Search results

Title: "Sweet home soap." J.D. Larkin & Co
Description: Racist trade card promoting J.D. Larkin & Co.’s soap and depicting caricatures of four African American boys standing in a line blowing brass horns. Shows the boys attired in straw hats, white shirts with the sleeves rolled to the elbows, and yellow shoes. The boy in the left is attired in a pink waistcoat and blue striped pants; the second boy in a purple waistcoat and blue pants; the third boy in a pink waistcoat and blue pants with a floral print; and the fourth boy in a purple waistcoat, blue pants, and gold hoop earrings. They all carry in their right hand a long, brass horn. In the background is a house with a chimney surrounded by a stone wall with a gate. John D. Larkin (1845-1926) began a soap manufactory in Buffalo, N.Y. in 1875. He created a yellow bar of laundry soap called, “Sweet Home Soap.” In 1878, Larkin admitted his brother-in-law Elbert G. Hubbard (1856-1915) and established the firm, J.D. Larkin & Co. The firm grew into a mail-order business. The Company was sold in 1941, liquidated in 1942, and the new owners continued the mail-order business until 1962., Title from item., Place of publication inferred from place of operation of the advertised business., Date deduced from the history of the advertised business., Gift of David Doret.
Date: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - J.D. Larkin [P.2017.95.90]

Title: Robinson's sura cura for rheumatism, &c., &c. Dr. Prior's cough balsam
Description: Racist trade card illustration depicting a white man opening the door of his home to find an African American baby in a basket on the doorstep. The white man is attired in pajamas and a sleeping cap. He holds a candelabrum in his left hand and looks at the baby with a surprised expression. The baby kicks their right leg up and raises their right hand in a fist while holding the handle of the basket with their left hand. Superimposed over the scene is a painter's palette with splotches of paint and text advertising Robinson's Sura Cura and Dr. Prior's Cough Balsam. R.W. Robinson & Son manufactured Robinson's Sura Cura and also operated a wholesale drugstore located on Greenwich Street in New York. The business was founded in 1835 and was known as Bush & Gale until 1857 when R.W. Robinson joined the firm. The partnership dissolved in 1870 and Robinson's son, F.M. Robinson, joined the firm. Prior Medicine Co. was based in Middletown, New York in the late 19th century., Title from item., Text printed on recto: A Male Package., Advertising text printed on verso: The household remedies. Robinson's Sura Cura, the sure cure for rheumatism, neuralgia, malaria, and a specific for all diseases arising from an impure state of the blood. Price, 50 cents and $1.00 per bottle. Dr. Prior's Cough Balsam, the best botanical remedy known for the prevention and cure of consumption, and all lung and throat complaints, cures sore throat, diptheria, whooping cough, croup, asthma. Read testimonials on circulars., Distributor's imprint on verso: Dr. AS Gibbs, Hope NJ., Gift of David Doret.
Date: [ca. 1870]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Robinson [P.2017.95.150]

Title: The Hunters three and O.N.T
Description: Circular promoting Clark Thread Company and depicting racist caricatures of African, Asian, and indigenous men. Volume also contains several lines of narrative, promotional text written as a children’s story. The front cover is a color illustration of three white "merry gentlemen" in Cololonial attire and riding on horseback as "they hunt and hunt." The men are attired in tri-corn hats; red jackets; white breeches with riding boots; and white wigs. They ride on a road towards the viewer. The figures are bordered with pictorial details of the Clark’s O.N.T trademark. The rider in the middle raised his hat with his hand. Image is reproduced in black and white on p. [2]. P. [3] shows the horsemen observe three white children standing before them whom they believe "...must be princes. They sew their clothes with O.N.T." P. [4] show the "gentlemen" observe from a distance three African Zulu men. The men drive a lion into a net made of O.N.T. thread. One man is nude except for a feather on his head and bangs a large drum labeled "Clark's O.N.T. spool thread." Another man is attired in a skirt made of palm leaves and carries a shield and arrows. A third man carries arrows and wears a feather on his head. P [5] shows the "hunters" "spy" "three happy Hottentots" who roll down a hill on large spools of Clark's thread in a "chariot race." The three African men have their hair in buns atop their heads and are attired in white shorts and hoop earrings. One man is also attired in a shell necklace, and two men hold spears. P. [6] shows the three men find a Chinese man flying a kite strung with O.N.T. thread thread and to which a Chinese boy is attached. He is seated on a rug with his back to the viewer. To his right is a pipe. His hair is styled in a queue, and he is attired in a white shirt with a vest decorated in a print of dragons and slip-on, cloth shoes., P. [7] shows the white men finding an Inuit man on a sled made from a Clark's spool and pulled over the ice by a team of dogs. The sled driver is attired in a hooded parka and boots. P. [8] the three riders encounter a Native American man reigning in a buffalo with O.N.T. thread. He is attired in knee-high boots; a patterned blanket draped around his chest; hoop earrings; and a feather headdress. P. [9] shows a view of the back of the three riders bordered by pictorial details of the Clark’s O.N.T trademark. The back cover is a color illustration of a white girl with long blonde hair attired in black boots; red stocking; a green dress; and a blue striped apron. She is seated on an oversize spool of O.N.T. thread and playing cat's cradle with a white boy. The boy is attired in a red fez; a green coat; blue stockings; and black boots. The George A. Clark & Brother Company, manufactory of embroidery and sewing thread, was founded in 1863 in Newark, N.J. The firm was renamed Clark & Co. in 1879, and in the 1880s created a six-cord, soft finished thread called "Our New Thread" or "O.N.T." The business merged with J. & P. Coats in 1896, which lead to a series of mergers with fourteen other companies. Into the 21st century, the company continues to manufacture thread under the name Coats & Clark., Title from item., Advertising text printed on verso of front cover: Use Clark's trade mark O.N.T. spool cotton on white spools! It is superior to all others for hand and machine use. Garments sewed with O.N.T. fast black will never show white on the seams after being worn or washed., Advertising text printed on verso of back cover: Use Marshall's linen thread on 200 yard spools. Guaranteed full length. Made from the bext flax, and Milward's Helix Needles in patent wrappers. For sale everywhere., Place of publication deduced from place of operation of advertised business., Date deduced from history of advertised business., Distributor's name printed on p. [1]: George A. Cole, sole agent., Gift of David Doret.
Date: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Clark [P.2017.95.31]

