Search results

Title: [African American worker at a work site near the Trenton Elevated Railroad Bridge in Philadelphia]
Description: Portrait of an African American construction worker standing next to a support column of the Philadelphian & Trenton Railroad Bridge at Trenton Avenue near Frankford Avenue. The man, attired in a bowler hat, a long-sleeved shirt with only the top buttoned, torn and worn overalls, and shoes, tucks his hands into the waist of his overalls and looks at the viewer. Behind him, two laborers perform street work, including a white man holding a shovel that looks at the viewer. In the background is Frankford Avenue. Pedestrians walk on the sidewalk along the row of brick buildings., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from content and attire of the people., Gift of Ruth Molloy, 1994., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [ca. 1918]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - 5x7 - unidentified - Transportation [P.9481.3]

Title: Frank & his darkies. A wagon load of beets just in from the field
Description: Group portrait depicting African American women agricultural laborers posed in front of a horse-drawn wagon loaded with beets. Three African American men agricultural laborers, including the foreman "Frank," stand beside them and on the cart. The women, most attired in hats, long-sleeved shirts, and full-length skirts, are covered in dirt from the day's work. In the left, another horse is visible., Title from manuscript note written on verso., Date inferred from attire of the sitters., Gift of Tom Nicely, 1990., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [ca. 1910]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photos - 5 x 7- unidentified - Non-Philadelphia [P.9297]

Title: The Court of Honor during the Elks' greatest parade, Philadelphia, July 18, 1907
Description: View of the "Elks Greatest Parade" on South Broad Street during the 21st Annual Benevolent Protective Order of Elks Convention held in Philadelphia in 1907. Depicts a float, a horse-drawn wagon carrying a large stuffed elk and passengers, and several costumed parade participants from various Elk Lodges throughout the country. Participants include a group dressed as minstrels in bowler hats and duster jackets and members attired all in white holding umbrellas. Spectators line the street. The south side of City Hall is visible in the distance., Title from item., Berry, Kelley & Chadwick was an early 20th century prolific publisher and retailer of stereoviews with locations in Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas, and Atlanta., Purchase 1978., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Digitization funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
Date: 1907
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - Berry, Kelley & Chadwick [P.8451.3]

Title: International live stock exhibition, Philad'a., 1876
Description: View of the "Herefords" shed and three herefords (a type of cattle bred for market) on view during the livestock display at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876 in Philadelphia. The cattle display was held under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture from September 21st until October 4th. A number of men stand around the shed and near the cattle and look at the viewer. An African American man holds the bridle of one of the steer on display before the shed., Title printed on mount., Date from copyright statement: Copyright 1876 by E.F. Hovey, publisher, 1113 Chestnut St. Phila., Gift of Robert M. Vogel, 1984 [P.9047.66]., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: 1876
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereos - Hovey [P.9047.66]

Title: Digging potatoes with modern machinery
Description: Touched up newspaper photograph depicting a portrait of the back of an African American man riding his horse-drawn "Iron Age" potato machine as he harvests a field of potatoes. The man, attired in a brimmed hat, a long-sleeved shirt, overalls, and shoes, sits on the machine and holds the reins to the two horses. The machine is pulled down rows of potato plants. The newly harvested potatoes are visible on the ground., Title from typed note pasted on verso., Printed caption pasted on verso: "Digging Potatoes with Modern Machinery.", Manuscript note on verso: Bateman & Cos Inc., Grenloch, N.J., Gift of Jane Abrams Bender, 1997., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: March 25, 1928
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photos - unidentified - Industry [P.9520.51]

Title: I sell the shadow to support the substance. Sojourner Truth
Description: Three-quarter length portrait of the African American itinerant preacher, abolitionist, and women's rights advocate born into slavery and originally known as Isabella Baumfree. Shows Truth, seated, and attired in a dark-colored, long sleeved dress with white collar, white shawl with fringe, and a white cap. She wears wire-rimmed glasses and faces front and is turned slightly to her left. She holds knitting in her left hand which rests on a small table that has a decorative table cloth. A notebook and vase of flowers adorn the table. A string of yarn runs across her lap. Truth escaped to freedom in 1826. During the period of the Civil War, Truth captioned, marketed, copyrighted, and sold at least eleven different carte-de-visite portraits of herself at her lectures and through the mail to earn personal funds and advocate for the abolition of slavery. Her knitting probably alludes to her promotion of the handcraft as an industry for advancement for former enslaved persons., Title from item., Publication information from copyright statement on verso: Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1864, by Sojourner Truth, in the Clerk's Office, of the U. S. District Court, for the Eastern District of Mich., Lib. Company. Annual report, 2016, p. 66-67., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Date: 1864
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits - sitter - Truth [P.2017.27]

