© Copyright 2025 - The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1314 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. TEL (215) 546-3181 FAX (215) 546-5167
For inquiries, please contact our IT Department
- Title
- Is dese' your chickens miss Compliments of Durant & Oehlmann, druggists, 518 Hampshire St., Quincy, Ills
- Description
- Racist trade card depicting an African American man, portrayed in racist caricature and attired in a torn hat and shirt, on the ground with baby chicks in front of him. In the left, a white woman with a pitchfork leans over a fence to observe the scene and surprises him. Durant & Oehlmann, the partnership between Dr. Joseph F. Durant (b. 1831) and Charles Oehlmann (1849-1921), operated in Quincy, Illinois between 1875 and 1888., Title from item., Date inferred from date of operation of advertised business., Advertising text printed on verso promotes Falke's Sulpholine Cream and Falke's Kah-Kan-Kee Hair Restorative manufactured by J. Falke & Co., 418 Elm St., St. Louis., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Gift of William Helfand., 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 the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Date
- [ca. 1880]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Helfand Patent Medicine Trade Card Collection - Pharmacists - D [P.9828.5810]
- Title
- Brother Gardner addresses the Lime Kiln Club on the virtues of Dixon's Stove Polish
- Description
- Racist, satiric trade card promoting Joseph Dixon Crucible Company's stove polish and depicting a caricature of an African American man presenting Dixon’s Stove Polish to the African American men members of the Lime Kiln Club. Shows Brother Gardner, the white-haired, African American man, in the left with spectacles on his forehead and attired in a white collared shirt with a red bowtie, an orange jacket with a sunflower on the lapel, red and white checked pants, and black shoes. He stands holding a blue box of Dixon’s in his left hand and a gavel in his right hand. In the left is a wooden table with a blue pitcher and a top hat on top of it and a sign that reads, “Dixon’s Carburet of Iron Stove Polish.” Brother Gardner addresses the men in the vernacular, who are identified by number with the key of their names on the verso of the card. In the right, the man, attired in a striped white collared shirt, a red tie, a white and blue striped jacket, yellow and red striped pants, and black shoes, sits on a wooden chair and examines a blue box of Dixon’s in his hands. Beside him another man, balding with tufts of white hair on the sides of his head and a white beard and attired in a red jacket and blue striped pants, kneels down and carries a brush in his right hand. Behind them two men sit on chairs and an additional nine men stand and listen to Brother Gardner. In the background, the wall reads, “Lime Kiln Club, Paradise Hall.” A horseshoe and framed prints that read “Beautify your homes” and “Rules of the Lime Kiln Club” hang on the wall. In the center is a large, black stove., The African American "Lime Kiln Club" caricatures originally were devised by Charles Bertrand Lewis (i.e., M. Quad) in the Detroit Free Press. The Joseph Dixon Crucible Company, established by Joseph Dixon in Salem, Mass. in 1827, produced graphite pencils, crucibles and stove polish, and relocated to Jersey City, N.J. in 1847. In 1868, the firm name changed from Joseph Dixon & Co. to the Jos. Dixon Crucible Co. In 1870 the firm won a trademark case against a Philadelphia competitor selling J.C. Dixon Stove Polish., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Copyright 1886., Advertising text printed on verso: The Lime Kiln Club, Brother Gardner in the Chair. “Dis Club hab ebery reason to be proud of de Stove Committee. We has tried all de other stove polishes. We has been stunk out wid so-called peperahuns and seen de piping rust to pieces, till de stove-pipe wus a tumbled down disgrace to de good name of de Lime Kiln Club. De honah of dis occashun belongs to Brudder Shindig, who has made a name for hisself, by introducing Dixon’s Big cake of Stove Polish, and has covered hisself wid shine. Stand up, Brudder Shindig, and let us gaze upon your countenance. Now, my frens, let us draw a lesson from dis: Seek and find out for yerselves, and when you’s got a good ting stick to it, so dat, like DIXON’S STOVE POLISH, you may not only be a use to de community in which yer libes, but a shining example for de rest of mankind. “De club owes a vote of thanks to de Stove Committee, an’ to Brudder Shindig in particular, an’ extend de heartfelt thanks of de Lime Kiln Club to DIXONS for de valuable addition to de comfits of dis life through their CARBURET OF IRON STOVE POLISH. Wid one drawback, Brudder Shindig—you orer haf found dis outen befo’ for de DIXON’S STOVE POLISH has bin in de market SINCE 1827,--58 YEARS.” (Signed) No. 1. Bro. Gardner, 2. Old Man Jenkins, 3. Bro. Shindig, 4. Give-A-Dam Jones, 6. Sundown Davis, No. 7. Accordingly Davis, 8. Stepoff Johnson, 9. Trustee Pullback, 10. Sickles Smith, 11. Sir Isaac Walpole, 12. Layback Jones, Committee., Advertising text printed on verso: Fifty-eight years in market! The oldest, the best, the neatest, the quickest. Ask your dealer for Dixon's Stove Polish. Jos. Dixon Crucible Co., Jersey City, N.J. Illustration showing a box of "Dixon's Prepared Carburet of Iron (Trademark) For Polishing Stoves, Grates, Ranges, and Every Kind of Cast and Sheet Iron work.", Purchased with funds from the Walter J. Miller Trust for the Visual Culture Program., 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.
