Henrici & Garns on verso), Sarah Ann Sanders, daughter of Sarah Sanders (p.14, lower right, ca. 1865, inscribed on recto: S.A.S.; imprint of Philadelphia photographer B.F. Reimer and "property of ed. y.v." inscribed on verso), Cordelia Chew Hinkson (p.35), and Cordelia Hinkson Brown as a baby (p.35). Other sitters may possibly be William H. Chew (p.1), Addie Howard (p.3) and George Washington Musgrave (group portrait, p.19)., Album also contains a portrait signed "Ellie" (p. 22, photograph dated 11/16/[1875] and imprint of NY photographer G.H. Johnson on verso) and an unidentified portrait that is likely Cordelia Sanders (Chew) and her sons Richard and Charles Chew (p.15, lower left, imprint of Philadelphia photographer Miles & Foster on verso). Another unidentified portrait is likely Jacob C. White, co-founder of the Pythians, Philadelphia's first African American baseball club (p. 27, upper left, imprint of Philadelphia photographer Gutekunst). Also contained are inserted portraits (rehoused on boards and with album), including one of a Black man inscribed "H.S.S." and Jan. 11/82 on the recto and verso of the mount (L.W. Cook, Boston, photographer) and one of a Black woman inscribed "Respects of Marie" on the verso (J.P. Silver, photographer)., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from content., Contains title page: Album. Page illustrated with ornamental border., Contains several loose portaits., Various photographers, including Philadelphia photographers H. D. Garns & Co., G. W. Chesterton, African American photographer Gallo Cheston, Larkin Gallery, O. B. DeMorat, C. Hagemann & Co., Henrici & Garns, B. F. Reimer, H. D. Garns & Co., Miles & Foster, Broadbent & Phillips, M. S. Hagaman, Lothrop’s Ferrotype Gallery, Germon, J. Fenton, J. P. Silver, Parlor Galleries, as well as Washington, D.C. photographers Kets Kemethy and Rice, Norfolk photographer J. A. Faber, Trenton photographer J. Bainbridge, Charleston photographer Jesse E. Bolles, Boston photographer L. W. Cook, Salem photographer Smith & Bousley, and New York photographer G. H. Johnson., Inscription on front free end paper: R.D. Reef Venning, June 12/84, Washington, D.C., Some of the photographs contain inscriptions, including dates, identifications, and valedictions, on the versos., Label pasted on back cover: No. 464 Gately & Haskell, booksellers, Hoen building, Baltimore, MD., Ca. 1900 pastel portrait of possibly Clara, nurse to children and grandchildren of Sarah Sanders and R. W. Cogdell (P.9367.32, Stevens-Cogdell/ Sanders-Venning Collection) after ca. 1875 tintype photographed by J. Fenton (729 South St., Phila) P.2012.37.1.23b originally inserted in album and housed with album., See Lib. Company Annual Report, 1991 p. 26-31., Gift of descendants Cordelia H. Brown, Lillie V. Dickerson, Mary Hinkson Jackson, and Georgine E. Willis in honor of Phil Lapsansky., See LCP exhibit catalogue: African American Miscellany p. 45., Genealogical charts available at repository., Some photographs dated during conservation treatment in July 2021. Conservation notes in collection research file at repository (Graphic Arts Department)., 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., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Richard DeReef Venning (1846-1929), born in Philadelphia, was son of seamstress Elizabeth and carpenter Edward W. Venning. Venning worked as a grocer in Philadelphia before being appointed as a clerk to the Eastern Division of the Pension Office in 1881. He resided in Washington, D.C. from the early 1880s to early 1900s, and boarded with the African American Presbyterian minister Francis Grimké and his brother, lawyer and diplomat Archibald Grimké for several years. In 1914, Venning returned to Philadelphia and lived with his nephew George E. Venning's family who referred to him as "Dah." The family was active in the Philadelphia African American political, social, educational, and cultural community from the 1850s to the 20th century, including the St. Thomas P.E. Church, Church of the Crucifixion, Central Presbyterian Church, the Colored Institute of Youth, and the Citizens Republican Club.