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

Title: [African American woman playing tambourine]
Description: Snapshot photograph showing an African American woman outside and playing a tambourine between two white women who play guitars. The white woman in the left is partially removed from the view and the white woman in the right is partially obscured by the woman playing tambourine. The tambourine player has her hair pulled back and wears a silk shawl and long, ruffled, tiered skirt. Spectators, including an African American boy attired in overalls, and white men attired in summer suits stand near and behind the women. Wooden warehouse and barn-like structures, including one with signage reading "Sterline," are visible in the background., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from format of photograph and attire of sitters., Gift of Ivan Jurin, 2019., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Date: [ca. 1925]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department portrait photographs - misc. - sitter - female [P.2019.2.1]

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

Title: [Looking east on the 1600 block of Market Street, Philadelphia]
Description: View showing street construction by the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company of the Market Street Subway across from the Broad Street Station (built 1879-1882). In the foreground, a number of African American construction workers stand in a pit. In the background is another pit with more construction workers. Pedestrians and spectators look on at the scene. Several businesses on the south side of the 1600 block of Market Street, including "Cronin's," are visible. Also shows several horse-drawn wagons traveling past the rail station, and theater advertisements adorning construction equipment., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from a closely-numbered photograph in the series with an inscribed date., Inscribed in negative: 555., Gift of Steven Dorfman, 2013., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Date: [1904]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - unidentified - Construction [P.2013.6.5]

Title: [Looking east on the 2100 block of Market Street, Philadelphia]
Description: View showing street construction by the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company of the Market Street Subway in a large, deep pit on the 2100 block of Market Street. The construction workers include white and African American men. Shows men spectators looking down at the pit. Men fill horse-drawn carts with dirt, and theater advertisements for the "Famous Ithaca Band" at Willow Grove Park adorn construction equipment., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inscribed in negative: 9-17-04., Inscribed in negative: 579., Gift of Steven Dorfman, 2013., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Date: [September 17, 1904]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - unidentified - Construction [P.2013.6.9]

Title: [Looking west on the 2100 block of Market Street, Philadelphia]
Description: View showing street construction by the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company of the Market Street Subway in a shallow pit on the 2100 block of Market Street. The construction workers include white and African American men. Also shows cityscape, trollies traveling in the street, spectators, and construction equipment., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inscribed in negative: 7-22-04., Inscribed in negative: 563., Gift of Steven Dorfman, 2013., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Date: [July 22, 1904]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - unidentified - Construction [P.2013.6.7]

Title: Before Girard Bank on Broad & Chestnut
Description: View looking north from the east side of Broad and Chestnut Streets showing part of the 000 block of Broad Street and City Hall. Shows in the left, the West End Trust & Safety Deposit Co. skyscraper building built 1898 after the designs of Furness, Evans & Co. at 1404 South Penn Square. Adjacent buildings on Broad Street include one adorned with "For Rent. B. F. Teller & Bro. 606 Chestnut St." signage. View also includes street and pedestrian traffic. In the left foreground, an African American man, attired in a bowler hat and jacket, walks with a bundle under his right arm. In the background, men and women, some as couples walk on the sidewalk near a utility pole and a horse-drawn carriage parked in the street. City Hall is visible in the far background., Title from manuscript note on verso., Date inferred from attire of pedestrian traffic documented in image., Description reviewed 2022., Access points reviewed 2022.
Date: [ca. 1900]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Robert Swayne Collection [P.2017.88.61]

