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- Title
- Certificate of marriage
- Description
- Marriage certificate illustrated with vignettes within an ornamental border. Depicts vignettes representing peace and love including doves near an altar with an eternal flame, and cherubs floating on clouds, reaping grain, and rowing a gondola., Issued to John A. Jones and Mary Anne Dickerson. Signed by Rev. William Douglass, officiant, and by Samuel Van Brackle and George W. Hopewell, witnesses., Copyright secured., Title from item., Date based on date of the event represented., Purchase 1993., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Croome, Meignelle & Co. was a Philadelphia engraving firm operated by engraver, William Croome, and banknote engraver, James Meignelle in the 1840s.
- Creator
- Croome, Meignelle & Co., engraver
- Date
- [ca. 1846]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *albums (flat) [P.9427] - Dickerson Family Collection - Miscellaneous
- Title
- "The coon" wedding march
- Description
- Scene showing a young African American girl in a white dress leading the procession of the young African American couple and their attendents. The bride, holds fake flowers and wears a calico shirt, white skirt, and thick cloth veil. Small picture prints and placards written in black dialect adorn the walls., Inscribed on negative: 16974., Copyright by William H. Rau., Stamped on mount: Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Liverpool, Eng. American and Foreign Views., Digitization funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
- Creator
- Rau, William Herman, 1855-1920, photographer
- Date
- c1897
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - Rau - Genre [P.9921]
- Title
- [Satiric stereograph showing an African American dandy receiving a shoe shine from a white shoe shine boy]
- Description
- Stereograph, possibly published in London, depicting a scene satirizing race relations in America. Shows the dandy standing and with one foot on the boy's shoe shine box in front of a back drop depicted as a wall adorned with broadsides referencing abolition, slavery, and emancipation. The dandy is attired in striped and checkered pants, a jacket with tails, a ruffled shirt, and top hat. He holds a walking stick under one arm and a cigarette in his other hand. The boy kneels and shines the dandy's shoes with his shining supplies and tools by his box. Broadsides include a "playbill" reading "Adelphi. Tonight The White Slave. Octoroon Farce" and an advertisement for "Fast Clipper. Clyde. For New Orleans." Other posts read "No Slavery. Freedom" and "Great Meeting. Negro Emancipation. Poor Slaves.", Place of publication and date inferred from image content containing a reference to the "Octoroon" at the "Adelphi." Adelphi is a London theater where The Octoroon was performed 1861-1862., Grey mount with square corners., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., See similar visual trope "I say Billy, do you know why I'm doing this? Cause, I'm going to run for Congress soon!" [Political cartoons - 1863-13W, 8033.F.3]
- Date
- [ca. 1862]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - unid. photo - Genre - African [P.2014.29]
- 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]
- Title
- The negro on the brain
- Description
- Photographic reproduction of a racist woodcut caricature showing Abraham Lincoln wearing a naked African American shaped as a stovepipe hat. Contains photographic reproduction of several lines of verse in English and German on verso: A goodly difference does exist; Among the party that did call; There is among them many a [one?]; Conservative and true at heart; But there are others [who insist?]; The white man's freedom would deny; To place them on an equal footing; No matter what the cost may be; Something is for the negro done; The negro on the brain., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of materials related to Abraham Lincoln. 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 the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Date
- [ca. 1863]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv - misc. - Civil War - Caricatures and cartoons [5792.F.1a]
- Title
- [Unidentified African American man in militia uniform]
- Description
- Full-length portrait photograph by African American photographer Gallo W. Cheston depicting an African American man in a light-colored militia uniform. The man stands, turned slightly toward the right. He holds a long rifle in front of himself with his gloved hands. His left foot is slightly in front of his right. His uniform includes a Shako cap; jacket with epaulettes, buttons, and service stripes; shoulder strap marked "4"; belt; and pants with a dark vertical stripe down the leg. The tip of a rifle and holster is seen below his back. Portrait also includes, to the man's left, a pulled-back drape propped up on a pedestal. Following the Civil War and during Reconstruction (1865-1877), several African American militia units formed, particularly in the South., Title supplied by cataloger., Name of photographer from photographer's label pasted on verso: Cheston's 227 Lombard St., between 2d and 3d, Philadelphia. All the various styles of pictures known to the art, made in a manner as near perfection as possible; and all Improvements or additions introduced as soon as made and perfected. Your patronage is solicited. N. B. Old pictures copied to any size, in an artistic manner., Date inferred from tenancy of the photographer at the address listed on his label pasted on verso., Photograph mounted on board, rounded at the corners, and with a printed oval-shaped, frame-like border surrounding the image. Border adorned with ornaments and filigree., Photograph altered with ink and watercolor details highlighting parts of the sitter's uniform, including his cap, epaulettes, service stripes, shoulder strap, belt, and buttons, as well as his eyes, eyebrows, and sideburns. The pull of a drape included in the studio setting is also hand colored., Purchased in part with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., Description reviewed 2022., Access points revised 2022., Gallo W. Cheston (ca. 1846-1882) served as a private of the Pennsylvania National Guard 1871-1873.
- Creator
- Cheston, Gallo W., approximately 1846-1882, photographer
- Date
- [ca. 1870]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department portrait photographs - photographer - Cheston [P.2018.3]
- Title
- A darktown wedding, the ceremony
- Description
- Racist depiction of the nuptials of a young African American couple officiated by a white-haired African American man and witnessed by six African American attendants. In the left, the officiant, attired in a suit, holds a paper as he conducts the ceremony. The bride, attired in veil pinned to the back of her hair, a white dress with a large boutonniere of flowers, and white gloves, has her head tilted down and holds the hand of the groom. The groom, attired in a white collared shirt, a waistcoat, a jacket with a large flower boutonniere, pants, and shoes, stands facing left towards the officiant. Two women and three men stand behind the couple and watch the ceremony. One man alters a placard on the wall that reads, “suffer little children to come unto me” by crossing out “me” and writing “us” inverting the “s.” The dilapidated wall with exposed brick is sparsely decorated with another placard, “God bless our home” and a framed picture. A top hat rests on a stool., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Copyright 1901 by C.H. Graves., Publisher's blindstamp on mount., Distributor's blindstamp on mount: The Universal Photo Art Co. Philadelphia, Napierville, Ill., London, Paris, Hamburg., Stamped on mount: 4574., Purchase 2001., 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
- 1901
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - Graves - Genre [P.9922]
- Title
- [Two African American men advertising Higgin's German laundry soap]
- Description
- Portrait photograph showing two African American men, side-by-side, attired in suits, as well as top hats with advertising text for Charles S. Higgins Company soap. One hat reads "Try it" and the other reads "Higgins German Laundry soap is the best." One man holds a swagger stick and the other a walking cane, and both stand in front of a backdrop depicting a bucolic mountain scene. Charles S. Higgins Company, established by Higgins's father W. B. Higgins in Brooklyn in 1846, manufactured "German Laundry soap" beginning around 1860, when Charles assumed the business. The laundry soap was packaged in a wrapper illustrated with an African American woman washing in a tub. By the early 1890s Charles S. Higgins left the firm still operated under his name and formed Higgins Soap Company. Court proceedings over trademarks and tradenames ensued and Higgins Soap Company became insolvent by the mid 1890s., Title supplied by cataloger., Photographer's imprint printed on verso. Includes illustration of a paint palette., Purchased with funds from the Albert M. Greenfield Foundation.
