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Title: Wrestling for a bride, Dahomey, Africa
Description: Stereoview depicting a tableau vivant with a racialized tone in a studio setting in which two Black men attired in sarongs, face each other, and are in lunged stances. Behind them, to the left, three Black men, attired in sarongs, stand in front of a hut and palm trees, and watch the "wrestling" men. The kingdom of Dahomey established about 1600 by the Fon people became the independent country Republic of Dahomey, and was renamed Benin in 1975., Title from item., Date inferred from series title printed below title., Distributor's imprint printed on mount: Sold by Underwood & Underwood. New York, Liverpool, Toronto-Canada, Ottowa, Kansas., Title printed on verso in six different languages., J.F. Jarvis was the largest manufacturer of stereoviews in Washington D.C. during the late 19th century. He published his own trade list and numerous views of government surveys., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: Jarvis, J. F. (John Fillis), 1849-1931
Date: [1894]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereos - - misc. photo - Jarvis [P.2016.13.38]

Title: " We's done all dis s'mornin'."
Description: 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.
Creator: Keystone View Company
Date: 1899
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - Keystone View Company - Work [P.2018.16.2]

Title: We uses pears soap fo' de complexun
Description: 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.
Creator: Wood, George Bacon, 1832-1909, photographer
Date: [ca. 1886]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - Wood [P.8743.186]

Title: An unpleasantness in Swampoodle
Description: 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.
Date: 1887
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photos - 5 x 7 - unidentified - Events [P.2015.22 & P.2020.16.6]

Title: [Unidentified young African American man]
Description: 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.
Creator: Fowler Studio, photographer
Date: [ca. 1890]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cabinet card portraits - photographer - Fowler [P.9217]

Title: Uncle Ned's school
Description: 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.
Date: [ca. 1868]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - unid. photo. - Monuments and Statues [P.2018.16.12]

Title: Two souls with but a single thought
Description: 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.
Date: [ca. 1890]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Lantern Slides-Smith, Xanthus [P.9471]

Title: Two little nigs
Description: 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.
Creator: Wilson, J. N., photographer
Date: [ca. 1890]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereos - miscellaneous photographer - Wilson [P.2002.8.4]

Title: The trombone soloist
Description: 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.
Creator: Rau, William Herman, 1855-1920, photographer
Date: [ca. 1896]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - Rau - Portraits & Genre [P.2018.16.4]

Title: [Trio gem lantern slide of scenes from Uncle Tom's Cabin]
Description: 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
Date: [ca. 1890]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Doret and Mitchell Collection - Photographs [P.2020.39.9]

Title: A study in chocolate
Description: Full-length portrait by an unidentified young African American girl taken by an unidentified member of the Columbia Photographic Society. The girl, attired in a long-sleeved, gingham dress and pinafore and boots, holds a toy and looks at the viewer. She stands sideways on the sidewalk of a residential street, probably in Philadelphia. Behind her is a fence and a row of houses. The Society, an amateur North Philadelphia photographer's club established in 1889, sponsored photographic outings, lantern slide shows, and published "Camera" magazine until 1953., Title from label on the item., Date inferred by the attire of the sitter., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1982, p. 42., See "Charter and By-Laws of the Columbia Photographic Society." (Philadelphia, 1905). (LCP Print Room, 68371.D)., Gift of Morris Finkel, 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.
Date: [ca. 1900]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department lantern slides - Columbia Photographic Society - unidentified [P.8912.258]

Title: Street cries
Description: Photographic reproduction of a print drawn by Helen M. Colburn, daughter of New Jersey artist Rembrandt Lockwood, depicting a group of African American men and boy peddlers at the corner of a city street. The figures are drawn with racist and caricatured features and mannerisms. In the center, a milk peddler stands and hawks with a trumpet in his left hand and a canteen of milk, ladle, and pitcher in his right hand. The man is attired in a wide-brimmed hat, shirtsleeves, pants, and a long apron. To the left, another African American man peddler pushes a large cart of junk wares and looks down at a young African American child running from a dog. The man wears a rumpled top hat, torn shirtsleeves, a vest, and patched pants. The child wears a smock dress and their hat has fallen by the feet of the milk peddler. In the right, a newspaper boy hawks the papers under his right arm. He is attired in a soft-brimmed hat, jacket, and pants. In the far right, a man attired in a hat, a shirt with turned-up collar, a long jacket, and striped pants, holds a bell and has his left leg stepped up on a box. Cityscape, a white woman street vendor at a table, and a horse-drawn cart are visible in the background. 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 right of original print: Mrs. R. Colburn 1870., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Purchased with the 2019 Junto Fund.
Date: 1887
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photos - 5 x 7 - unidentified - Events [P.2020.16.5]

Title: Some of our brave colored boys who helped free Cuba
Description: Stereoview depicting a lineup of African American soldiers in an exterior beach setting during the Spanish American War, 1898. The men, attired in the uniform of campaign hat, button down jacket, trousers, bullet belts, and leggings, stand at attention, and with their rifles held to the sandy ground. Most of the men look straight ahead with a few looking toward the viewer. In the background, an American flag at the end of the line of men and a military encampment with tents and soldiers is visible. The Spanish American War was the conflict between Spain and the United State originating with the Cuban War of Independence. Cuba gained independence and the United States acquired the territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippine Islands from Spain. The regular army's four Black troops (9th and10th Cavalry and 24th and 25th Infantry) and thousands of Black men volunteers served during the war. AFrican American troop's service during the war caused controversy within the African American community which still did not have equal civil rights as citizens of the United States., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Copyright 1899 by J. F. Jarvis., Distributor's imprint printed on mount: Sold by Underwood & Underwood. New York, London, Toronto-Canada, Ottowa-Kansas., Semi-legible maunscript note on verso: Deliver to Mr. [Heyburn?] ... with ..., J.F. Jarvis was the largest manufacturer of stereoviews in Washington D.C. during the late 19th century. He published his own trade list and numerous views of government surveys., RVCDC
Creator: Jarvis, J. F. (John Fillis), 1849-1931
Date: [1899]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereos - misc. photo - Jarvis [P.2023.6]

Title: Saturday evening
Description: Photographic reproduction of a print drawn by Helen M. Colburn, daughter of New Jersey artist Rembrandt Lockwood, depicting an African American family returning from a market trip. The figures are drawn with racist and caricatured features and mannerisms. Shows in the left, a bare-footed, young boy, attired in a long-sleeved shirt, breeches, and suspenders, striding next to and looking up at this mother who carries a watermelon on her head. She smokes a pipe and walks with her hands on her hips. She is attired in a bonnet that covers much of her face, shift dress, and apron. Behind her, in the center of the image, the father of the family walks next to a black dog and with two large cabbages tucked into his arms. He slightly frowns and is attired in a short-brimmed hat, long-sleeved shirt, vest and pants. In the right, is an older son, who looks at the viewer. He carries a large basket of produce over his left arm. He is attired in a wide-brimmed hat, long-sleeved shirt, long apron, and pants. In the background, a wooden fence and the tops of trees are visible. Image also shows a white woman, wearing her long, light-colored hair down on her shoulders, and attired in a wide-brimmed hat, and long-sleeved, narrow silhouette dress with an overskirt walking between the fence and the family. 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 from item. Title printed on mount and written on original print., Date from copy right statement printed on mount: Copyright 1887., Written in lower right of original print: Mrs. R. Colburn., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Purchased with the 2019 Junto Fund.
Date: 1887
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photos - 5 x 7 - unidentified - Events [P.2020.16.4]