Title: [Group portrait with Captain William Wallace Rogers, 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry, at military encampment in unidentified location]
Description: Group portrait of Captain William Wallace Rogers, 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry, and seven individuals, including white military officers, a white boy, and an African American man posed in front of tents at an unidentified military encampment. In the center, Rogers, wearing a mustache and attired in a Union uniform and hat, stands with his right hand on his hip and his left hand on the back of a chair. Two Union officers sit in the left, one holding a sword. In the right, a bearded man sits, attired in shirtsleeves and with a pipe in his mouth and another man sits attired in uniform. To the right of Rogers, a man, attired in uniform, stands holding a flag on a pole. In the right, a boy, possibly a messenger or scout, attired in cap, shirtsleeves, and pants, stands with his left leg crossed over his right. In front of the men, an African American man, probably a camp laborer/servant and possibly an enslaved freedom seeker, lies on the ground on his side, propped up on his left elbow, and looks at the viewer. He wears shirtsleeves and pants. The tops of trees are visible in the background. William Wallace Rogers (1832-1890) served in the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry during the Civil War and served in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, including the Battle of Gettysburg, where he was wounded in July 1863. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1865 and retired from service in 1889., Title supplied by cataloger from information provided by donor, descendent of William Wallace Rogers., Date inferred from content and information provided by donor., Pad: Red velvet with a decorative scroll in the center surrounded by an ornamental border with flowers and leaves., Mat: Nonpareil., Case: Leather. Geometric design of a scroll in the center surrounded by vases of flowers and leaves. Same design on verso., Gift of John J. Nesbitt III, 2016.
Date: [ca. 1863]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Cased photos – sitter – Rogers [P.2016.78.1]

Title: [Group portrait of women minstrel performers in Blackface and costumes]
Description: Group portrait of twenty-two women posed in three rows while wearing Blackface and comical costumes for the racist entertainmentof minstrelsy. The women in the front row are seated and the women in the back two rows stand. The female minstrel entertainers wear black curly haired wigs, black face paint, and different-styled hats, jackets, skirts, and/or dresses. Costumes include ruffled and wrinkled skirts, rumpled jackets, ties and bowties, bowler hats, top hats, and a large, wide-rimmed Edwardian picture hat. Several women hold stenciled or hand-written signs (with malapropisms) identifying their "character," often a government or civil employee. Signs, in various shapes and designs, read: "Sheriff"; "Ise De Librarian"; "Ise de [Post]master"; "Colletor [sic] Ob De Mon[ey]"; "Justice Ob De Peace"; "Street Commissioner and Alderman"; and "Ise De State Legislture." A backdrop is visible in the background and fabric runners are tied in a central bow above the women's heads. A piano is partially visible in the left of the image. 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. By the 1870s nearly a dozen all-female minstrel troupes had been organized. Many of the troupes eventually evolved into burlesque reviews., Title supplied by cataloger., Description of Blackface minstrelsy from Dorothy Berry, Descriptive Equity and Clarity around Blackface Minstrelsy in H(arvard) T(heater) C(ollection) Collections, 2021., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Date: [ca. 1910]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *group portrait photographs - women - minstrel [P.2017.11]

Title: [Series of photographs of children in North Carolina]
Description: Series of primarily captioned photographs depicting white children, a number also including a Black woman caregiver. Images also depict a goat and goat cart. Captions include: "An Important Conference"; "Back yard scenery in N.C."; "Summer"; "Showing the effect of not closing the mouth properly";"Rear view of 'my youngest'"; "Mistaking the shadow for the substance"; "Benjamin My youngest!"; "Master C.M. Gibbon - at 2 yrs"; and "'The 'non-adventurous Billie.', Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from the attire of the sitters., Gift of Marjorie G. Battles.
Date: [ca. 1900]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photos - 5 x 7 - unidentified - Recreation [P.8502.115-125]

