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Title: Joseph L. Varnam, ladies' and gents' & children's boot & shoe maker, Bustleton, 23rd ward, Philad'a Fine custom work made to order. Repairing promptly attended to
Description: Racist trade card depicting an African American man, portrayed in caricature with an oversized head and exaggerated facial features, sitting on a chair and playing the cello. He is attired in bright, mismatched clothing, including a yellow hat, a red and white striped and collared shirt, a yellow bowtie, a blue jacket with tails, yellow and red striped pants, blue socks, and yellow and black shoes. Includes vignettes of a boot and a shoe printed on verso., Title from stamp on verso., Purchase 2001., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Digitized.
Date: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Varnum [P.9984.1]

Title: Mason's challenge blacking. James S. Mason & Co., nos. 138 & 140 North Front Street, Philadelphia
Description: Advertisement depicting a "shoe blacking" competition between two African American shoe shiners to promote the manufactory of blacking established in 1832 by James S. Mason. Shows two African American men, portrayed in racist caricature, holding a brush, a canister of "Mason's" blacking, and a boot, while they dance on a table. An African American man fiddler sits on a stool and plays. In the foreground, a white man holds an oversized boot. A white shoe shine boy, his pack on his back, stands behind an older man holding his arm as he points at his reflection in the boot. In the left background, a troop of white Union soldiers marches in behind a parade marshal adorned in "M" insignias. The men carry a banner reading "Mason's (Original) Challenge Blacking (Philadelphia)," as well as boots, and signs spelling "M-A-S-O-N." In the right background, a crowd of spectators, including figures likely representing Germany, the Ottoman Empire, Britain, and possibly France, stand and watch the competition attentively. Scene also includes boxes of Mason's Challenge Blacking. Following the death of Mason in 1888, his son Richard assumed the business which was in operation into the 20th century., Title from item., Date inferred from directory listings for the artist and engravers., Attributed by cataloger to Francis H. Schell, but possibly by Frederick B. Schell., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Schell, Francis H., 1834-1909, artist
Date: [ca. 1863]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Ph Pr - 11x14 - Advertisements - M [P.2013.51]

Title: Life in Philadelphia. The new shoes
Description: Racist caricature depicting an African American woman trying on shoes at "Sambo Paley Boots & Shoe Manufacturer." In the left, the woman, seated on a chair, looks down at her slightly raised left foot on which an African American clerk has placed a black slip-on shoe. Her removed yellow shoe rests beside her feet. She is attired in a yellow bonnet adorned with feathers and with a white veil that frames her face like long straight hair, a red puff sleeve dress, and a yellow slip-on shoe. She slightly raises her dress with her left ungloved hand to appear at her shoe and holds a green parasol to the floor with her gloved right hand. A blue and yellow purse hangs from her right wrist. The clerk kneels in front of her and holds her left foot. He is attired in a striped shirt, neck tie, brown vest, brown pantaloons, white stocking and red slipper shoes. The woman states the shoe "is sich a bery dirty color" and does he not have any white or pink ones. The clerk replies that it may not be "handsome" to look at, but surely a "good color to wear." In the background, an African American man, attired in shirt sleeves and an apron, possibly the bootmaker, shines a boot behind a counter and in front of a row of boots and shoes on a cabinet. A brush and can of boot black rest on the counter. A sign reading “Sambo Paley Boots & Shoe Manufacturer. The Best Jet Blacking Sold Here" hangs above the man’s head. In the far left, shoes hang inside the store’s window and visible through the shop’s doorway, a well-dressed African American man and woman walk past in the street. The man wears a top hat and waistcoat and the woman wears a yellow bonnet and puff sleeve dress. Scene also shows pairs of boots resting on the floor across from the kneeling clerk in the right. 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., Inscribed: No. 3., P.2016.45.1 trimmed., Charles Hunt was a respected 19th century London engraver and etcher known primarily for his prints of sporting subjects., P.2016.45.1 gift of Dr. Richard Dunn & Dr. Mary Maples Dunn., Digital image depicted is P.9710.3., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: Summers, William, artist
Date: [ca. 1833]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (London Set) [P.9710.3 & P.2016.45.1]

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