Search results

Title: How can it be done?
Description: Image depicts a mob of slaveholders who are raiding an abolitionist press. Members of the mob are dragging off a broken printing press., Illustration in the Anti-Slavery Record (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1835-1837), vol. II, no. IX (September, 1836), whole no. 21, p. 1., Curator's note: This is one of several antislavery graphics depicting the proslavery assault on the antislavery movement and their demand for the suppression of antislavery literature. This and several other illustrations link antislavery agitation to first amendment freedoms., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [September 1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 60026.D v 2 n 9 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2853

Title: Wilmot
Description: Reproduction of a bust-length portrait of the Pennsylvania legislator, David Wilmot, most known as the author of the "Wilmot Proviso." The unpassed 1846 bill would have prohibited the extension of slavery into the annexed territory of Mexico. Wilmot, attired in a white collared shirt, a black bowtie, and a black jacket, looks slightly left., Title from manuscript note on mount., Dated based on the presented age of the sitter., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of portraits. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., 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. 1862]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits - sitter - Wilmot [(3)5750.F.154f]

Title: Dr. Theo. Parker
Description: Bust-length portrait of the Unitarian clergyman and abolitionist who personally aided and housed freedom seekers as a member of several abolitionist organizations, including the New England Emancipation Aid Society. Parker, wearing spectacles and attired in a white collared shirt, a black bowtie, and a black jacket, faces slightly right., Title from manuscript note on mount., Photographer's imprint stamped on mount., Dated based on the presented age of the sitter., Accessioned 1979., 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: J. Gurney & Son, photographer
Date: [ca. 1865]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits - sitter - Parker [P.2282.116]

Title: [Pictorial lettersheet containing illustration of "Am I Not a Woman and Sister"]
Description: Illustration depicts the enslaved woman, bare-chested, kneeling on one leg, and holding up her chained hands as in prayer., Addressed to Mr. S. T. haulk [sic] Salburry [i.e., Salisbury] South Carolina., Inscribed: Advertised July 1st., Completed in manuscript from Thos. Wall, Granville, Ohio to "Dear Sir" on May 25, 1840. Reads: Dear Sir is this the way you th treat slaves - if so you had better set thith free and Let them go - the load be upon your head at the [bar?] of god. Then god Say all you an [sic] your slaves must come before god and then be juge [sic] at the Bar of god - Set the [?] free and Let he aogo [sic]. Let the slave go free - [?] and I am - Do you [sic] Work yourself., Illustration of a kneeling male slave is a variant of the image popularized by Josiah Wedgwood. Formed in 1787, the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade designed and adopted as its seal the image of a supplicant African male slave asking "Am I not a man and a brother?" That same year, Wedgwood, a ceramics manufacturer and member of the Committee, issued the image as a medallion, which was distributed in America. The image became a popular anti-slavery icon and was soon widely reproduced on artifacts and in print in the United States and in Britain. During the 1820s, a female counterpart with the motto “Am I not a woman and a sister?” was created by British abolitionists and quickly embraced in the United States, particularly among women abolitionists., Purchased with funds from the Albert M. Greenfield Foundation., 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., Purchase 2011., Access points revised 2021., Description revised 2021., Reason was an African American artist, engraver and lithographer working in New York City in the 1830s and 1840s.
Creator: Reason, Patrick Henry, 1816-1898, engraver
Date: [ca. 1835]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department GC - Allegories [16971.Q]

Title: Fannie Virginia Casseopia Lawrence A redeemed slave child, 5 years of age. Redeemed in Virginia, by Catherine S. Lawrence; baptized in Brooklyn, at Plymouth Church, by Henry Ward Beecher, May, 1863
Description: Full-length studio portrait of the acclaimed emancipated slave girl. Depicts Lawrence standing behind a balustrade. She is attired in a fashionable off-the-shoulder white dress with dark stripes on the bodice and tiny polk dots on the skir also adorned with a dark trim. Dark-colored ribbons adorn the edges of her cap sleeves. A vase with flowers adorns the post of the balustrade on which Lawrence rests her elbow., Publication information from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1863, by C. S. Lawrence, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New York., Photographer's imprint on verso. Includes an ornament depicting a bundled and intertwined ribbon bordered by vinery., See Kathleen Collin, "Portraits of Slave Children," History of Photography 9 (July-September, 1985), p. 187-210., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund.
Creator: Kellogg Brothers, photographer
Date: [1863]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits - sitter - Lawrence [P.2015.23.1]

Title: Rosa A slave girl from New Orleans
Description: Abolitionist, vignette-size portrait of the propagandized fair-skinned child emancipated from enslavement, Rosina Downs. Freed by Union General Butler in New Orleans, the child toured through the North with other people emancipated from enslavement to raise funds for the schools of Louisiana for the formerly enslaved established by Philip Bacon, Assistant Superintendent of Freedmen. Downs, daughter of a multiracial mother and Confederate soldier, was one of three touring children denied entrance to a Philadelphia hotel in December 1863., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Probably by Philadelphia photographer James E. McClees., See Harper's weekly, January 30, 1864, p. 71., See Kathleen Collin's "Portraits of slave children," History of photography 9 (July-September 1983), p. 187-210., One of the cartes de visite trimmed and originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of Civil War materials [(2)1540.F.13e]. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., 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. 1863]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits -sitter- Downs [P.8925.6; (2)1540.F.13e]