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: Testimonial banquet to Ms. Eugenia M. Neal. Daughter Ruler Keystone Temple, No. 448 I.B.P.O.E.W., Dec. 8, 1930. O. V. Catto Elks Home, Philadelphia
Description: Panoramic group portrait photograph depicting over one hundred African American men and women, of all ages, at a testimonial banquet of the Improved Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the World for Eugenia Neal (1873-1949). The attendees, attired in evening wear, sit at rows of tables and a few booths in the right of the room. Attendees wear suits, tuxedos, and evening and cocktail dresses. Most of the sitters do not smile and face the camera. Some are turned away or eating. Some of the men wear their I.B.P.O.E.W. fezzes. In the right background, one woman has an arch of flowers over her. The tables are covered in white tablecloths and lined with plates of food, serving platters, and silver pitchers. In the background, at the back of the room, a small band of men musicians is seated next to a woman at a piano. Streamers and a paper bell adorn the ceiling. The O.V. Catto Elks Lodge began in 1903 as a chapter of the Improved Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the World established in 1897 with a mission to "practice charity by providing and performing charitable services in our communities throughout the world and by promoting harmony, friendship, and unity among our esteemed members." By 1926, the Lodge had over 3000 members, and in 1929, it relocated to a new building that included a boxing ring, basketball court, and rooftop garden, at 16th and Fitzwater. Eugenia Neal, born Eugenia Brisby in Virginia, worked as a typesetter in Philadelphia by 1920. Married to Moses Neal in 1896, the couple resided in Atlantic City before relocating to Philadelphia by 1910. As a Daughter Ruler, Neal lead the Keystone Temple with her male counterpart, Exalted Ruler, and "under their leadership, all Elks shall show[ed] truth in activities and live[d] to help others, while promoting Brotherly and Sisterly Love to all.", Title and date from item.
Date: [1930]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department framed graphics [P.2023.5]

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

Title: [Mount Pleasant mansion, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia]
Description: View shows Mount Pleasant mansion in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia flanked by outbuildings. The view is somewhat obscured by trees. The Middle-Georgian country house was built 1761-1765 for Captain John Macpherson after the designs of Thomas Nevil on Mount Pleasant Drive in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pa. Macpherson, a privateer during the Seven Years’ War, purchased the estate with profits from these operations. Free white and Black laborers, indentured servants, and at least four enslaved people of African descent, whose names are unknown, worked on the plantation. In 1779, General Benedict Arnold purchased Mount Pleasant for his wife Peggy Shippen, but they never occupied the house. In 1792, General Jonathan Williams purchased the mansion. The City of Philadelphia purchased the property from the Williams family in 1869. On behalf of the city, the Philadelphia Museum of Art restored the house in 1926., Title inferred from manuscript note on verso., Date inferred from type of mount., Yellow mount with rounded corners., Gift of Raymond Holstein, 2011., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Date: [ca. 1870]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Holstein stereo - Fairmount Park [P.2011.47.954]

Title: Mason's challenge blacking Philadelphia
Description: Photographic reproduction of a racist and whimsically absurd advertisement, including an African American shoe shiner, to promote the premier manufactory of blacking established in 1832 by James S. Mason. Depicts the shoe-shiner "blacking" a boot near a white shoe-shine boy with a puppet and a dog. The shoe-shiner, portrayed with grotesque features, holds a brush overhead in his right hand and a boot over the hand of his other arm. He wears a button-down shirt with an open collar, suspenders, and breeches. To his right, is an oversize boot on which the boy has a propped a puppet. The puppet is an African American dandy-like character. The puppet attired in a jacket and high collar shirt holds an umbrella above his head. A dog, as he looks behind, flees from the puppet. The dog's face is reflected in the foot of the boot. The young shoe-shiner, attired in a cap, jacket, and breeches, smiles and points toward the dog. Scene also includes an oversize opened tin of blacking in the foreground. Following the death of Mason in 1888, his son Richard assumed the business which was in operation into the 20th century., Date inferred from address of engraving firm., Advertising text printed on verso: July 15th, Reduced prices Mason's Challenge Blacking. Net prices, ornamental cases, adapted for display in retail stores, or shipping, without re-packing, holding three dozen each. No. 1, or Small Size, per doz. 25 cts. " 2, or N. Medium Size, " 30 ." " 4, or Large Size, "50." To obtain this Blacking in the original Show Cases, not less than three dozen of a kind should be ordered. The American News Company, New York.
Date: [ca. 1877]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv - unid. photo. - Advertisements - M [P.2016.65]

Title: [Mount Pleasant mansion, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia.]
Description: Exterior view of the front of Mount Pleasant Mansion (i.e. Arnold Mansion) main house built 1761-1765 for Captain John Macpherson after the designs of Thomas Nevil in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pa. View shows wildflowers in bloom on the front lawn and benches lining the front walk. Macpherson, a privateer during the Seven Years’ War, purchased the estate with profits from these operations. Free white and Black laborers, indentured servants, and at least four enslaved people of African descent, whose names are unknown, worked on the plantation. In 1779, General Benedict Arnold purchased Mount Pleasant for his wife Peggy Shippen, but they never occupied the house. In 1792, General Jonathan Williams purchased the mansion. The City of Philadelphia purchased the property from the Williams family in 1869. On behalf of the city, the Philadelphia Museum of Art restored the house in 1926., Date inferred from type of mount., Orange mount with rounded corners., Series title printed on mount., Title supplied by cataloger., Title printed on mount erroneously identifies site as Washington's Headquarters - Fairmount Park., Gift of Raymond Holstein, 2011., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Date: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Holstein stereo - Fairmount Park [P.2011.47.1013]

