© Copyright 2025 - The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1314 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. TEL (215) 546-3181 FAX (215) 546-5167
For inquiries, please contact our IT Department
(351 - 400 of 644)
- Title
- Penn Hotel & Denny's harness shop
- Description
- Advertisement depicting the three-and-a-half-story building containing the hotel and tavern operated by John Thompson at 329 Market Street and Robert Denny's saddles and harness store at 327 1/2 Market Street. Harnesses and other horse paraphernalia hang from the shop's display window and entranceways, including a stable entrance marked, "Entertainment for Horses." In front of the building, a white man with his horse enters the marked entrance; a white man clerk from Denny's converses with a white man customer by a stack of trunks; and other horses rest nearby and in front of the adjacent hardware store, including one attached to a sulky attended by an African American man. Hotel guests stand near the second floor windows and enter the hotel entrance. The hotel, tavern, and harness and saddle store resided together at the site only for the year 1848 to 1849., Date from Poulson inscription on recto: Dec. 1848 No. 327 1/2 Market Street., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 550, Print trimmed and lacking caption., Accessioned 1982., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Rease, a prominent mid-19th century Philadelphia trade card lithographer known to highlight details of human interest in his advertisements, partnered with Francis H. Schell in the 1850s and eventually operated his own press until around 1872.
- Creator
- Rease, W. H., artist
- Date
- [December 1848]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *W270 [P.2156]
- Title
- Shad fishing (taking up the net.) On the Delaware opposite Philada. Glo'ster bleaching mills in the distance
- Description
- View of several fishermen, including African American men, most waist deep in the river and all but one in a semi-circle, gathering up their catch into a rowboat. A Philadelphia pier lined with residences, the mills of Gloucester, New Jersey, and sailboats on the river are visible in the foreground and background., Title from item., Date from manuscript note written on recto: April-May 1855., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 691, Accessioned 1982., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Queen was a premier Philadelphia genre, nature, and advertisement lithographer who with fellow lithographer P.S. Duval, was an early successful chromolithographer.
- Creator
- Queen, James Fuller, 1820 or 1821-1886, artist
- Date
- [1855]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *W335 [P.2189]
- Title
- [Ruins of the Hall]
- Description
- Depicts the burnt ruin of the abolitionist meeting place at Sixth and Haines Streets in Philadelphia. Several white men and women pedestrians walk on the sidewalk. The hall was erected in 1838 as an arena for "free discussion." On May 17, 1838, after 3 days of interracial dedication ceremonies and services, hostile mobs set the hall on fire. The ruin continued to stand until the Odd Fellows Society built a hall on the lot in 1846., Title from P. Lee Phillip's, "A Descriptive list of maps and views of Philadelphia in the Library of Congress, 1683-1865" (Philadelphia: Geographical Society of Philadelphia, 1926), p. 49., Originally published in: [Samuel Webb's], History of Pennsylvania Hall. (Philadelphia: Printed by Merrihew and Gun, 1838). Last page contains advertisement for a limited supply of larger frameable versions of the plate to be sold at the Anti-Slavery Office, No. 29 N. 9th Street, in Philadelphia., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of views of engravings related to Philadelphia. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Creator
- Gilbert, Reuben S., engraver
- Date
- [1838]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Ph Pr-8x10-Associations-Pennsylvania Hall [(6)1322.F.98c]
- Title
- [Destruction of the hall]
- Description
- Depicts a street scene with the abolitionist meeting place, Pennsylvania Hall, engulfed in flames at Sixth and Haines Streets in Philadelphia. Crowds, including a group of drunken men and other revelers, look on as several fire companies using handpumps hose the adjoining spared building. The hall, erected in 1838 as an arena for "free discussion," was set on fire by a mob of hostile citizens who had witnessed 3 days of interracial dedication ceremonies and services. For disputed reasons, the fire companies did not attempt to extinguish the burning hall. The building was razed and never rebuilt., Title from: [Samuel Webb's], "History of Pennsylvania Hall," p. 136., Manuscript note on verso: Destroyed by a mob by fire on the night of 17th May 1838., Originally published in: Samuel Webb's History of Pennsylvania Hall. (Philadelphia: Printed by Merrihew and Gun, 1838). (Am 1838 Hist Pa Hall). Last page contains advertisement for a limited supply of larger frameable versions of the print to be sold at the Anti-Slavery Office, No. 29 N. 9th Street, in Philadelphia., LCP exhibition catalogue: Negro History #101., Accessioned 1979., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.LCP exhibit catalogue: Negro History #101., Sartain, a member of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society and a premier 19th century Philadelphia engraver, often instilled his work with his reformist beliefs.
- Creator
- Sartain, John, 1808-1897, engraver
- Date
- [1838]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department PhPr - 8x10 - Events - Fires [P.2283.2]
- Title
- Representation of the Philadelphia fish market
- Description
- Periodical illustration depicting the bustling market near the Camden Ferry and the Delaware River on Market Street below Water Street. Under the market shed, in the right, women peddlers sell their goods to the many milling customers. Under the adjacent canopy walkways, in the left, white men sailors and couples of men and women stroll and an African American man and woman couple argues. On the street, in the right background and center foreground, dockworkers deliver wheelbarrows of goods and a white woman peddler chases a dog stealing a fish. From the late 18th century, Philadelphia continually had a fish market below Water Street. The permanent shed, built in 1816, was torn down when the market closed in 1860., Title from item., Originally published in Gleason's pictorial drawing room companion, ca. 1852., Purchase 1991., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Leslie, most known as the publisher of "Frank Leslie's Illustrated News," began his career as an engraver at "London Illustrated News." He left the London newspaper for "Gleason's Pictorial..." where he worked from 1851 until 1853.
