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Title: Brook's prize medal spool cotton. Hand & machine sewing
Description: Illustrated trade card depicting two groups of men demonstrating the strength of Brook's cotton thread by playing tug of war with it on a dirt path near a body of water. A goat stands on its hind legs on top of a spool of cotton labeled "Brook's six cord 40" in the foreground. Another spool labeled "Brook's patent glace thread 50" sits adjacent to the first., Text printed on verso lists medals and awards won by the company in various world cities between 1851 and 1880., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Digitized.
Date: [ca. 1885]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Brook's [1975.F.47]

Title: Arbuckle's ariosa coffee. Arbuckle Bros. Coffee Company, New York
Description: One of a series of "fifty" trade cards, "each one of which shows a correct map (properly bounded) of one State, or Territory" to promote Arbuckle's Ariosa Coffee. Depicts a map of Alabama (left) and a scene with African American men and women picking cotton in a cotton field (right). Scene shows a man in the foreground placing cotton in a basket piled high with it. In the center, right background, a woman stands and holds a large basket piled high with cotton on her head. In the distant background, two men and three women bend over and pick cotton from the plants. A piece of harvesting equipment is visible in the far left background. The men and women wear long sleeve shirts and hats or bonnets. Arbuckle's Coffee was founded by brothers John and Charles Arbuckle following the Civil War. The company was one of the first to sell roasted coffee and to place it in one pound packages. Arbuckle often included trade cards in the packages., Title from item., Image captions: Cotton Picking; Population 1,262,[ ]5; Area in Sq. Miles 52,250., Date inferred from content, dates of activity of lithographer, and reference to Washington which gained statehood in 1889 as a territory., Series number printed on verso: No. 67., Several lines of advertising text printed on verso explicating why Arbuckle's Ariosa Coffee "costs more and is worth more than other brands of coffee," including higher grade green coffee and the "glazing" process. Also includes a "Read This." section describing the series of cards as "interesting, instructive, and artistic," and their purpose as and "object lesson or both young and old." Section ends with the alphabetical list of 50 states and territories depicted. Washington, New Mexico, and Wyoming are listed as territories., RVCDC, Description reviewed 2022., Access points revised 2022., Some degradation to image.
Date: [ca. 1885]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Arbuckle's [P.2017.44]

Title: H.M.S. Pinafore
Description: Illustrated trade card depicting a scene from Sullivan & Gilbert's comic opera "Her Majesty's Ship Pinafore" including a captain, his crew and women on the deck of a ship with two large spools of Willimantic's "Superior Six Cord Thread". Caption reads: "B.--Did you ever? C.--No! Never! B.--What never? C. Positively never! used anything equal to Willimantic Six Cord Spool Cotton.", Advertising text printed on verso lists the awards won by Willimantic's Six Cord Spool Cotton, including the gold medal awarded by Maryland Institute Fair in 1878. Includes vignettes of the obverse and reverse surfaces of the medal., 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 - Willimantic [1975.F.666]

Title: Down where the cotton blossoms grow
Description: Postcard depicting a group portrait of African American cotton pickers, predominantly women and children, in a cotton field. Show the workers stopped from their work and posed toward the viewer. One of the women holds a baby. A wooded area is seen in the background., Date inferred from postmark: New Orleans, May 13, 1911, 9AM., Addressed in manuscript to: Miss Ester Wilson, 318 N. Jardin St., Shenandoah, Penna. Signed H.F.M., Contains cancelled one-cent stamp printed in green ink and depicting Benjamin Franklin in profile., Printed on verso: Made in U.S.A., Gift of George R. Allen., Divided back., Lipsher Specialty Co. operated 1909-1914 and published views of and around New Orleans.
Date: [ca. 1911]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department LCP postcards - Non-Pennsylvania [P.2013.65.20]

Title: [Clark's O.N.T. spool cotton trade cards]
Description: Series of illustrated trade cards for Clark Thread Company's O.N.T. spool cotton. Illustrations depict children in various settings, including flying a kite with a thread from Clark's O.N.T. spool and a little girl fishing. Also shows a family walking with their dog on the sidewalk in front of a large advertisement for Clark's; a mother sewing buttons onto her daughter's coat; and a mother using a Clark's spool thread to keep her walking toddler from falling., Title supplied by cataloger., Printers and engravers include Wemple & Kronheim (N.Y.) and Chas. Shields Sons' (N.Y.)., Two prints [1975.F.213 and 1975.F.879] contain advertising text printed on rectos and versos for Joseph H. Traeger's foreign and domestic dry goods store in Bethlehem, Pa., Two prints [1975.F.186 and 1975.F.190] contain six-month calendars on versos., One print [P.9988.2], die cut and shaped into a cylinder, contains advertising text for Clark's O.N.T. spool cotton on verso along with a distributor's stamp: Holm & McKay, 50, Worcester, Mass., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Digitized.
Date: [ca. 1883]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Clark's O.N.T. [1975.F.147; 1975.F.186; 1975.F.190; 1975.F.213; 1975.F.879; P.9988.2]

