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- Title
- Gantz, Jones & Co.'s sea foam
- Description
- Series of trade cards containing captioned scenes in silhouette and profile, including racist imagery, that promote and portray the use of the New York firm's baking powder in cooking. "The First Lesson in Cooking" shows a matron-like figure (in the right) holding out a can of "Sea Foam" baking powder to three young woman standing in a row (in the left). The older woman is attired in a long-sleeved dress with a tiered skirt and bustle, spectacles, and an adornment in her hair. The young women wear long-sleeved dresses with tiered skirts and bustles and hair ornaments that resemble pointed caps. The woman closest to the matron also holds a parasol in her right hand and the woman in the far left also wears a long braid that runs down her back. The women look at and lean toward the baking powder can with interest. "Mine is the Best" shows a woman home cook and a professional male cook facing off. In the right, the man, holds his right hand in a fist, and points behind himself to a table on which a can of "Sea Foam" and a bowl rest. In the left, the woman points at him with her left hand and with her right hand points behind herself at a table on which a bowl and two canisters rest. The man wears a mustache, baker's hat, long smock, and pants. The woman wears a long-sleeved dress with an apron. "Missus, We'll Nebber Use Any Odder!" shows an African American man, portrayed with exaggerated features, and holding an extra-large "Sea Foam" can, walking toward a stove at which a woman is kneeled and placing something in the oven. A pot and tea kettle rest atop of the stove across from the stove pipe. The woman wears her hair down and is attired in a long-sleeved dress with ruffles at the bodice and a skirt with bustle., Gantz, Jones, & Co. was originally established as a chemical business in 1849 by Thomas Andrews. George W. Gantz joined the firm in 1853. About 1869 Andrews retired and in 1877 Walter H. Gantz and F. B. Jones joined the business as partners. In 1884 the firm's New York warehouse was heavily damaged by fire and in 1890 the partnership dissolved. Following the 1856 patent of the first modern baking powder, several later 19th-century chemical firms, including Gantz, Jones & Co. attempted to capitalize on the new, very profitable baking powder industry. Baking powder significantly lessened leaving times for baking and cooking, and multiple companies began to market either cream of tartar or alum based powders that required no combining at home. The "Baking Powder Wars" mired in propaganda about the pure and safe properties of various firms' products ended in the early 20th century with alum baking powder companies Clabber Girl and Calumet dominating the American industry., Title from items., Date inferred from attire of figures portrayed and format of advertisements., Advertising text printed on verso of P.2018.6.3.1, "The First Lesson in Cooking": It is a first-class article, and will do more than it claims to do, and never fails to do its work well. Good health makes labor of all kinds easier and prolongs life. Sea foam is warranted to make better, lighter, healthier, sweeter, more toothsome and more [in italics] digestive [in italics] and nutritious bread, biscuits, cakes, puddings, etc., than can be made in any other way. Those who use it say: "We prefer it over all others." "It is A No. 1." "Gives universal satisfaction.", Advertising text printed on verso of P.2018.6.3.2,"Mine is the Best": SEA FOAM BAKING POWDER IS PERFECTLY PURE. Those who have used it once will never use any other. The BEST in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD. Without an equal. It is the perfection of science in cookery. Your cookery will be always good. You will always have a good cook. It makes every cook a good one. Your bread will never be sour. Light, well-raised bread, biscuits, and cakes digest easily and conduce to good health., Advertising text printed on verso of P.2018.6.3.3, "Missus, We'll Nebber Use any Odder!": Bread is always good. Cannot be beaten. Champion Yeast Powder of America. Every body likes it. Sells like hot cakes. The best customers ask for it. It is A No. 1. The ladies never get tired of telling each other about it. All first-class stores keep it. Gantz's Sea Foam is perfectly pure. Without an equal [in italics]. It is an entirely new invention. Never fails to make light bread. To avoid dyspepsia, use Sea Foam. One can is worth three of any other., Captions printed in all capitals., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
- Date
- [ca. 1885]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Gantz, Jones & Co. [P.2018.6.3.1-3]
- 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
- "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
- "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
- Philharmonic T[h]eatre, Islington. Every evening at eight. [Sa]turday at three and eight. Sam Hague's Ori[gi]nal Slave Troupe at St. James's Hall, Li[me] Street, Liverpool. Every evening at 8, Saturdays at 3 & 8, all the year round. Positively for four weeks on[ly] commencing Monday, Feb. 14th. Terminat[ing] [on] March 11 [ ] been re-built since the fire), St. James Hall, Liverpool, March 13th, 1876
- Description
- Advertising print depicting a racist scene to promote Sam Hague's Original Slave Troupe after their dislocation from their permanent home theatre, St. James Hall, following a fire in 1875. Shows a rhinoceros, a bell on his tail, pulling a cart on which members of the minstrel troupe, portrayed as Black men and women caricartures, perform. On the head of the animal, a man sits, his legs straight out while he holds the pole of a banner designed as an American flag and that is marked with advertising text for the troupe. On the animal's back, men and a woman stand, play hand instruments, and dance on a raised plank. On the cart, men play string and wind instruments, including a bass and trombone, as well as one man, bare-chested and in boxing pants, holds up an open umbrella, on which another man sits and plays the drum. The men figures are attired in suits and/or shirt sleeves and pants. The woman figure wears a kerchief, long-sleeved shirt, with the sleeves pulled up and apron-like, checkered skirt. Scene also includes blades of grass and a flowering plant in the foreground. Sam Hague's Original Slave Troupe evolved from the Georgia Slave Troupe Minstrels for which Samuel Hague assumed part management in 1866. Within the year, the troupe of formerly enslaved individuals, including singers, comedians, and minstrels, traveled to Great Britain to tour the country. In 1869, Hague acquired St. James Hall in Liverpool as a permanent home for the company, as well as a site to organize touring companies. In 1875, the hall was razed by fire and for the next year, the Troupe performed from other theatres such as Philharmonic Theatre, Islington. By this time, the Troupe was mainly comprised of white performers who performed in Blackface and Hague had managed the Troupe with a few different partners., 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 item., Date inferred from promotional text on item., RVCDC, Description of Blackface minstrelsy from Dorothy Berry, Descriptive Equity and Clarity around Blackface Minstrelsy in H(arvard) T(heater) C(ollection) Collections, 2021., Print torn in half and with sections missing.