- Creator
- Block, B., photographer
- Date
- [ca. 1870]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits - group - advertisements - Higgins [P.2013.26]
- Title
- Libby Prison The only view of this notorious prison made during the Rebellion. Dick Turner stands in the foreground
- Description
- Exterior view of the notoriously inhumane Confederate Prison, previously a warehouse. Depicts Turner, the former commandant of the prison, standing with a small group of white people including a child, in front of rows of tents. African Americans look on from a nearby hill., Title from label mounted on verso., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1865, by Levy & Cohen in the Clerk's Office, of the District Court, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania., Gift of Elinor Solis-Cohen, 1980., Forms part of small Civil War Photograph Collection, 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., Levy & Cohen was a partnership between two Jewish Philadelphia photographers who in 1865 published a series of views of occupied Richmond at the end of the Civil War. The partnership dissolved in 1865 after the unexpected death of Cornelius Levy.
- Creator
- Levy & Cohen, photographer
- Date
- 1865
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department small Civil War photo collection - cdvs - Levy & Cohen [P.8532.2]
- Title
- " Does you love me hun?"
- Description
- Racist stereograph of an outdoor caricatured, genre scene showing an African American man woman couple seated together on a tree swing in a clearing in the woods. The woman sits on the lap of the man. Her left leg dangles. Her right cheek rests against his left one. She smiles and looks out. His eyes are turned toward hers. The woman wears a patterned, dark-colored shirtwaist, a floral-patterned skirt, dark stockings, and boots. He wears a suit. Scene also includes leaves on the ground and trees and bushes in the background., Date from copyright statement: Copyright 1898, by R. Y. Young., Title from item., Curved buff mount with rounded corners., Gift of David Long., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
- Creator
- Universal Stereoscopic View Company
- Date
- 1898
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - misc. photo - Universal [P.2018.16.7]
- Title
- " Does you love me hun?"
- Description
- Racist stereograph of an outdoor caricatured, genre scene showing a man woman couple, portrayed in Blackface, seated together, and embracing each other on a wooden swing in the countryside. The woman sits next to the man, her legs dangling. She smiles and looks up toward him. He smiles and looks out, his legs crossed at the ankle and his feet touching the ground. The woman wears a kerchief, dark-colored shirtwaist, a striped skirt, white stockings, and laced shoes. He wears a cap, long-sleeved white shirt, light-colored pants and boots. Scene also includes a pile of branches behind the couple and a wood fence in the distant background., Title from item., Date inferrred from publisher and places of publication., Curved buff mount with rounded corners., Griffith & Griffith, established in Philadelphia in 1896, expanded in 1908 to included offices in St. Louis and Liverpool. The non-Philadelphia offices were relocated in 1910., RVCDC
- Creator
- Griffith & Griffith
- Date
- [ca. 1908]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Rau Misc. Collection [P.2012.56.56]
- Title
- No. 5 The duel
- Description
- Fifth scene in a racist series of African American caricatures originally created for Harper's Weekly in 1878 by Sol Eytinge that satirized the courtship and marriage of and the start of families by "The Twins." The African American figures are depicted with exaggerated features and mannerisms. Scene shows two African American men (i.e., the suitors of the twins), attired in suits, at the start of a duel in a pasture between two trees. The suitor with a squat figure is in the right and the tall suitor in the left. They point guns at each other and look aghast. An African American man (witness), attired in a ruffled suit and hat, stands behind the tree in the foreground and another, in shirtsleeves, kneels behind the tree in the background. “Dr. Black M.D.,” an older African American man, sits behind the standing observer with his medical bag, labeled “Dr. Black M.D.,” in one hand and a medicine bottle in the other. Figures representing the twins are visible in the distant left background near their log cabin., Title from item., Publication information from copyright statement in other reproduced drawings in series: Copyrighted 1881 John McGreer, Chicago, Ill., Name of publisher from other reproduced drawings in series: Cartoon Printing Co., Name of artist stamped on verso: McGreer Chicago., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 2017, p. 52., RVCDC, Desciption revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
- Creator
- McGreer, John, 1839-1908
- Date
- 1881
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - 5 x 7 - Unid. - Events [P.2017.26.5]
- Title
- No. 9 Coming events
- Description
- Ninth scene in a racist series of African American caricatures originally created for Harper's Weekly in 1878 by Sol Eytinge that satirized the courtship and marriage of and the start of families by "The Twins." The African American figures are depicted with exaggerated features and mannerisms. Shows "Dr. Black MD" on his donkey racing with the twins' husbands on their donkeys down a dirt road along a river. A raft sails on the river past a log cabin and a dwelling with smoke-spewing chimneys is visible in the background., Title from item., Name of publisher inscribed in original drawing., Date from copyright statement inscribed in original drawing: Copyrighted 1881 John McGreer, Chicago, Ill., Name of artist from stamp on verso: McGreer Chicago., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 2017, p. 52., RVCDC, Desciption revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
- Creator
- McGreer, John, 1839-1908
- Date
- 1881
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - 5 x 7 - Unid. - Events [P.2017.26.8]
- Title
- [Republican National Convention 1940, Municipal Auditorium, Philadelphia]
- Description
- Exterior view of the convention hall showing people, including African Americans, milling and gathered in front of the building at 34th Street below Spruce Street (i.e., S. 34th and Civic Center Blvd.) in West Philadelphia. Men and women enter and leave the building; convene on the steps; board a "Convention Hall-Center City" bus; and utilize a "Public Telephone" trailer. Lights that read, "Republican National Convention" hang over the front entrance. Also shows a sign advertising "nearly everybody reads The Bulletin" near one of the auditorium's doors. American flags decorate the street lamps on the sidewalk. The Municipal Auditorium was built 1929-1930 after the designs of Philip H. Johnson., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from content., Accessioned 2003., 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
- 1940
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - unidentified - Events [P.2003.27]
- Title
- Loading a Mississippi steamer, New Orleans U.S.A
- Description
- Scene showing a steamship, named New Orleans, pulled up to a wooden dock covered with barrels and sacks. African American men carry sacks up gangplanks to the ship. In the foreground, an African American man lies on his stomach across a pile of sacks. Several men stand near him., Title from item., Date inferred from content and photographic medium., View is numbered 188 in a series., 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.9600.14]
- Title
- Philadelphia. Chestnut St. looking east from Broad St
- Description
- Scene showing the heavily trafficked commercial thoroughfare near Juniper Street. Depicts numerous pedestrians, including African Americans, walking the business-lined sidewalks next to the street congested with automobile traffic. Businesses lining the street include the Western Saving Fund Society, the specialty store, Lousols, the Bailey, Banks, and Biddle Company jewelers building, and the rear entrance of John Wanamaker's department store., Title from manuscript note on verso., Date inferred from content, Gift of Joseph Kelly. 1982., 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.
