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- Title
- First meeting of Uncle Tom and Eva
- Description
- Print of a scene from Stowe's popular, anti-slavery novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," originally published in 1851. Depicts "Uncle Tom," an enslaved African American man, and Evangeline St. Claire, the white daughter of a Louisiana enslaver, meeting on the steamship that is taking him to auction. On the deck, Tom, barefoot and attired in a red shirt, blue pants, and with shackles on his wrists, sits on a crate with a Bible in his lap. He talks to an attentive Eva, with her brown hair in ringlets and attired in a pink dress and black shoes, who is seated on a bundle of goods. Three bare-chested, enslaved African American men stand in the background behind a bundle and look on., Title from item., Purchase 1970., 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 the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Creator
- Strong, Thomas W., lithographer
- Date
- [ca. 1853]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *GC - Fictional characters [7869.F]
- Title
- Uncle Tom and Little Eva
- Description
- Print of a scene from Stowe's popular, anti-slavery novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," originally published in 1851. Depicts Little Eva, the "angelic" young, white daughter of a Louisiana enslaver informing "Uncle Tom," the African American man enslaved by her father, of her impending death. Eva, with her blonde hair in ringlets and attired in a white dress, white stockings, and black shoes, points to heaven with her right hand and to the Bible in her lap with her left. She sits next to a barefooted, slightly hunched over Tom, attired in a red shirt with an open neck and blue pants, on a grassy mound in the woods. Also includes a cabin visible in the left background., Title from item., The Kellogg's firm, brothers Edmund Burke and Elijah Chapman, was a prolific New England lithographic firm that nearly rivaled Currier & Ives in the production of popular prints., Reaccessioned as P.9179.10., Purchase 1969., 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.
- Date
- [ca. 1853]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *GC-Fictional Characters [7807.F]
- Title
- Perilous escape of Eliza and child
- Description
- Print of a scene from Stowe's popular, anti-slavery novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," originally published in 1851. Depicts the character Eliza, an African American woman freedom seeker, escaping from Kentucky to Ohio across the icy Ohio River. Eliza, depicted barefoot and with a light skin tone, clutches her son Harry to her breast and straddles two blocks of ice as she looks behind her at the irate white man enslaver on the shore near the tavern from which she has fled., Title from item., Purchase 1997., 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., Stong was a prolific New York mid 19th-century lithographer, wood engraver, and publisher who mainly published stock prints.
- Creator
- Strong, Thomas W., lithographer
- Date
- [ca. 1853]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *GC - Fictional Characters [P.9524.2]
- Title
- Journey of a slave from plantation to the battlefield
- Description
- Collection of twelve titled album (carte-de-visite size) cards depicting the evolution of the life of an African American man from enslavement to a Union soldier. "In the Cotton field" and "The Christmas Week" show his life on the plantation from which he is sold and separated from his family in "The Sale" and "The Parting: 'Buy us too'." His new enslaver whips him in "The Lash," for which he then retaliates in "Blow for Blow." He hides "In the Swamp" and is finally "Free!" to become a Union soldier and "Stand up a Man" to fight in the battlefield to "Make Way for Liberty!" He is struck down in "Victory!" for Liberty, depicted as a white woman, who states as she mourns over his body, "He Died for Me!", Title from series title., Publication information inferred from copyright statement: Entered according to the act of the year 1863 by William A. Stephens in the Clerks' Office of the Dist. Court of the U.S. for the E. Dist. of Pa., Attributed to James Fuller Queen after Henry Louis Stephens., Henry Louis Stephens was a native Philadelphia caricaturist, book, and magazine illustrator who worked in New York in the mid-19th century for the periodical "Frank Leslie's." His brother William Allen Stephens served as his business manager., Described in Gathering history: The Marian S. Carson Collection of Americana. (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1999), p. 26., Original wrapper for the card set held in the collections of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. [LOT 5174], Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of humorous caricatures and photographs. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., Copyright by William A. Stephens, 1120 Girard Avenue, Philadelphia., Description revised 2023., Access points revised 2023., Queen, a Philadelphia lithographer and pioneer chromolithographer known for his attention to detail, served in the Civil War militia from 1862 until 1863, and created several lithographs with Civil War subjects.