- Date
- [1876]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC - Advertisements - Samuel Hague [P.2022.57.1]
- 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
- 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
- Clark's mile-end 60 spool cotton
- Description
- Racist trade card promoting Clark Thread Company and depicting a genre scene of an African American man and woman in conversation on a country road. The man and woman are portrayed with exaggerated features and speaking in the vernacular. Shows, in the left, the man standing on a dirt road and holding a piece of thread attached to a giant spool labeled "Clark's mile-end 60 spool thread." He is attired in black boots; yellow striped pants with patches on the knees and rolled to his calves; a white shirt; a red vest; and a green jacket. His straw hat is upturned on the ground beside him. In the right, an African American woman sits in a horse-drawn wagon holding the reins to a white horse. She tells the man, "Ef dat mile end thread don't hold, dere ain't anything - lucky I got a spool to mend yer old clos' with." She is attired in a yellow head kerchief and a red dress with yellow trim at the neck. 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., Place of publication deduced from place of operation of advertised business., Date deduced from history of the advertised business., Text on recto: Ef dat mile end thread don't hold, dere ain't anything- lucky I got a spool to mend yer old clos' with., Advertising text printed on verso: Clark's Mile-End Spool Cotton is the best for hand and machine sewing. Clark's Mile-End Colors are made expressly to match the leading shades of dress goods, and are unsurpassed both in quality and color. Clark's Mile-End Spool Cotton is six-cord in all numbers to 100 inclusive., Stamp on the recto is illegible., See related copy: Goldman Trade Card Collection - Clark [P.2017.95.33]., Gift of George Allen, 2022., RVCDC
- Date
- [ca. 1880]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Trade cards - C - Clark's [P.2022.42.7]
- Title
- Use Merrick's thread. "Gully this cotton beats 'em all!"
- Description
- Racist trade card promoting Merrick thread and depicting a domestic scene of an older African American man sewing. Shows the man, in a cabin setting, seated atop a stool, his feet slightly turned in, and mending the seat of a pair of blue pants. The man holds the pants in his left hand and pulls a needle and thread through a patch on the pants in his right. The thread comes from a large spool beside the man which is marked with "Merrick Thread Co. Best Six Cord 8" logo. Behind the man is a window with a sill, which is lined with potted plants. A candle holder rests on a shelf attached to the wall below the window. The man is attired in a red button-down shirt, blue suspenders, brown pants, and brown shoes. Merrick Thread Co. was founded in 1865 by Timothy Merrick, Austin Merrick, and Origen Hall in Mansfield, Connecticut. After its founding, the company established mills in Holyoke, Massachusetts. In 1898, the company merged with thirteen other independent thread and yarn manufacturers to form the American Thread Company., Title from item., Date inferred from content and genre of print., Advertising text printed on verso: Buy Merrick Thread Co's best six cord soft finish spool cotton for machine & hand sewing warranted 200 yds. also these threads are made from the finest quality of combed sea island cotton, and for strength, evenness, elasticity and smoothness surpass anything in the market. By the use of the "ready wound bobbins" the annoyance of winding the iron bobbin is done away with, and a more perfect stitch obtained. When in want of more thread, don't fail to ask for Merrick's., See related copy: Goldman Trade Card Collection - Merrick [P.2017.95.122], Gift of George Allen, 2022., RVCDC
- Date
- [ca. 1885]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Trade cards - M - Merrick [P.2022.42.10]
- 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
- [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
- [Racist and sexist metamorphic New Years Day card depicting a man kissing a series of women, including an African American woman depicted in caricature]
- Description
- Racist and sexist metamorphic trade card showing an older man in a tuxedo, holding a bouquet of roses, and kissing a "rotating" series of women through a "window." Only the women's heads are visible. The women include a white woman with auburn hair in a top knot and adorned with a rose; a young white woman with blonde, puffed, chin-length hair and adorned with matching blue bows; a white woman with raven-colored hair, pulled up, and adorned with a bridal veil; a white woman with pulled up cherry-blonde hair and adorned with blue flowers; and an African American woman, wearing a kerchief, hoop earrings and depicted with caricatured and exagerrated features. The man has grey hair and a dark-haired, pencil mustache and also wears a monocle., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from fashion of figures depicted., Greeting printed inside: Here's a nosegay sweet and fair, Lilies, roses, rich and rare. Try each in turn then take a rest, And choose the one you love the best. They're charming, ah I thought you'd say so, Make up your mind pray don't delay so. That SHE'll be faithful, fond, and true, The odds are FIVE to ONE on you! E.E.G. With [fond love and] best Wishes for a Happy New Year, To [Mrs. ? ? ?]., Purchased with funds for the Visual Culture Program., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
- Date
- [ca. 1895]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department ephemera - Cards - New Years [P.2019.23.2]
- Title
- Arbuckle's ariosa coffee. Arbuckle Bros. Coffee Company, New York
- Description
- One of a series of "fifty" trade cards, "each one of which shows a correct map (properly bounded) of one State, or Territory" to promote Arbuckle's Ariosa Coffee. Depicts a map of Alabama (left) and a scene with African American men and women picking cotton in a cotton field (right). Scene shows a man in the foreground placing cotton in a basket piled high with it. In the center, right background, a woman stands and holds a large basket piled high with cotton on her head. In the distant background, two men and three women bend over and pick cotton from the plants. A piece of harvesting equipment is visible in the far left background. The men and women wear long sleeve shirts and hats or bonnets. Arbuckle's Coffee was founded by brothers John and Charles Arbuckle following the Civil War. The company was one of the first to sell roasted coffee and to place it in one pound packages. Arbuckle often included trade cards in the packages., Title from item., Image captions: Cotton Picking; Population 1,262,[ ]5; Area in Sq. Miles 52,250., Date inferred from content, dates of activity of lithographer, and reference to Washington which gained statehood in 1889 as a territory., Series number printed on verso: No. 67., Several lines of advertising text printed on verso explicating why Arbuckle's Ariosa Coffee "costs more and is worth more than other brands of coffee," including higher grade green coffee and the "glazing" process. Also includes a "Read This." section describing the series of cards as "interesting, instructive, and artistic," and their purpose as and "object lesson or both young and old." Section ends with the alphabetical list of 50 states and territories depicted. Washington, New Mexico, and Wyoming are listed as territories., RVCDC, Description reviewed 2022., Access points revised 2022., Some degradation to image.