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: 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: 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: 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: Vegetable dealer Bermuda
Description: Postcard depicting an older Black man with a beard, seated in a mule-drawn cart. Bunches of root vegetables, a basket, and a barrel lay behind him in the cart. A partial view of a building with three windows is visible in the background., Title from item., Date inferred from design of verso of postcard: Undivided back and "Post Card" in thin serif letters, Manuscript note written on recto: How would you like to ride [in that?] [ illegible]., Name and address of recipient in manuscript on verso: Miss Mabel McClure, 328 Preston St., W. Phila, Pa. U.S.A., RVCDC, Description reviewed 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Date: [ca. 1905]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department LCP postcards - Genre [P.2019.80.10]

Title: Negroes and religion. Disciplina et regula ordinis flagellantium [Discipline of the order of flagellants] The Episcopal Church at the South. To the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America
Description: Copy photograph of an abolitionist satire containing a montage of scenes mocking the pro-slavery dioceses from the seceded Southern states absent from the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in New York in 1862. Probably related to an earlier pamphlet of the same title satirically "promoting" the policy that the church's African American communicants be treated as the South treats the enslaved people. A devilish figure with wings inscribed with the names of Confederate states, holding a "Testimonial" scroll under his arm, thumbs his nose and unlocks the door of the "House of Bishops" at the "General Convention." Figures pray at an altar near an animated preacher while stating, "We welcome our friends." A white man whips a bare-chested and bare-footed African American enslaved man, who kneels with his hands bound to a post. Two white women watch the events from the side of their dilapidated wooden house. During the Civil War, the Southern dioceses became the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America., Title from item., Date inferred from content., See related pamphlet Negroes and religion: The church at the South. Memorial to the general convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. (United States : s.n., 1856?). (LCP Am 1856 Neg 18399.O.9)., Originally part of a McAllister Civil War scrapbook of humorous prints and photographs. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886 [5780.F.52h]. Purchase 1999 [P.9758.3]., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War., 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. 1862?]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv - misc. - Civil War - Caricatures and cartoons [5780.F.52h; P.9758.3]

Title: [Building of the Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored Troops, 1210 Chestnut Street, Nov. 1864]
Description: View of the Philadelphia building decorated in celebration of the military progress of African American troops and the abolition of slavery in Maryland on Nov. 1, 1864. A gaslight sign on top of the building declares, "God Save the Republic." A large transparency of vignettes with mottoes and quotes supporting the Union and emancipation covers the front of the building including a representation of the symbolic Federal Arch adorned with an inscription; a battle scene with African American soldiers; an auction of enslaved people; and an African American mother sending her child to school. The bottom of the transparency announces, "Emancipation Proclaimed," and contains portraits of President Lincoln, Vice-President Johnson, and prominent abolitionists, as well as words of appreciation for prominent Union Generals including Grant. A sign for the "Free Military School" to train commanders of "Colored Troops" is visible in the doorway., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from content., Reproduced in Kenneth Finkel's Nineteenth century photography in Philadelphia (New York: Dover, 1980), plate 176., LCP holds related broadside: "Emancipation in Maryland" (#Am 1864 Phi Sup (6)5777.F.40h)., Accessioned 1978., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [1864]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - unidentified - events [P.2000]