- Creator
- Leslie, Frank, 1821-1880, engraver
- Date
- [ca. 1852]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department PhPr - 11x14 - Markets-Philadelphia Fish Market [P.9361.2]
- Title
- Chesnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia
- Description
- Exterior view of the third building of the popular theater, known as "Old Drury," at Chestnut Street above Sixth. White men and women pedestrians, a white newspaper boy, and laborers stroll the sidewalk. An African American huckster sells his wares to a customer in the street. The building, designed by William Strickland, was erected in 1822 after fire claimed the second building at Sixth and Chestnut Streets. It was demolished in 1855., Title from item., Published in John Howard Hinton's The history and topography of the United States (London: I.T. Hinton, & Simpkin & Marshall, 1830-1832), vol. 2, aft. p. 502. (LCP Am 1830 Hinto (2231.Q))., Printed in upper right corner: 47., Originally part of a Poulson scrapbook of Philadelphia illustrations., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Creator
- Fenner, Sears & Co., engraver
- Date
- [May 15, 1831]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department PhPr - 8x10 - theaters [(1)1525.F.47a]
- Title
- Wootten's excelsior stove lustre or pure black lead Prepared by John Wootten, Jr. No. 94 Spruce St. Wholesale Depot, no. 13 North Third Street Phila
- Description
- Racist advertisement promoting Wootten’s Excelsior Stove Lustre and depicting an African American man, portrayed in caricature, polishing a stove. Shows the African American man servant, barefoot and attired in a plaid, collared shirt and pants, kneeling before a stove with a brush in his left hand. On the floor in front of him is a glass of water, an open can of polish, and a box labeled, Wootten’s Excelsior Stove Lustre or Pure Black Lead. In the right, a white woman stands wearing her brown hair in a bun and attired in an off-the-shoulder dress with a bow at the chest and lace sleeves. She looks toward the man and asks, “Uncle Tom whose blacking is that you are useing [sic].” He replies in the vernacular, “La Missey don’t you know dat -- dat is Wooten's Lustre." To the left of the woman, a black cat stands on a wooden chair with its back raised and looks at the man. Also visible in the image are plates, bowls, and cups on shelves, another wooden chair, and an open window that has a potted plant on the ledge. John Wootten Jr. (1820-1872) is listed in the 1861 Philadelphia city directory as a blacking maker., Title from item., Date from Poulson inscription on recto: Mar. 28 -59; S. 4 (old no.) Spruce Street., Not in Wainwright., Text printed on recto: For polishing and beautifying stoves, this Lustre stands unrivalled. It may with perfect justice be called The Housekeeper’s Choice; it gives a more brilliant appearance, retains it gloss longer, and requires Fifty per cent less labor than any other preparation in existence, when moistened with a little water, and applied vigorously to iron work of any kind, the effect is truly magical; housekeepers and others are well aware what great labor is requisite, and time expended in the attempt to give a fine polish with many of the lustres sold at the present day – here however both these evils are remedied; a beautiful gloss is obtained in a few minutes, and without scarcely any exertion whatever. Another advantage which this article possesses over all others, is, that it tends to preserve the iron from the deleterious effects of damp and rust, which so often render a stove entirely useless in the course of a few seasons. This Lustre is prepared with great care from the very best lead that can be found in the market, and is entirely free from all those foreign substances which so greatly destroy the efficacy of other articles.", Philadelphia on Stone, POSP 279, Accessioned 1982., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
- Creator
- Sinclair, Thomas S., approximately 1805-1881, lithographer
- Date
- [March 28, 1859]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *BW - Advertisements [P.8729.21]
- Title
- U.S. Custom House (formerly U.S. Bank)
- Description
- Exterior view of a classical style building constructed 1818-24 as the U.S. Bank (i.e. Second Bank of the United States) based on the designs of Philadelphia architect William Strickland. Served as custom house from 1844-1935. Street scene in front depicts white men, women, and children pedestrians. In the street, there is a carriage containing a white man and woman as passengers driven by an African American coachman, a white man on horseback, and a dog., Title from item., Plate 12 of a series of fifty-four views published by Goupil, Vibert & Company from 1848 to 1851 that were drawn by Kollner and lithographed by Deroy, and later bound under the title "Views of American Cities.", Not in Wainwright., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 763, Accessioned 1982., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
- Creator
- Deroy, Laurent, 1797-1886, artist
- Date
- 1848
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *BW - Banks and Financial Institutions [P.2283.27]
- Title
- East side of Thirteenth above Callowhill. Occupied in 1844 by Colored Orphan Asylum
- Description
- View depicting the commercial Philadelphia street with the four-story building of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company Office. Building formerly housed "Brotherly Love Hall," the African American orphanage founded by the Society of Friends in 1822. Businesses lining the street include Sullivan & Sweeney, rag and feed store; J. Hunsinker, merchant; J. Neil & Sons, coal dealers; Barber & Son, Edward and Frank, painters; and Haines & Scarlet. Pedestrians walk along the sidewalk., Title from item., Commissioned by Philadelphia antiquarian Ferdinand Dreer., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1975, p. 6-11., Purchase 1975., 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.
- Creator
- Evans, B. R. (Benjamin Ridgway), 1834-1891, artist
- Date
- 1881
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Evans watercolors [P.2298.93], http://www.brynmawr.edu/iconog/evans/files/plc093.html
- Title
- House where Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, s.w. cor 7th & Market St. 1776
- Description
- Exterior view showing the three-and-a-half story brick residence of bricklayer Jacob Graff, Jr. during the year 1776. Jefferson resided as a boarder on the second floor. Men and women pedestrians stroll the sidewalk including an African American peddler. Residence, later converted to a warehouse and then demolished in 1883 for the erection of the Penn National Bank, was reconstructed in 1968 in anticipation of the Bicentennial., Title from item., Possibly commissioned by Philadelphia antiquarian Ferdinand Dreer., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1975, p. 6-11., Purchase 1975., 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
- Evans, B. R. (Benjamin Ridgway), 1834-1891, artist
- Date
- 1889
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Evans watercolors [P.2298.144], http://www.brynmawr.edu/iconog/evans/files/plc144.html
- Title
- Southside Chestnut St. from Carpenters Court to 4th St., 1809
- Description
- View showing the block of four wooden buildings, including a stable, near the back of Carpenter's Hall during the year 1809. A horse-drawn carriage travels down the street. Several men and women pedestrians, including an African American man, attired in an apron and carrying two bundles, walk the sidewalks., Title from item., Inscribed on recto: Copy., Commissioned by Philadelphia antiquarian Ferdinand Dreer., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1975, p. 6-11., Purchase 1975., 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.