Title: [Robert Swayne collection of Philadelphia photographs]
Description: Collection of photographs documenting Philadelphia cityscapes, neighborhoods, landmarks, churches and benevolent institutions, businesses and factories, street views, and local events. Images depict interiors, exteriors, and alleyways. Many views include storefront signage; utility poles and street clocks; railroads and stations; and street and pedestrian traffic, as well as show the Western, Southern, and Northern sections of the city. Subjects depicted include All Saints Church (Torresdale); Cliveden; views along the Delaware River; Fairmount Park and Waterworks; Wissahickon Creek, Schuylkill River and Boathouse Row; Frankford Arsenal (1948); Philadelphia Gazette Building (924 Arch Street); the WCAU building (Bala Cynwyd) ; Rittenhouse and Logan squares; the “Clothesline Show” at Rittenhouse Square: a ca. 1930 view of a baseball game at the Baker Bowl, i.e. National League Park (2622 North Broad St.); the power house of the Westinghouse Gas Engine Machinery (Manayunk); the attic and basement of the original United State Mint (37-39 N. 7th Street, built 1792) photographed ca. 1890 by Newell & Son; interior of the second Mint Building (Broad and Chestnut);, the construction of the Delaware River, later Benjamin Franklin, Bridge (ca. 1924), Hahnemann Hospital (1928), Philadelphia Municipal, later JFK, Stadium (ca. 1926); the interior of an unidentified bakery (53rd and Vine) photographed ca. 1905 by C.H. Miller; interior and exterior of Geo. W. Einselen, Fine Cake Bakery and Ice Cream Saloon (1372 Somerset St.) photographed 1904 by Joseph Pearce; progress photographs photographed 1926 of the property of “Philadelphia Brick Co. Required for P.R.R. Temporary Track” and photographed 1921 by J.E. Bewley of and near the 3400 block of North 5th Street ; “Stephen Girard's ‘Alleged Slave Dungeons,’ Front & Market Streets uncovered by demolition” photographed 1906-1907 by John Trautwine, likely the civil engineer (P.2017.88.37.1-7); ca. 1880s studio portraits of adult and child mummers photographed by Richter & Co.; workers on scaffolding attached to the Nixon Building (20 S. 52nd St.); an exterior view photographed ca. 1873 by Newell & Son of the carpenter shop of Clarkson Fogg in front of which numerous household implements and furniture are lined, as well as men, women, and children, including a policeman are posed (449 N. 10th St.); ca. 1868 view of the 100 block of North Third Street, including the storefront for Dr. Stoever's Bitters manufactured by Kryder & Co (121 N. Third); Maryland Metal Bldg. Co. Incorporated classroom modules for the Philadelphia School District (ca. 1924); ca. 1920 advertising photos for an unidentified lighting company of examples of their work in Philadelphia manufactories with sewing machines (Greenwald Bros., Inc., 313 Arch St. and Trio Waist Co., 821 Arch St.) and of the moulding room of S.J. Cresswell Iron Works (2250 Cherry St.); the ca. 1905 interior of the cigar store of Ramon Azogue (102 S. 8th St.);, ca. 1930 view of the hairdressing salon at the Benjamin Franklin Hotel; ca. 1895 view of the interior of the Bourse (i.e., Philadelphia Stock Exchange); and a ca. 1930s exterior view of the Roxborough Home for Indigent Women (601 Leverington Avenue). Other images show a WWI benefit parade "to Keep the War Chest Filled" (1419 N. 2nd St.); a ca. 1900 lavish display of elaborately-decorated cakes photographed by William Phillipi; a posed WWI publicity still with release statements on the verso for Eastman Kodak showing Anna B. Graham with a camera and a young girl in a nurse’s uniform photographed by William F. Langrock; the storefront of a women’s owned business (Mrs. R.T. Anderson); a ca. 1920s contact sheet of variant bust-length portraits of a young woman photographed by the Lipp Studio; and the Walter Lippincott family posed on the porch of a residence., Portrait photographs, including of engraver John Sartain (P.2017.88.77.1 & 2), African American Rev. C. M. Tanner (1869-1933)(P.2018.66.4), John McAllister, Jr. and family members, and “physio-psychism” researcher Emil Sutra (P.2018.66.2) by Philadelphia photographers and occupational, school, and organizational group portrait photographs also comprise the collection. Group portraits document the Bellview Wheelmen; a class trip to the Franklin Institute; and performers attired in leotards, including jugglers, titled “Mr. Jonathan Evans, Haines & Cheer St.” Collection also includes William Stuart McFeeters family photograph album; a small number of images depicting African American men (P.2017.88.11, P.2017.88.61, P.2017.88.76.9 & 38); an organizational group portrait with a man with dwarfism (P.2018.66.15); candid snapshots, including ca. 1900 views of women using cameras along the Schuylkill River; and two film negatives depicting the WCAU building., Title supplied by cataloger., Various photographers, including Frank B. Cassel; William Bell; Berry & Homer; J. E. Bewley; Coward & Shannon; Harry A. Derr; Eagle Photo View Co.; Empire Photo Co.; H. Fetters; S.M. Fisher; Frederick Guteknust; Hansbury Studio; Henry C. Howland; Keystone Instantaneous View Company; William J. Kuebler; William F. Langrock; Lipp Studio; Charles Luedecke; F. Mattes; Monarch Photograph & Publishing Co.; Marriott C. Morris; Robert Newell; Newell & Son; Newell Studio; C. H. Miller, C. R. Pancoast; Joseph N. Pearce; William Phillipi; William Rau; Frederick DeBourg Richards; Schreiber; George Sheridan; Alfred Taylor; John Trautwine; Universal Photo Service; and W. D. Weland, Cartes-de-visite portraits of John Sartain (P.2017.88.77.1 & 2) housed separately and with cdv portraits – sitters - S., View by Schreiber of horse cart racing (1903) housed separately and with *photo – Schreiber., Cartes-de-visite portrait photographs of John McAllister, Jr. and family members (P.2017.88.79-102) housed with the McAllister Family Portrait Collection - cartes-de-visite., Electronic inventories of collection available at repository., See Lib. Company. Annual report, 2016, p. 64-65., RVCDC, Access points revised 2022., Robert Swayne (1927-2011) was a West Chester antique dealer, collector of vernacular photographs, and local writer about the Civil War.
Date: [ca. 1860-ca. 1952]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Swayne Collection [P.2017.88 & P.2018.66]

Title: Rapid transit in Southern Mississippi
Description: Racist scene showing an African American family comprised of the parents and eleven children traveling in an open wagon pulled by two oxen. The parents, each holding a baby, sit on the cab as the older children stand in the bed of the wagon. A wood shack, with three small windows, a door, and dilapidated fencing stands in the background. Two African American women, each holding a baby, stand in front of the building. The women and girls wear cotton shirtwaists, skirts, or smock dresses, and kerchiefs or a wide-brimmed hat. The man and boys wear long-sleeved shirts, pants, and hats or caps., Date from copyright statement: Copyright 1895, by Strohmeyer & Wyman., Title from item., Title printed in six different languages, including French, German, and Spanish on verso., Gift of David Long., RVCDC, Description reviewed 2022., Access points revised 2022., In 1912 Keystone View Company purchased rights to some Underwood & Underwood negatives for use in educational sets, and in 1922 purchased the remaining stock of Underwood materials. Keystone remained in business until 1970.
Creator: Underwood & Underwood
Date: 1895
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - Underwood & Underwood - Portraits & Genre [P.2018.16.9]