Title: Fairbank's rock cordials, positive cure for all lung disorders
Description: Trade card promoting Fisher and Fairbanks' patent medicine Fairbanks' Rock Cordials and depicting a racist caricature of an African American man chef in the galley of ship. Shows the man portrayed with exaggerated features and attired in a white chef's hat; a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows; a red vest with gold buttons; a white apron; blue pants; and black shoes. He stands holding a spoon in his right hand and with his left hand holds a bowl that is filled with an unidentifiable pink food over a barrel that is being used as a table. He smiles and looks to a blond-haired white girl in the right attired in a pink hat; a black choker; a red dress; a white pinafore; white stockings with red stripes; and black shoes. She carries a doll costumed in a matching outfit and leans to look at the chef mixing. In the foreground on the floor are a pan, a pot with a bowl on top of it, and a spoon. In the background is a stove with a steaming kettle on it and a large chain. In the right, there is a barrel and next to it is a doorway through which we can see a sailor attired in a brimmed hat, a blue jacket, and pants. He stands on the side of the ship and looks through a telescope at the water. R.B. Fisher and Charles A. Fairbanks founded Fisher & Fairbanks in 1871., Title from item., Date deduced from history of the advertised business., Gift of David Doret.
Date: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Fairbanks [P.2017.95.62]

Title: “Universal family” Soapine, Kendall Mfg. Co., Providence, R.I
Description: Racist trade card promoting Kendall Manufacturing Co.’s Soapine and depicting caricatures and ethnic stereotypes of people helping Liberty wash laundry. Shows Liberty in the center personified as a white woman with blonde hair tied up in a bun attired in a blue cap with a white star and a white sleeveless dress with a red belt that has an American flag crest. She stands behind a wooden wash tub labeled “Kendall MFG Co.” that sits on top of six boxes labeled with the letter K. She spreads both of her arms out to the seven people around her. In the left, a white man with blond hair and mustache (possibly German,) holds a pipe in his mouth and is attired in a blue tunic, brown pants, and black shoes. He bends over as he carries a large box labeled “universal soap” on his back. A white Scottish man with blonde hair, attired in a blue cap with a yellow feather, a green shirt with a red sash, and a red kilt, helps a white man with black hair and mustache (possibly French) attired in a blue uniform with gold epaulettes and black shoes, carry a large straw basket filled with white laundry to the wash tub. In the right, caricatures of an African American man in a white sleeveless top, a Native American man attired with a feather headdress and blue pants with a bundle of arrows on his back, and a Chinese man with his hair styled in a queue attired in a blue tunic, brown pants, and blue, slip-on, cloth shoes, carry an oversize wash board labeled “French Laundry Soap.” In the center foreground, a white man with blonde hair and attired in a blue shirt, brown pants, blue socks, and black shoes, has fallen down on the ground. Beside him is a broken white pipe, and a small black cat runs away. Henry L. Kendall (1805-1883) founded a soap manufactory in Providence, R.I. in 1827. The Kendall Manufacturing Co. was incorporated in 1860. The Company continued to manufacture soap into the mid-20th century., Title from item., Place of publication inferred from place of operation of the advertised business., Date deduced from history of the advertised business., Gift of David Doret.
Date: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Kendall [P.2017.95.96]

Main menu

Pages