- Creator
- Evans, B. R. (Benjamin Ridgway), 1834-1891, artist
- Date
- 1883
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Evans watercolors [P.2298.146], http://www.brynmawr.edu/iconog/evans/files/plc146.html
- Title
- South side Chestnut St. from 3rd to Hudsons Alley, 1809
- Description
- View showing the block from 96 to 110 Chestnut Street during the year 1809. Depicts a row of five three-and-a-half story red brick townhouses attached to a row of three red brick storefronts. A horse-drawn carriage and wagon travel down the streets. Pedestrians, including an African American man in an apron pushing a hand cart, walk and converse on the sidewalks., Title from item., Inscribed on recto: Copy., Commissioned by Philadelphia antiquarian Ferdinand Dreer., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1975, p. 6-11., Purchase 1975., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Creator
- Evans, B. R. (Benjamin Ridgway), 1834-1891, artist
- Date
- 1809, 1883
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Evans watercolors [P.2298.147], http://www.brynmawr.edu/iconog/evans/files/plc147.html
- Title
- No. 15 South 4th St., 1831
- Description
- Advertisement depicting the three-and-a-half story hotel at 15 South Fourth Street operated, as indicated by a placard above the door, by Horatio Wade, the proprietor from 1831 until 1833. Elegantly dressed white guests rest and read inside near the first floor windows and converse in front of the hotel. On the sidewalk, well-dressed white men, women, and children pedestrians stroll. An African American man, probably a hotel porter, pushes a wheelbarrow of luggage. The Indian Queen Hotel established in 1771, the building altered several times until razed in 1851, was until the mid-19th century incorrectly identified as the site where Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence., Later copy of an Evans watercolor created for Philadelphia antiquarian Ferdinand Dreer circa 1880 probably based on lithographic trade card for the Indian Queen Hotel published by Childs & Inman in 1831 (Wainwright #184)., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1975, p. 6-11., Accessioned 1982., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Date
- 1896
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Evans watercolors [P.8933.6], http://www.brynmawr.edu/iconog/evans/files/plc336.html
- Title
- [Unidentified West Indian harbor at sunset with dog]
- Description
- View depicting the harbor with a pier and dwellings in the background. A dog sits on a paved walkway near a brick embankment in the foreground. Sailing vessels and three men are visible in the water., Title from LCP exhibition catalogue: Pierre Eugene Du Simitière. His American Museum 200 Years After, #1:2., Date inferred from the content., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Du Simitière, a Swiss-born historian, antiquarian, and artist, traveled and documented North America and the West Indies from the 1750s to the 1770s. He settled in Philadelphia in 1774, and in 1782 opened the American Museum, which contained his collected antiquities.
- Creator
- Du Simitière, Pierre Eugène, approximately 1736-1784, artist
- Date
- 1763
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *Du Simitière Collection [961.F.27]
- Title
- [Artist's study of detail from Second Street north from Market St. wth. Christ Church. Philadelphia.]
- Description
- Artist's study of a street scene showing Second Street north from Market Street with a view of Christ Church. Depicts a man on horseback, his back to the viewer, traveling down the street toward the church. A dog runs past him. To his right, pedestrians, including an African American boy with a basket, stroll near a horse-drawn cart. In the left, men and a boy gather around a man on horseback. Christ Church, a Protestant Episcopal Church, was built between 1727 and 1744 and was founded as part of a provision of the original charter given to Pennsylvania founder William Penn., Title from plate 15 in the first edition of Birch's "Views of Philadelphia.", Bequest of Charles Poulson, 1866., Reproduced in Edwin Wolf's Quarter of a millennium...(Philadelphia: The Library Company of Philadelphia in cooperation with Camino Books, 1981), p. 144., See Snyder 's "William Birch: His Philadelphia views," The Pennsylvania magazine of history and biography 73 (July 1949), p. 271-315., Reproduced in Julius Sachse's Pictures of old Philadelphia from the originals in the collection of the Library Company of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 1901), vol. 1, plate 42. (LCP Print Room Albums), Originally part of a Poulson scrapbook., Accessioned 1999., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Creator
- Birch, William Russell, 1755-1834, artist
- Date
- [ca. 1798]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department drawings & watercolors-Birch [P.9667]
- Title
- [Honeysuckle]
- Description
- Depicts a stem of honeysuckle., Title supplied by cataloger., Name of artist from manuscript note on verso., Gift of William Woys Weaver, 1995., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Douglass, an artist and prominent Quaker member of the Philadelphia African American elite, was best known as an educator and community activist.
- Creator
- Douglass, S. M. (Sarah Mapps), 1806-1882, artist
- Date
- [ca. 1845]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Drawings & Watercolors-Douglass [P.9493]
- Title
- [Folk art portraits of two African American women and two African American men]
- Description
- Folk art bust-length portraits of two African American men and two African American women, portrayed in racist caricature, shown in a row, alternating woman, then man. In the left, the woman, wearing her hair in two braids tied with blue bows on either side of her head that stick out, with red lips, and attired in an off-the-shoulder blue dress with ruffles, faces forward with her eyes looking left. Beside her the man, with red lips and attired in a white collared shirt, a pink tie, and a black jacket, slightly faces left and his eyes look at the woman. The woman, wearing her hair tied in multiple braids, with pink lips, and attired in a pink, ruffled dress, looks to the left. In the right, the man, with pink lips and attired in a blue bowtie, a white shirt with blue stripes, and a black jacket, faces left and looks at the woman., Title supplied by cataloger., Gift of Mrs. S. Marguerite Brenner, 1984., 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
- [1909]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Drawings & Watercolors - Unidentified - Faces [P.9057.28]
- Title
- A native of New Holland taken from the life
- Description
- Ethnographic-style full-length portrait depicting an Aboriginal Australian man. He stands naked and holds a shield and spears. His chest and upper arms are adorned with body modifications in the form of scars., Title from manuscript note on verso., 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., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., RVCDC, Accessioned 1892.
- Date
- ca. 1820?
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department drawings & watercolors - unidentified - Native [5653.F.43b]
- Title
- On the march to the sea
- Description
- Civil War scene from Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's notorious campaign across Georgia in 1864 and 1865 depicting the depredation and destruction of countryside near the Atlantic coast. Amidst smoke, Sherman sits on his horse, looks through a scope, and scouts the horizon. Around him, white men Union soldiers and an African American man dismantle railroad tracks, and further down the line a railroad car has been set on fire. Newly free African Americans leave on foot and by raft. In the right, an African American family of a mother, father, son, and grandfather, attired in worn and torn cloths, carry bundles as they travel over the dismantled railroad tracks. The mother holds her son’s one hand while he uses the other to rub his eyes. The father rests his hand on the back of the grandfather. Behind them, two Union soldiers cut down a telegraph pole. In the background, Union soldiers round up cattle, burn homesteads and a bridge, and fire upon retreating Confederate soldiers. In the lower margin is a portrait of Sherman., Title from item., Plate signed by Darley lower right corner., Manuscript note on verso: Acc. No. 0479; Gift Minnie Owen., See Nancy Finlay's Inventing the American past: the art of F.O.C. Darley (New York: New York Public Library, 1999), p. 28 and opp. p. 32., Accessioned 2000., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Ritchie, a New York painter and prolific engraver of portraits and genre scenes, produced many engravings after the works of the premier illustrator of the 19th century and native Philadelphian, F.O.C. Darley.