Title: [Portrait of Millie and Christine McCoy]
Description: Full-length portrait of the African American co-joined twins and performers. The women are attired in striped-patterned shirtwaists, a white ankle-length skirt with a black lace overlay, and black high-heeled boots with white stripes. Each wears a white neckerchief, and an adornment in her pulled back hair. Millie (on the left) holds a white fan in her hands. A backdrop and ornate, wooden pedestal with a book resting on it are visible in the background. The end of a drape partially covers the book. In the left, another wooden prop is partially visible. The twins, born enslaved, were exhibited nationally and internationally under various owners and managers. By the end of the 1880s the twins retired to a farm in their home state of North Carolina., Title supplied by cataloger., Photographer's imprint printed on mount., Date inferred from age of sitters and active dates of photographer in New York., Printed on verso: I was born in the State of North Carolina, Columbus Co., Anno Domini, 1851. And pronounced by scientists to be the 8th wonder of the world. / 'Tis not modest of one's self to speak,/ Buts, daily scanned from head to feet,/ I freely talk of everything,/ Sometimes to persons wondering./ Some people say I must be two!/The doctors say it is not true,/Some cry out humbug, till they see,/ And then exclaim, "great mystery."/ Two heads, four arms, four feet,/ All in one perfect body meet./I am most wonderfully made, /All scientific men have said./ None like me since the days of Eve,/ None such perhaps shall ever live./ If marvel to myself am I,/Why not to all pass me by?/ I am happy too, because content;/ For some wise purpose I was sent./ Our maker knows what he has done,/ Whether I'm created two or one./ Respectfully, Millie Christine. The Carolina twin, surnamed the 2-headed Nightingale., Mount trimmed., See History and Medical Description of the Two-Headed Girl:...(Buffalo, N.Y.: Warren, Johnson, & Co., 1869). (LCP Am 1869 Hist, 70318.D)., See LCP AR (Annual Report) 2015, p.42-43., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 2018, p. 61., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Horace Ollivier operated a New York studio beginning around 1881 at 779 Broadway.
Creator: Ollivier, Horace, photographer
Date: [ca. 1881]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits - sitter - Millie [P.2018.28]

Title: [Photographs of Andalusia, probably Pennsylvania]
Description: Captioned photographs depicting a pair of men by a tree and two women, one older, and a boy near a kettle in a back yard. Captions, one with racist text, include: "Pleasant thoughts of the Penn- Andalusia August 1898. Love from [Laute]?" and "Rollin like a [seener?] in the darkey quarters - Andalusia August 1898, Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from the attire of the sitters., Gift of Marjorie G. Battles., RVCDC
Date: [1898]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photos - 5 x 7 - unidentified - Recreation [P.8502.19 & 21]

Title: [Photographic reproductions of the Cartoon Printing Co. series after the 1878 Harper’s Weekly "Blackville" series “The Twins”]
Description: Photographic reproductions of drawings based on a racist series of African American caricatures originally created for Harper's Weekly in 1878 by Sol Eytinge that satirized the courtship and marriage of and the start of families by "The Twins." The African American figures are depicted with exaggerated features and mannerisms. Includes "No. 1 The Flirtation" showing the "Twins" meeting their suitors; "No. 2 The Introduction" showing the "Twins" being formally introduced to their suitors; "No. 3 The Courting" showing the "Twins" being courted together; "No. 4 The Proposal" showing the "Twins"suitors proposing to them in different manners; "No. 5 The Duel" showing the "Twins" suitors preparing to duel with guns; "No. 6. The Wedding" showing the "Twins" dual wedding; "No. 8 Return from the Honeymoon Tour" showing the "Twin" couples promenading in town; "No. 9 Coming Events" showing the town doctor and the husbands of the "Twins" racing down a dirt road on donkey back; and "No. 10 The Event Or Where '2 Pair is Better Than 4 of a Kind'"showing the arrival of the "Twins" twins., Title supplied by cataloger., Date from copyright statement on four of the original drawings in the series: Copyrighted 1881 John McGreer, Chicago, Ill., Name of artist stamped on versos: McGreer Chicago., Series missing No. 7. The Wedding Feast., Name of publisher inscribed on four of the original drawings in the series (No. 2-3, 6, and 9)., Inscribed on two of the original drawings in the series (No. 2 and 8): Remodeled from sketch in Harpers Weekly or Reproduced from sketch in Harpers Weekly by the Cartoon Printing Co. Chicago., Inscribed on one of the original drawings in the series (No. 3): Reproduced from sketch by Sol Eytinge in Harpers Weekly by the Cartoon Printing Co. Chicago., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 2017, p. 52., John McGreer (1833-1905) was a dime museum painter, landscape artist, and cartoonist. He worked in Chicago after 1870 and was a partner in the novelty and satire printing firm Cartoon Printing Co., later Cartoon Publishing Co., by the early 1880s. In 1897, he patented statuettes of African American caricatures for use as cardholders. He resided in New York and was noted as a landscape artist at the time of his death in 1908., See Shawn Michelle Smith, Photography on the Color Line: W. E. B. DuBois, Race, and Visual Culture (Durham: Duke University Press, 2004), 82-86., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: McGreer, John, 1839-1908
Date: 1881
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - 5 x 7 - Unid. - Events [P.2017.26.1-9]

Title: [Philadelphia children in Blackface]
Description: Group portrait in a house foyer of nine white costumed children in Blackface and holding tin horns. The children, four seated and five standing, are possibly attired to perform a minstrel show for home entertainment. The photographer's daughter, Hazel, is seated on a rocker, in the right, attired in a large ruffled hat with a mask-like cloth veil. "Blackface minstrelsy is a popular entertainment form, originating in the United States in the mid-19th century and remaining in American life through the 20th century. The form is based around stereotypical and racist portrayals of African Americans, including mocking dialect, parodic lyrics, and the application of Black face paint; all designed to portray African Americans as othered subjects of humor and disrespect. Blackface was a dominant form for theatrical and musical performances for decades, both on stage and in private homes.", Title from Library Company catalog, An African American miscellany, p. 27., Description of Blackface minstrelsy from Dorothy Berry, Descriptive Equity and Clarity around Blackface Minstrelsy in H(arvard) T(heater) C(ollection) Collections, 2021., Purchase 1988., 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., Rich was a professional Philadelphia landscape photographer who produced several candid portraits of family and friends.
Creator: Rich, James Bartlett, 1866-1942, photographer
Date: [ca. 1895]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - Rich [P.9266.870]

