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- Title
- Whack it off short Sam
- Description
- Depicts a group of African American boys with a dog, its tail placed over a wood block in preparation to cut it with a hatchet. The six boys stand outside next to a brick building and a wooden barrel. The boy in the left holds a small, white dog up. The second boy to the right holds its tail across a wood block. The boy in the center holds the hatchet up in both hands., Title from item., Warped buff mount with rounded corners., Imprint on mount: The Universal Photo Art Co. Offices Philadelphia, Napierville, Ill., New York, London, Paris, Hamburg., Gift of David Long, 2002., 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
- Universal Photo Art Co.
- Date
- [c190[0]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - Graves - Portraits & Genre [P.2002.4.7]
- Title
- Two little nigs
- Description
- Racist portrait depicting two African American boys, attired in torn and worn clothes, seated on a plank on a barrel in a field. The barefooted boy in the left, attired in a hat, a torn shirt, and worn pants, sits with his hands folded on his lap. The boy in the right, attired in a hat, a worn shirt, torn pants, and dilapidated shoes, sits with his hands between his legs., No. 119., Photographer's imprint printed on verso., Title from manuscript note on verso., Warped orange mount with rounded corners., Gift of David Long, 2002., 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.
- Creator
- Wilson, J. N., photographer
- Date
- [ca. 1890]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereos - miscellaneous photographer - Wilson [P.2002.8.4]
- Title
- "Doing business on a small scale"
- Description
- Racist, satiric stereograph depicting a young African American boy seated on a chamber pot atop a Victor scale. The boy, attired in a long-sleeved white shirt, sits with his hands resting on his knees and looks slightly up., Title from item., Warped buff mount with rounded corners., Gift of David Long, 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.
- Date
- [ca. 1890]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - unidentified - Genre [P.2002.8.1]
- Title
- Pony riding, Camp Emlen, Norwood, Montg. Co., Pa. Conducted by Wissahickon Boys Club, Germantown, Phila
- Description
- Depicts four African American boys riding on ponies near tents set up at Camp Emlen in Morwood, Pa. The four boys sit on the ponies in a line and face the viewer. Six tents are set up in the right. The Wissahickon Boys' Club opened in 1896. It was the first boys's club to serve the African American community. In 1906, the Philadelphia clubs joined with forty-nine other organizations to form the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. John T. Emlen, the long-time president of the Wissahickon Boys' Club, donated twenty-seven acres in Morwood, Montgomery County, Pa., as a summer camp., Title from item., Date inferred from content., The title should be Morwood but is mistakenly printed as Norwood., Sheet number: 138B21., Divided back. Stamped August 14, 1936., Gift of George M. Brightbill, 1999., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Digitized with funding from a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
- Creator
- Brightbill, George M., collector
- Date
- [ca. 1936]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Brightbill postcards [Organizations (By Name) - 138]
- Title
- And he owes not any man
- Description
- Depicts a white man blacksmith standing near a seated African American boy in the artisan's cluttered shop. The blacksmith, wearing a beard and attired in a collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, an apron, pants, and shoes, puts his right hand on his hip and holds a tool in his left hand as he looks directly at the viewer. In the right, an African American boy, attired in a long-sleeved plaid shirt, a vest, pants, socks, and shoes, sits on a barrel and holds a fan made of animal hair. Surrounding them tools, horseshoes, a large wheel, and barrels are visible., Title from item., Pink mount with rounded corners., Imprint printed on mount: Sold by Universal View Co. Philadelphia Pa. Lawrence Kan., Gift of David Long, 2002., 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
- Universal View Co.
- Date
- [ca. 1900]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - Rau - Work [P.2002.8.2]
- Title
- Sugar cane plantation
- Description
- Postcard depicting a group portrait of male African American sugarcane workers, including several boys, posed in a sugarcane field. Most of the workers, stand and hold canes, while two boys sit on reaped cane in the foreground. A wooded area is seen in the background., Date inferred from postmark: New Orleans, May 13, 1911, 9AM., Addressed in manuscript to: Mr. John Wilson, 318 N. Jardin St., Shenandoah, Penna. Signed H.F.M., Contains cancelled one-cent stamp printed in green ink and depicting Benjamin Franklin in profile., Gift of George R. Allen., Divided back.