- Date
- [ca. 1885]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Arbuckle's [P.2017.44]
- Title
- " Creme" oat meal toilet soap
- Description
- Incomplete series of trade cards, including duplicate and variant imagery with the same series number, to promote "Crème" toilet soap manufactured by J.D. Larkin & Co. Depicts racist, anthropomorphic chimpanzee figures in social situations and leisure and cultural activities., Series no. I (variant 1) depicts a man and woman as well-dressed anthropomorphized chimpanzees greeting each other. In the left, the man attired in a black top hat, blue jacket, and checkered yellow pants, nods his head to the left and holds up his walking stick. In the right, the woman, her back to the viewer, is attired in a yellow bonnet adorned with flowers and a ribbon, and a long-sleeved green dress with a pink belt at the waist and a bow at the bustle. She lifts up her skirt and exposes her slip. Series no. I (variant 2) depicts an anthropomorphized chimpanzee as a man artist. He rests back on his chair, and holds a palette in one hand, and a paint brush in the other. He sits in front of an easel and canvas. He is attired in a green-colored smock shirt with collar and buttons, yellow pants, and brown laced shoes. His eyelids droop down and his mouth is slightly ajar., Series no. II depicts an anthropomorphized chimpanzee as a man hunter. He stands in front of a section of tall grass and holds a clutch of birds in his left hand and a shot gun under his right arm. He is attired in a hunting cap, red jacket, tan pants, and black high boots. Leather straps are criss-crossed over his chest. Series no. III depicts an anthropomorphized chimpanzee as a man fishing at a dock. The man hangs his legs over a pier and holds a pole into the water. A basket of fish lays beside him. He wears a wide-brimmed hat, a brown jacket with the collar turned up, and blue checkered pants. The backs of two other anglers are visible in the left background. Series no. IV (2 copies) depicts anthropomorphized chimpanzees as a man and woman couple on promenade. The woman, in the left, is attired in a yellow bonnet, a yellow, three-quarter length sleeved dress with ruffling down the front and ruching on the skirt, and white gloves. She holds a fan by her left cheek, looks to her left, and lifts up the skirt of her dress and shows the edge of her slip. To the right, the man smiles and looks over her shoulder. He is attired in a bowler, red jacket, and grey-striped pants and holds a walking stick up under his arm., Series no. VI depicts anthropomorphized chimpanzees as a man and woman couple getting married by a clergyman. The couple, their backs to the viewer, stand to the left of the clergyman attired in his ceremonial robes. The man wears a suit with a long jacket. The woman wears a white wedding dress with a veil adorned with floral ornaments. The dress is composed with ruched sleeves, and adorned with pink bows and ribbons. The figures all have solemn expressions. J.D. Larkin & Co. was founded in 1875. By 1881 the soap company included over 100 factory workers and sustained specialized departments for advertising and shipping, as well as solicited to door-to-door private residences in addition to shopkeepers. Trade cards with the company logo were included with each box of soap. By 1885 the firm only directly sold their products to residential customers and was known for their premiums. The company was sold in 1941 and continued as a mail-order business until 1962., Title from items., Date, publisher, and manufacturer (printer) from copyright statements on prints: Copyright J.D. Larkin & Co., Buffalo, N.Y. 1881 and Copyright Clay & Richmond, Buffalo, N.Y. 1881., Majority of prints (P.2020.3.1-4&7) distributed by J.D. Larkin & Co., P.2020.3.5&6 distributed by the People’s Manufacturing Co., Prints include the company logo “J.D. L. & Co., Buffalo, N.Y.” in two designs; one in cursive and the other as a monogram with a central block letter., Includes series numbers: I. (2 variant images); II.; III.; V. (2 copies, same image); and VI., Five of the prints contain variant advertising text on verso. All texts include statement: To Card Collectors.- There are six different designs in this set. We will mail the complete set to any address, on receipt of 3 c./three cent stamp., RVCDC, Description reviewed 2022., Access points revised 2022.
- Date
- 1881
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade cards - Larkin [P.2020.3.1-7]
- 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
- A Chinese laundry in Philadelphia
- Description
- Interior view of a Chinese owned and operated laundry in Philadelphia. In the center, shows the owner of the business attired in a top hat, white collared shirt, bowtie, suit jacket, waistcoat, and pants. He sits in a wooden chair with his legs crossed and smoking a cigarette as he supervises the workers. The four Chinese men laundry workers wear queue hairstyles and are attired in tunics, pants, and slip-on, cloth shoes. In the left, two men stand behind the counter and iron, one of whom spits water from his mouth onto the laundry. In the right, the man stands facing the viewer with his hand on top of his head while a man irons from another countertop. Steam rises up from the irons. There is a storage closet with the door partially open revealing shelves with folded laundry. More stacks of folded laundry sit on the countertops. In the right foreground, there are five irons warming on a heater and two baskets of laundry. A clock hangs on the wall., Title from item., Date and publication information from original source., Published in the June 3, 1876 issue of the Graphic, a British weekly illustrated newspaper., Text description of the engraving from the Graphic, p. 542: A Chinese Laundry in Philadelphia. Though not nearly so numerous as in California, where their presence has recently excited extreme hostility among the white working classes, the Chinese are to be found, though few and far between, in the Eastern States. There are several Chinese laundries in Philadelphia, and as they have only been recently introduced from California, they are almost as much objects of interest to Philadelphians as to foreigners. Our artist came across the laundry shown in our engraving unexpectedly. As soon as the Chinamen perceived him sketching it through the window, they rushed out and shouted after him, whereupon he made off, thinking it prudent to avoid a scene. The Celestial in European dress is the "boss," or master, who owns several laundries, and who attends to the customers and business arrangements. The manner of damping the clothes preparatory to ironing is peculiar, the operator fills his mouth with water, and squirts it over the linen., Gift of Linda Kimiko August., RVCDC
- Date
- June 3, 1876
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Ph Pr - 8x10 - Businesses - Chinese Laundry [P.2023.27.1]
- 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
- National Farm School for children of colored soldiers and colored orphans - Eastern Branch, Washington, D.C Established March 1866, by H. de Mareil, editor & proprietor of the Messenger Franco American. Incorporated by act of Congress 25th July 1866
- Description
- Landscape view depicting the National Farm School founded in 1866 by Henrie De Mareil of New York and situated on a hilly plot of land with trees, bushes, meadows, and cleared fields. Shows, in the center foreground, three African American children harvesting wheat under the guidance of a white, bearded man. Behind them, two men plow a field with horse-drawn tractors across from individuals binding sheaths of wheat in an open field near a dirt path. In the foreground, cows stand and/or drink in a pond. In the left background, two individuals plow a field with horse-drawn tractors. In the distance center and left background, people mill in front of dwelling, farm, and school-like buildings standing in front of grassy hillsides. The school-like building (center background) is adorned with two flags, a French and an American one. Incorporated by Congress in July 1866, the mission of the school was to provide "normal and school education, as well as a practical knowledge of farming in all its branches" to "orphan and dependent children of colored soldiers, and of other colored orphans." By November 1866, the school was under construction and had fifty pupils. That month, the French Opera Comique Troupe held a benefit concert for the school in Philadelphia that was reported to "not have been as well attended as it should have." By May 1867, the school was reported to still be under construction in order to accommodate two hundred pupils who after "two or three years course [are] to take any position, from a valuable field hand, to a market-man and overseer upon the plantations of the South or the great farms of the West.", RVCDC, LCP copy contains repaired tears around the edges,, See "Amusements," Philadelphia Inquirer, November 16, 1866, p. 3., See "Academy of Music," Press, November 20, 1866, p. 8., See "Freedmen's National Farm School," Helena Weekly Herald, May 2, 1867, p. [2]., See 39th Congress, 1st Session, H. R. 802.