Title: The old and the new – “Nothin’ but niggers nohow.”
Description: Photographic reproduction of a print drawn by Helen M. Colburn, daughter of New Jersey artist Rembrandt Lockwood, depicting an older African American woman watching and "judging" a young African American couple walking in a park. The figures are drawn with racist and caricatured features and mannerisms. Shows, in the right, the older woman, attired in a kerchief, coat, shawl, long skirt, and holding a wooden cane, and with a squinted expression looking toward the back of a fashionably-attired couple in the left. The man of the couple to the right of the woman looks down and at his companion whose back is to the viewer. She is attired in a cap, a long winter wrap, and a skirt with a short train. The man wears an imperial mustache and is attired in a cap and a long winter coat. The man and women walk on a path lined with trees and birds peck at the ground. In the far left background, a woman and child attired in winter wear and walking on the path are visible. 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 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 right of original print: Mrs. R. Colburn 1881., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Purchased with the 2019 Junto Fund.
Date: 1887
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photos - 5 x 7 - unidentified - Events [P.2020.16.3]

Title: No. 9 Coming events
Description: Ninth scene in a racist series of African American caricatures originally created for Harper's Weekly in 1878 by Sol Eytinge that satirized the courtship and marriage of and the start of families by "The Twins." The African American figures are depicted with exaggerated features and mannerisms. Shows "Dr. Black MD" on his donkey racing with the twins' husbands on their donkeys down a dirt road along a river. A raft sails on the river past a log cabin and a dwelling with smoke-spewing chimneys is visible in the background., Title from item., Name of publisher inscribed in original drawing., Date from copyright statement inscribed in original drawing: Copyrighted 1881 John McGreer, Chicago, Ill., Name of artist from stamp on verso: McGreer Chicago., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 2017, p. 52., RVCDC, Desciption revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: McGreer, John, 1839-1908
Date: 1881
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - 5 x 7 - Unid. - Events [P.2017.26.8]

Title: No. 8 Return from the honeymoon tour
Description: Eighth scene in a racist series of African American caricatures originally created for Harper's Weekly in 1878 by Sol Eytinge that satirized the courtship and marriage of and the start of families by "The Twins." The African American figures are depicted with exaggerated features and mannerisms. Shows the twins and their husbands in fashion-forward attire promenading down the street of their small town. In the right, an older man in the stance of the minstrel character of Jim Crow, and an older woman attired in a bonnet, polka dot dress, and apron, and leaning on a tree laugh at the couples as they approach them. From a distance, "Dr. Black" watches them from astride his donkey. Townscape, including a storefront with signage reading “Groceries” and “Watchin Dun Hyar,” as well as a “Eatin House” and saloon is visible in the background. Figures are visible in the windows of the grocery store., Blackface minstrelsy is a popular entertainment form, originating in the United States in the mid-19th century and remaining in American life through the 20th century. The form is based around stereotypical and racist portrayals of African Americans, including mocking dialect, parodic lyrics, and the application of Black face paint; all designed to portray African Americans as othered subjects of humor and disrespect. Blackface was a dominant form for theatrical and musical performances for decades, both on stage and in private homes. Jim Crow (mid to late 19th century) was a Minstrel character representing enslaved/rural Black manhood as foolish, lazy, interested in shirking labor., Title from item., Inscribed on original drawing: Reproduced from sketch in Harpers Weekly by the Cartoon Printing Co. Chicago., Date from copyright statement in other photographs in series: Copyrighted 1881 John McGreer, Chicago, Ill., Name of artist from stamp on verso: McGreer Chicago., Description of Blackface minstrelsy and minstrel character from Dorothy Berry, Descriptive Equity and Clarity around Blackface Minstrelsy in H(arvard) T(heater) C(ollection) Collections, 2021., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 2017, p. 52., RVCDC, Desciption revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: McGreer, John, 1839-1908
Date: 1881
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - 5 x 7 - Unid. - Events [P.2017.26.7]

Title: No. 6 The wedding
Description: Sixth scene in a racist series of African American caricatures originally created for Harper's Weekly in 1878 by Sol Eytinge that satirized the courtship and marriage of and the start of families by "The Twins." The African American figures are depicted with exaggerated features and mannerisms. Shows the twins getting married in the parlor in which they were introduced to their fiancés (see No. 2 The Introduction). The twins are attired in white wedding dresses and veils and their betrothed in formal suits. An older African American reverend stands in front of them and officiates. Their relatives, including an older woman, attired in a bonnet, and seated in a rocker and holding in her lap a boy, attired in a striped suit with ruffled collar, watch the nuptials from behind them. "Dr. Black" and other acquaintances watch from through a doorway. Framed pictures adorn the wall. A table with a cake and a decanter with glasses is visible behind the reverend., Title from item., Name of publisher inscribed on original drawing: Cartoon Printing Co. Chicago., Date from copyright statement in other photographs in series: Copyrighted 1881 John McGreer, Chicago, Ill., Name of artist stamped on verso: McGreer Chicago., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 2017, p. 52., RVCDC, Desciption revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: McGreer, John, 1839-1908
Date: 1881
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - 5 x 7 - Unid. - Events [P.2017.26.6]

Title: No. 5 The duel
Description: Fifth scene in a racist series of African American caricatures originally created for Harper's Weekly in 1878 by Sol Eytinge that satirized the courtship and marriage of and the start of families by "The Twins." The African American figures are depicted with exaggerated features and mannerisms. Scene shows two African American men (i.e., the suitors of the twins), attired in suits, at the start of a duel in a pasture between two trees. The suitor with a squat figure is in the right and the tall suitor in the left. They point guns at each other and look aghast. An African American man (witness), attired in a ruffled suit and hat, stands behind the tree in the foreground and another, in shirtsleeves, kneels behind the tree in the background. “Dr. Black M.D.,” an older African American man, sits behind the standing observer with his medical bag, labeled “Dr. Black M.D.,” in one hand and a medicine bottle in the other. Figures representing the twins are visible in the distant left background near their log cabin., Title from item., Publication information from copyright statement in other reproduced drawings in series: Copyrighted 1881 John McGreer, Chicago, Ill., Name of publisher from other reproduced drawings in series: Cartoon Printing Co., Name of artist stamped on verso: McGreer Chicago., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 2017, p. 52., RVCDC, Desciption revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: McGreer, John, 1839-1908
Date: 1881
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - 5 x 7 - Unid. - Events [P.2017.26.5]

Title: No. 4 The proposal
Description: Fourth scene in a racist series of African American caricatures originally created for Harper's Weekly in 1878 by Sol Eytinge that satirized the courtship and marriage of and the start of families by "The Twins." The African American figures are depicted with exaggerated features and mannerisms. Scene shows the twins and their suitors, seated in an open room with a stove by a mantle. The tall suitor of the twin in the left kneels on the floor, his chair fallen behind him, and proposes to her as he holds her right hand. She covers her mouth with the other. The twin of the couple in the right sits on her suitor’s lap as he holds her. Her foot rests on his hat on the floor, and she holds a fan down on her legs. The parents of the twins, an older couple, stand, their mouths ajar, in an open entryway in the left background. Keepsakes and knick knacks adorn the mantle behind the stove. A coat and hat hang above the couple in the right. The twins are attired in polka dot dresses and the men in suits., Title from item., Date from copyright statement inscribed on original drawing: Copyrighted 1881 John McGreer, Chicago, Ill., Name of artist stamped on verso: McGreer Chicago., Name of publisher from other photographs in series., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 2017, p. 52., RVCDC, Desciption revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: McGreer, John, 1839-1908
Date: 1881
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - 5 x 7 - Unid. - Events [P.2017.26.4]

