Mason's challenge blacking. James S. Mason & Co., nos. 138 & 140 North Front Street, Philadelphia.
Title
Mason's challenge blacking. James S. Mason & Co., nos. 138 & 140 North Front Street, Philadelphia
Description
Advertisement depicting a "shoe blacking" competition between two African American shoe shiners to promote the manufactory of blacking established in 1832 by James S. Mason. Shows two African American men, portrayed in racist caricature, holding a brush, a canister of "Mason's" blacking, and a boot, while they dance on a table. An African American man fiddler sits on a stool and plays. In the foreground, a white man holds an oversized boot. A white shoe shine boy, his pack on his back, stands behind an older man holding his arm as he points at his reflection in the boot. In the left background, a troop of white Union soldiers marches in behind a parade marshal adorned in "M" insignias. The men carry a banner reading "Mason's (Original) Challenge Blacking (Philadelphia)," as well as boots, and signs spelling "M-A-S-O-N." In the right background, a crowd of spectators, including figures likely representing Germany, the Ottoman Empire, Britain, and possibly France, stand and watch the competition attentively. Scene also includes boxes of Mason's Challenge Blacking. Following the death of Mason in 1888, his son Richard assumed the business which was in operation into the 20th century., Title from item., Date inferred from directory listings for the artist and engravers., Attributed by cataloger to Francis H. Schell, but possibly by Frederick B. Schell., 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.
Creator
Schell, Francis H., 1834-1909, artist
Date
[ca. 1863]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Ph Pr - 11x14 - Advertisements - M [P.2013.51]
The smokers. [graphic] / C.
Title
The smokers
Description
Cartoon concerning smoking as a vice depicting a crowd scene where everyone smokes, including women and children. In the foreground, a white man sits on a wooden chair holding a pipe in hand, refers to his "illustrious predecessor," Andrew Jackson. Two white boys light their cigars together. A finely dressed white woman carrying a parasol is horrified and says, "Oh! The monsters, I'm half blinded and suffocated" as she holds her nose. An elegantly dressed African American woman holds her hand to her nose and exclaims, "What a nasty practice, it's enough to make a dog sick." In the right, a white man street peddler carries a tray of plaster busts, including a pipe smoking Jackson. "Jack Downing," cigar in hand, states he picked up the habit in France and that his lighter was made from Jackson's spectacles but thinks a loco-foco (a faction of the Democrats who were named after a type of match) would go quicker. An African American chimney sweep and an African American shoe shiner shake hands with cigars in their mouths. They are portrayed in racist caricature and speak in the vernacular about smoking. "I say Josh, wot you smoke dem long nines for, why don't you smoke Half Spanish like a gen'leman." "Cause I've called in my Shin Plasters, and suspended Specie payments!!", Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress, in the Year 1837, by H.R. Robinson, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the U.S. of the Southern Dist. of New York., Text printed on recto: Tobacco is a stinking weed, It was the Devil sow'd the seed, It drains the purse & fouls the clothes, And makes a chimney of the nose., 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., Clay, born in Philadelphia, was a prominent caricaturist, engraver, and lithographer.
Creator
Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, artist
Date
1837
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1837-25W [5656.F.3]
The times. [graphic] / Clay fecit.
Title
The times
Description
Satire depicting the economic depression and social misery of the working class following the Panic of 1837. Depicts a figure symbolizing President Jackson composed of a hat, spectacles, and pipe called "Glory" overlooking a city street. Lining the street is a hotel for sale; a Custom House doing no business; "The Mechanics Bank" during a run; the pawn shop of "Shylock Graspall"; a liquor store in front of which an African American shoe shiner greets another African American man; the Sheriff's office doing an active business; and attorney "Peter Pillage" being collected by his horse drawn carriage. In the foreground peaches and flour are for sale at exorbitant prices; several white men laborers sit and stand idle including a mason, sailor, carpenter, and driver; a widowed white mother and child beg a banker for money; and reminiscent of Hogarth's "Gin Lane," a white woman and a child lay on a straw mat next to a white man drunkard and seated militiaman. Visible in the background are an almshouse, "Bridewell" Debtor Prison, an idle wharf, and a deflating balloon marked "Safety Fund" symbolizing Van Buren's failed New Bank insurance program., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress, in the Year 1837, by H.R. Robinson in the clerk's office of the District Court of the United States of the Southern District of New York., LCP exhibition catalogue: Made in America #52., Originally part of American political caricatures, likely a scrapbook, accessioned 1899. Collection primarily comprised of gifts from Samuel Breck, John A. McAllister, and James Rush., 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., Clay, born in Philadelphia, was a prominent caricaturist, engraver, and lithographer.
Creator
Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, artist
Date
1837
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1837-8 [5760.F.75]
A dead cut.
Title
A dead cut
Description
Racist caricature portraying a middle-class African American man-woman couple as snobs who slight a working-class African American man shoeshiner and former acquaintance. Depicts the African American shoeshiner greeting the African American couple who feign ignorance of the man's acquaintance after their return from "de Springs." The laborer, attired in a rumpled top hat, torn overcoat with tails, and patched pants holds his rod of boots in his left hand, and uses his right one to grab the hand of "Cesa." "Cesa," dressed in a flat-top cap, and heavy, long overcoat with handkerchief in the pocket, and plaid pants, looks suspiciously at their joined hands. He holds a walking stick and his companion's parasol in his other hand. He states that the shoeshiner has mistaken his identity (You must be mistaking in de person black man!). His companion, her hand around his elbow, and dressed in a Dunstable bonnet, dark-colored overcoat, and button-down shirtwaist with a collar, agrees. With her hand placed on her hip and holding a purse, she declares, "What does the imperdent nigger mean?" Figures are depicted with oversize and exaggerated features., Sarah Hart was a Jewish Philadelphia stationer who assumed printing of the "Life in Philadelphia" series in 1829. She reprinted the entire original series of 14 prints in 1830., Pendelton, Kearny, & Childs, in operation from 1829 until 1830, was the first successful lithographic firm in Philadelphia. The firm's partners were John Pendleton, Frances Kearny, and Cephas G. Childs., Nancy Reynolds Davison's E.W. Clay: American Political Caricaturist of Jacksonian America (PhD. diss., The University of Michigan, 1980), p. 80-81. (LCP Print Room Uz, A423.O)., Described in Daily Chronicle, December 26, 1829, 2 and “The Dead Cut,” Philadelphia Inquirer, December 31, 1829, 2., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Acquired in 1970.
Creator
Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, etcher
Date
1829
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Set) [7893.F.1]