Creator
Venning, Richard DeReef, 1846-1929
Date
[ca. 1865 - ca. 1922]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Stevens-Cogdell/Sanders-Venning Collection [P.2012.37.1]
Photograph album containing identified portrait photographs, bust-length, half-length, and full-length, of twenty-one prominent Philadelphia African American men. Named sitters in order of inclusion in album include veteran Harmon Richardson attired in a military uniform; educator and activist Octavius Catto; civil rights activist Edwin Chew (son of John and Charlotte Henson Chew); janitor and later undertaker Guy M. Burton with musician Ed[ward] H. Johnson and Terry V. Hall; musician Joseph G. Anderson; Civil War veteran and waiter Taylor Aldridge; Johnson al-Jube holding a basket; laborer Parker T. Smith; Jeremiah V. Hall; George Hall; waiter William I. Lancaster; barber James Keith; caterer Henry Tobias; Cheslea Bass, barber and partner to James Keith, with caterer Andrew F. Stevens; Edwin Lewis; Jas. H. Williams ae.[sic] Rush; Thomas Proctor; and restauranteur/caterer Ja[me]s B. Page. Musicians Edward Johnson and Joseph G. Anderson were members of Francis Johnson's band in the 1830s and 40s., Title supplied by cataloger from label on spine., Date from content and medium of photographs., Cardboard binding with torn spine label inscribed: Portraits of Well Know[n]. Insides of binding covers include scribbles and a pasted partial scrap of a flower., Photographs are loose or attached to album pages within binding., Sitters, and occasionally their profession, identified by manuscript notes on verso of photograph or album page. Some notes include statement "deceased," including for sitters Harmon Richardson, Edwin Chew, Octavius Catto, Edward H. Johnson, Terry V. Hall, Joseph G. Anderson, Johnson al-Jube, George Hall, James H. Williams, and James Page., Mostly unidentified photographers with identified Philadelphia photographers John L. Gihon and Parlor Gallery., Portrait photograph of Octavius Catto reproduced after a circa 1871 portrait photograph taken by African American Philadelphia photographer Gallo W. Cheston and/or Philadelphia photographers Broadbent & Phillips. See "Amy Cohen's Catto the Forgotten Hero" at catto.ushistory.org/. See also Harper's Weekly 15 (October 28, 1871), p. 1005 and a copy of the original portrait at https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.2006.8. Photograph stamped on verso: Kean Archives, Phila., Portrait photograph of Taylor Aldridge inscribed on verso: Nov. 27 '83., Verso of album page with portrait photograph of Edwin Lewis inscribed: July '83., Verso of album page with portrait photograph of James Page printed: Sharpless Bros. Dry Goods, Chestnut and Eighth Sts. Philadelphia., Purchase 1990., Description revised 2023., Access points revised 2023., 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.
Date
[ca. 1865-ca. 1885]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums [P.9304]
Scrapbook containing primarily engraved gift book and periodical illustrations issued between circa 1832 and 1868 from American and British publications, including "Columbian Lady’s and Gentlemen’s Magazine"; "Godey's Lady's Book"; "Ladies Companion"; "New Mirror"; and "Sartain's Magazine." Illustrations, several engraved by A. L. Dick, predominantly depict sentimental, romantic, religious, genre and allegorical views and often include children and animals. Titles include "The Draught Players"; "The Lovers"; "The Philosopher & His Kite" (showing Benjamin Franklin); "They sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites [sic] for twenty pieces of silver; "Lake See Hoo and Temple of the Thundering Winds from the Vale of Tombs"; "Schuylkill Water Works"; "Luther on Christmas Eve"; "Farmers Nooning," including an African American man farm hand (after 1843 W. S. Mount painting); "Cup-tossing" (reading of tea leaves); "The Opera Box"; and "The Village School." Portrait prints, including an image of Jenny Lind, and a few architectural design prints also encompass the illustrations., Also contains chromolithographs and the illustrated title page from Henry Harbaugh's "Birds of the Bible" (1854) and many tinted lithographs printed by Ackerman from "Reports of Explorations and surveys,...for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean (1855-1861); several photographic reproductions of original paintings showing genre views, landscapes, and marinescapes, including the work of J. S. Fenimore; George C. Lambdin; Edward and Thomas Moran, W. T. Richards, Samuel Sartain, Christian Schussele, N. H. Trotter, and S. B. Waugh; and photographs of a paddle boat near the Fairmount Water Works and views of the Wissahickon. Some pages also include embossed and color vignettes of birds, flower vases, and flowers. Other lithographs and chromolithographs depict sentimental and religious views, including a baby "hatching" from a flower and the T. Sinclair religious tableauxes "Pontius Pilatus" and "Manoah’s Sacrifice"., Probably compiled by Mrs. H. Godley., Title from stamp on the leather spine., Inserts: Envelope inscribed "Mrs. H. Godley, 1725 Vine St." and engraved portraits of "Robert Moffat" and "Girl in a Florentine Costume of A.D. 1500." "Girl" print includes amateur pencil alterations., Various artists, engravers, lithographers, and printers including Ackerman; W. Allan; T. Allom; W. H. Bartlett; W. Bennett; J. Burnet; J. G. Chapman; A. L. Dick; T. Doney; Durand & Co.; J. B. Forrest; A. W. Graham; Charles Heath; J. R. Herbert; J. B. Longacre; W. S. Mount; J. Neale; E. T. Parris; Nicolas Poussin: Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Smillie; Rice & Buttre; H. S. Sadd; John Sartain; Eliza Sharp; Thomas Sinclair; and Benjamin Franklin Waitt., Various publishers, including American Sunday-School Union; Henry F. Annears; L.A. Godey; and Hurst, Chance & Co., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Purchase 1986.