- Creator
- Ritchie, Alexander Hay, 1822-1895, engraver
- Date
- c1868
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC-Civil War [P.9854]
- Title
- State-House
- Description
- Exterior view from the southeast showing the intersection of Sixth and Chestnut streets in Philadelphia. View depicts street and pedestrian traffic including horse-drawn carriages, omnibuses, delivery carts, an African American man porter pushing a hand-cart, and white men, women, and children strolling and conversing. Visible on the northeast corner of Sixth Street is Hart's Building, a row of stores and offices owned by prominent Jewish publisher and philanthropist, Abraham Hart, erected in 1848., Title from item., Not in Wainwright., Plate 11 of a series of fifty-four views published by Goupil, Vibert & Company from 1848 to 1851 that were drawn by Kollner and lithographed by Deroy, and later bound under the title "Views of American Cities.", Philadelphia on Stone, POS 721/722, Accessioned 1982., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
- Creator
- Deroy, Laurent, 1797-1886, lithographer
- Date
- [1848]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *BW - Government Buildings [P.2283.26]
- Title
- Shooting turkeys for Thanksgiving-Day Written by a New England patriot in 1765
- Description
- Genre scene depicting a turkey shoot on a snowy knoll near a New England barn and tavern. In the foreground, a group of white men and boys including two men on horseback, converse, ready their guns, and watch as one man takes aim. At the shooter's feet, near a dead turkey, two boys, one African American, crouch. Another hunting party stands in the distance near the tavern. Contains a poem about the economic prosperity of "North Americay" below the image., Title from item., Date based on the active dates of engraver., Not in Wainwright., Text printed on recto below image: It is a wealthy people who sojourn in that land, their churches all with steeples most delicately stand; their houses, like the gilly, are painted white and gay, they flourish like the lily, in North Americay. Their land with milk and honey continually doth flow, the want of food, or money, they very seldom know; They heap up golden treasure, they have no debts to pay, they spend their time in pleasure, in North Americay. On turkeys, fowls and fishes most frequently they dine; with well-replenished dishes their tables always shine. They crown their feasts with butter, they eat and rise to pray; in silks their ladies flutter, in North Americay., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1967, p. 56., Purchase 1967., 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. 1860]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *BW-Holidays [7599.F]
- Title
- John Weik's (Philadelphia) kochbuecher (cookbooks)
- Description
- Whimsical publisher's advertisement containing four vignettes in a fanciful border of food imagery surrounding a list of cookbook titles in German and English authored by Marianne Struf and the steward of the Union League, William Vollmer. Vignettes depict three quirky scenes representing agricultural work, hunting, fishing, and fine dining. Also contains a scene depicting four women peeling apples, mincing meat, and baking in a kitchen. Vignettes include an African American man waiter and an African American woman cook. Fanciful border contains stone pedestals adorned with seals comprised of cooking implements, as well as a basket of bread, bottles of wine, a crab holding oranges, a tureen of soup, dead game, ears of corn, plates, a pitcher, a coffee grinder, and mischievous monkeys., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1856 by J. Weik in the Eastern District Court of Pa., Printed above image: Life Preserver., Printed under title in German: All five books can be had here., Not in Wainwright., Philadelphia on Stone, POSP 126, LCP exhibition catalogue: The Larder invaded, aft. p. 9., LCP exhibition catalogue: Philadelphia revisions #32., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1973, p. 44., Top corner and center edge mended., Purchase 1973., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
- Creator
- Nissle, J., artist
- Date
- 1856
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **BW - Advertisements [8074.F.1]
- Title
- White's great cattle show, and grand procession of the victuallers of Philadelphia
- Description
- Lithograph after genre painter John Lewis Krimmel's 1821 watercolor, "Parade of Victuallers." Depicts a view from publisher M. Carey & Son's Bookshop at the southeast corner of Fourth and Chestnut streets of the March 15, 1821 trade union parade organized by butcher William White to celebrate, promote, and sell the city's high quality meat stock. The streets, balconies, doorways, and open windows teem with spectators, including an African American man oyster peddler sitting upon his cart and a small white boy displaying an illustrated banner inscribed, "Fed by William White." Image includes: the crowd watching white smocked victuallers on horseback turn on to Fourth Street pass the grocery of William Whelan; a two-tier horse-drawn platform with a band and a handler with a live ox and banner inscribed, "Fed by Lewis Clapier"; carts of meat; floats, including a replica of the ship, "Louis Clapier"; and a hot air balloon inscribed, "Fed by White," floats in the sky. Contains text from detailed local newspaper accounts of the event below the image. Also contains a seal of butchers with the motto: "We Feed the Hungry.", Title from item., Fate inferred from content., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 837, See Anneliese Harding's John Lewis Krimmel: Genre artist of the early Republic (Winterthur, Delaware: The Henry Francis Dupont Winterthur Museum, 1997), p. 215-218. (LCP Print Room Reference)., See Milo Naeve's John Lewis Krimmel: An artist in Federal America (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1987), p. 116-118., See Philadelphia: Three centuries of American art (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1976) #211., See LCP exhibition catalogue: Made in America #33., See LCP exhibition catalogue: Noteworthy Philadelphia, p. 27., Free Library of Philadelphia holds version printed circa 1850 by George Dubois. [Oversize Philadelphiana - Processions]., Accessioned 1983., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
- Creator
- Haugg, Louis, 1827-1903, artist
- Date
- [ca. 1861]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **BW-Processions [P.8970.29]
- Title
- Trotting cracks of Philadelphia returning from the race at Point Breeze Park Having a brush past[sic] Turner's Hotel, Rope Ferry Road, Philadelphia, 1870. Respectfully dedicated to the lovers of horses and the sporting public in general by the publisher
- Description
- View depicting eighteen trotting horse teams racing on a dirt path passed the South Philadelphia hotel, surrounded by lush trees and near an open stable. White men stand on the covered porch and converse and watch the teams including one steered by a one-armed gentleman. Near the stable, a white boy and an African American man, probably a stablehand, wave their hats at the racers. Contains a key to the names of all the race horses below the image. The park, established in 1855 by the Point Breeze Park Association of sportsmen, promoted trotting races as agricultural exhibitions to circumvent an 1817 city ban of horse racing. The park was sold to a private owner in 1901 and later sold for an amusement park in 1912., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress, in the Year 1870, in the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania., Copyrighted by H. Pharazyn., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 760, LCP exhibition catalogue: Philadelphia revisions #40., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1974, p. 58-59., Purchase 1974., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
- Date
- 1870
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **BW - Recreation [8094.F]
- Title
- South-east corner of Twelfth and Locust streets
- Description
- View of the business and residential Philadelphia street corner with a two-story, wooden building advertising the sale of cigars, tobacco, coal, and oil. Barrels and carts line the sidewalk. Rowhouses are interspersed amongst the businesses including a liquor store, a lager beer hall, and Palace Segar store. Men, women, and children pedestrians, including African Americans, walk on the sidewalk. In the nineteenth century, the neighborhood, known as Washington Square West, contained one of the city's largest populations of African Americans., Title from item., Possibly commissioned by Philadelphia antiquarian Ferdinand Dreer., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1975, p. 6-11., Select link below for a digital image., Purchase 1975., 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.
