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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: [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, 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., 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: 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: [Stevens-Cogdell/Sanders-Venning family photograph album]
Description: Album compiled by a member of the African American middle-class Stevens-Cogdell and Sanders-Venning family containing portrait photographs of family and friends. Majority of contents are unidentified and include professionally photographed cabinet cards, cartes de visite, and tintypes, as well as snapshots. Several of the professional photographs also show props, including a baby's swing, fur rug, wicker chairs and stools. Other portraits include women dressed in early 20th-century beach attire, a ca. 1920's photo of a woman with a ukulele; and two men posed in front of an entryway draped in an American flag. Album also contains a reproduction of an unidentified painted portrait photograph; ca. 1828 silhouettes of Richard C. Cogdell and his brother Charles S. Cogdell (sons of Richard and Cecilia Cogdell) stamped on verso cut by Master Hankes, i.e., Jarvis F. Hanks; and a clipped periodical illustration depicting Maria Walpole, Countess of Waldegrave., Sitters include Cordelia Chew Hinkson and her daughter Cordelia Hinkson Brown as a baby (inside cover & insert before p. 32); Lillie Dickerson (p. 8); George Venning (insert before p. 10); Florence I. Warwick as a child and adult (insert before p. 10 & 24); Richard DeReef Venning (insert before p. 18 & 36); Louise Sanders Venning (insert before p. 32); and possibly Cordelia Chew (p. 36)., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from content., Some loose photographs contain identity of sitter and date inscribed on verso. Some inscriptions barely legible., Twelve ca. 1920s 2x3 snapshots showing vacation portraiture pasted on inside front cover., Two photographs inserted in slot on p. 8., 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 Philadelphia photographers Baumgardner & Hebling; H. D. Garns (& Co.); L. Blaul; Kuebler; Swain & Bridle; M. Herbert Bridle; 1XL Gallery; Larkin Gallery; F. S. Keeler; Bell Studio; and Henrici & Garns., 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., 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. 1860 - ca. 1925]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Stevens-Cogdell/Sanders-Venning Collection [P.2012.37.2]

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: Marriage certificate. This certifies that [Washington C. Young/of Philadelphia/state of Pennsylvania] [Amanda L. West/of Goshen/state of New Jersey] were by me united in marriage according to the ordinance of God and the laws of the state of [Pennsylvania] at [Philadelphia] on the 24 day of [May] 188[3]. [Philip L. Sanborn?]/ [Sarah A. Ross]/ [Rev. W.H. Ross officiating minster]
Description: Marriage certificate with gold touches and containing the bust-length, carte-de-visite studio portrait photographs of Washington C. Young and Amanda L. West, who are African American, surrounded by text, pictorial details, and an ornate border. Young's portrait depicts the young man, looking to the left, and attired in a jacket with a notch lapel, a dark-colored tie, and white, straight shirt collar. He also has a mustache and wears his hair short and with a side part. West's portrait depicts the young woman, looking to the right, and attired in a garment with small puffs at the shoulder and a high-collar neckline adorned with a fabric flower. She wears her wavy hair pulled back, parted in the middle and with side bangs. She also wears earrings. Between the portraits are ornaments with text reading, "It Is Not Good That Man Should Be Alone, Gen 2.18" and "I Will Make Him An Help Meet For Him Gen 2.18." The certificate also contains pictorial details of flowers and vinery, a bell, doves, and a banner. The border is composed of scrollwork, floral shapes, and cornice ornaments. At the time of their marriage, Washington C. Young was a clerk. He would continue in this profession throughout his life. Amanda (West) Young worked as a dressmaker by 1910 and was later listed as a housekeeper in census records. The couple had four children, including a daughter who worked as a dressmaker., Title from item., Date of printing inferred from printed and manuscript date., Completed in manuscript to Washington C. Young and Amanda L. West on May 24, 1883. Signed Philip L. [Sanborn?], Sarah A. Ross, and Rev. W.H. Ross, Officiating Minister., RVCDC
Date: [completed 1883, printed ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department GC - Certificates - Marriage [P.2023.59]

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