Date
[ca. 1832-ca. 1868]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums [P.9152]
Bound volume of portrait plates issued between circa 1804 and 1831 from various publications, including "Mechanics Magazine"; "New British Lady's Magazine"; and the compilation "Boxiana or Sketches of Antient [sic] and Modern Pugilism" (London: George Virtue, 1829). Portraits depict prominent and celebrity European figures, predominantly from Great Britain, including clergymen, legislators, entertainers, scientists and inventors, royalty and pugilists. Plates include full-length, half-length, and bust-length portraiture, with some containing backgrounds, props, or ornate borders. Portraits of religious figures predominantly published by London publishers F. Westley and Westley & Davis and arranged in alphabetical order by sitter's name. Portraits of legislators, celebrity and other prominent figures predominantly published by London publishers Fisher Son & Co. and J. Robins & Co. and arranged in alphabetical order by sitter's name. Portraits of pugilists predominantly published by G. Smeeten and Sherwood, Jones & Co. and most arranged in alphabetical order by sitter's name. Volume also includes a title page and views titled "The John Bull Fighters Splendid Silver Cup" and "A Sparring Match at the Fives Court" from the Pierce Egan's "Boxiana" series originally published in parts in 1813 and later as volumes between 1818 and 1828., Sitters include reverends George Burder (Senior Secretary of the London Missionary Society), William Milne (Late Missionary to the Chinese), David Stuart (Theological Tutor of the Irish Evangelical), and Robert Vaughan; physician Carl Linnaeus; inventor Sir Richard Arkwright; Queen Caroline; statesman John Wilson Croker; authors Madame De Genlis, Madame De Stael, and Hannah More; (Victoria Mary Louisa) Duchess of Kent; George I, II, III, and IV; performers Josephine Girardelli and Anna Maria Tree; architect Peter Nicholson; Whig politician Thomas Spring Rice; and chemist William Hyde Wollaston. Sitters also include pugilists Peter Crawley; Dick Curtis; Josh Hudson; Tom Owen; Ned Painter; Dutch Sam (i.e., Samuel Elias); Ned Turner; and expatriate, African American pugilists Bill Richmond and Tom Molyneux (portraits on the same page)., Portraits of Bill Richmond and Tom Molyneux show the men in bust-length. Richmond looks slight to the right. He has curly hair and is attired in a patterned shirt with a ruffled collar and a jacket. Molyneux is shown in right profile. He has curly hair and is attired in a shirt with a ruffled collar and a jacket., Title from stamp on spine., Inscribed on front free end paper: R. B. bind as arranged., Pages numbered in ink in upper left corner., Inscribed on verso of portrait of ‘His Most Gracious Majesty, George Augustus-Frederick The Fourth” (p. 110): On Celebrated Englishmen, Various artists and engravers, including George Cruikshank; Isaac Robert Cruikshank; Fenner, Sears & Co.; W. T. Fry; W. Hollins; Thomas Lawrence; R. Page; W. T. Page; George Parker; Sherwood, Jones & Co.; J. R. Wildman; and J. W. Wright., Publishers include Knight & Lacey; George Smeeton; F. Westley; Westley & Davis; T. Williams; and Williams & Smith., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Accessioned 1882., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Date
[ca. 1804-ca. 1831]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums [Uz 3 51278.O]
Collection of 5,462 lyric sheets, also known as slip ballads, published in the 19th century and offered for sale by stationers, street-corner vendors, and by catalog through the mail.