- Creator
- Photo Illustrators (Firm), photographer
- Date
- 1949
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Photo-Illustrators [P.8853.17]
- Title
- Dan Bryant
- Description
- Full-length portrait of the popular New York minstrel performer and manager in Blackface and costumed as a disheveled 18th-century gentleman. Bryant stands posed with his right hand on his hip and his left hand holding a sword to the ground while looking up to the left. Known for his versatility as a comedian, actor, dancer, and musician, Bryant was most famous for his rendition of the dance, "Essence of Old Virginny," and for popularizing the songs "Dixie," "Turkey in the Straw," and "Shoo Fly." He performed in Philadelphia in September 1856. "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.", Title from manuscript note on mount., Date based on presented age of the sitter., Description of Blackface minstrelsy from Dorothy Berry, Descriptive Equity and Clarity around Blackface Minstrelsy in H(arvard) T(heater) C(ollection) Collections, 2021., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of portraits. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., 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. 1865]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department portrait cdvs - sitter - Bryant [(1)5750.F.60f]
- Title
- [Horse race]
- Description
- View of a race track depicting spectators watching two horses race neck and neck. In the foreground, two race horses run beside one another. The jockeys have an intense look on their faces as they hold the reins. Along the white guard rails, men and women spectators, including African Americans, stand and lean forward to watch the race., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from photographic medium and attire of the people., Gift of Joseph Kelly, 1982., 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.
- Creator
- Photo Illustrators (Firm), photographer
- Date
- [ca. 1940]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Photo-Illustrators - Non-Philadelphia - Portraits - Sports & recreation
- Title
- [African American man delivering firewood to an African American woman]
- Description
- Depicts an older African American woman standing in her doorway receiving firewood from an older African American man. The woman, wearing white hair and attired in a long-sleeved dress, a torn and worn apron, and shoes, stands in the doorway of her wooden house with her arms crossed at her waist. In the right, the man, wearing white hair, a torn and worn coat with patches, pants, and shoes, stands with a large bundle of firewood in his hands. In the left are wooden buckets and a bowl., Title supplied by cataloger., Gift of Elsie Wood Harmon, 1982., 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., Wood, a Philadelphia artist, turned to photography in the 1880s exhibiting his work, including genre studies of African Americans, at national and international photography exhibitions. His photographs won several prizes.
- Creator
- Wood, George Bacon, 1832-1909, photographer
- Date
- [ca. 1886]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - Wood [P.8743.178]
- 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
- [Photographic reproduction of an allegorical view including Abraham Lincoln, a pavilion, and marching soldiers]
- Description
- Boudoir card depicting a photographic reproduction of an allegorical Civil War painting by Paul Philippoteaux, possibly a panel from one of his four versions of "The Gettysburg Cyclorama." Shows a figure resembling General George McClellan pointing to Lincoln, his hand on his chest and standing on the steps of a pavilion. A white and African American man stand next to Lincoln. The pavilion is comprised of a tent adorned with ornate shields and stone columns marked "Union" and "Liberty." Urns rest atop the columns. Smoke rises from them. A large statue of the figure of Liberty rises over the pavilion. Inside the pavilion, men in suits sit at a long table at which two other men, one in shirt sleeves, stand and sign documents. A crowd of men stand behind and beside the table. Near the "Liberty" column in the right, a white man breaks the shackles of a male slave as armed African Americans rush by. Troops of soldiers march around the pavilion in front of cheering men, women, and children, including blacksmiths near an anvil, flags, and a shield in the right foreground. In the left foreground, an older man holds the reigns of a rider less grey horse next to a man astride a black horse. In the left background, the U.S. Capitol is visible and in the right background ironclads sail on the ocean. French artist Paul Phillipoteaux was commissioned to create the Gettysburg Cyclorama painting in 1879. Depicting Pickett's charge, he created four versions, with the first completed in 1883 and displayed in Chicago. The second version was first shown in Boston in 1884, with the third and fourth versions shown in Philadelphia and New York in 1886. Two of the four versions are known to be extant (Chicago and Boston). Contemporary descriptions of the extant cyclorama paintings do not include the scene reproduced by Allen & Rowell, who also reproduced "The Gettysburg Cyclorama" as boudoir cards circa 1884., Date inferred from possible provenance and its year of display in Boston., Photographer's imprint printed on verso., Title supplied by cataloger., Purchased with funds for the Visual Culture Program (Junto 2015)
- Creator
- Allen & Rowell
- Date
- [ca. 1884]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - Allen & Rowell [P.2017.83]
- Title
- " We's done all dis s'mornin'."