Title: Rebecca A slave girl from New Orleans
Description: Abolitionist, bust-length portrait of the propagandized fair-skinned child emancipated from enslavement, Rebecca Huger. Freed by Union General Butler in New Orleans, the child toured through the North with other people emancipated from enslavement to raise funds for the schools of Louisiana for the formerly enslaved established by Philip Bacon, Assistant Superintendent of Freedmen. Huger, daughter of her enslaver, was one of three touring children denied entrance to a Philadelphia hotel in December 1863., Title from item., Photographer's imprint stamped on verso., Copyrighted by Rob[er]t R. Corson, State Military Agent for Philadelphia during the Civil War, and later, Corresponding Secretary for the Pennsylvania branch of the American Freedmen's Union Commission., Stamped on verso: The nett proceeds from the sale of these Photographs will be devoted to the education of Colored people in the department of the Gulf, now under the command of Maj. Gen'l Banks., Manuscript note on verso: Rebecca Euge 10., Gift of Marguerite S. Brenner., See Harper's weekly, January 30, 1864, p. 71., See Kathleen Collin's "Portraits of slave children," History of photography 9 (July-September 1985), p. 187-210., 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: M'Clees, Jas. E. (James E.), photographer
Date: 1863
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits - sitter - Huger [P.9057.81]

Title: [Benjamin F. Butler]
Description: Reproduction of a bust-length portrait print of the Massachusetts Governor, abolitionist legislator, and Civil War Major General. Butler, attired in uniform, sits facing slightly left. As commander of Fort Monroe, Virginia, he declared freedom seekers as "contraband of war," providing the impetus for Congress to enact the Confiscation Act of 1861., Title supplied by cataloger., Date based on depicted age of the sitter., Accessioned 1979., 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. 1861]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits- sitter - Butler [P.2282.107]

Title: Rebecca A slave girl from New Orleans
Description: Full-length, abolitionist portrait of the propagandized fair-skinned child emancipated from enslavement, Rebecca Huger. Depicts Huger, attired in a long-sleeved dress with decorative stripes, standing between scenery props of a stone window adorned with ivy and a full-length mirror, which reflects her profile. Freed by Union General Butler in New Orleans, the child toured through the North with other people emancipated from enslavement to raise funds for the schools of Louisiana for the formerly enslaved established by Philip Bacon, Assistant Superintendent of Freedmen. Huger, daughter of her enslaver, was one of three touring children denied entrance to a Philadelphia hotel in December 1863., Title from item., Attributed to Charles Paxson., Date from copyright information and content. Copyrighted by S. Tackaberry., Distributor's imprint stamped on verso: N.B. - All orders must be addressed to H.N. Bent, [National Freedman's Relief Association], Box 809, P.O. Boston, Mass., Stamped on verso: The nett proceeds from the sale of these Photographs will be devoted to the education of Colored people in the department of the Gulf, now under the command of Major General Banks., Contains cancelled 2 cents revenue stamp on verso., See Harper's weekly, January 30, 1864, p. 71. (LCP **Per H, 1864)., See Kathleen Collin's "Portraits of slave children," History of photography 9 (July-September 1985), p. 187-210., Purchase 2001., 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: Paxson, Chas. (Charles), -1880, photographer
Date: 1864
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits - Huger (sitter) [P.9971]

Title: Rebecca A slave girl from New Orleans
Description: Abolitionist portrait of the propagandized fair-skinned child emancipated from enslavement, Rebecca Huger. Depicts a bust-length portrait of Huger attired in a crocheted jacket and bonnet. Freed by Union General Butler in New Orleans, the child toured through the North with other people emancipated from enslavement to raise funds for the schools of Louisiana for the formerly enslaved established by Philip Bacon, Assistant Superintendent of Freedmen. Huger, daughter of her enslaver, was one of three touring children denied entrance to a Philadelphia hotel in December 1863., Title from item., Date from copyright information and content., Distributor's imprint printed on verso: N.B. - All orders must be addressed to H.N. Bent, [National Freedman's Relief Association], Box 809, P.O. Boston, Mass., Printed on verso: The nett proceeds from the sale of these Photographs will be devoted to the education of Colored people in the department of the Gulf, now under the command of Major General Banks., See Harper's weekly, January 30, 1864, p. 71. (LCP **Per H, 1864)., See Kathleen Collin's "Portraits of slave children," History of photography 9 (July-September 1985), p. 187-210., Created postfreeze., Purchase 2005., 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: Paxson, Chas. (Charles), -1880, photographer
Date: 1864
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits - sitter - Huger [P.2005.22.1]

