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- Title
- [Deborah Passmore Gillingham scrapbook of prints, drawings, and specimens]
- Description
- Scrapbook of chiefly engravings, drawings, and specimens compiled starting in 1847 by Quaker amateur artist Deborah P. Gillingham. Contains several circa 1810s-1850s book and periodical illustrations, including from "Godey’s Lady’s Book," the "Union Magazine", and the "Literary Souvenir" (London), that depict genre, sentimental, historical, European, and literary scenes and views, as well as portraits of prominent American and European literary, religious, and political figures, particularly abolitionists. Titles of illustrations include "Cinderella"; "Harvest Wagon"; "Bolton Abbey, Wharfdale"; "Lockport, Erie Canal"; "Bit"; "The Sisters Clio"; "Steps to Ruin"; "The Rescue"; "Warming the Mitten"; "Going to School"; "Queen Henrietta Interceding for the King"; "France, Lyon"; and "Fall of Terni." Many of the "Union Magazine" illustrations are after the work of artist Tompkins H. Matteson and depict scenes with children, women, families and/or couples. Illustrations also include the 1848 comic plate "The Lost Glove" depicting an African American servant and a dandy ("Union Magazine," April 1848) and an 1838? portrait of "Joanna," the enslaved woman with whom British–Dutch colonial soldier and author of "The Narrative of a Five Years Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam" (1796, reprinted 1838) John Gabriel Stedman had a relationship. Portrait sitters include Lucretia Mott, Gerrit Smith, Elias Hicks, Thomas Clarkson, Thomas Moore, Daniel O’Connell, Alice B. Neale, and Benjamin Lundy. Illustrations also depict Philadelphia landmarks, including Franklin Institute, Schuylkill Water Works, and Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane. Philadelphia views also include a separately-issued lithograph depicting Clermont Academy printed by Childs & Inman after George Lehman., A number of pencil works and ink drawings comprise the scrapbook with many captioned and depicting dwelling, landscape, and landmark views of Switzerland and Great Britain. Includes pencil sketch "from memory" of "Jungfrau, Switzerland" (Alps) by "E.B.E"; pencil drawing "The House in which Shakespeare was born. Henley Street. Strafford Upon Avon"; gouache and watercolors of "Chinese Fish"; pencil drawings with Chinese white captioned "Austin's Farm at Supiston Suffolk. The early residence of Robert Bloomfield" and "Mill at Bannockburn in which James 3rd was killed"; a pencil drawing of Friends Bank Meeting House inscribed "Mary Young"; pencil drawing of "Residence of George Fox" inscribed "John Young"; and two landscape watercolors by English Quaker social reformer and anti-slavery activist Elizabeth Heyrick., Scrapbook also contains several labeled botanical and material specimens from historical, Biblical, literary, and cultural landmarks and sites, as well as "Specimens of sea moss (i.e. algae) from Cape May May 1848" (one arranged in the letters "D.G.") and the hair of "E.M. Chandler." Often placed in folded sheets of paper with inscribed labels, specimens include "From the scene of Grays Elegy by Mantle Tower That Yew Tree shade"; "From the grave of Cromwell"; "Waterloo"; "Piece of South Sea Island Cloth"; "Mummy cloth unrolled by Gliddon 1851"(Egyptologist George Robbins Gliddon publically unwrapped mummies as performances in Boston and Philadelphia, 1851-1852); and "Pompei.", Additional items of note include a pencil sketch by Gillingham of "East Mount. The residence of John Pease England"; etchings depicting Suffolk landmarks by Henry Davy; the anti-slavery manuscript poem "America" signed and dated by British Quaker novelist, poet, and abolitionist Amelia Opie (Norwich 1846); the anti-slavery manuscript poem "Do as thou wouldst be done by"… signed and dated by British Quaker poet Bernard Barton (Woodbridge September 19, 1846); and circa 1847 calling cards by Chinese writing specialist Tsow Chaoong (Philadelphia 1847-1849) handwritten in English and Chinese characters “D.P. Gillingham” and "Y. M. Gillingham." A small number of circa 1900s clippings and photomechanical prints of portraits and landscapes also comprise the contents., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from content., Inscribed on p. [1]: Deborah P. Gillingham 10 mo 20. 1847., Marbled paper binding., Several pages contain tissue paper overlays., Incomplete pencil sketch of dwellings on verso of drawing of "The River Side of Earlham" on p. [10]., Various artists, engravers, printers, and publishers include Childs & Inman; John Collins; Henry Davy; A. L. Dick; George Lehman; Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green; Tompkins H. Matteson; Henry Sadd; John Sartain; and Thomas Sinclair., RVCDC, Access points revised 2022., Housed in phase box., Number of items missing or removed from pages., Page numbers added by cataloger lower right corner., Loose pages and inserts of gold paper removed, placed in enclosure, and housed with scrapbook in phase book., Deborah Passmore Gillingham (1820-1877), cousin of professional botanical illustrator Deborah Griscom Passmore (1840-1911), was an amateur botanical illustrator. Disowned from the Orthodox Philadelphia Meeting, Northern District in 1842, Passmore became a member of the Hicksite Green Street Meeting. She married Philadelphia wool merchant Yeamans Moon Gillingham (1817-1885) in 1844 and relocated with him to Moorestown, N.J. in 1850 following his retirement. The couple had a son Aubrey Howard Gillingham (1850-1885). In 1855 the family was recommended by the Green Street Meeting for the Eversham Monthly Meeting, N.J. At her death, Gillingham was a member of the Moorestown Monthly Meeting. Among her bequests were funds to endow beds at the Philadelphia Orthopedic Hospital and Dispensary and the Women’s Hospital.