- Description
- Racist scene showing, in the foreground, a young, African American girl and boy standing behind a large basket of cotton in a cotton field. The girl faces the camera and the boy looks behind him and with his head turned away. The girl wears a bonnet, dark-color, long-sleeved shirt, and a light-color skirt. The boy wears a long-sleeve, light-color, smock-like shirt. In the background, African American men, women, boys, and girls work in the field or are posed to stand and face the camera. One man sits, high up, on bales., Date from copyright statement: Copyright 1899, by B. L. Singley., Title from item., Title printed in five different languages, including Italian, French, and German, on verso., Cruved buff mount with rounded corners., Several lines of text printed on verso about the "rich resources" of the state of Arkansas, including fertile soil for a "variety of crops"; "grazing lands"; mountains: "all kinds of building stones"; rivers; "excellent common school system and several higher institutions of learning"; and "Hot Springs." Text concludes: "The cotton fields once the dread of the Virginia slave, have lost nothing of their picturesqueness with the abolition of slavery, and nowhere in the United States can primitive negro life be better studied.", Gift of David Long., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Keystone View Company was founded in 1892 by B.L. Singley, an amateur photographer from Meadville, Pennsylvania. Keystone View Company was the leader in promoting stereographs for educational purposes. In 1912 the company purchased rights to some Underwood & Underwood negatives for use in educational sets, and in 1922 purchased the remaining stock of Underwood materials. The company remained in business until 1970.
- Creator
- Keystone View Company
- Date
- 1899
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - Keystone View Company - Work [P.2018.16.2]
- Title
- Effect of the Fifteenth Amendment Indignant mother, "Cum in out of dat mud right straight! Fust ting you'll know you'll be took for Irish chil'en!"
- Description
- Photographic reproduction of a drawing after a racist cartoon published in Harper's Bazar in 1871 alluding to the social and political tensions between Irish and African American people following passage of the right to vote amendment. Shows an African American woman, a broom in one hand, her other hand on her hip, at her front porch, watching her two sons playing in the dirt. The woman is portrayed in racist caricature and speaks in the vernacular. She has a rotund figure and is attired in a head kerchief, a button-down shirt, an ankle-length skirt, and an apron. Her children make a mud pie beside the porch and in front of a tall wooden fence. Another African American boy, attired in a broad-rimmed hat and slipper-like shoes too large for his feet, sits and balances himself on the fence. View also includes a dust pan, the edge of a bench, and a tall weed near the mother's feet., Title from item., Date inferred from similar cartoon published in Harper's Bazar, March 4, 1871., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
- Date
- 1871
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photos - 5 x 7 - unidentified - Events [P.2015.29]
- Title
- [BRL?] minstrels of Philadelphia
- Description
- Group portrait photograph depicting nine white members of a minstrel club, including two in Blackface, seated in a row on a stage in front of a paneled wall. The performers are attired in dark tuxedo suits or Buster Brown suits in a checkered pattern, gloves, and comical corsages. "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.", Title from item. First word is illegible., Date inferred from content and attire of the sitters., Photographer's imprint inscribed in negative., Description of Blackface minstrelsy from Dorothy Berry, Descriptive Equity and Clarity around Blackface Minstrelsy in H(arvard) T(heater) C(ollection) Collections, 2021., Purchase 2004., 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.
- Creator
- Paul, Dan E., photographer
- Date
- [ca. 1920]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department group portrait photographs - organizations [P.2004.42]
- Title
- An unpleasantness in Swampoodle
- Description
- Photographic reproduction of a print drawn by Helen M. Colburn, daughter of New Jersey artist Rembrandt Lockwood, depicting an altercation in the post-Reconstruction African American and Irish northeast Washington, D.C. working-class neighborhood "Swampoodle." The figures are drawn with racist and caricatured features and mannerisms. In the center, an African American woman holds an ax up to another African American woman who stands with her hands at her hips, and with a look of surprise on her face. A third African American woman to the left of the woman with an ax attempts to reach for the weapon, while a fourth African American woman holds a switch and looks on with a stunned expression. Beside the stunned woman, a small African American boy stands in front of a fifth African American woman leaning over to pick up a rock. In the far left, an African American police officer is being led by an African American boy to the group of women. A shadowy depiction of a crowd of men, women, and children, some holding up brooms and sticks, is visible in the background. Scene also includes wash buckets, switches, and weeds on the ground near the central figure's feet. The central figures wear worn shirts and long skirts or dresses. The woman threatended wears the most worn cloths and rags on her feet. Three of the women wear kerchiefs and two wear aprons. 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 1887., Written in lower right of original print: Mrs. R. Colburn., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
- Date
- 1887
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photos - 5 x 7 - unidentified - Events [P.2015.22 & P.2020.16.6]
- Title
- [African American woman nursing a baby on a porch in the presence of a man]
- Description
- Stereograph depicting an African American mother seated on the porch steps and nursing her baby. The woman, wearing her hair tied up in braids and attired in a polka-dotted shirt and a checked skirt, cradles an infant on her lap as it suckles on her breast. Seated in the right, the African American man, attired in a hat, a long-sleeved white shirt, a ring, and pants, looks over at the mother and child. On the porch is a wooden chair beside the closed door., Title supplied by cataloger., Orange mount with rounded corners., Manuscript note on verso: Herr Klebenice?, 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.
- Date
- [ca. 1890]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - unidentified - Genre [P.2002.8.5]
- Title
- Cars loaded with cotton bales on levee near cotton growing district, Texas
- Description
- Scene showing a group of African American men using hand trucks to move large bales of cotton into or out of freight cars. In the left are stacks of baled cotton with two men standing on top of the bales. In the center, lines of men hold hand trucks of cotton, some turn and look at the viewer. In the right are open freight cars. A bridge and buildings are visible in the background., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Copyrighted by Underwood & Underwood., View is numbered P-V22091, the V indicating it was originally part of stereograph publisher and distributor, Underwood & Underwood's stock. An additional number- P215 indicates what position the stereograph had within a set. Pedagogical text printed on the verso reads "Freight cars loaded with cotton bales on the levee near cotton growing district, Texas...", Purchase 1998., 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., Keystone View Company was founded in 1892 by B.L. Singley, an amateur photographer from Meadville, Pennsylvania. Keystone View Company was the leader in promoting stereographs for educational purposes. In 1912, the company purchased rights to some Underwood & Underwood negatives for use in educational sets, and in 1922 purchased the remaining stock of Underwood materials. The company remained in business until 1970.