- Date
- [1866]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *GC - Education [P.2023.4]
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- " 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
- 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
- [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
- Camp of 2d Penna. Infantry, "Anthony Wayne." Clifton Heights, Delaware Co. Pa. August 1889. (Major Porters tent) Lt. Col. O. C. Bosbyshell; Major Jno. Bieldles? [porter?]; George Brown (Colored.)
- Description
- Group portrait showing Lt. Col. Bosbyshell (right), Major John Bieldles? (left), and George Brown (center right) posed in front of the tent of Maj. J. Biddle Porter at the Pennsylvania National Guard Second Regiment encampment in Clifton Heights, August 4-10, 1889. The Lt. Col. and Major, attired in their uniforms of dark-colored jackets and white pants, sit on folding chairs, their legs crossed. Bieldles (left), with cropped dark hair and a mustache, holds a book in his right hand and points a finger on his left hand upwards. Brown, an African American man, possibly a porter, with cropped dark hair and attired in a white, long sleeve shirt, and dark-colored trousers, lies on his side, in front of Bosbyshell (right). Bosbyshell wears glasses and has grey hair and a goatee. He rests his right arm on the back of his chair. The flaps to the tent, marked "N.G.P.," are open. Shelving, pails, and a steamer trunk are visible inside. The men sit and lie under an awning pitched in front of the tent. A wooden water tower, shed, shelter, and crates, near a row of trees, are visible in the background. An African man stands next to the shed, and the head of a seated African American man is visible in the shelter. Bosbyshell was a coiner at the Philadelphia mint 1875-1885 and superintendent 1889-1894. The Pennsylvania National Guard encampment included drills, a dress parade, receptions, and inspections by Adjunct-General Daniel H. Hastings and Governor James A. Beaver. The camp adjoined the grounds of "Mr. Bishop.", Title from manuscript note on verso., Date from manuscript note on verso., Mount is black with gold edges., See Philadelphia Inquirer, August 5-6, 1889 and August 9, 1889., RVCDC, Description reviewed 2022., Access points reviewed 2022.
- Date
- [August 1889]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department group portrait photographs - military - Second Pennsylvania Infantry [P.2018.36]
- 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
- 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]
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Who's dar?
- Description
- Trade card depicting a racist, comic, genre scene to promote the Co-operative Dress Association established by journalist and lecturer Kate Fields in 1881. Shows an older African American boy, portrayed with large eyes, nose, lips, and ears, in a hive eating honey comb as a bear enters from behind him. The boy, attired in a collared red shirt with the sleeves rolled up and blue pants rolled to the knees, sits, left knee up and right leg out, on a mound and to the left of a stack of comb. He smiles and raises a piece of comb toward his mouth. Above him and to the right, the rear end of a bear in a hole in the hive is visible. The Co-operative Dress Association, incorporated in April 1881 with 5000 stockholders, was established to provide clothing "articles of fine quality at fair prices" without the "inducement for illegitimate gain" to women of limited incomes. The cooperative, its necessity criticized by advocates for the New York City retail dry-goods trade, operated until 1882-1883 when placed under receivership., Title from item., Date inferred from active dates of co-operative., Series number printed on recto in lower right corner: 24., Copyright statement printed on recto: Copyrighted., Advertising text printed on verso: Open To Everybody. Everybody Invited. Anybody Can Buy. Co-Operative Dress Association (Limited), 31 and 33 West 23d Street, New York. Dry Goods of All Kinds. House-Keeping Goods. Ready-Made Dresses, Cloaks and Wraps, At All Prices. Ladies', Children's and Boys' Suits. Upholstery, Millinery, Stationery, China, Glass and Plated Ware. Boots, Shoes, and Hair Goods. Visit every floor in the Six-Story Building. Restaurant on 5th Floor. Holiday Goods. Fancy Goods., Housed with the Emily Phillips Trade Card Collection., Anonymous gift., RVCDC, Description and access points reviewed 2022.
