© 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
- The question settled
- Description
- Cartoon depicting Abraham Lincoln as "Old Abe," a white cat who drives "Jeff," (i.e., Jefferson Davis) depicted as a grey striped cat with a noose around his neck from the "United States" food dish. The black cat, "Contraband," (i.e., African American Civil War freedom seeker) makes his way into the dish from the other side. The plate rests upon the Union flag and a map depicting the lower Southern States blockaded by figures of Union ships., Title from item., Possible date of publication supplied by Weitenkampf., During the Civil War, the U.S government declared African American freedom seekers as "contraband of war.", Purchase 1970., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War., 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.
- Date
- [1862?]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1862-12W [7870.F]
- Title
- Emancipation: the past and the future
- Description
- Emancipation print contrasting African American life during and after slavery. Central scene portrays the interior of a free person’s home where several generations of the family socialize around a "Union" stove as the mother cooks. The horrors of slavery are depicted through scenes of the flogging, branding, selling, and capturing of enslaved people. The forthcoming results of freedom are depicted through scenes of the exterior of a free person’s cottage, African American children attending public school, and African Americans receiving payment for their work. Also depicted are: a baby angel freeing the shackles of a kneeling enslaved man as the angel, who has the year 1863 above his head, is held by Father Time; Thomas Crawford’s statue of freedom; and the hellhound Cerberus fleeing liberty., Title from item., Originally published in Harper's weekly, January 24, 1863., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War., 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., Nast was a cartoonist and illustrator most known for his work for the 19th-century periodical "Harper's Weekly."
- Creator
- Nast, Thomas, 1840-1902, artist
- Date
- 1865
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *Political Cartoons - 1865-3 variant [(10)1540.F]
- Title
- The past and the future
- Description
- Emancipation print contrasting African American life during and after slavery. Central scene portrays the interior of a free person's home where several generations of the family socialize around a "Union" stove as the mother cooks. The horrors of slavery are depicted through scenes of the flogging, branding, selling, and capturing of enslaved people. The forthcoming results of freedom are depicted through scenes of the exterior of a free person's cottage, African American children attending public school, and African Americans receiving payment for their work. Also depicted are: a baby angel freeing the shackles of a kneeling enslaved man as the angel is held under the year 1863 by Father Time; Thomas Crawford's statue of freedom; and the hellhound Cerberus fleeing liberty. The Great Central or Sanitary Fair of 1864 was organized by the Philadelphia division of the United States Sanitary Commission to raise money for their soldier relief organization. Although emancipation was a popular theme of the fair, African Americans were excluded from the exhibition., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Inscribed: Price [Fif?]ty Cents., Originally published in "Harper's weekly," January 24, 1863., LCP exhibition catalogue: African American Miscellany, p. 22., Accessioned 1987., 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
- Nast, Thomas, 1840-1902, artist
- Date
- [1864]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *Political Cartoons - 1865-3a variant [P.9177.30]
- Title
- Emancipation
- Description
- Emancipation print depicting a series of scenes contrasting African American life during and after slavery. Central scene portrays the interior of a free person's home where several generations of the family socialize around a "Union" stove as the mother cooks. Below this scene is a portrait of Lincoln and above it a depiction of Thomas Crawford's statue of freedom, as well as the hell hound Cerberus fleeing Liberty. Scenes to the right display the horrors of slavery including the flogging, branding, selling, and capturing of enslaved people. Scenes to the left display the forthcoming results of freedom including the exterior of a free person's cottage, African American children attending public school, and African Americans receiving payment for their work., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by J.W. Umpehent, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania., Originally published in Harper's weekly, January 24, 1863., McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War., 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., Nast was a cartoonist and illustrator most known for his work for the 19th-century periodical "Harper's Weekly."
- Creator
- Nast, Thomas, 1840-1902, artist
- Date
- 1865
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1865-3R [5792.F]
- Title
- Worship of the North
- Description
- Graphic cartoon steeped in Confederate bitterness toward the "Republican" North depicting a scene of Northern idolatry of the African American. Worshippers near a mound of skulls surround a blood-stained altar upon which lies the shackled sacrificed body of American youth. The altar, with a bust of Lincoln dressed as a clown overhead, is constructed from Northern principles such as "Puritanism," "Free Love," and "Negro Worship." Behind the altar an African American man idol, barefoot and bare-chested and portrayed in racist caricature, sits upon the "Chicago Platform." Near the idol stands the statue of "St. Ossawattomi" (i.e., John Brown). The worshippers include General Scott, General Halleck and a loot-laden General Butler, as well as Secretary Edwin Stanton, John Fremont, a knife wielding Henry Ward Beecher, a torch carrying Charles Sumner, Horace Greeley with a censer, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, praying and kneeling atop a volume of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Printed in the top corners is "Ego.", Published in: Sketches from the Civil War in North America (London [i.e., Baltimore]: [the author], 1863-1864), pl. 1., Issued as plate 1 in Sketches from the Civil War in North America (London [i.e., Baltimore]: [the author], 1863-1864), a series of pro-Confederacy cartoons drawn and published by Baltimore cartoonist Adalbert John Volck under the pseudonym V. Blada. The "first issue" of 10 prints (numbered 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 12, 15, 16, 21, 24), with imprint "London, 1863" were printed as etchings. The remaining 20 prints (numbered 4, 8, 9-11, 14, 17-20, 23, 25-27, 29, 30, 32, 33, 40, 45) headed "Second and third issues of V. Blada's war sketches" and dated "London, July 30, 1864" were printed as lithographs., Title and publication information from series at Brown University Library., Accessioned 1979., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War., 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., Aldabert Volck (1828-1912), i.e., V. Blada, was a prominent Southern cartoonist from Baltimore who is best known for his 1863 work "Sketches from the Civil War," later republished circa 1886 by Porter & Coates in Philadelphia under the title "Confederate War Etchings."
- Creator
- Volck, Adalbert John, 1828-1912, artist
- Date
- [1863]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1863 - Wor [P.2275.6]