Title: No. 3 The courting
Description: Third scene in a racist series of African American caricatures originally created for Harper's Weekly in 1878 by Sol Eytinge that satirized the courtship and marriage of and the start of families by "The Twins." The African American figures are depicted with exaggerated features and mannerisms. Scene shows the twins and their suitors, seated in an open room with a stove by a mantle. In the left, one twin sits face to face with her tall suitor. She looks down and raises her hand to her mouth. In the right, the other twin sits next to her suitor and smiles. The twin holds a fan to her face. A hat and coat hang on the wall above them. The twins' parents watch from a doorway in the left background. The twins are attired in polka dot dresses and the men in suits., Title from item., Inscribed on original drawing: Reproduced from sketch by Sol Eytinge from Harpers Weekly., Date from copyright statement in other photographs in series: Copyrighted 1881 John McGreer, Chicago, Ill., Name of artist stamped on verso: McGreer Chicago., Name of publisher inscribed on original drawing., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 2017, p. 52., RVCDC, Desciption revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: McGreer, John, 1839-1908
Date: 1881
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - 5 x 7 - Unid. - Events [P.2017.26.3]

Title: No. 2 The introduction
Description: Second scene based on a racist series of African American caricatures originally created for Harper's Weekly in 1878 by Sol Eytinge that satirized the courtship and marriage of and the start of families by "The Twins." The African American figures are depicted with exaggerated features and mannerisms. Scene shows the “twins,” side-by-side, curtseying to their two male suitors (one tall and one squat) who stand across the parlor. The tall one bows with his hat in hand. The suitors’ mother, portrayed with a face with many wrinkles and attired in a polka dot dress, stands between the pairs. The room is adorned with a table that holds a vase of flowers, an album, and a glass. Framed pictures, including a portrait, as well as a cuckoo clock adorn the walls near a window with a partially rolled-up window shade. The twins are attired in polka dot dresses and the men in suits., Title from item., Inscribed on original drawing: Remodeled from sketch in Harpers Weekly., Date from copyright statement in other photographs in series: Copyrighted 1881 John McGreer, Chicago, Ill., Name of artist stamped on verso: McGreer Chicago., Name of publisher from other photographs in series., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 2017, p. 52., RVCDC, Desciption revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: McGreer, John, 1839-1908
Date: 1881
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - 5 x 7 - Unid. - Events [P.2017.26.2]

Title: No. 10 The event Or where "2 pair is better than 4 of a kind"
Description: Tenth scene in a racist series of African American caricatures originally created for Harper's Weekly in 1878 by Sol Eytinge that satirized the courtship and marriage of and the start of families by "The Twins." The African American figures are depicted with exaggerated features and mannerisms. Shows the tall husband of one of the twins, twin babies in hand, arriving at the home of the other twin and her husband after the birth of their twins. In the right, the twin lies in bed under the covers as “Dr. Black” turns to the entryway and prepares to give her a spoonful of medicine. Near them is the bed-ridden twins' husband, seated and feeding one baby twin a bottle as the other rocks in a cradle. To his right, the “grandmother,” attired in a bonnet, glasses, polka dot dress, and apron raises her hands in excitement as she greets the arriving husband of the twin's sister. A stool, framed pictures, and a sideboard adorn the room., Title from item., Name of publisher from other photographs in series., Date from copyright statement inscribed in original drawing: Copyrighted 1881 John McGreer, Chicago, Ill., Name of artist from stamp on verso: McGreer Chicago., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 2017, p. 52., RVCDC, Desciption revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: McGreer, John, 1839-1908
Date: 1881
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - 5 x 7 - Unid. - Events [P.2017.26.9]

Title: No. 1. The flirtation
Description: First scene based on a racist series of African American caricatures originally created for Harper's Weekly in 1878 by Sol Eytinge that satirized the courtship and marriage of and the start of families by "The Twins." The African American figures are depicted with exaggerated features and mannerisms. Scene shows the African American twins greeting two African American men. They depart from the gate of their log cabin home, attired in polka dot dresses, aprons, and turned-up brimmed hats. They smile at the two African American men as they begin their walk. One twin lifts her handkerchief. One of the men is tall and thin and he tips his hat. The other is shorter and squat and has a hand on his chest. The men are attired in suits with striped pants that are hemmed high. The twins' log cabin home with their parent's seeing them off is visible in the left background. Background also includes the log cabin with "Dr. Black’s Office"; the town church; a "Dry Goods and Clothing” store; a "Saloon"; and a "Hotel.”, Title from item., Name of publisher from other photographs in series., Date from copyright statement on original drawing: Copyrighted 1881 John McGreer, Chicago, Ill., Name of artist stamped on verso: McGreer Chicago., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 2017, p. 52., RVCDC, Desciption revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: McGreer, John, 1839-1908
Date: 1881
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - 5 x 7 - Unid. - Events [P.2017.26.1]

Title: Monday morning or the tender passion
Description: Photographic reproduction of a print drawn by Helen M. Colburn, daughter of New Jersey artist Rembrandt Lockwood, depicting an outdoor wash day. The figures are drawn with racist and caricatured features and mannerisms. Shows, in the background, in the right an African American woman bent over and with her hands in a wash tub. A basin and large ladle rest near the tub. Behind her, a sheet and stockings hang from a clothes line. In the left background, an African American woman, standing on the tops of her toes, pins a sheet to a clothesline. A wooden basket of laundry rests by her feet. A young African American girl with short hair peers at the woman hanging the wash from behind a hanging sheet. The women wear kerchiefs, shirtwaists with the sleeves rolled up, and long pleated skirts with aprons. Between the women, an African American man attired in a panama hat, a shirt, a cross tie, long jacket, and pants, stands, looking to the left and with his left hand on his hip, and holding a cane in his right hand. In the center foreground, two barefoot young African American boys face each other and dance. The boys are attired in long-sleeved blousy shirts and pants. One boy has his back to the viewer. The boy facing the viewer also wears a bucket hat. 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 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 right of original print: Mrs. R. Colburn 1877., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Purchased with the 2019 Junto Fund.
Date: 1887
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photos - 5 x 7 - unidentified - Events [P.2020.16.2]

Title: Ladies
Description: Lantern slide formerly owned and probably used in art lessons by Philadelphia painter, photographer, and art teacher, Xanthus Smith. Depicts a scene set in Roman antiquity of a white woman, attired in a white gown, dancing before upper-class Romans. In the center is a marble veranda with a roof comprised of a red drape with yellow fringe held up by columns. In the veranda, around a table filled with food and drink, a Roman woman and three men lounge and watch the dancer. Behind them, three enslaved Black men and a woman carry wine flasks, pour drinks, and fan. In the left, white men and women musicians play flutes and tambourines. In the background, a peacock and other birds stand and fly on the palatial building decorated with columns, sculpture, and flowers., Title from partially legible label on mount., Number 19 in "Old Roman World" series., Gift of Edna Andrade, 1994., RVCDC, 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.
Date: [ca. 1875]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Lantern Slides - Smith [P.9471]