- Date
- [ca. 1881]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade cards - Cooperative [P.2020.23]
- Title
- Bathsheba at bath
- Description
- Lantern slide formerly owned and probably used in art lessons by Philadelphia painter, photographer, and art teacher, Xanthus Smith. Depicts Bathsheba being bathed by an enslaved Black woman outside on the rooftop. In the center, Bathsheba, nude and attired in a jeweled headpiece, a gold necklace, gold bracelets, earrings, and rings, lounges and rests her left elbow on a pillow. Her right hand grasps grapes on a side table. A cloth is draped over her lower body and her right foot is on a marble and golden basin. A Black woman, attired in a blue and gold striped skirt, and a gold necklace, ring, earrings, and bracelets, sits on a step and dries Bathsheba’s left foot with a white cloth and holds a gold mirror up. On the ground beside her are containers of perfumes, soap, or oil. Stone walls with decorative carved flowers, lion sculptures, and red curtains on rods, as well as trees and the blue sky, are visible in the background., Title from label on mount., Part of "Old Testament" 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
- 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
- Centennial Westward the course of empire takes its way
- Description
- Print commemorating the 100th anniversary of the nation, celebrated at the Centennial Exhibition through an international exhibition of industry, agriculture, and art in Philadelphia. Contains the text of the Declaration of Independence and the Proclamation Emancipation bordered by several historical and allegorical vignettes, scenes, and views that symbolize the social, political, and technological progress of the country. Oval frames surround the texts, which encircle bust-length portraits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The frames are adorned with banners labeled with the names of the original 13 colonies and the 38 states recognized as of 1876. Two bird's eye views showing the development of a cityscape, possibly New York City, from 1776 to 1876 are visible between the framed texts. Other images show the "Battle of Bunker Hill"; "Battle of Gettysburg"; "Surrender of Cornwallis"; "Columbus - 1492"; colonists landing at "Plymouth Rock"; "[Lafayette's] Visit to U.S. in 1824"; "A Home of 1776" with a white woman at a loom; "Franklin's Printing Press"; "Hoe's Ten Cylinder Press"; "A Home of 1876" with a white woman at a sewing machine; the marine battles of the "Constitution and Guerriere" and "Merrimac and Monitor"; Independence Hall, and the U.S. Capitol., Uncaptioned vignettes show an auction of enslaved African American people, African American children in a classroom, farmers harvesting a field by hand, a farmer harvesting a field with a horse-drawn reaper, a man traveling by horseback, a speeding train, a hand-pump fire engine of "1776" and a steam engine of "1876." Other pictorial elements include an American eagle, flags, and a view of the Main Building of the Centennial Exhibition incorporated into the title design in addition to floral vinery interweaved between the vignettes, scenes, and views., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1876, by D.T. Ames in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington., Letters of title illustrated with state seals., Title based on quote by Bishop George Berkley., Not in Wainwright., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 96, Gift of David Doret, 2001., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
- Creator
- Ames, Daniel T., artist
- Date
- 1876
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department ***BW - Centennial [P.9974.2]
- Title
- In commemoration of the hundredth anniversary of American independence
- Description
- Elaborate Centennial Exhibition commemorative print depicting an arched monument containing a central full-length portrait of George Washington surrounded by vignettes; allegorical figures; and religious quotes by the first president. Washington is depicted mounted on his horse. Arch is adorned with the names of the 38 states and is flanked by columns containing views representing the industries of the North, East, South, and West. Views show a white man laborer of the North chopping a tree at a waterfront, white women loom workers of the East, an overseer on horseback watching an enslaved African American man picking cotton in the South, and a white man farmer reaping his harvest with a horse-drawn plow in the West. Columns also contain allegorical figures to represent the years 1776 and 1876. Justice and Independence (depicted as white women and holding the Declaration), and a prostrate British soldier represent the year 1776 and Peace and Liberty (depicted as white woman and holding a "Ballot"), and a seated enslaved African American man free from his shackles represent the year 1876. Monument also contains views of Independence Hall and Memorial Hall (Centennial Exhibition), the scene showing the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and allegorical figures and emblems symbolizing the classical and industrial arts. Other pictorial elements depict the all-seeing eye; American eagle, shield, and flag; vignettes showing Washington praying, and accepting the sword of surrender from Lord Cornwallis during the American Revolution; and vignette views with dimensions of Centennial Exhibition buildings. Buildings include the Art Gallery, Main Building, Agricultural Hall, Machinery Hall, and Horticultural Hall. The centennial of the United States was celebrated through an international exhibition of industry, agriculture, and art in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia., Not in Wainwright., Improvement copyrighted 1877 The Presbyterian Philadelphia, Pa., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 370, Gift of David Doret, 2007., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
- Date
- 1876, 1877
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **BW - Centennial [P.2007.28.7]
- 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
- " 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
- [Scrapbook with periodical illustrations, comic valentines, and patent medicine advertisements]
- Description
- Eccentrically-arranged scrapbook predominantly containing newspaper clippings, patent medicine almanac advertisements, and comic valentines. Also contains scraps, trade cards, and labels. Clippings, many published in the sensational periodicals “National Police Gazette” and “Days’ Doings” primarily depict illustrations of murders and violence, crimes and punishments, human curiosities, animal attacks, human peril, women in distress, gender non-conforming people, evocative theatrical performances, acts of daring, and comic scenes in silhouette. Illustrations include H. P. Peer's 1879 jump from the Niagara Falls bridge and a fight between the elephant "Bolivar" and a camel in Van Amburgh's menagerie. Patent medicine advertisements primarily promote the products of Barker’s Horse, Cattle, and Poultry Powder; C. I. Hood’s Sarsaparilla; Dr. Morse’s Indian Root Pill; and E. S. Well's Rough on Rats. Valentines satirize various professions and gender and ethnic stereotypes, including a cook, music teacher, machinist, hatter, seamstress, “French nurse –(from Ireland),” “novel reader,” “prudish young woman,” and “an old bore.”, Also contains some sentimental and genre imagery, including mothers and children, children playing, and pets; landscape and cityscape illustrations; racist caricatures of African Americans; Tobin trade cards depicting comical views of baseball players (p. 21); an advertisement for The Electric Era/ German Electric Belt Agency (Brooklyn, N.Y.); Dalziel Brother illustrations of scenes from popular Charles Dickens novels like “Nicholas Nickleby”; chromoxylograph illustration from Aunt Matilda series “The Little Deserter” (McLoughlin Bros., ca. 1869); illustrated children's book covers; and a finely-designed chromolithographic advertisement depicting allegorical figures, flowers, and produce to promote gardens (Lowell, Mass.)., Title supplied by cataloger., Small number of pages contain hand-coloring., Also originally included tucked-in partial editions of N.Y. newspapers issued in 1890. Issues housed in mylar and with scrapbook., Scrap depicting two racing horses and their jockeys pasted on back cover., Housed in phase box., Purchase 2012., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