- Creator
- Keystone View Company, publisher
- Date
- [ca. 1920]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - Keystone - Work [P.9600.12]
- Title
- [Second inauguration of President Grover Cleveland, steps of Capitol Building, Washington, D.C., March 4, 1893]
- Description
- Shows President Cleveland giving his inaugural address surrounded by an immense crowd of guests and spectators lining the stage, steps, and grounds of the Capitol. Also shows patriotic bunting; flag adornments; and a depiction of the American eagle holding the banner "E Pluribus unum." Crowd includes men and women; men attired in military uniforms; and African American spectators., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of Centennial and Columbia Exposition views. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., 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 4, 1893]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *photo - unidentified - Political elections [5758.F.65]
- Title
- Halloween party given by the Craftsman Club of the Reading Co
- Description
- Group portrait of the male and female attendees, ranging in age from child to adult, in front of a stage. Most are attired in Halloween costume, many in masks and hats, and including clowns, a soldier, a pirate, a chef, and possibly a mummer’s headdress. In the right, a boy wearing Black face and attired as a bell hop, stands and smiles. "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.", Title from manuscript note on verso., Photographer's blind stamp on recto., Photographer's imprint stamped on verso., Description of Blackface minstrelsy from Dorothy Berry, Descriptive Equity and Clarity around Blackface Minstrelsy in H(arvard) T(heater) C(ollection) Collections, 2021., Gift of Joseph Kelly, 1982., 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.
- Creator
- Photo Illustrators (Firm), photographer
- Date
- [ca. 1925]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Photo-Illustrators - 11x14 [P.8882.12]
- Title
- [African American primary school classroom]
- Description
- Depicts two African American women teachers overseeing a class of African American grade school children. The younger children play on the floor and at tables with blocks. The older ones sit and read on benches lining the wall. On the floor, a group of girls play with white dolls as others ride on tricycles and push a carriage. In the left, a teacher stands by two blackboards; one board lists the names of good and bad boys, and the other of good and bad girls. Stencils of animals and playing children decorate the walls., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from attire of the people., Gift of Joseph Kelly, 1982., 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.
- Creator
- Photo Illustrators (Firm), photographer
- Date
- [ca. 1930]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Photo-Illustrators [P.8846.29]
- Title
- Burholme Park outing. "Ice Cream."
- Description
- Depicts a smiling African American woman serving ice cream from a barrel to African American children with disabilities in Burholme Park, Philadelphia. The children, most with crutches, surround the barrel eating their ice cream. In the foreground, the young girl sits holding a dish of ice cream while her crutches lie on the grass in front of her. Three boys and one girl stand and hold dishes of ice cream. People stand and sit on benches in the background. Burholme, originally the country seat of railroad magnate Joseph Waln Ryerss and an Underground Railroad station during the Civil War, became a public park at the death bequest of Ryerss' son, Robert, in 1868., Title from duplicate print., Date inferred from attire of the people., Gift of Joseph Kelly, 1982., 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.
- Creator
- Photo Illustrators (Firm), photographer
- Date
- [ca. 1930]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Photo-Illustrators [P.8817.15a]
- Title
- Burholme Park outing. "Ice Cream."
- Description
- Depicts a smiling African American woman serving ice cream from a barrel to African American children with disabilities in Burholme Park, Philadelphia. The children, most with crutches, surround the barrel eating their ice cream. In the foreground, the young girl sits holding a dish of ice cream while her crutches lie on the grass in front of her. Three boys and one girl stand and hold dishes of ice cream. People stand and sit on benches in the background. Burholme, originally the country seat of railroad magnate Joseph Waln Ryerss and an Underground Railroad station during the Civil War, became a public park at the death bequest of Ryerss' son, Robert, in 1868., Title from manuscript note on verso., Date inferred from attire of the people., Photographer's blind stamp on recto., Gift of Joseph Kelly, 1982., 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.
- Creator
- Photo Illustrators (Firm), photographer
- Date
- [ca. 1930]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Photo-Illustrators [P.8817.15]
- Title
- [Philadelphia children in Blackface]
- Description
- Group portrait in a house foyer of nine white costumed children in Blackface and holding tin horns. The children, four seated and five standing, are possibly attired to perform a minstrel show for home entertainment. The photographer's daughter, Hazel, is seated on a rocker, in the right, attired in a large ruffled hat with a mask-like cloth veil. "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.", Title from Library Company catalog, An African American miscellany, p. 27., Description of Blackface minstrelsy from Dorothy Berry, Descriptive Equity and Clarity around Blackface Minstrelsy in H(arvard) T(heater) C(ollection) Collections, 2021., Purchase 1988., 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., Rich was a professional Philadelphia landscape photographer who produced several candid portraits of family and friends.
- Creator
- Rich, James Bartlett, 1866-1942, photographer
- Date
- [ca. 1895]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - Rich [P.9266.870]
- Title
- [Graham House, Edgmont Avenue, Chester, Pennsylvania.]
- Description
- Exterior view of the Graham House built for John Hoskins in 1688 on the southeast corner of Edgmont Avenue and Graham Street, Chester, Pennsylvania. Shows an oblique view of the two-story brick house with shuttered windows and three dormer windows protruding from the roof. Two sets of stairs lead to the front door, which is covered by a portico. A white picket fence surrounds the property. A sign hangs on the front of the house, "Graham House John Hoskins 1688." An African American man leans on the second-story windowsill with his left hand resting on his face and looks at the viewer. Hoskins operated the house as an Inn., Title supplied by cataloger., Date from manuscript note written on mount: Pennsylvania Bi-centennial Photographs, 1882., Forms part of a series of eleven Pennsylvania Bi-centennial photographs by Bennett., Purchase 1978., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
- Creator
- Bennett, Nathaniel M., photographer
- Date
- 1882
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *Photographs-Bennett [P.8458.4]
- Title
- [American Legion parade, Broad Street, Philadelphia, August 30, 1949]
- Description
- Scene from the parade showing a float of the battleship "Post 654, Waterman ILL" passing a large crowd in front of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, opposite the Bellevue Stratford Hotel, near Walnut Street. Men, women, and children spectators, including African Americans, sit and stand along the street and look on from windows and balconies. A photographer on a ladder records the event in the street. American flag bunting and a sign that reads, "Welcome Delegates" decorate the awning of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. The American Legion, chartered in 1919, is a patriotic veterans mutual aid society., Title supplied by cataloger., Date from manuscript note written on verso: 1371 American Legion Parade Aug. 30 49 passing Bellevue Stratford Hotel, Philadelphia., Gift of Joseph Kelly, 1982., 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.