Title: [Building of the Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored Troops, 1210 Chestnut Street, Nov. 1864]
Description: View of the Philadelphia building decorated in celebration of the military progress of African American troops and the abolition of slavery in Maryland on Nov. 1, 1864. A gaslight sign on top of the building declares, "God Save the Republic." A large transparency of vignettes with mottoes and quotes supporting emancipation covers the front of the building including a representation of the symbolic Federal Arch, a battle scene with African American soldiers, an auction of enslaved people, and an African American mother sending her child to school. The bottom of the transparency announces, "Emancipation Proclaimed," and contains portraits of President Lincoln, Vice-President Johnson, and prominent abolitionists, as well as words of appreciation for prominent Union Generals including Grant. A sign for the "Free Military School" to train commanders of "Colored Troops" is visible in the doorway., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from content., Reproduced in Kenneth Finkel's, Nineteenth century photography in Philadelphia. (New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1980), plate 176., LCP holds related broadside: "Emancipation in Maryland" (#Am 1864 Phi Sup (6)5777.F.40b)., McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [1864]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photos - unidentified - Events [(6)5777.F.40a]

Title: Rosa, an emancipated slave from New Orleans
Description: Abolitionist portrait of the propagandized fair-skinned child emancipated from enslavement, Rosina Downs, attired in a hat, a pleated dress with stripes at the bottom, and a dark-colored cape. Freed by Union General Butler in New Orleans, the child toured through the North with other people emancipated from enslavement to raise funds for the Louisiana schools for the formerly enslaved established by Philip Bacon, Assistant Superintendent of Freedmen. Downs, daughter of a multiracial mother and Confederate soldier, was one of three touring children denied entrance to a Philadelphia hotel in December 1863., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Probably by New York photographer, M.H. Kimball., See Harper's weekly, January 30, 1864, p. 71., See Kathleen Collin's "Portraits of slave children," History of photography 9 (July-September 1985), p. 187-210., Accessioned 1982., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [ca. 1863]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits -sitter- Downs [P.8925.5]

Title: Rosa A slave girl from New Orleans
Description: Abolitionist, vignette-size portrait of the propagandized fair-skinned child emancipated from enslavement, Rosina Downs. Freed by Union General Butler in New Orleans, the child toured through the North with other people emancipated from enslavement to raise funds for the schools of Louisiana for the formerly enslaved established by Philip Bacon, Assistant Superintendent of Freedmen. Downs, daughter of a multiracial mother and Confederate soldier, was one of three touring children denied entrance to a Philadelphia hotel in December 1863., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Probably by Philadelphia photographer James E. McClees., See Harper's weekly, January 30, 1864, p. 71., See Kathleen Collin's "Portraits of slave children," History of photography 9 (July-September 1983), p. 187-210., One of the cartes de visite trimmed and originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of Civil War materials [(2)1540.F.13e]. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [ca. 1863]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits -sitter- Downs [P.8925.6; (2)1540.F.13e]

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: [Young African American man, possibly Jerry Stevens an enslaved man, at Raceland Plantation, Dinwiddie, Virginia]
Description: Full-length portrait of an African American man, attired in a brimmed hat, a long-sleeved shirt, and pants with large tears and holes, holding a wooden plow over his shoulder. He stands in front of a wooden building and to the left of a wooden door. In the right is a white dog with its back to the viewer., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from photographic medium and content., Purchase 2011., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: 1885
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department portrait photographs - miscellaneous - Stevens [P.2011.16]

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: Cliveden 1911
Description: Series of exterior and interior views of the Germantown estate Cliveden built 1763-1767 by master carpenter Jacob Knor for Philadelphia attorney Benjamin Chew at 6401 Germantown Avenue. Benjamin Chew (1722-1820), the patriarch of an influential Quaker family, was one of Pennsylvania’s largest enslavers. Images depict front, front oblique, and "rear" views of the façade of the residence, including outbuildings and landscaped lawns and grounds; the front "doorway" with steps and sculptures; the "pump" near an ivy-covered wall; the "barn" near which a horse-drawn cart loaded with hay rests across from a cow out to pasture; a cracked "fireback" resting against a tree; "servant’s quarters," i.e. quarters for enslaved persons; and multiple views of the "hall at Cliveden" modestly furnished with chairs, a desk, side table, a long rifle, and framed prints and a painting. Hall views also depict columns fronting a hallway and stairway., Chew House, also known as Cliveden, was the site of the turning point in the Battle of Germantown in 1777. The Chew family enslaved people of African descent in the city of Philadelphia and in Germantown during the 18th and 19th centuries. The estate was the Chew family residence until 1972 when it was acquired by the National Trust for Historic Preservation., Series title from manuscript note on mounts., Date from title., Many of the images accompanied by captions written on the mounts., Two of the mounts (P.2017.88.4.2-5 and P.2017.88.4.6-9) contain manuscript note: Cliveden 11-7-1911., Verso of mount P.2017.88.44.1 contains manuscript note: New York Public Library 1911., Copies of images included in “Pictorial Archives of Early American Architecture” (PAEAA), PAEAA PA 51-Germ, 64D-1, assembled by the Library of Congress during the 1930s., Three of images (P.2017.88.4& 7 &11) published in Harry M. Tinkom, Margaret Tinkom and Grant Miles Simon, Historic Germantown: ... (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1955)., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Date: 1911
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Swayne Collection [P.2017.88.4.1-13]