- Date
- [ca. 1869-ca. 1890, bulk 1880-1890]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *albums (flat) [P.2012.42]
- Title
- New transfer picture-album offering a collection of fine transfer pictures and the direction how to fix them
- Description
- Pocket-size volume of decals of vignette maps of French cities, territories, colonies, and provinces during the antebellum period. Decals also include illustrations symbolic of the environment, culture, and economy of the depicted regions. Maps include (Afrique) Ile Bourbon, i.e., Réunion; Department de la Course, i.e., Corsica; Department de la Seine, i.e., Paris; Amerique Guadeloupe; Nle Caledonie/Iles de la Societe, i.e., New Caledonia/Society Islands; Algerie; (Amerique) La Martinique; (Afrique) Mayotte, Nossi-Be, St. Marie/Senegal; and Algerie (Afrique) Prov. De. D’Oran, i.e., Oran Province. Illustrations depict ethnic stereotypes and racist caricatures showing Africans, including an enslaved man from Ile Bourbon and Algerians; a Guadeloupean white plantation owner; a Corsican woman; sacks, crates, and barrels of foods and spices, including cacao, coffee, canella, cotton, sugar, indigo, and nutmeg; and native flora and fauna, including trees, grasses, a turtle, bird, elephant, and alligator. Vignettes also show a portrait of Napoleon; Paris architecture; ships and boats; and huts and a tent., Title from item., Date inferred from era of production of miniature decals and cover design., Front cover illustrated with a clown figure holding a trumpet to his mouth in one hand and tugging his hat with the other., Printed on back cover: Directions for fixing transfers. Take the picture, put it into luke-warm water for a quarter of a minute, pres the picture-side firmly on the object you wish to decorate, and draw gently the paper away. the fixed picture can be varnished, which makas [sic] it finer and secure against water and dust., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
- Date
- [ca. 1880]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department ephemera - Misc. [P.2014.17.3]
- Title
- Centennial commemoration at Philadelphia [ticket] Three millions of colonists on a strip by the sea. Now forty millions of freemen ruling from ocean to ocean
- Description
- Ticket to the "Grand Mass Demonstration in favor of the Centennial Commemoration of American Independence, February 22, 1873" at the Academy of Music containing scenes contrasting life in Philadelphia in 1776 with life in 1876. Scene of 1776 shows white men colonists, including one attired as a backwoodsman, in front of a log cabin and standing near a barefooted, enslaved African American man, attired in torn and worn clothing, sitting on a pile of sticks. Scene of 1876 shows a white man soldier talking to a white man artisan near an African American man laborer seated next to an anvil and machinery gears. Cityscape is visible in the background. Also includes an eagle holding an American flag crest adorned with a portrait of Washington. Contains text printed on the verso soliciting subscriptions to make the Centennial a success as well as to make Pennsylvania the representative to the world of the "power of the Republic.", Title from item., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of Centennial and Columbian Exposition views. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., 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
- [1873]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Ph Pr -8 x 10 - Events [5758.F.26c]
- 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
- [View of the Centennial Machinery Hall with people from all nations]
- Description
- Block-printed wallpaper depicting an exterior view of Machinery Hall designed by Henry Pettit and Joseph M. Wilson for the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which celebrated the centennial of the United States through an international exhibition of industry, agriculture, and art in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. Horse-drawn carriages bring visitors to and from the Hall. A large crowd of spectators walk on the grounds. In the foreground, people from various nationalities and ethnicities are represented including Native Americans attired in feather headdresses; two men, including a Black man, attired in fez hats; two Chinese men, one carrying a fan, attired in conical hats and robes; two Arab men in white headdresses and robes; and a Scottish man attired in a kilt. Other spectators include a man attired in a sailor’s uniform, men and women couples, and young boys., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from content., Gift of David Doret., RVCDC
- Date
- [ca. 1876]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department ***Doret and Mitchell Collection – Prints [P.2022.62.3.49]
- Title
- [Stevens-Cogdell and Sanders-Venning family portrait collection]
- Description
- Primarily studio portraits and snapshots of members of the Venning line of the middle-class Philadelphia African American family descended from the 19th-century white South Carolinian Richard Walpole Cogdell (1787-1866), and Sarah Martha Sanders (1815-1850), a Black enslaved woman. Includes professionally photographed group portraits depicting the family's participation in the Philadelphia African American music community of the early 20th century, including: the Mendelssohn Singing Society; Sid Stratton's Orchestra; the Treble Clef Mandolin and Guitar Club; and the Soap Box Social, a minstrel club associated with the African American political club, Citizen's Republican Club. Other formal portraiture includes the graduation portrait for the South Philadelphia High School for Girls class of 1921, including Lillie Venning and contralto Marian Anderson, and a group portrait of the Citizens Republican Club (ca. 1910). Collection also contains studio portraits and snaphots photographed during family summer excursions to Pleasantville and Atlantic City, New Jersey; portraits of family friends and family members through marriage; silhouettes of members of the Cogdell family cut by Master Hankes, i.e., Jarvis F. Hanks (ca. 1828); and an album (ca. 1860-ca. 1913) containing portraits of members of the Venning family and of unidentified sitters., Sitters include members from the Cogdell family, the Venning family, the Capps family, and the Saunders family. Cogdell family members include: Cecilia Cogdell, wife of Richard Walpole Cogdell, and three of their sons - James Gordon Cogdell, George Burgess Cogdell, and John Walpole Cogdell. Venning family members include: Richard Cogdell and Sarah Sanders' daughter, Julia Sanders Venning, her husband Edward Y. Venning (a contractor), and his brother, Richard DeReef Venning (a government clerk). Julia Sanders Venning and Edward Y. Venning's children - Louise Sanders Venning, Miranda Cogdell Venning (a school principal), Oliver Casey Venning (family historian), George Edward Venning (postal worker), Sarah (Sallie) Venning (Holden) (substitute