- Creator
- Queen, James Fuller, 1820 or 21-1886, artist
- Date
- 1863
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Henry Louis Stephens Collection [(5)5780.F.56m-p; (5)5780.F.57a-h]
- Title
- Proclamation of Emancipation. By the President of the United States of America
- Description
- Print commemorating the Emancipation Proclamation containing a bust-length portrait of Abraham Lincoln and two abolitionist vignettes above text from the Proclamation. In the center, Lincoln, attired in a white collared shirt, a black bowtie, waistcoat, and jacket, faces slightly right and is bordered by an American eagle clutching an olive branch and arrows in front of a backdrop of American flags. To the left and right of the portrait are scenes of an auction of enslaved people, with an African American woman, and free African American men working in a carpentry shop. Below the scenes, two African American cherubs hold a banner inscribed, "By the President of the United States of America." Below the text, an allegorical vignette contrasts the productive North with the destitute South depicting a white woman crying, surrounded by her children, sitting underneath a tree., Title from item., Date from copyright statement., Purchase 1972., 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., J. Mayer & Company, the Boston lithography firm established by John Julius Mayer in 1862, specialized in practical lithography. Despite the official firm name, John Mayer had no partners.
- Creator
- J. Mayer & Co., lithographer
- Date
- 1865
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC - Emancipation [8025.F.4]
- Title
- All slaves were made freemen. By Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States, January 1st, 1863. Come, then, able-bodied colored men, to the nearest United States camp, and fight for the stars and stripes
- Description
- Civil War recruitment print targeting African Americans by evoking the freedoms granted by the Emancipation Proclamation. Depicts a montage of symbolic scenes centered around an African American Union soldier triumphantly holding up a sword and an American flag with the banner "Freedom to the Slave." He stands near broken shackles upon a tri-color flag adorned with a coiled snake. The flag is tugged upon by one of three joyous African Americans freed from enslavement by an African American soldier. Other scenes depict an African American man reading a newspaper on a rocking chair near a plow and child, African American children entering a "Public School" near a church, and a regiment of "U.S. Colored Troops" marching across a battlefield strewn with dead bodies., Title printed on verso., Text of the "Original Version of the John Brown Song" by H.H. Brownell printed on verso., Described in LCP exhibition catalogue: Negro History, entry #139., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of Civil War miscellany [(2)5786.F.107b]. Transferred from #Am 1863 All (2)5786.F.107b. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886. Accessioned 1987 [P.9179.44], 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.
- Date
- [1863]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department GC - Emancipation [P.9179.44; (2)5786.F.107b]
- Title
- In commemoration of the hundredth anniversary of American independence
- Description
- Elaborate Centennial Exhibition commemorative print depicting an arched monument containing a central full-length portrait of George Washington surrounded by vignettes; allegorical figures; and religious quotes by the first president. Washington is depicted mounted on his horse. Arch is adorned with the names of the 38 states and is flanked by columns containing views representing the industries of the North, East, South, and West. Views show a white man laborer of the North chopping a tree at a waterfront, white women loom workers of the East, an overseer on horseback watching an enslaved African American man picking cotton in the South, and a white man farmer reaping his harvest with a horse-drawn plow in the West. Columns also contain allegorical figures to represent the years 1776 and 1876. Justice and Independence (depicted as white women and holding the Declaration), and a prostrate British soldier represent the year 1776 and Peace and Liberty (depicted as white woman and holding a "Ballot"), and a seated enslaved African American man free from his shackles represent the year 1876. Monument also contains views of Independence Hall and Memorial Hall (Centennial Exhibition), the scene showing the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and allegorical figures and emblems symbolizing the classical and industrial arts. Other pictorial elements depict the all-seeing eye; American eagle, shield, and flag; vignettes showing Washington praying, and accepting the sword of surrender from Lord Cornwallis during the American Revolution; and vignette views with dimensions of Centennial Exhibition buildings. Buildings include the Art Gallery, Main Building, Agricultural Hall, Machinery Hall, and Horticultural Hall. The centennial of the United States was celebrated through an international exhibition of industry, agriculture, and art in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia., Not in Wainwright., Improvement copyrighted 1877 The Presbyterian Philadelphia, Pa., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 370, Gift of David Doret, 2007., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
- Date
- 1876, 1877
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **BW - Centennial [P.2007.28.7]
- Title
- The Washington family
- Description
- Group portrait of George Washington, his wife Martha, and his two step-grandchildren gathered around a cloth-covered table. A seated George Washington, attired in civilian clothing, rests one arm on the table and the other on the shoulder of his step-grandson and namesake who stands next to a globe, which shows "America." His step-granddaughter, Nelly, stands next to a seated Martha on the other side of the table. Both are pointing at "North America, United States" on a large map unfurled on the table. William Lee, an African American man enslaved by Washington who worked as his valet including during the Revolutionary War, stands in the right background. He is attired in a white cravat and a black jacket and tucks his left hand into his jacket. A curtain is draped open near a column revealing a waterscape scene in the background., Title from item., Names of sitters printed in margin below image., Purchased with Davida T. Deutsch Women's History Fund, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
