"Raising the liberty pole"
Title
"Raising the liberty pole" Dedicated to the American people. Commemorative of 1776. The centenary of independence
Description
Print after painting by New York historical painter and Art Union exhibitor, Frederick Augustus Chapman, commemorating the Declaration of Independence. Depicts the raising of a liberty pole in a colonial town square. Image contains a group of men, including an African American man, raising the pole as around them revelers rejoice; a tavern sign with a portrait of King George III is pulled down; the Sons of Liberty rally; volunteers for "War, Liberty, and Rights" are recruited; a white man loyalist turns away in disgust; and a white woman raises her baby in celebration as other women solemnly look on. Liberty poles, symbols and meeting places of the radical group, Sons of Liberty, first appeared in 1766 following the repeal of the Stamp Act., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Copyrighted 1875. By John C. McRae; New York., Gift of Mrs. Francis P. Garvan, 1978., 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.
Creator
McRae, John C., engraver
Date
1875
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC-American Revolution [8384.F.13]
The pic nic on the Fourth of July, "A day to be remembered"
Title
The pic nic on the Fourth of July, "A day to be remembered"
Description
Copy of subscription print published in 1864 and 1866 for "Demorest's Monthly Magazine" after the painting of Lily May Spencer showing her family at a Fourth of July picnic in a grove near, possibly, the Passaic River, in Newark, N.J, the hometown of the Spencers. Shows Spencer's husband Benjamin in the center of the view, lying on his side, and with one hand on the broken rope of a tree swing. Family members surround him, seated and standing, and predominately laugh and clap, except for a boy who attempts to help him up and the artist who runs toward him with her arms out. Another child waves a flag while on her father's shoulders. In the foreground, in the right, an African American man servant with a picnic basket, pot, and ice cream churn at his feet is distracted by the husband and pours wine on an older female guest who scowls. To their left, an African American woman caretaker holds a concertina and watches the scene with African American man. Seated next to her is her young white charge, who rests on a dog. To the right, a boy, holding up a small instrument, possibly a noise maker, lays behind a log on which a young couple courts each other. They hold hands and the woman places a fan to her face. Lush greenery forms the landscape, and in the background, a path through the woods, and canoes, a sailboat, and boys playing at the river is visible., Title from item., Published and copyrighted by the New York Engraving, Printing & Publishing Company in 1864 and published by H. Peters and P. & J. Levy (N. Y.) in 1866., Gift of David Doret, 2009., Trimmed and strip of paper mounted on bottom edge., 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
Hollyer, Samuel, 1826-1919, engraver
Date
[ca. 1864]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC - Holidays - F [P.2009.6.1]
Cornwallis is taken!
Title
Cornwallis is taken! The watchman's cry - Philadelphia 1781
Description
Print commemorating the surrender in 1781 of British General Cornwallis at Yorktown depicting the watchman's purported moonlit announcement of the event on October 22nd at the Philadelphia residence of Thomas McKean, the president of Congress. Near the "Geo. Washington" tavern, the white watchman, one hand raised, a lantern in the other, his mouth open and with a few teeth missing, cries the news to the crowd of men, women, and children surrounding him and McKean. McKean, wearing a silken robe, chin in hand listens. His face portrayed with a look of contemplation. The crowd, many in nightclothes hold candlesticks, pray, cheer, and listen solemnly. Included in the crowd are a white man veteran with a prosthetic wooden peg leg, an African American boy, an African American woman caregiver holding presumably McKean's baby in the doorway, a white man and woman couple facing each other and holding hands, white women in shawls and elegant robes, a seated Native American woman attired in moccasins, and a white man portrayed with a frowned expression near behind the watchman., Title from item., Date inferred from duplicate with variant imprint in the collections of the American Antiquarian Society.., Gift of Mrs. Francis P. Garvan, 1978., 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., For further desciption, see Erika Piola, "Creating The Watchman’s Cry: A spectrum of diversity in an historical popular print." Representations and uses of the American Revolution in past and present 25 (Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2025).
Creator
Doney, Thomas, engraver
Date
[ca. 1856]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC-American Revolution [8384.F.23]
Washington's triumphal entry into New York, Nov. 25th, 1783
Title
Washington's triumphal entry into New York, Nov. 25th, 1783
Description
Historic scene from the close of the American Revolution depicting General Washington, carrying his hat in his right hand and holding the reins in his left hand, on horseback and triumphantly parading his troops through a crowded New York City street on November 25, 1783. Following him closely on horseback are his principal officers: Governor George Clinton, General Frederick William Augustus, Baron von Steuben, General Thaddeus Kosciusko, General Gilbert Motier De La Fayette, Alexander Hamilton, General Henry Knox, General Israel Putnam, General Nathaniel Greene, and General Horatio Gates. Army personnel in the back carry the St. George cross flag, the New England Pine Tree flag, and the Washington life banner. The exuberant spectators, comprised of prominent figures and everyday citizens, line both sides of the thoroughfare and cheer from the street, balconies, and windows and include: Martha Washington; the society ladies of the Republican Court including Mrs. Cornelia [Tappan] Clinton, Mrs. Anne Willing Bingham, Mrs. Elizabeth [Schuyler] Hamilton, Mrs. Sarah [Livingston] Jay, Mrs. Polly Caton, and Mrs. Abigail Adams; Native Americans of the Six Nations including Chief Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant); General Benjamin Lincoln; Thomas Mifflin; John Marshall; Reverend David Jones; Stephen Hopkins; Miss Bingham; Miss J. Marshall; Mrs. Hamlin; the personification of a free press as an older white man reporter; continental guards; an African American woman peddler seated and holding a basket of grapes; and an older white man veteran with a crutch., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the Year 1860 by Geo T. Perry in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania., Copyrighted by George T. Perry., Pamphlet titled Description of the print entitled Washington's triumphal entry, New York, November 25th, 1783 (Philadelphia: George T. Perry, 1861) describes and provides a key to figures in the engraving. Copy of Library of Congress original housed with print. Link to digital version below in Koha Catalog., Peter C. Marzio's Chromolithography 1840-1900: The democratic art, pictures for 19th-century America (Boston: David R. Grodine, 1979), p. 27 and 283., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1973, p. 44-45., 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
Inger, Christian, lithographer
Date
1860
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department ***GC-American Revolution [P.2279], https://www.loc.gov/item/10031942/