- Date
- [ca. 1911]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department LCP postcards - Non-Pennsylvania [P.2013.65.19]
- Title
- Atmore's mince meat and genuine English plum pudding
- Description
- Trade card promoting Atmore & Son’s mince meat and depicting a racist scene of an African American boy street peddler. He stands on a sidewalk and holds a disc-shaped pie in his hands in front of the door to a brick building. The rosy-cheeked boy smiles and looks at the viewer. He is barefoot and attired in a white, collared shirt with orange stripes; yellow suspenders; and blue pants with black stripes that are rolled up to below his knees. In the left, on the ground and behind the peddler, is a handled basket full of pies that is partially wrapped in a white cloth. In the right is a tree with green leaves. Atmore & Son, established in 1842, was located at 141 South Front Street, Philadelphia, Pa. They continued producing mince meat as late as 1948., Various printers printed series of trade cards in the 1870s for Atmore & Son before Ketterlinus, including Clay, Cosask & Co. of Buffalo (1870), Clay & Cosock (1876), and Thos. Hunter (1877)., Gift of Emily Phillips, 1883., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Digitized.
- Date
- [ca. 1880]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Atmore's [1975.F.14]
- Title
- Cotton plantation scene
- Description
- View of African American men agricultural workers picking cotton. In the foreground, an African American boy, attired in a green hat, a blue shirt, and blue pants, stands in front of a large pile of cotton with cotton in his left hand. In the left is a basket full of cotton. In the right, a young white girl, attired in a pink dress, sits next to the pile of cotton with her right hand shielded over her eyes. In the background, African American men work in the field picking cotton., Title from item., Date inferred from attire of clothes and photographic medium., Purchase 1998., 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
- [ca. 1920]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - unidentified - work [P.9600.13]
- Title
- A bran new coon in town
- Description
- Racist, satiric postcard depicting an African American family (portrayed as racist stereotypes) welcoming a “new” member, a baby. Shows the grandfather standing and weighing the infant on a hand held scale, as the grandmother, attired in a head kerchief, a floral shirt, a skirt, and an apron, cradles the baby’s head. In the right, the father smiles as he stands leaning down with both hands clutching a small table. In the center, a young boy sits at the table eating as he looks up at the baby. In the left, the mother sits smiling beside a stove as she pours water from a kettle into a cup., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Copyright, 1898, and published by Knaffl & Bro., Knoxville, Tenn., Originally published in an 1898 edition of Leslie's Weekly as part of "The Blackville Gallery" series under the title "Weighing the Christmas Baby.", RVCDC, Accessioned 1999., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Digitized with funding from a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
- Date
- 1898
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department LCP postcards - Genre [P.9725.1]
- Title
- [Laird, Schober & Mitchell trade cards]
- Description
- Series of trade cards and caricatures promoting Laird, Schober & Mitchell and depicting clowns or harlequins. "I see nothing will suit but Laird, Schober & Mitchell's" depicts a white boy harlequin trying to fit a shoe on a seated white woman fairy with wings and a wand. "Too fine to Blacken!" is a racist trade card depicting a white boy clown kicking an African American shoe shine boy from behind. In the right, the white boy, attired white clown costume with a white cap decorated with a blue ball, a white shirt with ruffles at the neck and waist, white pants with a ruffle at the cuffs, white stockings, and blue shoes, carries a jump rope in both hands. He smiles at the viewer and kicks his left foot propelling the shoe shiner into the air. The shoe shiner is attired in a blue jacket with tails, white pants, black stockings, and brown shoes. His top hat, shoe shining stool, and open can of shoe polish fly away from him. "Oh! my!!..just look at them!!!" shows a white man admiring the shoes of a young, white woman who carries a butter churn. In the background are farm animals including a cow. "How beautifully they fit" depicts a white woman descending the stairs while grasping the hand of a white man, attired in a military uniform who carries a bouquet of flowers. Also a card depicting a white woman in a parlor holding up her skirt to reveal her new shoes, with the shoe box labeled, "Laird, Shober & Mitchell, Philadelphia" on the table. Laird, Schober & Mitchell's Shoes began operating in 1870 and was a partnership formed by Samuel S. Laird, George P. Schober and George A. Mitchell., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from content., Four trade cards [1975.F.488-491] contain advertising text printed on versos: A request before purchasing shoes. Examine ours. Prices are now reduced and goods finest manufactured. Laird, Schober & Mitchell, 1133 Arch Street, Philad'a., Gift of Emily Phillips, 1883., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Digitized.