Title: " How do debble does dey make a bicycle?" = Como diablos se hacen los bicírculos?
Description: Racist, genre scene showing an African American boy, seated on his knees, in a room with a dirt floor and strewn rubbish. His right hand is raised to his head, and he holds a tire pump and broken bicycle tire in his left hand. The boy, attired in a long-sleeved shirt, pants, and suspenders looks down with a look of anguish at the rubber tire pulled off of its hub. Behind the boy is a cot covered with haphazard-placed mounds of bedding. To his left, a cat stands in front of a wooden chair on which an empty glass bottle rests. Scene also includes a wooden storage cabinet in the right., Date from copyright statement: Copyright 1891 by Stohmeyer & Wyman., Curved buff mount with rounded corners., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Gift of David Long.
Creator: Strohmeyer & Wyman
Date: 1891
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - misc. photo. - Strohmeyer & Wyman [P.2018.16.5]

Title: Go way white trash, dis chile dance yer blind
Description: Reproduction of a sketch by G. W. Leonard depicting an African American shoeshine boy dancing to the musical accompaniment of a white boy and girl, while a white boy mocks him in the background. The smiling African American boy, portrayed in racist caricature with exaggerated features, is in the center of the image. He is attired in a white, long-sleeved open neck shirt, baggy striped pants with suspenders, and a hat with turned up brims, his hands at his side, and mid step. To his right, stand a white boy playing a concertina and a white girl playing the violin. The boy is attired in a newsboy's cap, a jacket, and pants with patches at the knees. The girl is attired in a short-sleeved, calf-length, light-colored dress, with a sash draped over her right shoulder (the one on which she plays the violin). A shoeshine box marked (with the letter s's backwards), "t. Smith. Boss Shine, 5 cts.," rests near the feet of the trio of children. In the background, a white boy, attired in torn and worn clothes and with mop-like hair, appears in a clomping stance with his arms raised to his shoulders, his back leg bent at the knee, and his other leg kicked out. His hat lays on the ground near him., Date from copyright statement: Copyright 1877, by J. P. Soule., John P. Soule was a Boston photographer who also published stereographs and cartes de visite. He served in the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts at the end of the Civil War., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund and funds for the Visual Culture Program., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Date: [1877]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv - misc. - caricatures and cartoons - G [P.2015.63]

Title: Future rulers of Florida U.S.A
Description: Racist scene showing an African American family of a mother, father, and four children seated on the porch to a wooden dwelling. In the left, the mother breastfeeds her youngest child, a baby. She is seated next to her three older, but young children. The father sits to the right on the other side of the children who sit and stand. He has his arm behind the next to youngest child. The mother is attired in a kerchief, plain shirtwaist, and long, plain skirt. The father wears a vest, shirt sleeves, pants, and work boots. The children are attired in worn shirts and the oldest also in worn pants., Title printed on negative., Yellow mount with curved corners., Date inferred from format of stereograph., Gift of Ivan Jurin., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Date: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - unid. photo - Portraits & Genre [P.2019.2.2]

Title: Fifteenth amendment. Bringing his crop to town
Description: Racist, vignetted view showing an African American man, attired in worn clothes, hauling a loaded cart pulled by a thin, horned cow. The man, attired in a wide-brimmed hat, jacket, and pants, rides the cow. His right hand holds the reigns of the yoke and his left hand holds up a stick in a striking motion. A pile of thatch fills the cart. A bag of cotton rests atop of the thatch. Townscape is visible in the background. View racistly satirizes African American civil rights and the right to vote granted to African American men in 1870 by the Fifteenth Amendment., Title and series number printed on verso., Name of photographer printed on verso., Photographer inferred to also be publisher., Date inferred from style of mount and active dates of photographer., Printed on mount: Charleston & Vicinity., Orange mount with rounded corners., Gift of David Long., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Jerome N. Wilson (1827-1897), a New-York born photographer, relocated his photography business to Savannah Georgia in 1865. He produced multiple genres of photographs, including cartes de visite and stereographs. His studio was enlarged and improved in 1871.
Creator: Wilson, J. N.
Date: [ca. 1870]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - misc. photo. - Wilson [P.2018.16.11]

Title: [E]spousal of Esther
Description: Lantern slide formerly owned and probably used in art lessons by Philadelphia painter, photographer, and art teacher, Xanthus Smith. Depicts the proposal of marriage of Persian King Ahasuerus to the Hebrew Esther. In the center, the King stands from his grand, golden throne, attired in a crown and robes, and holds a scepter in his left hand. He reaches his right hand out to Esther, attired in a white dress and veil and a gold necklace and bracelets. Behind her are attendants, one of which holds a parasol over her. A Black woman, attired in a red and gold dress and a gold necklace and earrings, kneels carrying the future Queen’s crown on a red pillow. In the right, women musicians play the harp and drum. Also in the image are several censors of burning incense., Title from partially legible label on mount., Number 21 in "Bible History" series., Gift of Edna Andrade, 1994., RVCDC, 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.
Date: [ca. 1875]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Lantern Slides-Smith, Xanthus [P.9471]

Title: "D em brats done gone and stole dat melon."
Description: Racist, genre stereograph depicting an African American man coming upon three African American boys sitting next to each other and eating large slices of watermelon at the entrance to a stone root cellar. Shows an outdoor setting in which the man, holding a switch, peers around the stone, curved structure at the boys who sit with their legs crossed, or bent at the knees, or to the side, before the open entryway. Each holds a slice of watermelon toward their mouth. Half a watermelon with a knife in it and two other slices of the melon lie near the boys. View also show a grassy hillside in the background and a patch of greenry near the cellar. The man is attired in a soft-brimmed hat, shirtsleeves, a vest, and slacks. The children wear shirts and shorts., Title from item., Date inferred from active dates of publisher and content., Name of photographer and publisher from copyright statement: Copyright Griffith & Griffith., Curved grey mount with rounded corners., Griffith & Griffith, established in Philadelphia in 1896, expanded in 1908 to included offices in St. Louis and Liverpool. The non-Philadelphia offices were relocated in 1910., RVCDC, Gift of George R. Allen, 2022.
Creator: Griffith & Griffith
Date: [ca. 1900]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - Griffith & Griffith - Portraits & Genre [P.2022.42.18]

Title: Effect of the Fifteenth Amendment Indignant mother, "Cum in out of dat mud right straight! Fust ting you'll know you'll be took for Irish chil'en!"
Description: Photographic reproduction of a drawing after a racist cartoon published in Harper's Bazar in 1871 alluding to the social and political tensions between Irish and African American people following passage of the right to vote amendment. Shows an African American woman, a broom in one hand, her other hand on her hip, at her front porch, watching her two sons playing in the dirt. The woman is portrayed in racist caricature and speaks in the vernacular. She has a rotund figure and is attired in a head kerchief, a button-down shirt, an ankle-length skirt, and an apron. Her children make a mud pie beside the porch and in front of a tall wooden fence. Another African American boy, attired in a broad-rimmed hat and slipper-like shoes too large for his feet, sits and balances himself on the fence. View also includes a dust pan, the edge of a bench, and a tall weed near the mother's feet., Title from item., Date inferred from similar cartoon published in Harper's Bazar, March 4, 1871., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Date: 1871
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photos - 5 x 7 - unidentified - Events [P.2015.29]