- Creator
- Evans, B. R. (Benjamin Ridgway), 1834-1891, artist
- Date
- 1883
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Evans watercolors [P.2298.120], http://www.brynmawr.edu/iconog/evans/files/plc120.html
- Title
- Northwest corner of Eleventh and Pine Streets. Demolished 1889. Present site of the Gladstone
- Description
- View depicting the commercial Philadelphia street corner with the grey wood shack of Michael Traynor, licensed tavern and oyster house, for sale. Storefronts include a stove and heater manufactory; a store selling birds; Schriber, tin and sheet iron worker; a "segar" store; and a lager beer hall. Street trolleys are partially visible to the far right and left. Several pedestrians, predominately African Americans, walk the sidewalks. Individuals board and depart the trolleys. The Gladstone, erected between 1889 to 1890, was the city's first apartment hotel. In the nineteenth century, the neighborhood, known as Washington Square West, contained one of the city's largest populations of African Americans., Title from item., Commissioned by Philadelphia antiquarian Ferdinand Dreer., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1975, p. 6-11., Purchase 1975., 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.
- Creator
- Evans, B. R. (Benjamin Ridgway), 1834-1891, artist
- Date
- 1883, circa 1890
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Evans watercolors [P.2298.121], http://www.brynmawr.edu/iconog/evans/files/plc121.html
- Title
- First old Presbyterian church. East side of Seventh Street. A few doors below Bainbridge formerly Shippen Street
- Description
- Depicts street scene with a view of the African American church built 1810-1811 under the auspices of the Evangelical Society of Philadelphia. Church stands between red brick townhouses containing the businesses of "Cheap John" and a lager beer hall. African American men and women walk the sidewalks and an African American man peddler sells his wares from his horse-drawn cart in the street. A partial view of the "No. 3 Navy Yard" street car is visible. The congregation, organized in 1807 to convert the city's African American residents to Christianity, formed under the leadership of former Tennessee enslaved man, and missionary and preacher John Gloucester., Title from item., Commissioned by Philadelphia antiquarian Ferdinand Dreer., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1975, p. 6-11., See LCP exhibition catalogue: Negro History #178 for variant copy in the collections of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania., Purchased 1975., 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.
- Creator
- Evans, B. R. (Benjamin Ridgway), active 1857-1891, artist
- Date
- 1884
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Evans watercolors [P.2298.137], http://www.brynmawr.edu/iconog/evans/files/plc137.html
- Title
- Brown St. above 4th, north side three doors west of Fourth
- Description
- View of the Zoar Methodist Episcopal Church, the oldest African American congregation within the organized structure of United Methodism, founded in 1794. The church, with a for sale sign, stands between a livery stable and C.W. Kramer's light carriage and wagon factory. Pedestrians, including African Americans, stand on the sidewalk. Contains two boxes of text below and above the image inscribed: "Zoar M.E. Church, Founded 1791, Rebuilt 1838" and "This church propt. for sale. Lot 50 x 190. Apply to F. Snyder, N.W. Cor. 5th & Green." The church relocated to Melon Street, near Twelfth Street., Title from item., Commissioned by Philadelphia antiquarian Ferdinand Dreer., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1975, p. 6-11., Purchase 1975., 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.
- Creator
- Evans, B. R. (Benjamin Ridgway), 1834-1891, artist
- Date
- 1884
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Evans watercolors [P.2298.138], http://www.brynmawr.edu/iconog/evans/files/plc138.html
- Title
- Academy of Natural Sciences
- Description
- Book illustration depicting an exterior of the museum building at Broad and George (i.e., Sansom) Streets built from 1839 to 1840 after designs by Philadelphia architect, John Notman. In the foreground, pedestrian traffic includes an African American man peddler carrying a rack of ducks. The Academy, incorporated in 1815 as a scientific association to disseminate and promote the knowledge of natural history, opened as a public museum in 1828., Title from item., Published in R.A. Smith's Philadelphia as it is in 1852 (Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston, 1852), p. 203. (LCP Am 1852 Smith)., Originally part of a Poulson scrapbook of illustrations of Philadelphia., Poulson inscription: 1852., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Creator
- Louderbach & Hoffmann, engraver
- Date
- [1852]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department PhPr - 8x10 - Museums [(1)1525.F.36e]
- Title
- The first colored senator and representatives In the 41st and 42nd Congress of the United States
- Description
- Full-length, group portrait depicting African American legislators: Senator Hiram R. Revels of Mississippi, Congressmen Robert C. De Large of South Carolina, Jefferson H. Long of Georgia, Benjamin S. Turner of Alabama, Josiah T. Walls of Florida, Joseph H. Rainy [sic] of South Carolina, and R. Brown Elliot of South Carolina. All of the legislators, attired in suits, are seated, except DeLarge and Long who stand., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1872 by Currier & Ives in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington., Purchase 1968., 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., Sitters' portraits possibly after photographs by Mathew Brady. See Library of Congress Brady-Handy Collection.