- Creator
- Photo Illustrators (Firm), photographer
- Date
- August 30, 1949
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Photo-Illustrators [P.8807.3]
- Title
- Two souls with but a single thought
- Description
- Lantern slide formerly owned and probably used in art lessons by Philadelphia painter, photographer, and art teacher, Xanthus Smith of a racist depiction of African Americans in caricature by comic artist, Thomas Worth. Depicts a young and dapperly-dressed African American couple eating a piece of watermelon on a porch as the parents of one of the couple watches them from a doorway. Seated on a bench, the woman, wearing her hair tied up with a pink ribbon and attired in a blue shirt with buttons down the center, a white skirt with ruffles at the bottom, red and black checked stockings, and black shoes, sits beside the man, attired in a gray bowler hat, a white shirt with stripes, a gray waistcoat, gray and black striped pants, and black shoes. They hold a large slice of watermelon up together and bite from it while looking at one another. In the left, the mother, attired in a blue and pink plaid head kerchief, a pink and black striped shirt with a white lace collar, and a pink skirt, and the father, attired in a white collared shirt, a black waistcoat, and black pants, looks on at the couple from an open doorway. A banjo hangs from the post of the porch in the right. In the background, trees and the night sky is visible., Title from label on mount on verso., Gift of Edna Andrade, 1994., 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
- [ca. 1890]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Lantern Slides-Smith, Xanthus [P.9471]
- Title
- Tallahasse, Florida
- Description
- Portrait of an African American man and woman seated in the doorway of a wooden cabin made of boards. In the left, the woman, attired in a head kerchief, a long-sleeved quilted shirt, a torn and worn skirt, an apron, and shoes, sits and looks at the viewer. In the right, the older man, attired in a head kerchief, a torn and worn long-sleeved shirt, a vest, pants, and open-toed shoes, sits with his right leg propped on a log., Title from manuscript note by photographer on verso., Gift of Elsie Wood Harmon, 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., Wood, a Philadelphia artist, turned to photography in the 1880s exhibiting his work, including genre studies of African Americans, at national and international photography exhibitions. His photographs won several prizes.
- Creator
- Wood, George Bacon, 1832-1909, photographer
- Date
- [ca. 1885]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Photographs-Wood [P.8743.183]
- Title
- Court. Lombard St. W. of 7
- Description
- Depicts the courtyard between the brick residences of 710 and 714 Lombard Street, Philadelphia. An African American man, attired in a brimmed hat, a white shirt, dark-colored pants, and shoes, stands in the courtyard near 710 facing the viewer. In the right, several children, including African Americans, sit on the stoop of the opposite residence. Chairs are visible in the courtyard., Title from manuscript note on verso., Gift of Margaret Odewalt Sweeney, 1979., 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.
- Creator
- Wilson, G. Mark (George Mark), 1879-1925, photographer
- Date
- [ca. 1923]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - Wilson [P.8513.88], http://www.lcpimages.org/wilson/wilson88.htm
- 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
- Freedman's National Monument
- Description
- Interior view showing the plaster model for the proposed design of the Freedman's Memorial to Lincoln by expatriate sculptor Harriet Hosmer when on display in the Boston Athenaeum, likely statuary gallery, in 1866. Shows, from an oblique angle, the model on top of a draped table and in front of two archways. The model of the Memorial design was composed of mutiple tiers on the top of which lied a figure of Lincoln in a sarcophagus within an open temple. An edited version of the words of the Emancipation Proclamation adorned the temple which stood on a base with a frieze designed with thirty-six female allegories representing the states of the Union during Lincoln's presidency. On the base below the temple was a sculptural cycle of African American history to that period. Four standing Black male figures on pedestals surrounded the base at each corner. The figures portrayed included a seminude, enslaved man, with his head down, and his wrists manacled; a soldier in uniform with a forward gaze and a bayonetted rifle in his hands that was pointed to the ground; an enslaved man who rests on a hoe with his head bowed down; and a soldier, looking ahead, and holding a gun. On the four outside corners were "Mourning Victories" with their trumpets reversed. The angle of the image shows a view of the model that includes the Lincoln figure, three of the African American men figures, and three of the "Mourning Victories.", Hosmer designed the Memorial in response to a monument project sponsored by the Western Sanitary Commission of St. Louis after formerly enslaved Charlotte Scott of Marietta, OH pledged $5 for a monument to Abraham Lincoln following his assassination in 1865. Donations from formerly enslaved persons grew to $20,000 within months of Scott's original donation. Hosmer later altered the design and an engraving of her new proposal appeared in the Art Journal (London), January 1, 1868. Hosmer's model, purported to cost over $100,000 to be executed, was never sculpted. After years of competing projects, designs, and sponsoring agencies, on April 14, 1876, a sculpture by Thomas Ball, "Emancipation," designed without the input of the formerly enslaved donors was erected in Lincoln Square, Washington, D.C. on an eastern edge of Capitol Hill., Title printed on mount., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by Harriet G. Hosmer, in the clerk's office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts., Harriet Hosmer (1830-1908) was a lesbian, expatriate neoclassical sculptor, who was one of the most famous artists of her time. Hosmer had her own studio and her work often focused on idealized mythological female figures associated with strength and courage. Hosmer was also a women's rights activist and an inventor., Purchased with the Louise Marshall Kelly fund., See Kirk Savage, Standing soldiers, kneeling slaves: Race, war, and monument in nineteenth-century America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), p.89-128., John B. Heywood (d. 1870) operated a photographic studio in Boston circa 1858-circa 1870, when he then appears to have relocated to Chicago per 1870 census records. He may also be the J.B. Heywood who advertised a photographic studio in New Bern, N.C. in 1866. Between 1869 and 1870, he is listed in Boston at 25 Winter, the address of photographer and publisher Frank Rowell, who established a branch of his photographic studio in Chicago in 1867.