Title: [Benjamin F. Butler]
Description: Reproduction of a bust-length portrait print of the Massachusetts Governor, abolitionist legislator, and Civil War Major General. Butler, attired in uniform, sits facing slightly left. As commander of Fort Monroe, Virginia, he declared freedom seekers as "contraband of war," providing the impetus for Congress to enact the Confiscation Act of 1861., Title supplied by cataloger., Date based on depicted age of the sitter., Accessioned 1979., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [ca. 1861]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits- sitter - Butler [P.2282.107]

Title: Fannie Lawrence
Description: Full-length portrait of the acclaimed girl emancipated from enslavement. Freed in Virginia by military nurse Catherine S. Lawrence, Fannie was publicized as the "redeemed slave child" baptized by Henry Ward Beecher at age five at Plymouth Church in Brooklyn in May 1863. Depicts Lawrence, dressed in a fancy hat and cape, leaning against a balustrade., Probably by Boston photographer James Wallace Black., Title from manuscript note on verso., Dated based on the presented age of the sitter., See Kathleen Collin's "Portraits of slave children," History of photography 9 (July-September, 1985), p. 187-210., Purchase 1987., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [ca. 1863]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits - sitter - Lawrence [P.9194]

Title: Brady's Album Gallery
Description: Incomplete series of the "Brady Album Gallery" of Civil War views first published in 1862 by New York publishers, E. & H.T. Anthony. Contains camp scenes, views of historic residences and military fortifications, and group portraits predominately photographed by unattributed Brady technicians, James F. Gibson and George N. Barnard. Gibson and Barnard hold copyright to twenty-six of the series. Contains series No. 1, 100, 100 (variant), 289, 302 - photographed by Barnard; No. 355, 360-361, 363-372, 377-380, 382-384, 388 - photographed by Gibson; No. 423-424, 427 - copyrighted and probably photographed by Brady., Views include: the incomplete Capitol in Washington, D.C.; General McClellan's 1862 campaign on the Virginia Peninsula including Union artillery batteries near Yorktown and Union headquarters of Generals McClellan, Scott, and Lafayette; and the inflation and ascent of the Union reconnaissance air balloon, "Intrepid." Group portraits depict African American Civil War freedom seekers, Union officers, and Union soldiers., Copyrighted by Barnard & Gibson and Mathew Brady., Stamp of Philadelphia distributor, McAllister and Brother, 728 Chestnut Street, pasted on verso of two of the series., Names of the photographers supplied by "Catalogue of photographic incidents of the war from the gallery of Alexander Gardner (Washington: H. Polkinhorn, 1863)." (Transcription in LCP research file)., Gift of Jesse G. Haydock, 1981., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Forms part of Small Civil War Photograph Collection., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: 1862
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department small Civil War photo collection - Brady cdv's [P.9877.1-29]

Title: Cartes de visite reproductions of Civil War era sketches by H.C. Bispham
Description: Collection of fifteen cartes de visite of sentimental, satiric, and racist Civil War era scenes, predominately depicting white men soldiers, by Philadelphia artist Henry Collins Bispham. Includes scenes of soldiers flushing out a sharpshooter, engaged in battle, wielding a knife, being thwarted from stealing a chicken and honey, dozing on watch, and confronted on horseback by a growling dog, as well as contrasting views of a Union and Confederate amputee soldier returning home. Racist caricatures show an ape walking with a cane, Lincoln spoon feeding a white man soldier the "Black Draft," and a downtrodden Southern white woman on the defense with an enslaved African American man on crutches and an African American boy. Other images show Abraham Lincoln as a dog confronting opossum Jefferson Davis on a tree and an itinerant white man musician with a monkey and dog. One scene includes a zouave., Two of the images signed by artist., Thirteen of the images attributed to Bispham., Created postfreeze., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of humorous caricatures and photographs. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [ca. 1863]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv - miscellaneous - Civil War - Caricatures & cartoons - Bispham [5780.F.51 a, d, & h; 52a, l, p & q, u & v; 53 a,c, l&m, o&p]