Title: Charley A slave boy from New Orleans
Description: Abolitionist portrait of the propagandized fair-skinned child emancipated from enslavement, Charles Taylor. Freed by Union General Butler in New Orleans, the child toured through the North with other people emancipated from enslavement to raise funds for schools of Louisiana for the formerly enslaved established by Philip Bacon, Assistant Superintendent of Freedmen. Taylor, son of his enslaver, was one of three touring children denied entrance to a Philadelphia hotel in December 1863., Probably by Philadelphia photographer James E. McClees., Title from item., Date inferred from content., In McAllister scrapbook of Civil War Portraits. (LCP Print Room (1)Uy 5 5775.F.15). McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., See Harper's weekly, January 30, 1864, p. 71. (LCP **Per H, 1864)., See Kathleen Collin's "Portraits of slave children," History of photography 9 (July-September 1985), p. 187-210., 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: [1863]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Civil War Portrait Scrapbook album [(1)Uy 5 5775.F.15]

Title: Theodore Parker
Description: Bust-length portrait of the Boston Unitarian clergyman, social reformer, and abolitionist. Parker is attired in a white collared shirt, a black bowtie, and a black jacket and faces the viewer. Parker aided John Brown and was active in New England antislavery societies which provided shelter and legally defended freedom seekers, including William and Ellen Craft, the first enslaved Bostonians sought under the Fugitive Slave Law., Title from item., Date inferred from history of the engraver and attire of sitter., Accessioned 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 the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Schoff, an engraver in Boston from the early 1840s until the 1860s, specialized in portraiture.
Creator: Schoff, Stephen Alonzo, 1818-1904, engraver
Date: [ca. 1855]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Portrait Prints-P [P.8911.751]

Title: Original & selected poetry &c
Description: Friendship album of Amy Matilda Cassey, a middle-class African American woman active in the antislavery movement and African American cultural community, containing contributions dating from 1833 until 1856. Contains original and transcribed poems, prose, and essays on topics including slavery, womanhood, religion, friendship, female refinement, death, and love. Also contains drawings, watercolors, and gouaches of flowers and a rustic, residential scene, possibly in New York. Contributors, including many women from the antebellum African American elite community, are prestigious reformers and abolitionists active in the anti-slavery, scholarly, educational, and cultural community of the antebellum North, including Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and Baltimore., Contains the following contributions: entry by African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass, dated Philadelphia 1850, about his "coarse" contribution in an album of "refined" entries; an original sonnet, "Fallen Bird," and essay, "The Abolition Cause," by anti-slavery activist, author, and editor, William Lloyd Garrison, dated Philadelphia 1833; floral watercolors and calligraphed poems by Philadelphia Quaker activist, educator, and artist Sarah Mapps Douglass; essay, "Moral Reform," dated Philadelphia 1834, by Harrisburg businessman and activist William Whipper; calligraphed version of Washington Irving's poem, "The Wife," by New York African American engraver Patrick Henry Reason dated New York 1839; poem about "Friendship" dated 1837 by anti-slavery activist Robert Purvis; prose on faith penned in 1853 by women right's activist and abolitionist Lucy Stone;, floral watercolors, poems and prose on friendship, womanhood, abolition, and remembrance by Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society associates Rebecca Buffum, Susan C. Wright, and sisters Hannah L. Stickney and Mary T. Stickney, and sisters Mary Forten (p.10), Margaretta Forten, and Sarah Forten Purvis, as well as their sister-in-law Mary Virginia Wood Forten (p.22); memorials to his deceased wife and daughter by Baltimore African Methodist Episcopal Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne written in 1849; and an essay by abolitionist Reverend Isiah George DeGrasse dated Bridgewater 1836. Additional contributions by Baltimore anti-slavery activist Emily Willson; anti-slavery activists Ann Warren Weston and Elizabeth Le Brun (Stickney) Gunn; Philadelphia barber and activist John Chew; abolitionist James Miller M'Kim; University of Glasgow trained activist James McCune Smith; Boston reformer Wendell Phillips; C.L.R., possibly Charles L. Reason, abolitionist and brother of engraver Patrick Henry Reason; A.W.H., possibly Quaker abolitionist Anna W. Hopper, and E.G., possibly Quaker abolitionist Elizabeth Garrigues., Also includes sketches and a poem by probably Lydia A. Bustill and unattributed watercolors and sketches possibly by Amy Matilda Cassey., Title from item., Inclusive range of dates inferred from entries inscribed with dates., Embossed and gilt morocco binding with blue moiré silk doublures., Lib. Company Annual Report 1998, p. 25-35., Research file available at repository., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Cassey, an abolitionist, temperance and civil rights activist and founding member of the multiracial Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society and the African American literary and science society, Gilbert Lyceum, was the daughter of New York black community leader, Reverend Peter Williams. She was the wife of Philadelphia businessman and civil rights activist Joseph Cassey, and later married Boston anti-slavery lecturer Charles Lenox Remond.
Creator: Cassey, Amy Matilda, 1808-1856
Date: [ca. 1833-ca. 1856]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Amy Matilda Cassey album [P.9764]