Title: [Clark's mile end spool cotton trade cards]
Description: Series of illustrated trade cards for John Clark Jr. & Co.'s mile end spool cotton products numbered 24, 30, and 60. Illustrations depict circus performers or acrobats; an artist tethered and hanging from a large spool of cotton as he paints "Clarks mile end" on the side of a cliff overlooking the ocean; a boy attired in robes navigating a chariot pulled by two white horses; a backyard view of a dog stealing the bone of a much larger dog that is restrained by a thread from a large spool of cotton; and flowers., Title supplied by cataloger., Three prints [1975.F.137, 1975.F.139, 1975.F.143] contain advertising text printed on versos., Three prints printed by Forbes Co. (Boston) and two prints printed by Donaldson Brothers (New York)., Four prints [1975.F.140, 1975.F.144, 1975.F.166, 1975.F.170] contain six-month calendars on versos, with the imprint for Thomas Russell & Co., sole agents, New York., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Digitized.
Date: [ca. 1885]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Clark's mile end [1975.F.137; 1975.F.139-140; 1975.F.143-144; 1975.F.166; 1975.F.170]

Title: [J. & P. Coat's thread trade cards]
Description: Series of trade cards promoting J.&. P. Coats thread and depicting men, women and children performing a variety of activities with the thread, including a white girl swinging on a tree swing; a white man fishing in a stream while a white woman watches; and several white children pretending to be a horse team. Includes a large frog on a riverbank. "So do my sisters and my cousins and my aunts!" depicts an older white woman carrying packages. "Gulliver and the Lilliputians" based on Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" shows an oversized Gulliver being tied down with thread by the Lilliputians. "That's the kind! Bring me some more" depicts an older white woman inspecting different colored spools of thread in a box held up by a white boy. "Ef dis don't fetch you nothing will" depicts an African American man and woman, portrayed in racist caricature, trying to tame a donkey. In the left, the woman, attired in a white bonnet with a red ribbon, a red shirt, a blue scarf, a yellow shirt, a white apron, and gray shoes, uses thread from an enormous J. & P. Coats spool to pull on the bridle on the donkey, who pulls back with its mouth open. Behind the donkey, the man stands, attired in a brown, brimmed hat, a red shirt, blue plaid pants, and blue shoes, who holds a rope in his left hand and scratches his head with his left hand. "We never fade!" depicts an African American boy, portrayed in racist caricature, sitting on an oversized spool of thread in a field. Shows the boy seated and with his legs straddling a giant spool of black thread. He says “we never fade!!” and points his finger at the sun, which has a face and a concerned expression with a downward turned mouth. The boy is barefoot and attired in a white collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows; a multi-colored tie and belt; and red pants rolled up to the knees. In the foreground, two black crows look at the thread. A house is visible in the right background., Brothers James Coats, Jr. (1803-1845) and Peter Coats (1808-1890) established the firm J.&P. Coats, a thread manufactory. Their brother Thomas Coats (1809-1883) joined the firm soon after. By 1840, three quarters of the British company’s business was with the United States. In 1896, the firm merged with thread manufacturer Clark & Co. and formed J. & P. Coats, Ltd. In 2015, the firm was renamed, “Coats Group.”, Title supplied by cataloger., Five prints printed by E. Ketterlinus & Co., Ten prints contain advertising text printed on versos, including promotions for J. & P. Coat's best six cord, soft finish spool cotton; a table of needle and thread numbers; a calendar for 1880; and a description of "Gulliver and the Lilliputians" illustration (on recto of print 1975.F.220)., Gift of Emily Phillips, 1883. Purchase 1999. 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. 1885]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Coats [1975.F.123; 1975.F.126; 1975.F.133; 1975.F.150; 1975.F.157; 1975.F.193; 1975.F.195; 1975.F.220; 69211.D; P.9743; P.9984.4]

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