Ephemera related to Philadelphia area institutions including announcements, trade cards, programs, receipts, tickets, religious tracts, circulars, ballots, certificates, and newspaper clippings.
Collection of nearly 3,000 stereographs published and distributed in or of Philadelphia. The photographs mainly portray commercial and residential street scenes, particularly Market and Chestnut streets; religious, public, financial, and industrial buildings and institutions; and historic and prominent landmarks as well as a small selection of non-Philadelphia views.
Augmented collection of advertisements for 19th-century Philadelphia businesses originally compiled by local Jewish socialite Emily Phillips, ca. 1860-ca. 1880s.
Based in Philadelphia, the American Sunday-School Union was the most prolific publisher of children's books in 19th-century America. The Union illustrated its books and periodicals copiously, mainly with wood engravings. The original woodblocks were used through multiple printings and retained by the Union.
Scrapbook of dated textual and illustrated newspaper clippings describing the history, society, built environment, and political climate of Philadelphia, ca. 1830-ca. 1860.
Collection of encased images including daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes, ca. 1840-1870. Each item includes a view of the recto and verso of the case (when case is present), as well as the interior image.
Collection of 179 glass and film negatives created by Alfred Hand between 1920 and 1921. They depict historic houses, places of worship, and Revolutionary War sites in Germantown and the Philadelphia region, and are accompanied by negative sleeves with descriptive manuscript notes about each site.
Two scrapbooks compiled by the Library Company of Philadelphia. The earlier contains the correspondence of the Librarian and photographs of the Library Company's first building (Fifth & Library streets), 1818-ca. 1934. The later contains newspaper clippings, photographs, magazine articles, documents referring to membership, exhibitions, items on loan to other institutions, fund raising, etc., ca. 1865-ca. 1971.
In both the United States and England, the market for comic valentines rivaled that for sentimental valentines, with their sales numbers about equal in the 1840s and 1850s. Sentimental valentines were more expensive, ranging in price from twenty-five cents to thirty dollars. A single comic valentine cost about a penny, hence their other nickname "penny dreadfuls." "Dreadful" is an appropriate term, but "crude," both in content and printing, is perhaps more accurate. Many were printed from wood blocks, with the color added by hand (often with stencils). The later examples were reproduced lithographically, but imitated the look of woodcuts. Sometimes the same image was used more than once with different doggerel verse. The recipients typically threw them away, so few survive. Bibliographically, they are challenging because they rarely list the artists' or publishers' names or the date of publication. The illustration technique is not always obvious, even with magnification. Working under the NEH-funded McAllister Project, Linda Wisniewski scanned the valentines. During a 2006 internship funded by the Fels Foundation, Elizabeth Donaldson created the records for the collection. Thanks to Linda and Betsy, digital versions of these remarkable pieces of ephemera are available here for further study.
Various items found inserted in the Library Company's collection of books. Includes holy cards, paper dolls, stamps, clippings, tickets, ribbons, plants, etc., 19th century.
Account book for the shop Mary Langdale Coates kept from the time of her husband Samuel’s death to her own death. The shop was located on the west side of Second Street, north of Market. Her customers included Elias Boudinot, Timothy Matlack, Israel Pemberton, Sr. and Jr., Elizabeth Coates Paschall, Philip Syng, Catherine Wistar, and Benjamin Franklin.
Personal scrapbook, including clippings, programs, ribbons, photographs and other ephemera related to bicycle clubs compiled by the prominent long-distance bicyclist and Philadelphia executive, 1884.
Collection of ephemera reflecting American social and economic development, with an emphasis on the book trades. Includes samples of mid-19th-century raised letter printing for the blind and pre-1801 legal forms, 18th-19th centuries.
Collection featuring 285 of the lithographs described by Nicholas B. Wainwright in his book Philadelphia in the Romantic Age of Lithography: An illustrated history of early lithography in Philadelphia with a descriptive list of Philadelphia scenes made by Philadelphia lithographers before 1866 (Philadelphia: The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1958).