Title: A view of Bassa Cove (in Liberia.)
Description: View "from a drawing made on the spot by Dr. Robert McDowall" of a village scene in Liberia, the African American colony established by the American Colonization Society in 1822. Also used as the illustration of a membership certificate of the Pennsylvania Colonization Society. In the left foreground, three bare-chested Black people, attired in white sarongs, stand at the West African cove across from the small village. The village is comprised of buildings and is surrounded by a fence. People and cattle stroll the grounds. Established in 1816, the controversial American Colonization Society promoted Black American emigration to resolve the problem of race inequality, and to dissolve the institution of slavery. Copies of the print were on view for sale at the colonization society office for over a decade. McDowall was a Black physician sent by the society to provide medical care at the colony., Title from item., Advertised in Colonization herald, June 17, 1837, vol. III, no. 54, p. 214 and later issues., Purchase 1970., 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., Lehman & Duval was a Philadelphia partnership between painter, lithographer, and engraver George Lehman, and lithographer, Peter S. Duval, that lasted from 1835 until 1837.
Date: [ca. 1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *GC-Views-Foreign-Africa [7930.F]

Title: Rosa, an emancipated slave from New Orleans
Description: Abolitionist portrait of the propagandized fair-skinned child emancipated from enslavement, Rosina Downs, attired in a hat, a pleated dress with stripes at the bottom, and a dark-colored cape. Freed by Union General Butler in New Orleans, the child toured through the North with other people emancipated from enslavement to raise funds for the Louisiana schools for the formerly enslaved established by Philip Bacon, Assistant Superintendent of Freedmen. Downs, daughter of a multiracial mother and Confederate soldier, was one of three touring children denied entrance to a Philadelphia hotel in December 1863., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Probably by New York photographer, M.H. Kimball., See Harper's weekly, January 30, 1864, p. 71., See Kathleen Collin's "Portraits of slave children," History of photography 9 (July-September 1985), p. 187-210., Accessioned 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.
Date: [ca. 1863]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits -sitter- Downs [P.8925.5]

Title: Official first day of issue. Honoring Harriet Tubman, 1821-1913. Abolitionist. Nurse. Escapded slave. Black Heritage USA Series
Description: ArtCraft "First Day Cover" (i.e., designed envelope with a stamp affixed and cancelled on the day the stamp was issued) containing vignette illustrations depicting Harriet Tubman. Shows a half-length portrait of Harriet Tubman and a view of Tubman with Black persons of all ages, their belongings, and horse-drawn carts on a snow-covered clearing., Title from item., Date supplied from research and content., Logo of printer printed in lower left corner: Text "ArtCraft" set on a paint palette with brushes inserted through the hole for the artist's thumb., Image caption: She Guided More Than 300 Slaves to Freedom., Contains ink-stamp postmark: Washington. DC. Feb 1 1978 20013 and cancelled "First Day of Issue" Black Heritage USA color-printed 15-cent stamp after the design of Jerry Pinkney and depicting a portrait of Harriet Tubman and an inset of a view of Tubman and three Black persons riding a donkey-drawn wagon. The Tubman stamp issued in 1978, was the first issued for the Black Heritage Series begun in 1978 by the U.S. Postal Service to recognize "the contribution of Black Americans to the growth and development of the United States.", Mailing label removed., The Washington Press ArtCraft brand was introduced in 1939 for the printing of First Day Covers. The firm stopped producing ArtCraft First Day Covers in 2016., Gift of George R. Allen, 2022.
Date: [1978]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department ephemera - envelopes - Poor [P.2019.80.6]

Title: Fannie Virginia Casseopia Lawrence A redeemed slave child, 5 years of age. Redeemed in Virginia, by Catherine S. Lawrence; baptized in Brooklyn, at Plymouth Church, by Henry Ward Beecher, May, 1863
Description: Full-length portrait of the acclaimed girl emancipated from enslavement. Depicts Lawrence, attired in a lavish off-the-shoulder dress, seated, and holding a hat adorned with a ribbon and feathers in her lap. She is posed next to a basket and in front of a maritime backdrop. An outstretched drape covers her seat., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1863, by C. S. Lawrence, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New York., Purchase 2014., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., See Kathleen Collin, "Portraits of slave children," History of photography 9 (July-September, 1985), p. 187-210.
Creator: Black, James Wallace, 1825-1896, photographer
Date: [ca. 1863]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits - sitter - Lawrence [P.2014.13]

Title: Fannie Lawrence
Description: Full-length portrait of the acclaimed girl emancipated from enslavement. Freed in Virginia by military nurse Catherine S. Lawrence, Fannie was publicized as the "redeemed slave child" baptized by Henry Ward Beecher at age five at Plymouth Church in Brooklyn in May 1863. Depicts Lawrence, dressed in a fancy hat and cape, leaning against a balustrade., Probably by Boston photographer James Wallace Black., Title from manuscript note on verso., Dated based on the presented age of the sitter., See Kathleen Collin's "Portraits of slave children," History of photography 9 (July-September, 1985), p. 187-210., Purchase 1987., 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. 1863]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits - sitter - Lawrence [P.9194]