- Date
- 1886
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *trade card - J [P.2012.54.2]
- Title
- Is yo' sho' lady when I wears dese stockings I won' fin' ma laigs all black
- Description
- Racist caricature reminiscent of the plate "Have you any flesh coloured silk stockings...?" from E.W. Clay's racist satiric series, Life in Philadelphia, originally published in the late 1820s and early 1830s. Depicts an African American man dressed as a woman attired in a brimmed hat, a long-sleeved dress tied with a bow at the back, a fur shawl, shoes, and with a closed umbrella and a basket at her feet. She sits in front of the counter of a dry goods store and inquires in the vernacular about a pair of dark stockings which she holds. A young white woman sales clerk smiles with her elbows on the counter and displays to the customer a second pair of dark-colored stockings. Bolts of fabric rest on shelves behind the clerk, and socks and hosiery hang above. A white woman customer shops at the other end of the counter, in the right., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Copyright 1902 by Underwood & Underwood., Printed on mount: Works and Studios. Arlington, N.J. Westwood, N.J. Washington, D.C., Sun sculpture trademark printed on mount., Title printed on verso in six different languages, including French, German, and Spanish., Grey mount with rounded corners., See Life in Philadelphia. "Have you any flesh coloured silk stockings...?" [LCP Life in Philadelphia (Philadelphia) P.9701.9], Purchase 2002., 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.
- Creator
- Underwood & Underwood
- Date
- 1902
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereos - Underwood & Underwood - Genre [P.2002.31]
- Title
- [Silhouette collection]
- Description
- Collection of silhouettes depicting men, women, and children, primarily bust-length and cut at a Peale's Museum (Philadelphia, Baltimore or New York) in the early 19th century. Some silhouettes depict African American sitters. Items often contain physiognotrace impressed lines and some contain amateur pencil markings. A small number also include eyelash cutouts, contain ink details to depict hair or collars, or are folded in fours. Many silhouettes also include hair adornments and other fashion details, including ribbons, bows, collars, bonnets, hats, and flowers. Collection also contains one non-portrait cutout composed of a bird, several branches, and a temple-like structure, as well as several numbered leaves of silhouettes removed from an album. Leaves contain 1- 8 silhouettes, some cut and some in ink. The silhouettes also show flowers adorning clothing, hair, and as bouquets; hair ornaments; ribbons; and hats. Some silhouettes depicted as if framed or with pictorial details or overdrawn with scales of dimension. A small number of uncut silhouettes inserted in one of the albums [P.9346] and a scrap completed February 25, 1837 by silhouette sitter Miss Anne Sophia Billmeyer, Germantown containing manuscript notes related to religious values and morals, possibly notes from a sermon, also form the collection [P.2010.29.17]., Sitters identified by inscriptions include Lydia Biddle; Paulus Brzostowski; Isaac Collins, Jr.; William Dilworth; Rebecca Gratz; Rubens Peale; Robert Pearsall, Sr.; Robert Pearsall, Jr.; Benjamin Say, Thomas Shillitoe; John Snyder, Jr.; Benjain West; and Moses Williams. Surnames of other identified sitters include Bartram, Lansadale, Caldwell, Collins, Headley, Logan, and Smith., Title supplied by cataloger., Several blindstamped: Museum or Peale's Museum [with image of eagle]., Some blindstamped: Day's Patent or Todd's Patent., Some sitters identified by inscriptions on recto or verso. Some inscriptions illegible., Some annotated with addresses, or a number, or a series of sequential numbers., One of albums (P.9347) accompanied by list of sitters written in manuscript., Artists include Raphaelle Peale, William James Hubard, T. P. Jones, Moses Williams, Martha Ann Honeywell, J. M'Conachy, Isaac Todd, and Augustus Day., P.9339.22c blindstamped: T. P. Jones, fecit., P.9341.31d blindstamped: J. M'Conachy., P.2012.3 mounted on textile and suggested, but doubtfully by Martha Ann Honeywell., Silhouette of Rebecca Gratz [8146.F] inscribed: Cut with scissors by Master Hubbard without Drawing Machine. Accompanied by manuscript letter signed R. Gratz, secy., Silhouettte of John Snyder, Jr. [P.9343.1] inscribed: Cut by M. Honeywell with the mouth., Silhouette of Mr. Shaw's Blackman [P.9339.59a] attributed to Moses Williams., Silhouette of Moses Williams [(3) 5750.F.153b] possibly by Moses Williams or possibly by Raphaelle Peale., P.9340.80 contains manuscript note: Mr. Gill will call for two pictures in frames paid for [pr J. L. S.?], Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., P.9339-P.9343 and P.9346 & P.9347 bequest of James Rush, 1869., P.9686 gift of Elizabeth McLean., Three of collection [P.2012.1.1-3] transferred from Things Found in Books Collection., Index to identified sitters available at repository.
- Date
- [ca. 1803-ca. 1841]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Silhouette Collection [5306.F.144 c1; (3)5750.F.39 1/2d(v); (3)5750.F.153b; 8146.F; 8416.F; P.9339; P.9340; P.9341; P.9342; P.9343; P.9346; P.9347; P.9686; P.2010.29.1-17; P.2012.1.1-3; P.2012.3]