Title: [Early model for Freedmen's Memorial by Thomas Ball]
Description: Front and oblique views with a dark background, likely photographed in Thomas Ball's studio, showing his model for a design later proposed and adapted for the Freedman's Memorial to Lincoln (erected 1876, Washington, D.C.) that was first discussed as a Lincoln monument in the later 1860s. Shows the model composed of a figure of Abraham Lincoln (left) and a kneeling, emancipated, enslaved Black man figure (right). The Black man figure, is portrayed in left profile, looking out toward the vista, and with his left knee to the ground and his right knee bent. His left foot is arched up from the ground. He holds his left hand with his knuckles to the ground and his right hand across his waist and resting on the inner elbow of his left arm. The figure has curly hair and wears a Liberty cap and a loin cloth. Broken shackles adorn his wrists. The Lincoln figure, attired in a suit with a long coat, stands, looks down on the Black man figure, and holds out his left hand above the kneeling man, while his right hand holds the Emancipation Proclamation (semi-rolled) on a plinth decorated with patriotic symbols. Symbols include a profile portrait of George Washington, the fasces of the U.S. Republic, and a shield adorned with the stars and stripes. The base of the plinth is inscribed "T. Ball 1865." The figures rest on a base marked "And upon this act-I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favour of Almighty God.", A national monument project sponsored by the Western Sanitary Commission of St. Louis was initiated after formerly enslaved Charlotte Scott of Marietta, OH pledged $5 for a monument to Abraham Lincoln following his assassination in 1865. Donations from formerly enslaved persons grew to $20,000 within months of Scott's original donation. After years of competing projects, designs, and sponsoring agencies, on April 14, 1876, Ball's sculpture adapted from the model depicted, the "Emancipation Memorial," and designed without the input of the formerly enslaved donors was erected in Lincoln Square, Washington, D.C. on an eastern edge of Capitol Hill., Title supplied by cataloger., Photographer's imprint stamped on mount., Manuscript note on verso of verso of P.2023.32.1: Florence March 15th 1872. Emancipation Proclamation. T. Ball of Boston., Manuscript note on verso of verso of P.2023.32.1: Florence March 15th 1872. Emancipation Proclamation. T. Ball of Boston. Sculptor in Florence., Date from manuscript note on verso., Thomas Ball (1819-1911), sculptor, focused his career on the portrayal of statesmen and historical figures. He located to Florence to study sculpture in 1854. Between 1857 and 1865, he worked in Boston before returning to Florence until 1897. Ball was part of an expatriate community of artists and sculptors, including Hiram Powers, father of Longsworth Powers., See Kirk Savage, Standing soldiers, kneeling slaves: Race, war, and monument in nineteenth-century America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), p.77-83 and 114-123., RVCDC, Longsworth Powers (1835-1904), son of sculptor Hiram Powers, lived in Florence with his family in the 1830s and returned in 1860 and began a career as a sculptor and photographer. Powers photographed prominent men and women in the city.
Creator: Powers, Longsworth, 1835-1904, photographer
Date: [1872]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - Powers [P.2023.32.1-2]

Title: "Doing business on a small scale"
Description: Racist, satiric stereograph depicting a young African American boy seated on a chamber pot atop a Victor scale. The boy, attired in a long-sleeved white shirt, sits with his hands resting on his knees and looks slightly up., Title from item., Warped buff mount with rounded corners., Gift of David Long, 2002., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Digitization funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
Date: [ca. 1890]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - unidentified - Genre [P.2002.8.1]

Title: " Does you love me hun?"
Description: Racist stereograph of an outdoor caricatured, genre scene showing an African American man woman couple seated together on a tree swing in a clearing in the woods. The woman sits on the lap of the man. Her left leg dangles. Her right cheek rests against his left one. She smiles and looks out. His eyes are turned toward hers. The woman wears a patterned, dark-colored shirtwaist, a floral-patterned skirt, dark stockings, and boots. He wears a suit. Scene also includes leaves on the ground and trees and bushes in the background., Date from copyright statement: Copyright 1898, by R. Y. Young., Title from item., Curved buff mount with rounded corners., Gift of David Long., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: Universal Stereoscopic View Company
Date: 1898
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - misc. photo - Universal [P.2018.16.7]

Title: "Deed Child's, I's didn't know you was dare."
Description: Racist, comic genre scene showing a young African American woman emerging from a cellar and accidentally knocking two children off the cellar doors. Depicts the woman standing out from the cellar and opening the cellar doors with both her hands. A young white girl has rolled off the door in the left and a young white boy lies on the edge of the door in the right. The girl, lies on her side, her head toward the viewer, her dress tousled, and her hands over her eyes. The boy, attired in a romper ensemble, sucks his thumb, and lies on his right side. The woman, smiles, and looks toward the boy. She is attired in a wide-brimmed hat, a shirt waist, and a skirt. The image also shows the outer wall of a stone dwelling and a window in which the figure of a man is visible. The window, adorned with drapery, is over the cellar., Curved buff mount with rounded corners., Title printed on mount., Date and name of photographer from copyright statement: Copyrighted 1898, by T.W. Ingersoll., Printed on mount: High Grade Original Views. Sold only by Subscription., Gift of George R. Allen, 2022., RVCDC
Creator: Ingersoll, T. W. (Truman Ward), 1862-1922
Date: 1898
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - Miscellaneous - Ingersoll [P.2022.42.19]

Title: "Dar boss, how's dat?"
Description: Racist, satiric genre scene staged in a cargo hold setting. In the left, shows a well-dressed white man attired in a floor-length overcoat and bowler hat with valises at his side. He stands and watches an African American worker, attired in a cap and overalls, who secures the man's trunk with rope and his foot. Clothes hang out of and lie in front of the trunk. Stacks of trunks and valises line the wall in the background., Title from label on negative., Buff mount with rounded corners., Distributor's imprint stamped on verso: Robert Miller, 1110 W. Nor'W St., Gift of George R. Allen, 2013., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., The Standard Series of New York was a producer of pirated views during the 1890s.
Date: [ca. 1895]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - unidentified - Genre [P.2013.65.14]

Title: Customer. "Rather cool weather Pete, for a close crop like that." Pete. "Can't help it Boss---the proprietor says long hairs gits in de wittles."
Description: Reproduction of a drawing of a racist, comic scene showing an African American waiter serving a bearded, white man seated at a restaurant table. The African American waiter is depicted with exaggerated features, including an oblong-shaped head. He wears a black suit, a white shirt with a high collar, and an apron around his waist. The waiter stands beside the table that is covered in a tablecloth. He rests his left hand on it and holds a bowl of soup on a saucer in his right. The customer, attired in a tuxedo, rests his left arm near a pitcher, glass, napkin and condiment display on the table. In the background, a bald man, sits and eats at a nearby table. Paneling adorns the walls of the restaurant on which the morphed shadow of the waiter is visible., Title printed on negative., Yellow mount with curved corners., Date inferred from attire of depicted figures., Gift of David Long., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Date: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - unid. photo - Portraits & Genre [P.2018.16.8]