- Creator
- Heywood, John B., -1870, photographer
- Date
- 1866
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv - Heywood - Monuments & statues [P.2022.28.1]
- 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
- Mrs. Amanda Smith
- Description
- Three-quarter length portrait of the African American Methodist evangelist preacher, missionary, and temperance advocate who was born to enslaved parents in Maryland. Shows Smith, standing, slightly turned to her right, and attired in medium-colored, Quaker-like garb including a shawl, shirtwaist with an upright lace collar adorned with a pendant, skirt, and scoop bonnet. She holds a book, possibly a Bible, in her right hand, top edge down, and with her fingers interspersed between a few pages. A chair is partially visible in the right of the image and dark-colored drapery serves as the backdrop. Smith, her freedom bought by her father when a child, entered preaching in 1869. Known as a compelling speaker and singer, she preached at Methodist Episcopal churches throughout the East and Midwest, including Philadelphia. In 1878 she felt called to travel to Keswick, England for a Methodist convention and remained in the country to minister and then worked as a missionary in India (1879-1881) and West Africa (1882-1890). In 1890 she returned to the United States and settled in Chicago where she was also a prominent member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (Smith joined in the 1870s). In 1893 her "Autobiography" was published, from which she began to raise funds for an orphanage for African American children. 1n 1899 the Amanda Smith Orphan's Home, later the Amanda Smith Industrial Home opened in Harvey, Il. The home was razed by fire in 1918., Title from manuscript note on verso., Photographer's imprint printed on mount., Publisher's imprint printed on verso. Also includes a vignette depicting the British coat of arms., Mount designer's imprint printed on verso., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 2018, p. 59 - 60., RVCDC, Description reviewed 2022., Access points revised 2022.
- Creator
- Pettitt, Alfred, -1880
- Date
- [1878]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits - sitter - Smith [P.2018.13]
- Title
- Some of our brave colored boys who helped free Cuba
- Description
- Stereoview depicting a lineup of African American soldiers in an exterior beach setting during the Spanish American War, 1898. The men, attired in the uniform of campaign hat, button down jacket, trousers, bullet belts, and leggings, stand at attention, and with their rifles held to the sandy ground. Most of the men look straight ahead with a few looking toward the viewer. In the background, an American flag at the end of the line of men and a military encampment with tents and soldiers is visible. The Spanish American War was the conflict between Spain and the United State originating with the Cuban War of Independence. Cuba gained independence and the United States acquired the territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippine Islands from Spain. The regular army's four Black troops (9th and10th Cavalry and 24th and 25th Infantry) and thousands of Black men volunteers served during the war. AFrican American troop's service during the war caused controversy within the African American community which still did not have equal civil rights as citizens of the United States., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Copyright 1899 by J. F. Jarvis., Distributor's imprint printed on mount: Sold by Underwood & Underwood. New York, London, Toronto-Canada, Ottowa-Kansas., Semi-legible maunscript note on verso: Deliver to Mr. [Heyburn?] ... with ..., J.F. Jarvis was the largest manufacturer of stereoviews in Washington D.C. during the late 19th century. He published his own trade list and numerous views of government surveys., RVCDC
- Creator
- Jarvis, J. F. (John Fillis), 1849-1931
- Date
- [1899]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereos - misc. photo - Jarvis [P.2023.6]
- 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
- [Early model for Freedmen's Memorial by Thomas Ball]
- Description
- Front and oblique views with a dark background, likely photographed in Thomas Ball's studio, showing his model for a design later proposed and adapted for the Freedman's Memorial to Lincoln (erected 1876, Washington, D.C.) that was first discussed as a Lincoln monument in the later 1860s. Shows the model composed of a figure of Abraham Lincoln (left) and a kneeling, emancipated, enslaved Black man figure (right). The Black man figure, is portrayed in left profile, looking out toward the vista, and with his left knee to the ground and his right knee bent. His left foot is arched up from the ground. He holds his left hand with his knuckles to the ground and his right hand across his waist and resting on the inner elbow of his left arm. The figure has curly hair and wears a Liberty cap and a loin cloth. Broken shackles adorn his wrists. The Lincoln figure, attired in a suit with a long coat, stands, looks down on the Black man figure, and holds out his left hand above the kneeling man, while his right hand holds the Emancipation Proclamation (semi-rolled) on a plinth decorated with patriotic symbols. Symbols include a profile portrait of George Washington, the fasces of the U.S. Republic, and a shield adorned with the stars and stripes. The base of the plinth is inscribed "T. Ball 1865." The figures rest on a base marked "And upon this act-I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favour of Almighty God.", A national monument project sponsored by the Western Sanitary Commission of St. Louis was initiated after formerly enslaved Charlotte Scott of Marietta, OH pledged $5 for a monument to Abraham Lincoln following his assassination in 1865. Donations from formerly enslaved persons grew to $20,000 within months of Scott's original donation. After years of competing projects, designs, and sponsoring agencies, on April 14, 1876, Ball's sculpture adapted from the model depicted, the "Emancipation Memorial," and designed without the input of the formerly enslaved donors was erected in Lincoln Square, Washington, D.C. on an eastern edge of Capitol Hill., Title supplied by cataloger., Photographer's imprint stamped on mount., Manuscript note on verso of verso of P.2023.32.1: Florence March 15th 1872. Emancipation Proclamation. T. Ball of Boston., Manuscript note on verso of verso of P.2023.32.1: Florence March 15th 1872. Emancipation Proclamation. T. Ball of Boston. Sculptor in Florence., Date from manuscript note on verso., Thomas Ball (1819-1911), sculptor, focused his career on the portrayal of statesmen and historical figures. He located to Florence to study sculpture in 1854. Between 1857 and 1865, he worked in Boston before returning to Florence until 1897. Ball was part of an expatriate community of artists and sculptors, including Hiram Powers, father of Longsworth Powers., See Kirk Savage, Standing soldiers, kneeling slaves: Race, war, and monument in nineteenth-century America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), p.77-83 and 114-123., RVCDC, Longsworth Powers (1835-1904), son of sculptor Hiram Powers, lived in Florence with his family in the 1830s and returned in 1860 and began a career as a sculptor and photographer. Powers photographed prominent men and women in the city.