Title: [Album]
Description: Album belonging to Mary Anne Dickerson, a young middle-class African American Philadelphian, possibly created as a pedagogical exercise, with contributions dating from 1833 until 1882. Contains engraved plates depicting scenic views, and original and transcribed poems, prose, essays, and drawings on topics including friendship, motherhood, mortality, youth, death, flowers, female beauty, and refinement. Also contains a one page record of family deaths, marriages, and births with entries up to the birth of Mary Anne's grandson in 1882. Identified contributors are mainly Black elite scholars active in the African American anti-slavery and cultural communities of mid-19th century Philadelphia, New York, and Boston., Contains the following contributions: "The Mother's Joy," a poem by C.F., possibly by abolitionist and second wife of entrepreneur James Forten, Charlotte Vandine Forten; illustration after "The Boroom Slave" and the poem, "To the Album," by artist and activist Robert Douglass; prose, "To Mary Ann", about living a happy life by Philadelphian anti-slavery activist Amy Matilda Cassey; a memorial, "To My Dear Willie," by Mary Anne to her deceased son, William Jones; poem, "The Night of Death," by J.A.J., Mary Anne's husband, John A. Jones; Boston author and civil rights activist William C. Nell's transcription of the poem, "The Rights of Women"; allegorical prose on the meaning of life by New York abolitionist Harriet Forten Purvis; transcription of the poem, "The Pearl Diver," by white Philadelphian anti-slavery activist Arnold Buffum; prose to "Mary Annie" about remembrance by Ada, possibly by anti-slavery activist Sarah Forten Purvis or educator and anti-slavery activist Ada Howell Hinton; floral drawing by A.H.H., probably by Ada Howell Hinton; prose and floral watercolors by educator, abolitionist, and Quaker Sarah Mapps Douglass, the sister of Robert Douglass; "Lines Addressed to a Wreath of Flowers Designed on a Present for Mary Ann" by E.S. Webb, possibly Elizabeth Susan Webb, sister of novelist Frank J. Webb; and prose by Mary Anne about mortality. Additional entries of prose and poetry by John G. Dutton, E.S. Webb, Lydia A.B., Henrietta, W.F.P, and S.L.C., unattributed entry, "To Esther," and unattributed entry of a floral watercolor. Also contains engraved plates by A.B. Durand, C. Fielding, C.G. Childs, Robert Walter Weir, James Smillie and Thomas Cole entitled respectively, "Falls of the Sawkill"; "Italy, The Bay of Naples"; "Weehawken"; "Delaware Water Gap"; "Catskill Mountains"; "Fort Putnam"; and "Winnipiseogee Lake"., Title supplied by cataloguer., Inclusive range of dates inferred from entries inscribed with dates., Contains engraved illustrated title page: Album. The Mother's Joy., Blank album published in New York in 1833 by J.C. Ricker., Embossed and gilt morocco binding., Release of Dower document dated 1838 giving the Dickerson home to the surviving children, contemporary unidentified newspaper clippings, manuscript poetry transcriptions, contemporary greeting cards, trade card, and other miscellaneous loose items removed and housed separately., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 1993, p. 17-25., Research file available at repository., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Dickerson, a pupil of African American educator Sarah Mapps Douglass, was the daughter of African American activists, Martin and Adelia Dickerson, and step-father Samuel Van Brackle.
Creator: Dickerson, Mary Anne, 1822-1858
Date: [ca. 1833-ca. 1882]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Mary Anne Dickerson album [13860.Q]

Title: Our protection. Rosa, Charley, Rebecca. Slave children from New Orleans
Description: Abolitionist group portrait of the propagandized fair-skinned children emancipated from enslavement, Rosina Downs, Charles Taylor, and Rebecca Huger. Shows the children, who were freed in New Orleans by General Benjamin Butler, side-by-side, draped in a large American flag. The children, touring the North with a group of people emancipated from enslavement to raise funds for the Louisiana schools for the formerly enslaved established by Assistant Superintendent of Freedmen, Phillip Bacon, were also publicized as the children denied entrance in December 1863 to the Philadelphia hotel, the St. Lawrence., Title from item., Date from copyright information. Copyrighted by S. Tackaberry., Photographer's imprint stamped on verso., Distributor's imprint stamped on verso: N.B.-All orders must be addressed to H.N. Bent, [National Freedmen's Relief Association], No. 1 Mercer Street, New York., Stamped on verso: No. 9., Stamped on verso: The nett proceeds from the sale of these Photographs will be devoted to the education of Colored People in the department of the Gulf, now under the command of Maj. Gen'l Banks., See Harper's weekly, January 30, 1864, p. 71. (LCP **Per H, 1864)., See Kathleen Collin's "Portraits of slave children," History of photography 9 (July-September 1985), p. 187-210., Purchase 2000., 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: Paxson, Chas. (Charles), -1880, photographer
Date: 1864
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits-group-Emancipated Enslaved Children [P.9846]