- Date
- [ca. 1880]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Laird [1975.F.488-491; 1975.F.506]
- Title
- Photography under a cloud Perry is selling the nicest lot of fine combs, dressing combs, barber combs and misses circle combs, made from rubber, horn or celluloid; from 5 cts. to $1. Remember Perry's Drug Store, Canastota
- Description
- Racist trade card illustration depicting a group of barefooted African American men and boys, portrayed in caricature, looking on as a photographer takes a photograph of them. In the left, a boy, attired in a blue jacket, and a man, attired in an orange collared shirt and yellow pants, stand and look at the camera. In the center, a man, attired in a yellow shirt and pink pants, stands directly in front of the camera and peers into the lens. In the right, a boy, attired in an orange shirt and blue pants, crawls toward the scene on all fours. The photographer is crouched under a cloak. Visible in the background is a woman standing beside a cabin., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Gift of William H. 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 - P [P.9828.6598]
- Title
- [Croft, Wilbur & Co. trade cards]
- Description
- Series of illustrated trade cards promoting confectioners Croft, Wilbur & Co. and depicting children performing a variety of activities, including two white girls playing tug-of-war over a wrapped piece of candy; and boys and girls eating sweets, including a white boy eating a candy stick while holding his dog on a leash. Also shows flowers; a courting white boy and girl couple sitting on a log; two white boy clowns dancing, playing a drum, and strutting a homemade pitchfork; and a man in Colonial attire popping out of a large cracker or bon-bon and dumping candy to white woman who catches it in her skirt. Racist card depicting an African American boy, portrayed in caricature, and a white girl on a candy stick seesaw. In the left, shows the white girl attired in a large, white bonnet; a yellow dress with red polka dots; a blue and white checked smock; orange stockings; and brown shoes, sitting on a red and white striped candy stick. In the right, the barefooted African American boy, attired in an orange shirt and gray pants, sits on the other side of the candy see saw. The fulcrum is a piece of chocolate. Founded in Philadelphia in 1865 by Samuel Croft and Henry Oscar Wilbur, Croft, Wilbur & Co. divided into H.O. Wilbur & Sons and Croft and Allen in 1884., Title supplied by cataloger., Four prints printed by E. Ketterlinus & Co., Includes two prints [1975.F.120 and 1974.F.141] with advertising text printed on versos., Gift of Emily Phillips, 1883., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Digitized.
- Date
- [ca. 1880]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Croft [1975.F.120; 1975.F.141; 1975.F.145; 1975.F.168; 1975.F.176; 1975.F.178; 1975.F.182a; 1975.F.196; 1975.F.210]
- Title
- [Domestic Sewing Machine Co. trade cards]
- Description
- Series of trade cards promoting the Domestic Sewing Machine Co. "Make no mistake you buy a domestic" depicts two white women, one tall and the other of short stature, who carry parasols and converse. "Wes don got de "domestic" we has!" depicts a racist, comic genre scene of an African American couple, portrayed in racist caricature with exaggerated features, who have acquired a sewing machine. In the center is a man and woman in a blue-colored cart being pulled by a galloping brown horse. The man, attired in a top hat; a blue jacket; a white collared shirt; and green checked pants, strains and leans forward as he holds the reins. The woman, attired in a yellow dress with black polka dots and a pink bonnet, leans back and exclaims in the vernacular that "wes don got the Domestic, we has!" She raises her left hand in the air and holds a white handkerchief. A sewing machine is visible inside the cart. In the far right a barefooted boy attired in a straw hat; a white collared shirt; and brown pants rolled up to his calves, possibly their displaced son, runs beside the wagon. In the top right corner is an inset illustration of a Domestic Sewing Machine Co.’s sewing machine. "Yes my father was a great antiquarian; where he studied antiquity" depicts a well-dressed, white man and woman couple standing on a veranda conversing. The next panel depicts an older white man carrying a sack on his back and picking through a barrel filled with straw and scrap metal with garbage strewn around on the ground. William S. Mack & Co. and N.S. Perkins founded the Domestic Sewing Machine Company in 1864 in Norwalk, Ohio. The White Sewing Machine Company bought the company in 1924., Title supplied by cataloger., One print [1975.F.229] copyrighted by Frank B. Hine., Includes advertising text printed on versos., Gift of Emily Phillips, 1883. Gift of Helen Beitler, 2001 [P.9983.5]., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Digitized.
