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Title: [African American woman on a balcony talking on a tin can telephone to an African American man minstrel]
Description: Die-cut trade card specimen shaped like a top hat and depicting racist caricatures of an African American woman on a balcony talking on a tin can telephone to an African American man minstrel. Shows the African American woman, attired in a yellow dress, leaning over the balcony of a palatial building, while holding a tin can telephone on a string to her right ear. On the ground, the African American man minstrel is portrayed with exaggerated features and attired in a white top hat with a black band, a white collared shirt, a black bowtie, a white waistcoat, a black jacket with tails, red and white striped pants, and black shoes. He stands holding the other end of the tin can telephone to his right ear. A banjo lies at his feet., Title supplied by cataloger., Date deduced from the visual content., Gift of David Doret.
Date: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Misc. 29 [P.2017.95.239x]

Title: " Othello"
Description: Racist trade card specimen depicting an African American man “Othello” holding a knife and jealously looking at an African American woman and man conversing. Shows the African American man, attired in a hat, a red shirt with a white collar, white and blue striped pants with yellow suspenders, red socks, and black shoes, baring his teeth in an angry expression while he holds a knife in his right hand. He stands beside a building and looks over his right shoulder. Behind the building, in the background, an African American woman, attired in a red, short-sleeved dress with a white collar and red shoes, stands with her hands on her hips. She talks with an African American man, attired in a hat, a white collared shirt, a black jacket, khaki pants, and brown shoes, who has his left hand in his jacket pocket and points his index finger on his right hand at the woman., Title from item., Date deduced from the visual content., Gift of David Doret.
Date: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Misc. - Othello [P.2017.95.207]

Title: Clark's mile-end 60 spool cotton
Description: Racist trade card promoting Clark Thread Company and depicting a genre scene of an African American man and woman in conversation on a country road. The man and woman are portrayed with exaggerated features and speaking in the vernacular. Shows, in the left, the man standing on a dirt road and holding a piece of thread attached to a giant spool labeled "Clark's mile-end 60 spool thread." He is attired in black boots; yellow striped pants with patches on the knees and rolled to his calves; a white shirt; a red vest; and a green jacket. His straw hat is upturned on the ground beside him. In the right, an African American woman sits in a horse-drawn wagon holding the reins to a white horse. She tells the man "luck I got a spool to mend yer clos' with." She is attired in a yellow head kerchief and a red dress with yellow trim at the neck. The George A. Clark & Brother Company, manufactory of embroidery and sewing thread, was founded in 1863 in Newark, N.J. The firm was renamed Clark & Co. in 1879, and in the 1880s created a six-cord, soft finished thread called "Our New Thread" or "O.N.T." The business merged with J. & P. Coats in 1896, which lead to a series of mergers with fourteen other companies. Into the 21st century, the company continues to manufacture thread under the name Coats & Clark., Title from item., Place of publication deduced from place of operation of advertised business., Date deduced from history of the advertised business., Text on recto: Ef dat mile end thread don't hold, dere ain't anything- lucky I got a spool to mend yer old clos' with., Advertising text printed on verso: Clark's Mile-End Spool Cotton is the best for hand and machine sewing. Clark's Mile-End Colors are made expressly to match the leading shades of dress goods, and are unsurpassed both in quality and color. Clark's Mile-End Spool Cotton is six-cord in all numbers to 100 inclusive., Gift of David Doret.
Date: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Clark [P.2017.95.33]

Title: B.F. Gilmore, trunks and traveling bags, 237 Westminster St., Prov., R.I
Description: Racist, satiric trade card promoting B.F. Gilmore's luggage store in Providence, R.I. Depicts a genre scene of an African American woman speaking with an African American man who unknowingly squirts a white man with a hose. The figures are caricaturized and portrayed with exaggerated features. In the right, the African American woman domestic, attired in a red headkerchief and a yellow dress, stands at a waist-high green fence. She crosses her arms and carries a feather duster in her left hand as she speaks with an African American man on the other side of the fence. The man, attired in a white shirt, a blue jacket with gold buttons, and green pants, gestures with his left hand as he talks to the woman. In his right hand, he carries a hose, which he accidently sprays on a white man walking down the sidewalk. The brown-haired white man has a mustache and is attired in black shoes, green striped pants, a white collared shirt with a red tie, a green waistcoat, and a green jacket. He opens his mouth and throws both hands up in alarm as the water knocks the top hat off of his head. In the right background, trees and part of a white house are visible. Benjamin F. Gilmore (1833-1906) established a business manufacturing and selling luggage in Providence, Rhode Island. The business operated until circa 1902., Title from item., Place of publication inferred from place of operation of the advertised business., Date from copyright statement: Copyrighted 1877., Gift of David Doret.
Date: 1877
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Gilmore [P.2017.95.70]

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