Title: These children Were turned out of the St. Lawrence Hotel, Chestnut St., Philadelphia on account of color
Description: Abolitionist group portrait of the propagandized fair-skinned children emancipated from enslavement, Rebecca Huger, Charles Taylor, and Rosina Downs, denied entrance to the hotel in December 1863 during a fundraising tour of the North. Touring on behalf of schools in Louisiana for formerly enslaved people, the rebuffed children were accepted at the Continental Hotel., Title from item., Date from copyright. Copyrighted by Philip Bacon, Assistant Superintendent of Freedmen and founder of the first school in Louisiana for formerly enslaved people., Photographer's imprint stamped on verso., Stamped on verso: The nett proceeds from the sale of these Photographs will be devoted to the education of Colored People in the department of the Gulf, now under the command of Maj. Gen'l Banks., See Harper's weekly, January 30, 1864, p. 71. (LCP **Per H, 1864)., Accessioned 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.
Creator: M'Clees, Jas. E. (James E.), photographer
Date: 1863
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits-group- Emancipated Enslaved Children [P.8925.1]

Title: Isaac and Rosa, emancipated slave children, from the free schools of Louisiana
Description: Abolitionist portrait of the propagandized emancipated enslaved children, Isaac White and Rosina Downs, standing, arm-in-arm. Isaac has brown skin, and wears a shirt jacket, pants, and broad tie. He has his left hand tucked into his shirt jacket. Rosina has fair skin, and wears an off-the-shoulder, calf-length dress, cinched at the waist, and with stripe details on the neckline and skirt. She also wears pantaloons. Freed by Union General Butler in New Orleans, the children toured through the North with other emancipated enslaved people, and Colonel George H. Hanks, to raise funds for the emancipated enslaved schools of Louisiana established by Philip Bacon, Assistant Superintendent of Freedmen., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863 by Geo. H. Hanks, in the Clerk's Office of the U.S. for the Sou. Dist. of N.Y., See Harper's weekly, January 30, 1864, p. 71. (LCP **Per H, 1864)., See Kathleen Collin's "Portraits of slave children," History of photography 9 (July-September 1985), p. 187-210., Accessioned 1982., Description revised 2022., 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: Kimball, M. H., photographer
Date: 1863
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department group portrait cdvs-Emancipated Enslaved Children [P.8925.7]

Title: Learning is wealth. Wilson, Charley, Rebecca & Rosa, slaves from New Orleans
Description: Abolitionist group portrait of propagandized people emancipated enslavement in New Orleans by General Benjamin Butler. Fair-skinned children Charles Taylor, Rebecca Huger, Rosina Downs, and dark-skinned adult Wilson Chinn, his forehead branded with the initials of his former enslaver, all hold books and read together. The emancipated people were touring the North to raise funds for the Louisiana schools for formerly enslaved people established by Assistant Superintendent of Freedmen, Phillip Bacon., Title from item., Date from copyright information. Copyright by S. Tackaberry., Photographer's imprint stamped on verso., Distributor's imprint stamped on verso: N.B.- All orders must be addressed to H.N. Bent,[National Freedmen's Relief Association], No. 1 Mercer Street, New York., Stamped on verso: No. 6., Stamped on verso: The nett proceeds from the sale of these Photographs will be devoted to the education of the Colored People in the Department of the Gulf, now under the command of Maj. Gen'l Banks., See Harper's weekly, January 30, 1864, p. 71. (LCP **Per H, 1864)., See Kathleen Collin's "Portraits of slave children," History of photography 9 (July-September 19855), p. 187-210., Purchase 2001., 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: Paxson, Chas. (Charles), -1880, photographer
Date: 1864
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits-group-Emancipated Enslaved Children [P.9879]

Title: A Virginia slave child in 1863
Description: Three-quarter length portrait of five-year old child emancipated from enslavement, Fannie Virginia Casseopia Lawrence, with her adoptive mother Catherine S. Lawrence. Freed in Virginia by Lawrence, a military nurse, Fannie was publicized as the "redeemed slave child" baptized by Henry Ward Beecher at Plymouth Church in Brooklyn in May 1863. Depicts the fair-skinned Fannie, attired in a straw hat, a cape, and a dress, standing and holding the gloved hand of the seated Catherine Lawrence, attired in a bonnet with a black lace veil and a bow under her chin, a dark-colored dress, and a cape., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1863, by T.C. Fanning, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York., Photographer's imprint stamped on verso., Manuscript note on verso: Plymouth Church., Copyrighted by T.C. Fanning. Possibly New York publisher, Thomas C. Fanning., See Kathleen Collin's "Portraits of slave children" History of photography 9 (July-September, 1985), p. 187-210., Purchase 2002., 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: Van Dorn, photographer
Date: 1863
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits - sitter - Lawrence [P.9995]