teacher), and her husband William B. Holden (caterer). George Edward Venning and Julia Capps Venning's children - Mary Venning, Martha Venning (Bowie), and her husband Charles Bowie. Capps family members include: Julia Capps Venning's father Augustus Capps (butler), and her siblings, Lillie Capps Adams (educator/musician), Oscar Capps (post office clerk), Adolphus Capps (an undertaker), Berkley Capps (bellman), and Meta Capps (Thomas). Other sitters include family members George Saunders; Agnes Saunders; Georgine Rex Saunders (Chew); Mary Saunders (Patterson) (soprano and music instructor of Marian Anderson); Susan Saunders (Williams); Richard Sanders Chew; and Charles Sanders Chew; and acquaintances African American bibliophile and Tribune columnist William C. Bolivar, African American undertaker Joseph Seth, African American banker Andrew Stevens, Jr. (P.9367.28 &29), and Mrs. and Dr. Perry., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from content., Date of silhouettes inferred from active dates in Charleston, S.C. of silhouettist Jarvis F. Hanks. See Charleston Courier, March 13, 1828, 2 and "For A Few Days," Charleston Courier, March 31, 1928, 3., Various photographers, including the following Philadelphia photographers: Bell Studio; Frederick Gutekunst; H.D. Garns & Co.; Moses S. Hagaman; Charles Hagemann & Co.; Frank W. Harris, Jr.; Miles & Foster; Parlor Gallery; Charles M. Sullivan; and Daniel Slutzky Studio., Sitters identified by descendants, from manuscript notes on versos, and/or accompanying photographic prints., P.9367.32, ca. 1900 pastel portrait of possibly Clara, nurse to children and grandchildren of Sarah Sanders and R. W. Cogdell, after ca. 1875 tintype photographed by J. Fenton (729 South St., Phila.), P.2012.37.1.23b, Richard DeReef Venning Album, Stevens-Cogdell/Sanders-Venning Collection., P.9367.29, Treble Clef Orchestra sitters include Robert Coleman/William Cole?; Louise Venning; Joseph Seth; Susan Saunders Williams; Howard Carter; Andrew Williams; Mrs. William Morris; William Morris; Walter Williamson; Helen Stevens Bayton; Joseph Abele; William Patterson; Harry Warwick; John William; Beulah Myers; Dr. Agnes Berry Montier; and Andrew Stevens Jr., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 1991, p. 26-31., Gift of descendants Cordelia H. Brown, Lillie V. Dickerson, Mary Hinkson Jackson, and Georgine E. Willis in honor of Phil Lapsansky., LCP exhibit catalogue: African American Miscellany p. 45., Genealogical chart available at repository., 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., Middle-class African American family active in the Philadelphia African American political, social, educational, and cultural community from the 1850s to the 20th century. The family was involved in several prominent local African American institutions, including the St. Thomas P.E. Church, Church of the Crucifixion, Central Presbyterian Church, the Colored Institute of Youth, and the Citizens Republican Club.
- Date
- [ca. 1830 - ca. 1940, bulk 1910-1925]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | PRINT. Stevens-Cogdell/Sanders-Venning Collection [P.9367.1-51]
- Title
- Photographing the baby
- Description
- Trade card after an 1870 Sol Eytinge Harper's Weekly illustration with white figures depicting a racist, caricaturized genre scene to promote the coach varnish firm Clarence Brooks & Co. Scene shows a white photographer taking the portrait of an African American toddler in hi studio. The African American figures are portrayed with caricatured and exagerrated features. In the right, the white photographer stands next to his camera and tripod. He holds a cloth in his right hand, at his side, and a yellow-colored, monkey-like string puppet in his raised left hand. He wears a beard and is attired in a long brown jacket and blue striped pants. Between him and his young sitter is a framed advertisement above maroon paneling on an olive-colored wall. The advertisement reads: "Clarence Brooks & Co., Fine Coach Varnishes, Cor. West & West 12th Sts." In the left, the African American girl sits stiffly on a plush, green arm chair. Her eyes are opened wide in a surprised expression. She wears a sleeveless pink dress with blue bows at the shoulders. Behind her, in the doorway, are two African American women. The younger woman, likely to be perceived as the girl's mother, peers around from the left of the doorway. She wears a stylish hat, white blouse, and red bow at her neck. An older woman, likely to be perceived as the girl's grandmother, stands in the right of the doorway. She wears a brown-colored bonnet with a large bow around her chin and a brown-colored dress and shawl. Clarence Brooks established his varnish business in 1859 as Brooks and Fitzgerald, later Clarence Brooks & Co. In the early 1880s the firm issued calendars illustrated with African American caricatures in genre scenes, often after Sol Eytinge Harper's Weekly illustrations., Title from item., Publication date inferred from dates of activity of publisher (1888-1892) as cited in Jay Last, The Color Explosion (Santa Ana: Hillcrest Press, 2005)., Purchased with funds for the Visual Culture Program (Junto 2015)., Housed with the Emily Phillips Advertising Card Collection., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
- Creator
- National Bank Note Co.
- Date
- [ca. 1890]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Brooks [P.2016.17.1]
- Title
- [Stevens-Cogdell and Sanders-Venning and Chew families portrait collection]
- Description
- Collection of primarily professional portrait studio photographs depicting members of the Venning, Chew, Saunders, and Sanders lines of the African American middle-class Stevens-Cogdell and Sanders-Venning Family. Portraits show the sitters when children and/or when adults. Sitters include Sallie Venning Holden ( P.2014.51.16-17) and her nieces Lillie Venning and Mary Venning; Harriette Elizabeth Richardson Saunders and George Saunders (parents of Georgine Saunders Chew); Cordelia Sanders (Chew) and her sons Richard Sanders Chew (P.2014.51.4) and Charles Sanders Chew (“Papoo”) (P.2014.51.6); Georgine Saunders Chew (“Dama”), her daughters Cordelia Sanders Chew (Hinkson) and Agnes Saunders Chew (Upshur), and her siblings Joseph S. Saunders (dentist), Mary Saunders (Patterson) (soprano and music instructor), Charles Saunders, Susan Saunders (Williams), Agnes Saunders. Small number of portraits document school graduations, including those of Cordelia Chew (Hinkson), Agnes Chew (Upshur), and Joseph S. Saunders. Also contains an unidentified silhouette of a young man, probably a member of the Cogdell family, possibly Richard W. Cogdell., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from content., One paper photograph (P.2014.51.1) mounted in daguerreotype brass mat., Silhouette (P.2014.51.3) mounted in daguerreotype case., Various photographers including Herbert Bridle (Philadelphia), Broadbent and Phillips (Philadelphia), H. D. Garns & Co. (Philadelphia), William Kuebler (Philadelphia), Snellenburg & Co. (Philadelphia), William C. Withers (Philadelphia), Keet & Gemmill (Harrisburg), Le Rue Lemer (Harrisburg), Arthur W. Sheppard (Brooklyn), W. E. Perry (Cresson, Pa.), and Abraham L. Myers (Atlantic City)., Sitters identified from manuscript notes on versos and/or accompanying photographic prints., See Lib. Company Annual Report, 1991, p. 26-31., Gift of descendants Cordelia H. Brown, Lillie V. Dickerson, Mary Hinkson Jackson, and Georgine E. Willis in honor of Phil Lapsansky., See LCP exhibit catalogue: African American Miscellany p. 45., Genealogical charts available at repository., P.2014.51.1-3 housed separately in phase box., RVCDC, Description revised 2023., Access points revised 2022.