Title: Cotton is king. Plantation scene, Georgia, U.S.A
Description: Scene showing an African American girl, women, and men picking cotton in a cotton field. In the foreground, a girl picks cotton near a large basket filled with the fiber. Behind her, a number of women and men, some hunched over and with large cloth bags hung over their shoulders, pick cotton from the rows of plants. One man holds a large basket of cotton with his hands over his head and the basket on his back. The women wear long-sleeve, checkered cotton dresses and kerchiefs. The mean wear long sleeve shirts and pants. Most wear wide-brimmed hats, except the man carrying the basket, who wears no hat. In the background, a white man, attired in a suit and on horseback, oversees the cotton pickers., Date from copyright statement: Copyright 1895, by Strohmeyer & Wyman., Title from item., Curved grey mount with rounded corners., Title printed in six different languages, including French, German, and Spanish on verso., Several lines of text printed on verso about the cotton industry, the "world-problem of clothing," the cultivation of cotton, including "picking is usually done by negro laborers, as here, though experiments with harvesting machines are meeting with some success," and suggested further reading, including encyclopedia article subjects and Carrol D. Wright's "Industrial Development of the United States." Text begins: This beautiful field "white unto the harvest," is a sense to delight a painter, and at the same time, it is a condensed cyclopaedia of one of the greatest industries of the whole world., Gift of David Long., Title variant of P.2017.121.2., RVCDC, Description reviewed 2022., Access points revised 2022., In 1912 Keystone View Company purchased rights to some Underwood & Underwood negatives for use in educational sets, and in 1922 purchased the remaining stock of Underwood materials. Keystone remained in business until 1970.
Creator: Underwood & Underwood
Date: 1895
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - Underwood & Underwood - Work [P.2018.16.6]

Title: Cotton is king. Plantation scene, Georgia, U.S.A
Description: Scene showing an African American girl, women, and men picking cotton in a cotton field. In the foreground, a girl picks cotton near a large basket filled with the fiber. Behind her, a number of women and men, some hunched over and with large cloth bags hung over their shoulders, pick cotton from the rows of plants. One man holds a large basket of cotton with his hands over his head and the basket on his back. The women wear long-sleeve, checkered cotton dresses and kerchiefs. The mean wear long sleeve shirts and pants. Most wear wide-brimmed hats, except the man carrying the basket, who wears no hat. In the background, a white man, attired in a suit and on horseback, oversees the cotton pickers., Date from copyright statement: Copyright 1895, by Strohmeyer & Wyman., Title from item., Curved grey mount with rounded corners., Title printed in six different languages, including French, German, and Spanish on verso., Several lines of text printed on verso about the cotton industry, the "world-problem of clothing," the cultivation of cotton, including "picking is usually done by negro laborers, as here, though experiments with harvesting machines are meeting with some success," and suggested further reading, including encyclopedia article subjects and Carrol D. Wright's "Industrial Development of the United States." Text begins: This beautiful field "white unto the harvest," is a sense to delight a painter, and at the same time, it is a condensed cyclopaedia of one of the greatest industries of the whole world., Gift of George Allen., Title variant of P.2018.16.6., RVCDC, Description reviewed 2022., Access points revised 2022., In 1912 Keystone View Company purchased rights to some Underwood & Underwood negatives for use in educational sets, and in 1922 purchased the remaining stock of Underwood materials. Keystone remained in business until 1970.
Creator: Underwood & Underwood
Date: 1895
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereos - Underwood & Underwood - Work [P.2017.121.2]

Title: A " corner in cotton."
Description: Racist scene showing a young, African American couple (Ephraim and Dinah) seated next to each other, and flirting, in a small clearing in a cotton field. The couple, their legs outstretched, leans back on two large baskets of picked cotton. The man and woman smile at each other. The woman's head is tilted to her left and she uses the index finger of her right hand to touch the chin of the man. The man is attired in a collarless, long-sleeve, light-color shirt, light-color pants, and worn boots. The pants have frayed edges. The woman wears a light-colored, long sleeve shift dress, and heeled shoes. They each wear wide-brimmed hats. A mass of cotton plants is visible in the background., Date from copyright statement: Copyright 1898, by B. L. Singley., Title from item., Title printed in five different languages, including Italian, French, and German, on verso., Text printed on verso: Here it is in black and white. The negro and the cotton are as inseparable as the darky and the 'possum. Colored labor clothes half the world, and half the world never gives it a thought nor a thank-you. But what care Ephraim and Dinah what the world says or doesn't say? "In all ages every human heart is human." A corner in cotton is as palatial as a corner in Windsor Castle or the White House, if love is there. Now, Paul Lawrence Dunbar, you negro writer of sparling verse, here is a subject made to your hand., Curved buff mount with rounded corners., 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.
Creator: Keystone View Company
Date: 1898
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - Keystone View Company - Portraits & Genre [P.2018.16.1]

Title: [Copy photograph of African American woman caregiver with her young white charges]
Description: Copy photograph of a circa 1860 three-quarter length portrait of a young African American woman caregiver, seated, and with a white baby on her lap and a young white boy standing to her left. The caregiver has her right hand resting on the head of the baby and her left arm wrapped around his/her waist. The baby wears a medium-colored dress, which their nanny's hand has slightly tugged up. The baby has their left hand in their mouth. The nanny wears her long, wavy dark hair, parted in the center, and pulled away from her face. She is attired in a patterned shirt waist and dark satin skirt with crinoline underneath. The boy to her left wears a dark-colored, mandarin-style jacket and dark pants. All the sitters look straight at the viewer., Title supplied by cataloger., Date based on type of mount and address of photographer., Photographer's imprint stamped on mount and verso. Imprint on verso includes decorative insignia composed of an ornamented letter "G" with a coat of arms in its interior. The coat of arms includes a lion and bird., Inscribed in pencil on verso: 100801., Purchased with funds for the Visual Culture Program (Junto 2015)., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: Gutekunst, Frederick, 1831-1917, photographer
Date: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cabinet card portraits - photo - Gutekunst [P.2016.17.2]

Title: The colored band
Description: Photographic reproduction of a print drawn by Helen M. Colburn, daughter of New Jersey artist Rembrandt Lockwood, depicting African American women and girl spectators reacting to a passing African American marching band. The figures are drawn with racist and caricatured features and mannerisms. Shows in the foreground, two girls and a younger and an older woman, running next to and toward the band, mimicking the band leader, and dancing. The girls and women are barefoot and wear shift dresses of either calf or ankle lengths. The older, running woman (in right) also wears a kerchief. The mimicking girl who stomps and raises her left arm in front of the band leader wears short-cropped hair and is attired in a dress with wornout sleeves (center). The young woman dancing (center) and the running girl (left) wear their hair full and wavy. In the center foreground, the band leader looks past the girl in front of him. He wears a mustache and is attired in a tall, round-top shako with plume and a uniform. The uniform has tassels at the shoulder and a decorative chest plate and pants with a vertical stripe on the outseam. He holds up a mace adorned with an eagle with his right hand. In the background, members of the marching band, attired in caps with plumes and uniforms, play tubas. A line of older African American boys and a girl walks ahead of the band. Two of the children look behind themselves toward the band, including a boy with a look of surprise. During the Civil War, African American brass bands were formed by white commanding officers to promote and increase recruitment of African American soldiers. Following the war, many of the ex-military musicians formed civilian bands associated with quasi-military drill teams, volunteer organizations, and social clubs., 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 1881. Mrs. R. Colburn, RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Purchased with the 2019 Junto Fund.
Date: 1887
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photos - 5 x 7 - unidentified - Events [P.2020.16.1]

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