Search results

Title: Tobacco Banner
Description: A silk banner that was carried by Thomas Leiper for the tobacconists in the Grand Federal Procession in honor of the ratification of the Constitution in Philadelphia on July 4, 1788., Banner has a painted design of a tobacco plant, bottle and bladder of snuff, thirteen stars, and a tobacco barrel beneath a pink ribbon which reads, "Success to the Tobacco Plant" and the date, "1788.", See Francis Hopkinson's Account for a detailed decription of the Tobacconists in the Procession., On deposit from the Friends of the Thomas Leiper House.
Date: 1788
Location: OBJ on deposit

Title: Fourth of July celebration in Sharp's Grove, Franklinville, Gloucester County, N.J Good music! Dinner & supper provided! Professors Adams and Urion, will perform some of their best national airs. One hundred guns will be fired during the day. Ice cream and other refreshments, also fire works will be sold on the ground. Several distinguished orators are expected to address the company on the issue of the times. Grand cotillion party in the evening!
Description: The illustration is and eagle on a shield with the banner: 1863. 1863., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War.
Date: [1863]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare 2# Am 1863 Fourth (6)5777.F.27a (McAllister)

Title: [Pennsylvania Railroad Depot]
Description: View of the Pennsylvania Railroad Depot at the Centennial Exhibition grounds. Building is adorned with multiple flags and pedestrians are visible on sidewalks., , Yellow mount with rounded corners., Gift of Raymond Holstein.
Creator: Cremer, James, 1821-1893
Date: 1876
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Holstein stereo - Centennial Photo [P.2011.47.691]

Title: "The boys in blue," returning the state flags to the governor of Pennsylvania, Independence Square, Philadelphia July 4th, 1866. [graphic] / Rea & Sharp, engravers.
Description: Copyright secured., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of Civil War views., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited, Shows a large crowd of spectators surrounding a platform of dignitaries in Independence Square for the July 4th celebration commemorating the return of colors to the state by the Pennsylvania regiments. American flags and banners adorn the rear of Independence Hall. Several military personnel, flags, and a banner advertising King & Baird, book & job printers, are visible in the foreground. Veterans from over one-hundred regiments and the orphan children of soldiers and sailors killed during the Civil War attended the ceremony officiated by Mayor General George G. Meade and Governor Andrew G. Curtin.
Creator: Rea & Sharp engraver., creator
Date: [1866]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia Print Dept. *Ph Pr - Gov't Buildings - I [5779.7]

Title: [Celebration at building construction site]
Description: Group portrait of white men celebrants, attired in light-colored hats and suits, at a building construction site on a major city street. An older white man, attired in an oversized hat decorated with flowers, holds a baton and sits before the group of men who stand on planks balanced across exposed iron girders in the sidewalk, on a large pulley, and on cement blocks before the unfinished building. In the left, four African American men musicians with guitars and a fiddle stand on the planks of wood and look at the viewer., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from attire of the sitters., Purchase 1989., 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. 1910]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - unidentified - construction [P.9260.426]

Title: The first day of the yam custom
Description: Depicts the annual yam festival, a large public ceremony held at the beginning of the yam harvest in September. It includes a vast and diverse array of figures: the King, his warriors, dancers, musicians, officers of the foreign mission, Moors, and various onlookers. Toward the center of the scene, the King sits underneath the state umbrella, which is bright red, topped by a golden elephant, and flanked by the flags of Great Britain, Holland, and Denmark. The children of the nobility sit at the King's feet, waving elephant tails. A procession of dancers approaches the King; those at the front beat skulls decorated with thyme. Farther to the left, a bloody prisoner is being led by two of the King's messengers. In the background, Odumata, an aged aristocrat, is being carried in the state hammock. At the extreme left, a group of captains dance in a circle, firing their guns. At the far right, a group of Moors watch the festivities. Closer to the center, officers of the mission can be seen. Their linguists sit in front of them; their soldiers and servants stand behind them., Fold-out plate in T. Edward Bowdich's Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee: with a Statistical Account of that Kingdom, and Geographical Notices of Other Parts of the Interior of Africa (London: J. Murray, Albemarle-Street: printed by W. Pulmer and Co., Cleveland-Row, St. James's, 1819), p. 274., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.
Creator: R. Havell & Son, engraver
Date: Dec. 2, 1818
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare *U Afri Bowd 12983.Q p 274, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2894

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]

Title: Centennial anniversary of the Lutheran Church, southeast corner 4th and Cherry streets
Description: Interior views showing the heavily adorned altar of the New Lutheran Church also known as Zion Church (i.e. Zion-St. Michael's Lutheran Church) during the centennial celebration of the church built 1766-1769 after the designs of Robert Smith. Decorations include a large banner, garland, flowers, and wreathes. One view also shows pews., Yellow mounts with square corners., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of views of Philadelphia., One of images [(4)1322.F.24a] accompanied by label misidentifying location., One of images [1332.F.24b] reproduced in Kenneth Finkel's Nineteenth century photography in Philadelphia (New York: Dover Publications, Inc. in cooperation with the Library Company of Philadelphia, 1980), entry #172., Digitization funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
Date: 1866
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - unidentified - Religion [(4)1322.F.24a & b]

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]

Title: Happy Lil' Sal as the queen of the May
Description: Racist cartoon containing vignettes about a group of African American children, portrayed in caricature, at a May Day party where Happy Lil’ Sal and Por Lil' Mose are crowned as Queen and King. In the left, Mose, attired in a gold crown, a blue sailor suit, and blue shoes, stands holding the may pole. Sal, attired in a gold crown, red roses around her head and neck, a pink dress, yellow stockings, and white shoes, carries sunflowers. At the bottom, a group of African American children hold ribbons and dance around the may pole in exaggerated movements as a boy sits on a wooden fence playing the banjo. The center vignette depicts white men thieves, attired in torn and worn clothes, stealing baskets with the children’s lunch. In the right, a rain storm soaks Mose and Sal, and the wind blows the children off their feet while holding umbrellas. Along the top, shows the parade of children, led by Sal and Mose, followed by a boy playing the drum, children holding ribbons on the may pole, a dog pulling a wagon labeled, “the Prince of May” carrying a small boy, boys carrying the picnic baskets, and a boy playing the horn. Contains 25 lines of text written in the vernacular explicating the vignettes which end with the line "Por lil' Mose., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Copyright 1901 by the New York Herald Co., The "Por lil Mose" series was published in the New York Herald from 1901 until 1902., Purchase 1978., 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., Richard Felton Outcault (1868-1928) is known as the creator of the first published full page comic. He is also the creator of "Buster Brown."
Creator: Outcault, Richard Felton, 1863-1928, artist
Date: 1901
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1901 Hap [P.8435]

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]

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/

Main menu