Title: Life in Philadelphia. Grand celebration ob de bobalition ob African slabery
Description: Racist caricature about free African Americans' celebratory response to the abolition of the African slave trade by the United States, an act passed in 1807 that took effect in 1808. Depicts a group of over fifteen well-dressed men sitting and standing and drinking, smoking, and making toasts around a large dinner table. A number of the men raise goblets and/or pipes in the air. Soup tureens are visible on the table. One man, standing, drinks from a rum bottle. In the far right, an attendee, in a wide-brimmed hat, carries away another who is unconscious, his tongue out, and holding a pipe. The men are attired in waistcoats with tails, pants and pantaloons, some striped, vests, and cravats. Some wear their hair in pompadour styles and one man has white hair. The biting toasts address "De Orator ob de day," William Wilberforce, a prominent British abolitionist; William Eustis, Governor of Massachusetts and the disgraced former Secretary of War under Madison; "De Sun" which should shine at night; Joseph Gales, a publisher and secretary of the American Colonization Society who believed that only states had the right to emancipate enslaved persons; "Ning Edwards;" "De Genius ob Merica;" the "White man" who wants to colonize blacks "now he got no furder use for him;" and "De day we Celembrate" and why it did not come sooner. Figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features and their skin tone is depicted in black hand coloring. During the early 19th century, summer celebratory processions commemorating the anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade occurred annually in major Northern cities like Boston, New York, and Philadelphia., Title from item., Date inferred from content and name of publisher., Contains eight bubbles of dialogue in the vernacular within image: De Orator ob de day_When I jus hear him begin he discourse, tink he no great ting, but when he come to end ob um, I tink he like to scorch cat more better dan he took_Moosick_Possum up de Gum tree/Gubner Eustas Cleber old sole as eber wore nee buckle in de shoe_99 cheer and tree quarter/De Sun _Wonder why he no shine in de night putting nigger to dispense ob de candle./De day we Celumbrate! who he no come sooner? Guess de hard fros & de backward spring put um back. 29 pop gun v. 2 grin. White man _ mighty anxious to send nigger, to de place dey stole him from, now he got no furder use for him./De Genius de Merica _ He invent great many curious ting: wonder who just invent eating & drinking. 30 cheer & ober./Joe Gales _ He ax Massa Adams “if he be in health my brudder” and den he cut he guts out./Ning Edwards_ Guess he no great Angs no more nor udder people all he cut such a swell., P.2016.45.2 trimmed and lacking imprint., See LCP AR (Annual Report) 2003, p. 40-42., Shane White and Graham White's Stylin': African American Expressive Culture... (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998), p. 111. (LCP Ii 4, A2880.O)., Digital image shown is P.9709.3., P.2016.45.1 gift of Dr. Richard Dunn & Dr. Mary Maples Dunn., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: Harris, I., engraver
Date: [ca. 1833]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (London Set) [P.9709.3 & P.2016.45.2]

Title: Life in Philadelphia. Grand celebration ob de bobalition ob African slabery
Description: Racist caricature about free African Americans' celebratory response to the abolition of the African slave trade by the United States, an act passed in 1807 that took effect in 1808. Depicts a group of over fifteen well-dressed men sitting and standing and drinking, smoking, and making toasts around a large dinner table. A number of the men raise goblets and/or pipes in the air. Soup tureens are visible on the table. One man, standing, drinks from a rum bottle. In the far right, an attendee, in a wide-brimmed hat, carries away another who is unconscious, his tongue out, and holding a pipe. The men are attired in waistcoats with tails, pants and pantaloons, some striped, vests, and cravats. Some wear their hair in pompadour styles and one man has white hair. The biting toasts address "De Orator ob de day," William Wilberforce, a prominent British abolitionist; William Eustis, Governor of Massachusetts and the disgraced former Secretary of War under Madison; "De Sun" which should shine at night; Joseph Gales, a publisher and secretary of the American Colonization Society who believed that only states had the right to emancipate enslaved persons; "Ning Edwards;" "De Genius ob Merica;" the "White man" who wants to colonize blacks "now he got no furder use for him;" and "De day we Celembrate" and why it did not come sooner. Figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features and their skin tone is depicted in black hand coloring. During the early 19th century, summer celebratory processions commemorating the anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade occurred annually in major Northern cities like Boston, New York, and Philadelphia., Title from item., Date inferred from content and name of publisher., Contains eight bubbles of dialogue in the vernacular within image: De Orator ob de day_When I jus hear him begin he discourse, tink he no great ting, but when he come to end ob um, I tink he like to scorch cat more better dan he took_Moosick_Possum up de Gum tree/Gubner Eustas Cleber old sole as eber wore nee buckle in de shoe_99 cheer and tree quarter/De Sun _Wonder why he no shine in de night putting nigger to dispense ob de candle./De day we Celumbrate! who he no come sooner? Guess de hard fros & de backward spring put um back. 29 pop gun v. 2 grin. White man _ mighty anxious to send nigger, to de place dey stole him from, now he got no furder use for him./De Genius de Merica _ He invent great many curious ting: wonder who just invent eating & drinking. 30 cheer & ober./Joe Gales _ He ax Massa Adams “if he be in health my brudder” and den he cut he guts out./Ning Edwards_ Guess he no great Angs no more nor udder people all he cut such a swell., Inscribed: No. 11., See Lib. Company Annual Report 2003, p. 40-42., Shane White and Graham White's Stylin': African American Expressive Culture... (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998), p. 111. (LCP Ii 4, A2880.O)., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: Harris, I., engraver
Date: [ca. 1833]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (London Set) [7510.F]