- Creator
- Currier & Ives
- Date
- 1872
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *Group Portrait Prints [12981.Q]
- Title
- Marriage of Tom Thumb
- Description
- Series of six cartes-de-visite size engravings of portraits and scenes from the February 10, 1863 New York City marriage of P.T. Barnum's Little People entertainers Charles Stratton, known as Tom Thumb, and Lavinia Warren. Includes: the ceremony; the couple; the attendants, fellow Little People entertainers Commodore Nutt, and Lavinia's sister, Minnie Warren; the "Reception"; the following morning "At Home" with the seated couple attended by an African American man servant, attired in a white collared shirt, a black bowtie, a gray waistcoat, and a black suit jacket and pants, who carries a tray; and a "Promenade" down Broadway. The wedding, paid for and heavily promoted by Barnum, attracted the social and political elite of New York., Title from series title., Date inferred from content., Series numbers and captions handwritten on verso., Manuscript note on recto of five of the series: Mr. & Mrs. Stratton., Possibly after Mathew B. Brady., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of portraits. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Date
- [ca. 1863]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits - sitter - Thumb [5750.F.59a-e;(2)5750.F.169f]
- Title
- The Beecher-Tilton puzzle
- Description
- Puzzle card depicting a bust-length portrait of the prominent Brooklyn preacher and abolitionist in the center. Portrait is enclosed in a border composed of four snakes shaped like a diamond. Two "divided" portraits of a man and woman, the Tiltons, comprise the outer borders. The top of the head of Theodore Tilton (left) and Elizabeth Tilton (right) are visible in the upper corners. In the lower corners are the chins of Theodore Tilton (right) and Elizabeth Tilton (left). Title refers to the scandal resulting from a purported extramarital affair between Beecher and Elizabeth Tilton, wife of reformer and editor, Theodore Tilton. The scandal resulted in a church trial in 1874 and a widely publicized civil trial in 1875. Beecher was acquitted in both trials., Title from item., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of portraits. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Date
- [ca. 1875]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Portrait Prints - B [(1)5750.F.36f]
- Title
- H.W. Beecher at 40
- Description
- Bust-length portrait of Brooklyn preacher and abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher, attired in a white collared shirt, a black tie, a waistcoat with a pocket watch chain, and a jacket. He faces forward and looks at the viewer., Title from printed signature of sitter below image., Accessioned 1982., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Buttre, a prolific New York portrait painter and engraver, published later in his career in 1877, "American portrait gallery," a three-volume set of celebrity portraiture which was reissued from 1880-1881.
- Creator
- Buttre, John Chester, 1821-1893, engraver
- Date
- [between 1853 and 1890]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Portrait Prints-B [P.8911.30]
- Title
- H.W. Beecher at 40
- Description
- Bust-length portrait of Brooklyn preacher and abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher, attired in a white collared shirt, a black tie, a waistcoat with a pocket watch chain, and a jacket. He faces forward and looks at the viewer., Title from printed signature of sitter below image., Accessioned 1982., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Buttre, a prolific New York portrait painter and engraver, published later in his career in 1877, "American portrait gallery," a three-volume set of celebrity portraiture which was reissued from 1880-1881.
- Creator
- Buttre, John Chester, 1821-1893, engraver
- Date
- [between 1853 and 1890]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Portrait Prints-B [P.8911.30]
- Title
- H.W. Beecher
- Description
- Bust-length portrait of the prominent Brooklyn preacher and abolitionist. Beecher, attired in a white collared shirt, a black bowtie, and a black jacket, faces slightly right., Title from printed signature of sitter below image., Publication information supplied by Library of Congress' ALA Portrait Index (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1906), p. 114., Published in Appleton's Annual cyclopedia (New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1887), vol. 12, p. 64., Accessioned 1982., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Date
- [1887]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Portrait Prints-B [P.8911.166]
- Title
- Henry Ward Beecher
- Description
- Full-length portrait after the painting by New York historical painter, Alonzo Chappel, of the prominent Brooklyn preacher and abolitionist. Beecher, attired in a white collared shirt, a black bowtie, jacket, pants, and shoes, sits on a chaise lounge with his legs crossed holding an open book. His left hand touching his face as though he is deep in thought. More books rest on the chaise lounge and on a side table in the right., Title from printed signature of sitter below image., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress AD 1871 by Johnson, Fry & Co. in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington., Possibly published in a later edition of Evert Duyckinck's National portrait gallery of eminent Americans (New York: Johnson, Fry, & Co., [1861-1864])., Chappel painted a majority of the portraits published as engravings in biographer Evert Duyckinck's, "Portrait Galleries," of the 1860s and 1870s. He often copied the subjects' faces from photographic portraits and placed them on generic bodies that he situated in more decorative surroundings than the original photograph., Accessioned 1982., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Date
- 1871
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Portrait Prints-B [P.8911.167]
- Title
- [Prodigal Son series, 1775]
- Description
- Six prints based upon Sebastian Le Clerc II's 1751 series, "L'Histoire de l'enfant prodigue," depicting the Prodigal Son parable of sin, penitence, and salvation. Includes two Black characters: a prostitute and a male servant. The six scenes titled: La Enfant prodigue exigeant sa Legitime; Le depart de l'Enfant prodigue; Vie debauche de l'Enfant prodigue; L'Enfant prodigue dans la plus grande Misere; L'Enfant prodigue reclamant la bonte de son Pere; Rejouissances pour le Retour de l'Enfant prodigue depict the white son claiming his patrimony, taking leave of his father, living a debaucherous life with prostitutes, in misery as a swineherder, returning penitent to his father, and celebrating his return with a feast., "Vie debauche de l'enfant prodigue" shows the prodigal son engaged in immoral behavior. Depicts the young white man, attired in a white wig, a jacket, breeches, white stockings, and buckled shoes, seated at a table with three prostitutes. He leans over and gropes the breast of the white woman, who touches his face with her left hand and raises a glass in her right hand. The Black woman sits in the left and holds a glass in her left hand. The women are attired in wigs in high hairstyles ornamented with ribbons, bows, and feathers, dresses, and heeled dress shoes. The table has plates of food, cutlery, and glasses set upon it. On the floor is a tub filled with bottles. Several bottles are knocked over at the man’s feet, including one that is spilling out alcohol. In the right, a servant woman, attired in a white cap, a plain dress, and an apron, bends over a gambling table to tidy up the cards and chips., "Rejouissances pour le retour de l'enfant prodigue" shows the celebration of the prodigal son’s return with a feast. Depicts four white men and two white women seated at the dining table. The men are attired in wigs, white shirts, jackets, breeches, white stockings, and buckled shoes. The women are attired in wigs in high hairstyles ornamented with ribbons and bows and dresses with bows at the neck. The feasters eat and drink at the table, which has glasses, plates, and cutlery set on it. Two white men servants, attired in wigs, white shirts, and uniform jackets, stand behind the diners and serve food on a plate. In the left, a Black man servant, attired in a wig, a white shirt, a uniform jacket, breeches, white stockings, and buckled shoes, crouches behind a chair to hide and drinks from a bottle. The man seated in the chair turns around to look at him. At his feet is a tub filled with bottles, one bottle knocked over, and an additional bottle by his chair. In the top right background is a balcony where four white men musicians play, including two violinists and possibly an oboe player., Prints numbered 1-6 lower left corner., Series title supplied by cataloger., Publication information inferred from name of engraver and the attire of the depicted figures., See Ellen G. D'Oench's Prodigal Son narratives, 1480-1980 (Connecticut: Yale University Art Gallery and Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University, 1995)., Purchase 1971., 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 the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Creator