- Creator
- Powers, Longsworth, 1835-1904, photographer
- Date
- [1872]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - Powers [P.2023.32.1-2]
- Title
- Rapid transit in Southern Mississippi
- Description
- Racist scene showing an African American family comprised of the parents and eleven children traveling in an open wagon pulled by two oxen. The parents, each holding a baby, sit on the cab as the older children stand in the bed of the wagon. A wood shack, with three small windows, a door, and dilapidated fencing stands in the background. Two African American women, each holding a baby, stand in front of the building. The women and girls wear cotton shirtwaists, skirts, or smock dresses, and kerchiefs or a wide-brimmed hat. The man and boys wear long-sleeved shirts, pants, and hats or caps., Date from copyright statement: Copyright 1895, by Strohmeyer & Wyman., Title from item., Title printed in six different languages, including French, German, and Spanish on verso., Gift of David Long., RVCDC, Description reviewed 2022., Access points revised 2022., In 1912 Keystone View Company purchased rights to some Underwood & Underwood negatives for use in educational sets, and in 1922 purchased the remaining stock of Underwood materials. Keystone remained in business until 1970.
- Creator
- Underwood & Underwood
- Date
- 1895
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - Underwood & Underwood - Portraits & Genre [P.2018.16.9]
- Title
- Fifteenth amendment. Bringing his crop to town
- Description
- Racist, vignetted view showing an African American man, attired in worn clothes, hauling a loaded cart pulled by a thin, horned cow. The man, attired in a wide-brimmed hat, jacket, and pants, rides the cow. His right hand holds the reigns of the yoke and his left hand holds up a stick in a striking motion. A pile of thatch fills the cart. A bag of cotton rests atop of the thatch. Townscape is visible in the background. View racistly satirizes African American civil rights and the right to vote granted to African American men in 1870 by the Fifteenth Amendment., Title and series number printed on verso., Name of photographer printed on verso., Photographer inferred to also be publisher., Date inferred from style of mount and active dates of photographer., Printed on mount: Charleston & Vicinity., Orange mount with rounded corners., Gift of David Long., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Jerome N. Wilson (1827-1897), a New-York born photographer, relocated his photography business to Savannah Georgia in 1865. He produced multiple genres of photographs, including cartes de visite and stereographs. His studio was enlarged and improved in 1871.
- Creator
- Wilson, J. N.
- Date
- [ca. 1870]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - misc. photo. - Wilson [P.2018.16.11]
- Title
- No. 1. The flirtation
- Description
- First scene based on a racist series of African American caricatures originally created for Harper's Weekly in 1878 by Sol Eytinge that satirized the courtship and marriage of and the start of families by "The Twins." The African American figures are depicted with exaggerated features and mannerisms. Scene shows the African American twins greeting two African American men. They depart from the gate of their log cabin home, attired in polka dot dresses, aprons, and turned-up brimmed hats. They smile at the two African American men as they begin their walk. One twin lifts her handkerchief. One of the men is tall and thin and he tips his hat. The other is shorter and squat and has a hand on his chest. The men are attired in suits with striped pants that are hemmed high. The twins' log cabin home with their parent's seeing them off is visible in the left background. Background also includes the log cabin with "Dr. Black’s Office"; the town church; a "Dry Goods and Clothing” store; a "Saloon"; and a "Hotel.”, Title from item., Name of publisher from other photographs in series., Date from copyright statement on original drawing: Copyrighted 1881 John McGreer, Chicago, Ill., Name of artist stamped on verso: McGreer Chicago., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 2017, p. 52., RVCDC, Desciption revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
- Creator
- McGreer, John, 1839-1908
- Date
- 1881
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - 5 x 7 - Unid. - Events [P.2017.26.1]
- Title
- No. 2 The introduction
- Description
- Second scene based on a racist series of African American caricatures originally created for Harper's Weekly in 1878 by Sol Eytinge that satirized the courtship and marriage of and the start of families by "The Twins." The African American figures are depicted with exaggerated features and mannerisms. Scene shows the “twins,” side-by-side, curtseying to their two male suitors (one tall and one squat) who stand across the parlor. The tall one bows with his hat in hand. The suitors’ mother, portrayed with a face with many wrinkles and attired in a polka dot dress, stands between the pairs. The room is adorned with a table that holds a vase of flowers, an album, and a glass. Framed pictures, including a portrait, as well as a cuckoo clock adorn the walls near a window with a partially rolled-up window shade. The twins are attired in polka dot dresses and the men in suits., Title from item., Inscribed on original drawing: Remodeled from sketch in Harpers Weekly., Date from copyright statement in other photographs in series: Copyrighted 1881 John McGreer, Chicago, Ill., Name of artist stamped on verso: McGreer Chicago., Name of publisher from other photographs in series., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 2017, p. 52., RVCDC, Desciption revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
- Creator
- McGreer, John, 1839-1908
- Date
- 1881
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - 5 x 7 - Unid. - Events [P.2017.26.2]
- Title
- No. 3 The courting
- Description
- Third scene in a racist series of African American caricatures originally created for Harper's Weekly in 1878 by Sol Eytinge that satirized the courtship and marriage of and the start of families by "The Twins." The African American figures are depicted with exaggerated features and mannerisms. Scene shows the twins and their suitors, seated in an open room with a stove by a mantle. In the left, one twin sits face to face with her tall suitor. She looks down and raises her hand to her mouth. In the right, the other twin sits next to her suitor and smiles. The twin holds a fan to her face. A hat and coat hang on the wall above them. The twins' parents watch from a doorway in the left background. The twins are attired in polka dot dresses and the men in suits., Title from item., Inscribed on original drawing: Reproduced from sketch by Sol Eytinge from Harpers Weekly., Date from copyright statement in other photographs in series: Copyrighted 1881 John McGreer, Chicago, Ill., Name of artist stamped on verso: McGreer Chicago., Name of publisher inscribed on original drawing., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 2017, p. 52., RVCDC, Desciption revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
- Creator
- McGreer, John, 1839-1908
- Date
- 1881
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - 5 x 7 - Unid. - Events [P.2017.26.3]