Title: Charley A slave boy from New Orleans
Description: Abolitionist portrait of the propagandized fair-skinned child emancipated from enslavement, Charles Taylor. Freed by Union General Butler in New Orleans, the child toured through the North with other people emancipated from enslavement to raise funds for schools of Louisiana for the formerly enslaved established by Philip Bacon, Assistant Superintendent of Freedmen. Taylor, son of his enslaver, was one of three touring children denied entrance to a Philadelphia hotel in December 1863., Probably by Philadelphia photographer James E. McClees., Title from item., Date inferred from content., In McAllister scrapbook of Civil War Portraits. (LCP Print Room (1)Uy 5 5775.F.15). McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., See Harper's weekly, January 30, 1864, p. 71. (LCP **Per H, 1864)., See Kathleen Collin's "Portraits of slave children," History of photography 9 (July-September 1985), p. 187-210., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [1863]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Civil War Portrait Scrapbook album [(1)Uy 5 5775.F.15]

Title: "Nick Biddle" Of Pottsville, Pa., the first man wounded in the Great American Rebellion, "Baltimore, April 18, 1861."
Description: Half-length portrait of the older African American volunteer Union soldier, attired in uniform. Biddle, a freedom seeker, sustained his wound - a gash to the head - as his troop, the Washington Artillerists, en route to defend the Capitol, was violently harassed by secessionists., Title from item., Forms part of: McAllister scrapbook of Civil War Portraits. [(1)5775.F]. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Date: [ca. 1861]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department portrait prints - McAllister Civil War scrapbook of portraits [(1)5775.F.8]

Title: Emancipation
Description: Reproduction of a George Gardner Fish allegorical painting celebrating the Emancipation Proclamation (1863) originally photographed by Boston photographer J. P. Soule. Depicts the white female figure Columbia holding out the Emancipation Proclamation and standing between a kneeling enslaved African American man and woman (attired in a head wrap). The bare-chested man holds up the pole of an American flag, while the woman drapes the flag around her naked body. Columbia, attired in a tiara and drapey gown, also holds a bunch of sprigs of laurel, as well as stands on a whip. A partial view of a wagon wheel is visible in the left background., Title from item., Artist and photographer from copy in the collections of the Library of Congress. LC copy "Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by John Sowle [sic], in clerk's office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts.", George Gardner Fish was a Nantucket portrait painter who specialized in pastels. He exhibited at the National Academy of Design between 1858 and 1863., 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., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Date: [ca. 1863]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv - misc. - Civil War - Genre & sentimental [P.2014.22]

Title: Dickerson Family miscellaneous photograph collection
Description: Collection of studio portraits of the multiracial descendants of the Philadelphia middle-class African American family, the Dickersons. Contains portraits of six women and girls, two boys, and a baby. Identified sitters are predominately children, including Catherine and Thomas Brown (P.9427.23), Emma R. Newlin (P.9427.17), and Wilson Newlin (P.9427.19). Also identified is Anna M. Newlin (P.9427.18)., Title supplied by cataloger., Dates inferred from presented age and attire of sitters., Accessioned 1993., Description revised 2024., Access points revised 2021., Housed in phase box with albums., 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., Various Philadelphia and Baltimore photographers, including Philadelphia photographers William Curtis Taylor, Frank W. Street, and O.M. Olsen Studio.
Date: [ca. 1885 -ca. 1910]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *albums (flat) - Dickerson Family Collection [P.9427.17-24]

Title: N.J. State Colored Home, Vineland, N.J., Aug. 27, 1930
Description: Aerial view of an institution, probably an African American nursing home and surrounding grounds. In the center are two large buildings. In the right, a water tower is surrounded by a forest of trees. Roads and houses are visible., Title from negative sleeve., 13015 not digitized; similar view to P102; P102 includes entire house in lower portion of negative., Accessioned 1983., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: Aero Service Corporation, photographer
Date: [August 27, 1930]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Aero Service [P.8990.13015; P.8990.P102]

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