© Copyright 2025 - The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1314 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. TEL (215) 546-3181 FAX (215) 546-5167
For inquiries, please contact our IT Department
- Title
- Lautz Bro's and Co.'s soaps Buffalo NY. U.S.A. Beat that if you can
- Description
- Racist trade card depicting a well-dressed white man "cleaning" an African American man. The men smile and stand behind a laundry bucket of soapy water marked "Beat That If You Can. Soaps" on a table labeled "U.S.A." The white man holds the top of the African American's head with his left hand and a soapy brush with his right. The African American man looks toward the white man and raises up his left hand. The right half of his face is depicted with a white skin tone. The white man has mutton chops, and wears a brown jacket, a blue bowtie, and a monocle. The black man wears a red button-down shirt with an open collar. Lautz Bros. & Co. was originally founded in 1853 in Buffalo, New York as the Lautz Company by German immigrant Wilhelm Lautz Sr. After his death in 1866, his wife, sons, and grandsons continued to run the firm from Buffalo, New York through the early 20th century., Title from item., Advertising text printed on verso: Use Lautz Bros. & Co's. Pure and Healthy Soaps! No so-called Greases used in manufacturing them, but made only from the best material obtainable. Acme Soap, (Cut Full Pounds.) Is the best Bar Soap in the Market. Try it! Nos. 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38 and 40 Hanover Street, Buffalo, N.Y. Branch Offices. No. 163 Chambers Street, New York. No. 13 South Front Street, Philadelphia. No. 38 River Street, Chicago., Printer's imprint in upper and lower right margins of print., Gift of David Doret.
- Date
- [ca. 1885]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Lautz [P.2017.95.102]
- Title
- Dixon's carburet of iron stove polish
- Description
- Trade card promoting Joseph Dixon Crucible Company's stove polish and depicting a racist caricature of an African American woman nanny at work. Shows the nanny smiling, holding, and scrubbing an unclothed white girl, who is coated in black stove polish along her right side. The long, brown haired girl wears a red headband and is partially covered by a white cloth draped around by the nanny. The nanny uses a scrub brush under the right arm of the girl. The girl stands, her right leg raised, upon a table covered with a yellow tablecloth and stained by the polish. She looks down and touches the nanny's face with her right hand. She places her left hand over the woman's hand on her left side. The nanny is attired in a white head kerchief with red polka dots; a yellow short-sleeved shirt with red stripes; and a blue skirt. On the table is a plate; a brush; and boxes labeled Dixon's Stove Polish. Image also includes, in the left background, a stove with a steaming copper kettle and a partial view of a stove pipe and checkered flooring. The Joseph Dixon Crucible Company, established by Joseph Dixon in Salem, Mass. in 1827, produced graphite pencils, crucibles and stove polish, and relocated to Jersey City, N.J. in 1847. In 1868, the firm name changed from Joseph Dixon & Co. to the Jos. Dixon Crucible Co. In 1870 the firm won a trademark case against a Philadelphia competitor selling J.C. Dixon Stove Polish., Title from item., Date deduced from history of the advertised business., Advertising text printed on verso: Established 1827. Dixon's stove polish; over fifty years in the market. Neat; quick; brilliant, and lasting. No dust. No odor. Nothing will make a stovd (sic) so bright and cheerful for so long a time as the Dixon stove polish. It is by far the cheapest in use, in the long run. Buy it. Try it. Take no other. Pressed into a neat quarter-pound packet, absolutely free of adulteration. Six millions sold in 1881. Jos. Dixon Crucible Co., Jersey City, N.J., Gift of David Doret., Library Company holds duplicate copies [1975.F.235; P.9577.14; P.9599].
- Date
- [ca. 1885]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Dixon [P.2017.95.44]
- Title
- Dixon's carburet of iron stove polish
- Description
- Trade card promoting Joseph Dixon Crucible Company's stove polish and depicting a racist caricature of an African American woman nanny at work. Shows the nanny smiling, holding, and scrubbing an unclothed white girl, who is coated in black stove polish along her right side. The long, brown haired girl wears a red headband and is partially covered by a white cloth draped around by the nanny. The nanny uses a scrub brush under the right arm of the girl. The girl stands, her right leg raised, upon a table covered with a yellow tablecloth and stained by the polish. She looks down and touches the nanny's face with her right hand. She places her left hand over the woman's hand on her left side. The nanny is attired in a white head kerchief with red polka dots; a yellow short-sleeved shirt with red stripes; and a blue skirt. On the table is a plate; a brush; and boxes labeled Dixon's Stove Polish. Image also includes, in the left background, a stove with a steaming kettle and a partial view of a stove pipe and checkered flooring. The Joseph Dixon Crucible Company, established by Joseph Dixon in Salem, Mass. in 1827, produced graphite pencils, crucibles and stove polish, and relocated to Jersey City, N.J. in 1847. In 1868, the firm name changed from Joseph Dixon & Co. to the Jos. Dixon Crucible Co. In 1870 the firm won a trademark case against a Philadelphia competitor selling J.C. Dixon Stove Polish., Title from item., Date deduced from history of the advertised business., Advertising text printed on verso: 57 years in market Dixon's pure carburet of iron. Stove polish. The oldest. The best. The quickest. The neatest. Ask your grocer for it., Gift of David Doret.