- Haid, Johann Elias, 1739-1809, engraver
- Date
- [ca. 1775]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *Prodigal Son-1775 [7943.F.1-6]
- Title
- "Raising the liberty pole" Dedicated to the American people. Commemorative of 1776. The centenary of independence
- Description
- Print after painting by New York historical painter and Art Union exhibitor, Frederick Augustus Chapman, commemorating the Declaration of Independence. Depicts the raising of a liberty pole in a colonial town square. Image contains a group of men, including an African American man, raising the pole as around them revelers rejoice; a tavern sign with a portrait of King George III is pulled down; the Sons of Liberty rally; volunteers for "War, Liberty, and Rights" are recruited; a white man loyalist turns away in disgust; and a white woman raises her baby in celebration as other women solemnly look on. Liberty poles, symbols and meeting places of the radical group, Sons of Liberty, first appeared in 1766 following the repeal of the Stamp Act., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Copyrighted 1875. By John C. McRae; New York., Gift of Mrs. Francis P. Garvan, 1978., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Creator
- McRae, John C., engraver
- Date
- 1875
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC-American Revolution [8384.F.13]
- Title
- Pulling down the statue of George III "By the Sons of Freedom." At the Bowling Green City of New York, July 1776
- Description
- Print commemorating American independence after the painting by religious and historical artist, Johannes A. Oertelat, at the New York Historical Society. Depicts white men attempting to topple the equestrian statue of King George following the reading of the Declaration of Independence at the foot of Broadway. At the base, men pull on ropes wrapped around the sculpture while men from behind use rods to knock it over. In front of the pedestal, an African American man has fallen over on the ground. An excited crowd of spectators, including well-to-do and working class men, women, and children cheer, point, hold torches and mallets, and trample upon the broken fence once surrounding the statue. In the left is a Native American man attired in a feather headdress and carrying a spear. Several dogs run in the foreground. In the background, ships in New York harbor are visible., Gift of Mrs. Francis P. Garvan, 1978., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Creator
- McRae, John C., engraver
- Date
- c1859
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC-American Revolution [8384.F.11]
- Title
- Thomas Clarkson, A.M
- Description
- Bust-length portrait of the white British deacon, abolitionist and author as a younger man, facing right. He is attired in a powdered wig, a shirt with a ruffled collar, and a jacket. Clarkson, a founder of the British Anti-Slavery Society, influential in the passage of the Slave Trade Act of 1807, wrote "The History of the Rise, Progress, and Accomplishment of the African Slave-Trade" (London, 1808) to promote further anti-slavery legislation., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of portraits., 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., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., McAllister Collection, gift, 1886.
- Creator
- Maverick, Peter, 1780-1831, engraver
- Date
- [ca. 1820]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Portrait prints - C [(1)5750.F.90b]
- Title
- S.P. Chase United States senator from Ohio
- Description
- Bust-length portrait of the abolitionist, Ohio Senator, statesman, Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Chase, attired in a white collared shirt, a black bowtie, waistcoat, and jacket, faces forward., Title from printed signature of sitter below image., Date based on the engraver., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of portraits. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Jones, a printer, mezzotint and stipple engraver, worked as an engraver and printer in Cincinnati after 1854.
- Creator
- Jones, Fitz Edwin, engraver
- Date
- [ca. 1860]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department portrait prints-Chase [(1)5750.F.82c]
- Title
- S.P. Chase
- Description
- Reproduction of a bust-length portrait of the abolitionist, Ohio Senator, statesman, Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Chase, attired in a white collared shirt, a black bowtie, waistcoat, and jacket, faces forward., Title from printed signature of sitter below image., Date inferred from medium., Accessioned 1982., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Date
- [between 1885 and 1905]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department portrait prints - Chase [P.8911.228]
- Title
- S.P. Chase
- Description
- Bust-length portrait of the abolitionist, Ohio Senator, statesman, Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Chase, attired in a white collared shirt, a black bowtie, waistcoat, and jacket, sit facing slightly left., Title from printed signature of sitter below image., Date inferred from the working dates of the engraver and the attire of sitter., Carpenter made professional trips to Washington, D.C. in 1855 and 1864, the latter to paint the president and his cabinet., Buttre, a New York portrait painter and engraver, worked in the city from the mid to late 19th century., Accessioned 1982., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Creator
- Buttre, John Chester, 1821-1893, engraver
- Date
- [ca. 1861]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department portrait prints-Chase [P.8911.221]
- Title
- S.P. Chase Likeness from a recent photograph from life
- Description
- Full-length portrait of the abolitionist leader, Ohio Senator, statesman, Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Chase, attired in a white collared shirt, a black bowtie, a black jacket, pants, and shoes, sits at a writing desk with a pen in his hand. In the left is a footstool covered in papers. In the background is a decorated fireplace and mantle., Title from printed signature of sitter below image., Published in Evert Duyckinck's National portrait gallery of eminent Americans:...(New York: Johnson, Fry & Co., 1861-1864), vol. 2, p. 320., Publication information from a duplicate print., Chappel painted a majority of the portraits published as engravings in biographer Evert Duyckinck's "Portrait Galleries" of the 1860s and 1870s. He often copied the subjects' faces from photographic portraits and placed them on generic bodies in more decorative surroundings than the original photograph., Accessioned 1982., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Date
- [1863]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department portrait prints-Chase [P.8911.222]
- Title
- Chief-Justice Chase. Portrait of the dead Chief Justice
- Description
- Bust-length portrait of the abolition leader, Ohio Senator, statesman, Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Chase, wearing a beard and attired in a white collared shirt, a black bowtie, and a black jacket, faces slightly right. Includes accompanying obituary., Title from item., Published in The Daily graphic, May 1873., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of portraits. McAllister, gift, 1886., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Date
- [1873]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department portrait prints - Chase [(1)5750.F.79c]
- Title
- Ein gevisonter fischreiger von Africa
- Description
- Fraktur depicting a black heron in front of a river. In the background are palm trees, buildings with Islamic architectural details, and tilled fields., Accessioned 1971., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Date
- 1817
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *Fraktur [7974.F.12]
- Title
- Chew's house, Germantown
- Description
- Watercolor view of the colonial residence built 1763-1767 by master carpenter Jacob Knor for Philadelphia attorney Benjamin Chew at 6401 Germantown Avenue. Shows the exterior of the mansion surrounded by trees and shrubbery. In front of the residence is a circular dirt pathway. Two busts on pedestals are visible on the left and right sides of the house. Chew House, also known as Cliveden, was the site of the turning point in the Battle of Germantown in 1777. The Chew family enslaved people of African descent in the city of Philadelphia and in Germantown during the 18th and 19th centuries. The estate was the Chew family residence until 1972 when it was acquired by the National Trust for Historic Preservation., Title from item., Date from manuscript note on mount: Nov. 1856., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, with corrections., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Inscribed in lower right corner of drawing: vol. 5, 2526.F.6., Originally part of a Poulson scrapbook of illustrations of Philadelphia.