- Date
- [ca. 1800-ca. 1925]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Stevens-Cogdell/Sanders-Venning Collection [P.2014.51]
- Title
- [Stevens-Cogdell and Sanders-Venning and Chew families miscellaneous portraits collection]
- Description
- Collection of photographs, several unidentified, of members of the African American middle-class Steven-Cogdell and Sanders-Venning and Chew family of Philadelphia, as well as their extended families and friends. Includes predominantly studio portraiture, including a portrait of William H. Chew (P.2013.14.10), in addition to two miniatures (possibly members of the Cogdell family) and a casual group photograph. Also includes a small number of photographs representing the African American expatriate entertainers' community in Paris in the 1930s; a group portrait of the “Soap Box Minstrels, Musical Fund Hall, December 7, 1909”; and a group portrait with possibly George Washington Musgrave. Minstrel show photograph depicts performers in black face and African American musicians on a stage in front of which a row of African American performers, some in costume and some in tuxedoes, is seated. George Venning and his brother-in-law William Holden were founders of the Soap Box Social in 1908. The Soap Box Social performed an annual minstrel show in the aughts as a fundraiser for the Citizens Republican Club, a social and political club of African American elite men started in 1884. The club’s mission focused on the election of African Americans into public office., 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., Identified sitters include Ivan H. Browning, William H. Chew, Edward W. Venning, Sallie Venning (Holden), Turner Layton, Clarence Johnstone, Thomas "Fats" Waller, and Ada "Bricktop" Smith., Title supplied by cataloger., Date from content., Various photographers, including L. Blaul, African American photographer G. W. Cheston, Flett, J. E. Forbert, O. B. De Morat, S. Georges Ltd, Studio di Art, Sol Young Studios, and Suddards & Fennemore., P.2013.14.12 contains manuscript note on verso: My Honey, My Wife, My All., P.2013.14.15 contains manuscript note on recto: To two regular fellows “Bill & Agnes” Ivan Browning, Paris, France, 1932., P.2013.14.16 contains manuscript note on recto: To The Agnes, Bill, Gene Upshur, With Warmest Wishes, Turner Layton. C.T. Johnstone., P.2013.14.17 contains manuscript note on recto: To Mr. & Mrs. Chew. With Tons of Good Wishes for Every Joy & Oceans of Happiness. Layton & Johnstone., P.2013.14.19 contains manuscript note on recto identifying the sitters: Unknown; [Us.?] Browning; Snow; Unknown; Fats Waller; Unknown; Bricktop., P.2013.14.20 contains manuscript note in ink on recto identifying the sitters: Unknown; Fats; [Mau?]; [Mask?]; Bricktop; Uncle John; Unknown; Ms. Chew; Susan Williams; Unknown; Maureen Browning; Mr. Anson; Ms. Hinkson; Dr. Hinkson; Mr. Chew; Mr. Browning; Unknown. Also contains manuscript note on recto: To Uncle John-Don’t get your derby knocked off. Thomas “Fats” Waller; Uncle John, I think your great & how. Bricktop., See Lib. Company Annual Report, 1991, p. 26-31., Gift of descendants Cordelia H. Brown, Lillie V. Dickerson, Mary Hinkson Jackson, and Georgine E. Willis in honor of Phil Lapsansky., See LCP exhibit catalogue: African American Miscellany p. 45., Genealogical charts available at repository., Description of blackface mintrelsy from Dorothy Berry, Descriptive Equity and Clarity around Blackface Minstrelsy in H(arvard) T(heater) C(ollection) Collections, 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., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
- Date
- [ca. 1800-1932]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Stevens-Cogdell/Sanders-Venning Collection [P.2013.14]
- Title
- Day's soap does it Washee, washee, see him rub on his washboard in the tub; see him wash and smile with glee for he's from hard labor free; with Day's soap his work is done when his rivals just begun
- Description
- Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Copyrighted 1887 by Day & Frick., Racist metamorphic trade card showing a caricaturized Chinese man laundry worker washing a sheet on a wash board in a washtub. Includes a tab that when pulled lifts the washer's arms up and down to reveal the text "Day Soap" on the wash board. The man wears his hair in a queue and is attired in a long-sleeved, blue collared shirt with buttons down the front, blue pants, and slip-on, cloth shoes. He smiles and looks to the right. The tub rests on a table beside a bar of soap, labeled “Day’s Soap.” On the ground behind the table is a basket of laundry. Sheets hang on a drying line. In the background, the wall has Chinese-stylized decorations including a gold wallpaper depicting birds and fish and a purple and gold wall hanging that reads, “Day’s Soap.” Peter Day founded the Day & Frick soap manufactory firm in 1886. He retired as president of the firm in 1917., Purchased with funds from the Walter J. Miller Trust for the Visual Culture Program., RVCDC, John D. Avil founded the Avil Printing Company (also known as John D. Avil & Co.) in West Philadelphia and managed it from the early 1860s until his death in 1918.
- Date
- [1887]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Day's [P.2012.62.8]