Title: Life in Philadelphia. Grand celebration ob de bobalition ob African slabery
Description: Racist caricature about free African Americans' celebratory response to the abolition of the African slave trade by the United States, an act passed in 1807 that took effect in 1808. Depicts a group of over fifteen well-dressed men sitting and standing and drinking, smoking, and making toasts around a large dinner table. A number of the men raise goblets and/or pipes in the air. Soup tureens are visible on the table. One man, standing, drinks from a rum bottle. In the far right, an attendee, in a wide-brimmed hat, carries away another who is unconscious, his tongue out, and holding a pipe. The men are attired in waistcoats with tails, pants and pantaloons, some striped, vests, and cravats. Some wear their hair in pompadour styles and one man has white hair. The biting toasts address "De Orator ob de day," William Wilberforce, a prominent British abolitionist; William Eustis, Governor of Massachusetts and the disgraced former Secretary of War under Madison; "De Sun" which should shine at night; Joseph Gales, a publisher and secretary of the American Colonization Society who believed that only states had the right to emancipate enslaved persons; "Ning Edwards;" "De Genius ob Merica;" the "White man" who wants to colonize blacks "now he got no furder use for him;" and "De day we Celembrate" and why it did not come sooner. Figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features and their skin tone is depicted in black hand coloring. During the early 19th century, summer celebratory processions commemorating the anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade occurred annually in major Northern cities like Boston, New York, and Philadelphia., Title from item., Date inferred from content and name of publisher., Contains eight bubbles of dialogue in the vernacular within image: De Orator ob de day_When I jus hear him begin he discourse, tink he no great ting, but when he come to end ob um, I tink he like to scorch cat more better dan he took_Moosick_Possum up de Gum tree/Gubner Eustas Cleber old sole as eber wore nee buckle in de shoe_99 cheer and tree quarter/De Sun _Wonder why he no shine in de night putting nigger to dispense ob de candle./De day we Celumbrate! who he no come sooner? Guess de hard fros & de backward spring put um back. 29 pop gun v. 2 grin. White man _ mighty anxious to send nigger, to de place dey stole him from, now he got no furder use for him./De Genius de Merica _ He invent great many curious ting: wonder who just invent eating & drinking. 30 cheer & ober./Joe Gales _ He ax Massa Adams “if he be in health my brudder” and den he cut he guts out./Ning Edwards_ Guess he no great Angs no more nor udder people all he cut such a swell., Inscribed: No. 11., See LCP AR (Annual Report) 2003, p. 40-42., Shane White and Graham White's Stylin': African American Expressive Culture... (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998), p. 111. (LCP Ii 4, A2880.O)., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: Harris, I., engraver
Date: [ca. 1860]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (London Set) [P.9713.3]

Title: Life in Philadelphia. General order!!! Tention!! de whole city ob Philadelphia!! Philadelphia, Uly 14th 1825, 6 month and little more beside
Description: Racist caricature about free African Americans' summer celebratory processions commemorating the anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade by the United States, an act that took effect in 1808. Shows a Philadelphia street scene with an African American peddler and an African American shoe shiner. In the left, the peddler, attired in a wide-brimmed hat, waist coat with tails, and pantaloons carries a basket and exclaims, "Philadelphia Uly 14, 1825 & little arter." The shoe shiner, attired in a waistcoat and pants, holds a rack of boots and responds "That is de day ob de grand Celebrahsun." The men stand in profile. Also shows, in the background, two African American boys, attired in jackets and pants, facing the viewer, and one with his hands playfully raised in the air. Also contains several lines of text in vernacular and dialect addressed to "Peter Mink, de Chief Marshal ob de day, he Majesty de President” and “Per order Pompey Peterl, President and Snappo Gripes, Secretary" printed below the image. Text explicates the appropriate attire and manners expected during the celebratory procession, including "two sleebes to dare coat"; "trousaloon be all ob light complexion"; and "de Soulger dat know he duty always hold upun head like Lamb Tail an look savage like Meat Ax." Also details the punishment for "neglec to discomply," including "whip to death"; "fine of 40 shillings"; and placement in "de House of Destruction for Ninety nine years." Figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features and their skin tone is depicted in black hand coloring., Title from item., Date inferred from content and name of publisher., Contains two bubbles of dialogue in the vernacular within image: “Philadelphia_ Uly 14 1825_ & little arter”/”That is de day of de grand Celebrashun”, Lib. Company. Annual report, 2003, p. 40-42., See Reilly 1825-1 for variant published in Boston., Added to African Americana Digital Collection 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., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Date: [ca. 1835]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (London Set) [P.2004.4]

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