- Date
- [ca. 1880]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Domestic [1975.F.229 & 230; P.9983.5]
- Title
- [J. & P. Coat's thread trade cards]
- Description
- Series of trade cards promoting J.&. P. Coats thread and depicting men, women and children performing a variety of activities with the thread, including a white girl swinging on a tree swing; a white man fishing in a stream while a white woman watches; and several white children pretending to be a horse team. Includes a large frog on a riverbank. "So do my sisters and my cousins and my aunts!" depicts an older white woman carrying packages. "Gulliver and the Lilliputians" based on Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" shows an oversized Gulliver being tied down with thread by the Lilliputians. "That's the kind! Bring me some more" depicts an older white woman inspecting different colored spools of thread in a box held up by a white boy. "Ef dis don't fetch you nothing will" depicts an African American man and woman, portrayed in racist caricature, trying to tame a donkey. In the left, the woman, attired in a white bonnet with a red ribbon, a red shirt, a blue scarf, a yellow shirt, a white apron, and gray shoes, uses thread from an enormous J. & P. Coats spool to pull on the bridle on the donkey, who pulls back with its mouth open. Behind the donkey, the man stands, attired in a brown, brimmed hat, a red shirt, blue plaid pants, and blue shoes, who holds a rope in his left hand and scratches his head with his left hand. "We never fade!" depicts an African American boy, portrayed in racist caricature, sitting on an oversized spool of thread in a field. Shows the boy seated and with his legs straddling a giant spool of black thread. He says “we never fade!!” and points his finger at the sun, which has a face and a concerned expression with a downward turned mouth. The boy is barefoot and attired in a white collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows; a multi-colored tie and belt; and red pants rolled up to the knees. In the foreground, two black crows look at the thread. A house is visible in the right background., Brothers James Coats, Jr. (1803-1845) and Peter Coats (1808-1890) established the firm J.&P. Coats, a thread manufactory. Their brother Thomas Coats (1809-1883) joined the firm soon after. By 1840, three quarters of the British company’s business was with the United States. In 1896, the firm merged with thread manufacturer Clark & Co. and formed J. & P. Coats, Ltd. In 2015, the firm was renamed, “Coats Group.”, Title supplied by cataloger., Five prints printed by E. Ketterlinus & Co., Ten prints contain advertising text printed on versos, including promotions for J. & P. Coat's best six cord, soft finish spool cotton; a table of needle and thread numbers; a calendar for 1880; and a description of "Gulliver and the Lilliputians" illustration (on recto of print 1975.F.220)., Gift of Emily Phillips, 1883. Purchase 1999. Purchase 2001., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Digitized.
- Date
- [ca. 1885]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Coats [1975.F.123; 1975.F.126; 1975.F.133; 1975.F.150; 1975.F.157; 1975.F.193; 1975.F.195; 1975.F.220; 69211.D; P.9743; P.9984.4]
- Title
- Chestnut Street from the State House Philadelphia
- Description
- View looking west on Chestnut Street from the State House (520 Chestnut). Includes Kelly's Hotel; Joseph Steppacher's Orleans Hotel; Charles Laing & Co., shirt manufacturer; T. & J.W. Johnson, publishers and importers of law books; the Public Ledger building; and a billiard saloon. The Masonic Hall (713-721 Chestnut) is visible in the distance. American flags and signage adorn many of the buildings. Pedestrians, including an African American boy, line the street traveled by several horse-drawn carriages., Title from accompanying photographer's label., Yellow mount with square corners., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Digitization funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
- Creator
- Newell, Robert, 1822-1897
- Date
- April 1865
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - Newell - Streets [(8)1322.F.23c]
- Title
- [Photographic Society of Philadelphia's Chesapeake & Ohio Canal excursion, May 21-29, 1882 album]
- Description
- Album belonging to Philadelphia amateur photographer John C. Browne. Primarily documents the Photographic Society of Philadelphia's Chesapeake & Ohio Canal excursion (May 21-29, 1882), including views of the Falls of the Potomac, Point of Rocks, Md., Harpers Ferry, Va., and Bedford, Pa. Society members attending the excursion included Charles Barrington, Joseph William Bates, Charles Pancoast, Frederick Graff, Samuel Corlies, George Bacon Wood, Samuel Sartain, W.H. Walmsley, Francis T. Fassitt, lens maker Joseph Zentmayer, Thomas H. McCollin, and Browne. Views depict scenes during the excursion along the canal, including canal barges; bridges, aquaducts; Paw Paw Tunnel; John Brown's Fort; a white Bedford woman attending an outside bake oven; men and boys, including a barefooted African American boy, sitting upon a porch of an old Maryland mill; the Photo Party at Patterson's Creek, Md.; a horse team pulling an oak log near Harper's Ferry; an old Bedford mill; and a barn covered with circus posters. Additional views depict the Brooklyn Bridge; sailing vessels on the New York Harbor, including the steamboat Maryland; and animals at the Philadelphia Zoo. Other animal portraiture includes horses posed with African American handlers (p. 26-27), a cow and calf at Forrest Hill, PA, a white girl on a pony ride at Central Park, and family dogs. Also includes a portrait of Lizzie Gilpin at Forrest Hill., Title supplied by cataloger., Front free end paper signed John C. Browne., Blue cloth binding, with gilt and stamped: Album., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., See John C. Browne's "The Photographic Society of Philadelphia Annual Excursion, May 21-29, 1882," Philadelphia photographer 19 (July 1882), p. 213-215., See George Bacon Wood research file, copy of "Excursion of the Photographic Society of Philadelphia over the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, May 22 to 29th 1882. Read at meeting June 7th, 1882 by Geo. B. Wood.", Insert: handkerchief printed with photograph vignettes [P.9318a] removed and housed with Textiles Collection, Print Department., Gift of Col Getter, 1989., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Browne was a founder of the Photographic Society of Philadelphia.
- Creator
- Browne, John C. (John Coates), 1838-1918, photographer
- Date
- [1882-1886]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums [P.9318]