- Date
- [ca. 1885]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Dixon [P.2017.95.45]
- Title
- Excelsior metal polish, for polishing and cleaning cutlery, brass, copper, tin ware and all bright steel and metal work
- Description
- Trade card promoting metal polish manufacturer Walpole Emery Mills and depicting a racist caricature of an African American woman domestic polishing cookware. Shows an African American woman portrayed with exaggerated features and attired in a red and yellow striped head kerchief; a blue short-sleeved shirt; a red and yellow shawl; a red skirt; and a white apron with red polka dots, smiling and looking at the viewer. She holds a brush in her right hand and a pot in her left hand. In the left, a brown-haired white woman, attired in a yellow dress with white ruffles at the neck and sleeves and a red bow, bends over a table with a plate in her hands as she looks at the African American woman. In the foreground, two white children look at the reflection of their cat in a polished pan. A boy, attired in a blue Fauntleroy outfit, smiles with his arms apart as he looks down at the pan. A white girl, attired in a white dress decorated with orange bows at the shoulders, sits on the floor and holds the pan up with her right hand. She holds an orange cat with black stripes up to the pan with her left hand. The cat arcs its back with its fur standing up and has its mouth wide open. In the left is an oversized can labeled, "Trademark Excelsior Metal Polish Manufactured by the Walpole Emery Mills 114 Milk Street Boston." On top of the can is another orange cat with black stripes that is arching its back with its mouth open in alarm. In the background is a cupboard with plates and bowls on the shelves. In the right is a table with a large stock pot and lid and a can of metal polish with a skillet hanging from a hook at the front of the table. Walpole Emery Mills, manufacturers of Excelsior metal polish, was founded in 1877 in South Walpole, Massachusetts. The company operated into the 20th century., Title from item., Distributor’s imprint printed on verso: Holway, Wright & Miner, Manufacturers' agents, New York: 167 Chambers Street. Boston: 135 State Street., Advertising text printed on verso: Excelsior metal polish. Acknowledged the cheapest and best article known for cleaning and polishing cutlery, brass, tin ware, and all kitchen utensils, sewing machine plates, nickel plate, bath tubs, copper boilers, bicycles, needles, scissors, carpenter's tools, and all bright metal and steel work. A single trial will prove it to be a household and mechanical necessity. It is neatly put up in tin cans, containing one pound, half-pound and quarter-pound each, with directions for using. Price list. 1/4 lb. cans...10 cents each. 1/2 lb"....15"". 1 lb"...25"". For sale by grocers, druggists, hardware stove and tinware dealers. Illustration of a can of Excelsior metal polish., Gift of David Doret.
- Date
- [ca. 1890]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Excelsior [P.2017.95.61]
- Title
- Enoch Morgan's Sons Sapolio
- Description
- Racist trade card promoting soap manufacturer Enoch Morgan's Sons Company and depicting African American women domestics cleaning a parlor. Shows an African American woman, attired in a head kerchief; hoop earrings; a polka dotted dress with the sleeves rolled up to her upper arms; and black shoes, on her hands and knees cleaning a floor with a brush in her right hand. There is a wooden bucket beside the woman. In the right, another African American woman, attired in a short-sleeved dress with a bustle and checked skirt, stands cleaning the molding of a doorway with a cloth. In the background is a lit fireplace and mantle with vases on top of it. Enoch Morgan's Sons Company began manufacturing Sapolio soap in 1869 in New York. Peruvian company Intradevco Industrial SA purchased Sapolio in 1997., Title from item., Date deduced from history of the advertised business., Distributor's imprint stamped on recto: Tom S. Culver, Dealer in surplus [?] teas, coffees, [?] and flour. Canned, dried, and [?] vegetables, etc. Choice brands of [?] tobacco. A fine [?] Ithaca, N.Y., Advertising text printed on verso: There is no one article known that will do so many kinds of work in and about the house and do it so well as Enoch Morgan's Sons Sapolio. (Each cake is wrapped in tin foil, and surrounded with Ultramarine Blue Band, and bears the above device.) Always note this. A cake of Sapolio, a bowl of water and a brush, cloth or sponge will make House Cleaning an easy and quick job--Will clean paint and all painted surfaces-- Will clean marble, mantels, tables and statuary-- Will clean oil-cloths, floors, shelves, &c. -- Will clean bath tubs, wash-basins, &c. -- Will clean crockery, glassware, &c. -- Will clean kitchen utensils, of all kinds--Will clean windows without splashing of water -- Will polish tin, brass, and copperwares-- Will polish knives as you wash them-- Will polish all metal surfaces and Will clean all household articles -- and is better and cheaper than soap, emery, rotten stone, &c. Price 10 c. per cake. Illustration of a white man looking at the bottom of a pan that reflects his face as a mirror., Gift of David Doret.
- Date
- [ca. 1890]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Enoch [P.2017.95.59]
- Title
- Friday. Use Higgins' soap in de mornin, a washin of de winder, for wif good soap and a merry heart, dar's nothin for to hinder
- Description
- Racist trade card promoting Higgins' soap and depicting a caricature of an African American woman domestic washing a window. The woman is portrayed with exaggerated features and speaks in the vernacular. Shows the African American woman with her hair in pigtail braids tied at the ends in white bows, attired in an orange and yellow striped head kerchief; a red and white shawl; a blue, short-sleeved shirt with black stripes; an orange and yellow checked skirt; yellow, red, and white striped stockings; and black shoes. The woman sits on the window ledge with her legs crossed at the ankles. Her upper body is outside of the house as she washes the exterior of the window with a white cloth. The woman smiles at the viewer and says, “Use Higgins' soap in de mornin, a washin of de winder, for wif good soap and a merry heart, dar's nothin for to hinder.” In the right is a wooden bucket with a bar of soap labeled, “Higgins Soap,” on top of a wooden stool. The 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 from item., Date deduced from history of the advertised business., Gift of David Doret.
- Date
- [ca. 1880]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Higgins' [P.2017.95.84]