- Creator
- Wells, C. H. (Charles H.), approximately 1832-1884, artist
- Date
- [November 1856]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Drawings and Watercolors - W [2526.F.c]
- Title
- Life in Philadelphia. Dark conversation
- Description
- Circa 1833 racist caricature about the "disagreeableness" of the growing community of middle-class African Americans in Philadelphia. Depicts an African American man greeting an African American man-woman couple on a windy street corner, near the shop of a print dealer and where several fashionably-attired African American men and women are walking and standing. A river is visible below. In the left, the solitary man dressed in equestrian costume, including a white riding hat, green coat, and white ruffled shirt, holds a walking cane and comments about the "Black looking day." He extends a snuff box, with his ungloved left hand, to the man who is a part of the couple. The man, attired in a blue waistcoat and black pants, accepts the box with his ungloved right hand while holding a green umbrella under his left arm. He agrees about the stormy condition and that "De Blacks flying about so make it Petickly Disagreable." His woman partner, stands beside him and with her right hand under the elbow of his extended arm. She is attired in a white bonnet and a white shawl over a pink long-sleeved dress. She also wears white gloves, holds a black purse in her right hand, and her bonnet is adorned with a feather that blows in the breeze. Behind them, the African American men and women on promenade are similarly attired in waistcoats and pants; equestrian costume; and long-sleeved dresses and bonnets. Shadowy depictions of several prints are visible in the print dealer’s large display store window. Also shows in the far right, a river, bridge, and landscape. Figures are portrayed with oversize and exaggerated features and their skin tone is depicted with black hand coloring., Title from item., Date inferred from content and name of publisher., Charles Hunt was a respected 19th century London engraver and etcher known mostly for his prints of sporting subjects., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
- Creator
- Summers, William, artist
- Date
- [ca. 1833]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (London Set) [P.9710.1]
- Title
- Life in Philadelphia. An unfair reflection
- Description
- Racist caricature depicting an African American man dandy, in his bedroom, grooming himself in front of a full-length mirror adorned with a candle holder and lit candle. He holds a brush up with his right hand to the top of his head of hair which is in a pompadour style. He holds a comb in his left hand that rests on his hip. He stands with his legs apart. He is attired in a blue waistcoat with tails, a white shirt, vest, and cravat, black pants, and black shoes. A handkerchief hangs out of the back pocket of his jacket. He ponders Miss Carolina's "unfair reflection" about the "paleness" of his complexion. Scene also includes a pitcher and towel rest, a partial view of a bed with a canopy next to a bedside table on which a straightening iron rests beside a candle stick. Also shows a full-length rug on the floor. The man is depicted with oversize and exaggerated features. His skin tone is depicted with black hand coloring., Title from image., Date inferred from content and name of publisher., Contains one bubble of dialogue in the vernacular within image: It was Bery unfair of Miss Carolina to Reflect on Paleness ob my Complexion. I consider dat I hab got a bery Good Color., Charles Hunt was a respected 19th-century London engraver and etcher known mostly for his prints of sporting subjects., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
- Creator
- Summers, William, artist
- Date
- [ca. 1833]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (London Set) [P.9710.2]
- Title
- Life in Philadelphia. The new shoes
- Description
- Racist caricature depicting an African American woman trying on shoes at "Sambo Paley Boots & Shoe Manufacturer." In the left, the woman, seated on a chair, looks down at her slightly raised left foot on which an African American clerk has placed a black slip-on shoe. Her removed yellow shoe rests beside her feet. She is attired in a yellow bonnet adorned with feathers and with a white veil that frames her face like long straight hair, a red puff sleeve dress, and a yellow slip-on shoe. She slightly raises her dress with her left ungloved hand to appear at her shoe and holds a green parasol to the floor with her gloved right hand. A blue and yellow purse hangs from her right wrist. The clerk kneels in front of her and holds her left foot. He is attired in a striped shirt, neck tie, brown vest, brown pantaloons, white stocking and red slipper shoes. The woman states the shoe "is sich a bery dirty color" and does he not have any white or pink ones. The clerk replies that it may not be "handsome" to look at, but surely a "good color to wear." In the background, an African American man, attired in shirt sleeves and an apron, possibly the bootmaker, shines a boot behind a counter and in front of a row of boots and shoes on a cabinet. A brush and can of boot black rest on the counter. A sign reading “Sambo Paley Boots & Shoe Manufacturer. The Best Jet Blacking Sold Here" hangs above the man’s head. In the far left, shoes hang inside the store’s window and visible through the shop’s doorway, a well-dressed African American man and woman walk past in the street. The man wears a top hat and waistcoat and the woman wears a yellow bonnet and puff sleeve dress. Scene also shows pairs of boots resting on the floor across from the kneeling clerk in the right. Figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features and their skin tone is depicted in black hand coloring., Title from item., Date inferred from content and name of publisher., Inscribed: No. 3., P.2016.45.1 trimmed., Charles Hunt was a respected 19th century London engraver and etcher known primarily for his prints of sporting subjects., P.2016.45.1 gift of Dr. Richard Dunn & Dr. Mary Maples Dunn., Digital image depicted is P.9710.3., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
- Creator
- Summers, William, artist
- Date
- [ca. 1833]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (London Set) [P.9710.3 & P.2016.45.1]