- Creator
- Gillingham, Deborah Passmore, 1820-1877, compiler
- Date
- [ca. 1810-ca. 1910, bulk 1830-1850]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums [P.2019.6]
- Title
- [Family photograph album of views of Eastern and Central Pennsylvania]
- Description
- Family snapshot photograph album photographed and compiled by a Lorah family member, possibly Mary (Lorah) Rismiller and containing portraits of family members and friends and views of Eastern and Central Pennsylvania during family visits and excursions between 1907 and 1916. Album pages are annotated with the name of town visited and often the date of the visit. The photographs are captioned with descriptive or identifying titles and/or annotated with the names of the sitters photographed. Towns and cities visited include Houtzdale, Pa. in 1910; Emaus, Pa. in 1911; Duncannon, Pa. in 1911; Millerstown, Pa. ; Philadelphia, Pa.; Ocean Grove, N.J.; Atlantic City, N.J.; Camden, N.J.; Mexico, Pa. in 1915; and Wernersville, Pa. in 1916. Imagery includes views of businesses and industries, several churches, schools, residences, and recreational areas, as well bridges, streetscapes, cityscapes, and landscapes. Sites depicted show the Houtzdale Coal Mining Region, including views of workers, the entrance, the breaker “after the fire,” and the air shaft; Camden, N.J. Alms House Hospital and Stables; Edwin Glass near the brick oven of a bake shop and “Novelty works” (Duncannon, Pa.); a duck farm (Emaus, Pa.); the Office of Dr. M.J. Stine, Old & New Shirt Factory of B.W. Paget & Son, a wooden tripod structure “Devils Catcher,” and Slaughterback Hill (Millerstown, Pa.); the Juniata River; a bridge and shirt factory (Mexico, Pa.) and South Mountain Park (Wernersville, Pa.), Several photographs document the facilities and staff, including Mary’s brother W. C. Lorah, at the State Hospital at Wernersville. The views show the “Filtering Bed,” “Turburcular” [sic] ward, “Stables,” the “Reservoir,” “Refectory,” “Day Room,” “Isolation Building,” “Laundry/Cold Storage,” “Industrial Building,” “Green Houses,” “Infirmary Force,” (i.e. hospital attendants); and the “Dormitory.” Also contains views from the Lorah family hometown of Blandon, Pa., including the “Lorah House”; views of the railroad, including tracks, stations, and bridges; camping along the Delaware River; and the Camden Carnival., Portrait photographs show men, women, and children posed in front of residences, in yards and public spaces, and on outings. Several of the portraits depict Mary Ritzmiller’s mother Ellen Becker Lorah, as well as niece Selena Lorah, and nephew Merit O. Lorah (as a baby), and brother W.C. (William Chester) Lorah. Other portraits depict a group portrait of “J. Benson employees” posed in front of a shoe store in Holzdale; “Mrs. Lukens” posed from her wheelchair; and an out of focus view of W.C. Lorah “Among the Fens.” Portraiture also includes a portrait taken in Blandon and captioned “Black Annie” and shows an older Black woman standing on the steps of probably a general store and attired in a kerchief, heavy jacket, and skirt. She wears a tambourine at her waist and walks with a cane. A few portraits depict women in chicken coops and Ellen Lorah holding a goose. Several portraits are also annotated with humorful and wry-toned captions, including a series of images of individuals posed to represent “Sports," “Obeying,” “Cherubs,” “Temptation,” and “Just for Fun.” Many of the photographs include objects of the everyday, including horse-drawn vehicles, water pumps, wash tubs and a hand-powered washer, baby carriages and rockers and other children’s furnishings, dolls and stuffed animals, and an automobile. Album also contains portraits of friends from and views of Toledo and Gibsonburg, Ohio in June 1907., Title supplied by cataloger., Date from content., Stamped on front cover: Photographs., Photographs arranged in diagonal patterns on p. [24-30]., Many of the pages contain titles., Majority of images annotated with a caption., Mary Lorah Rissmiller (1883-1959), daughter of Allen Lorah (1849-1922) and Ellen Becker Lorah 1856-1917), was born in Blandon, Pa. and married railroad freight laborer William Rismiller (1879-1959) in 1903. Her siblings included Daniel Clement Lorah (b. 1874), Josiah Curtis Lorah (1876-1957), Allen Harvery Lorah (1886-1967), and William Chester Lorah (1888-1918).
- Creator
- Rismiller, Mary Lorah, 1883-1959
- Date
- [1907-1916]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums [P.2022.14]