The World War One graphics collection consists of materials relating to the conflict and its immediate aftermath. The photographs, postcards and scrapbooks in this collection are primarily from the Philadelphia region and include views of the Philadelphia Navy Yard and patriotic parades and rallies held around the city. The posters in this collection encourage American military enlistment, the purchase of war bonds, home front frugality, and support for relief organizations, including the Red Cross. A small number of posters relate to specific Philadelphia events.
Collection of ephemera primarily from the pharmaceutical and medical trades. Contains stationery, receipts, fliers, form letters, trade cards, business cards, calendars, and circulars, ca. 1800-ca. 1940.
112 images chosen for "At the Instance of Benjamin Franklin" : A Brief History of the Library Company of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: Printed for the Library Company of Philadelphia by York Graphic Services Inc., 1995).
Collection of lantern slides of informal family portraits and family excursions taken by William Harvey Doering, amateur photographer and native Philadelphian, 1888-1905.
Volume composed of reprinted "Saturday Jaunts" columns (spring and summer 1891) and 25 photographs documenting the one-day excursions of the "Saturday Jaunters," employees of the Public Ledger in Philadelphia. Saturday Jaunters (identified with "monkish" pseudonyms) referenced in and authors of the columns include Bonifacius (William E. Meehan), Benedict (Addison B. Burk), Chrysostum (Joel Cook), Angelo (John J. Mckenna), Damon (Charles S. Spangler), Photius (Edmund Stirling), Friar Tuck (Edward Robinson), Constantius (Stephen J. Burke), Pius (Israel F. Sheppard), Sacristan (C. Johann), Fabian (Dr. William H. Burk), Medicus, Ananias (Collins W. Walton), Titian (John A. Johann), Cephas (Peter J. Heborn), and Brother Alban (Captain Robert C. Clipperton). Contains the columns: I. Marble Hall and Spring Mill. II. A Visit to the Coal Fields of Pottsville. III. A Trip along Cresheim Creek and the "Happy Valley." IV. A Roundabout Journey to Edge Hill. V. A Pilgrimage through the Gulf and to Belvoir. VI. A Pilgrimage through the Gulf and to Belvoir (Continued). VII. A Pleasant Pilgrimage into New Jersey. VIII. A. Walk Up the Wissahickon Valley. IX. A Trip to Reading and Its Grand Environs. X. The Soapstone Quarries and Rockdale. XI. Villanova and Its Vicinity. XII. Glimpses from a Car window of a Picturesque Country. XIII. A Trip to Mount Gretna and the Cornwall Ore Banks.
Albums of progress photographs of the early construction of City Hall built 1871-1901 on Penn Square after the designs of John McArthur, Jr. Photographs show different stages of the construction of the foundation and lower floor of the building between 1873 and 1875. Includes images of the dirt sub basement; construction materials, equipment, and workers; aerial views of the built foundation; partially completed walls and abutments; and studio views of columns and architectural ornaments. Several of the views include scaffolding; horse-drawn carts; pulleys; piles of construction debris; Pennsylvania Railroad cars on Market Street; and workers and well-dressed men, probably the commissioners, reviewing and posed on or near constructed parts of the building and construction materials. Views also show surrounding cityscape, including the Masonic Temple (Broad and Filbert); United States Mint (1331-1337 Chestnut Street); the Seventh Presbyterian Church (Broad Street above Chestnut Street); Pennsylvania Railroad Freight Depot (13th and Market); La Salle College High School (Filbert and Juniper); Sharpless & Watts, flooring tile (1325 Market Street); the spires of Arch Street Methodist Episcopal Church (s.w. cor. Broad & Arch) and First Baptist Church (n.w. cor. Broad and Arch); and other surrounding businesses (beer hall, wall paper, and furniture) and residences.
Bound volume of portraits primarily delineated by Max Rosenthal showing prominent Philadelphians, and historical and military figures, including members of the Continental Congress, clergyman, legislators, government officials, physicians, military officers, artists, and authors. Contains full-length, half-length, bust-length, and profile portraits, with some containing backgrounds and props. Also includes the front page of a September 1885 edition of "Paper and Press" containing a portrait and biography of Philadelphia publisher Henry Carey Baird and an article about printed blanks.
Library Company copy on deposit from the Darby Library Company, Darby, Pa. Extensively annotated by Darby Library Company librarians following publication up to about 1840; with two leaves of MS. notes laid in; inscribed: Dr. C. Ash Darby.