- Creator
- Currier & Ives
- Date
- 1873
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *GC - Washington [P.2013.23]
- Title
- Washington birthday greetings
- Description
- Postcard containing an interpretation of Christian Schussele's 1864 painting "Washington and his Family" that was also issued as an engraving. Shows a domestic family group portrait with George and Martha Washington seated at a table, near which their step grand-children Nelly and William stand. A map rests on the table, and Washington holds a book in his lap. In the background, William Lee, an African American man enslaved by Washington who worked as his valet including during the Revolutionary War, enters the room holding a note on a tray. In the right foreground, Washington's overcoat and sword rest on a chair., Date inferred from postmark: Mass., Dec. 1910., Addressed in manuscript to: Mr. Ralph Osgood, Oak St., Springfield, Mass., Inscribed in lower left corner on verso: Cores. from Ethel., Contains cancelled one-cent stamp printed in green ink and depicting Benjamin Franklin in profile., Divided back., Gift of John Serembus, 2013., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
- Date
- [ca. 1910]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department LCP postcards - Non-Pennsylvania [P.2013.66]
- Title
- Reading the Emancipation Proclamation
- Description
- Print depicting a white Union soldier reading the Emancipation Proclamation to families of enslaved African Americans in a cabin. The families are depicted with anxious and solemn mannerisms. Family members surround the officer near a dining table and hearth. An older boy holds a torch providing the officer with light. The father watches over the soldier's shoulder. Other figures, including a "young woman with two children, the house servant of her [enslaver], not belonging to the cabin but happened to be in on the occasion" pray, cheer, and cling to their mothers. Interior also includes a side of bacon hanging next to a ladder, a drying line with cotton balls handing from it above the hearth, and a cradle. Contains portrait of Abraham Lincoln below the image. The Emancipation Proclamation, effective January 1, 1863, granted African Americans not only their right to freedom but the right to join the Union Army., Title from item., Date from copyright statement., After painting by Henry Walker Herrick exhibited at the National Academy of Design in New York in 1865. Exhibited by "possessor" Lucius Stebbins., Publisher and copyright holder Stebbins published complementary pamphlet "Emancipation Proclamation of January 1st, 1864 [sic]" that included "Description of the Engraving." Description: Old man at the right with folded hands, Grand-father; Old lady at the left with cane in hand, Grand-mother; man leaning on ladder, the father; woman with child in her arms, the mother; lad swinging his hat, oldest son; one holding torch, second son; little girl, oldest daughter; infant in the arms of its mother. Young woman with two children, the house servant of her master, not belonging to the cabin but happened to be in on the occasion. Party reading, Union Soldier. The internal view of the Cabin is true to nature. The stone chimney, garret, ladder, side of bacon, rough cradle, piece of sugar cane and cotton balls, &c, all combine to give a correct idea of the slaves' home. Lincoln Financial Foundation copy of pamphlet accessible at Internet Archive., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1993, p. 44., LCP exhibition catalogue: An African American Miscellany p. 22., Purchase 1993., 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., Lucius Stebbins (1810-1901), born in Massachussets, worked in Hartford, Connecticut, in the businesses of map coloring and subscription book publishing (American Publishing Company).
- Creator
- Watts, James W., -1895, engraver
- Date
- 1864
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC-Emancipation [P.9429]
- Title
- Emancipation Freedom for all, both black and white!
- Description
- Print depicting the Emancipation Proclamation for both African Americans and whites including equal opportunity to education. Depicts Lincoln raising his right hand and holding the "Emancipation Proclamation" in his left hand in the center between a poor white family and an enslaved African American family. Both families, attired in torn and worn clothing, stand and kneel as they hold their clasped hands up toward Lincoln, who treads upon broke shackles and a serpent. A "Spelling Book" lies on the ground near them. In the background, Union soldiers stop a white man enslaver from whipping a shackled and enslaved African American woman and children enter "Public School, No. 1." From the roof of the school waves a flag inscribed "Education to all Classes." Contains text from the Proclamation above the image, "and by virtue of the power and for the purpose of the aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves, within designated States and parts of States are, and henceforward shall be free!", Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to the act of Congress A.D. 1865 by J.L. Magee in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania., Magee, a lithographer, painter, and cartoonist, established his own firm in Philadelphia in 1850., LCP exhibition catalogue: Negro History, p. 77., Accessioned 1999., 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.
- Date
- 1865
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department GC - Emancipation [P.9702]
- Title
- Centennial Westward the course of empire takes its way
- Description
- Print commemorating the 100th anniversary of the nation, celebrated at the Centennial Exhibition through an international exhibition of industry, agriculture, and art in Philadelphia. Contains the text of the Declaration of Independence and the Proclamation Emancipation bordered by several historical and allegorical vignettes, scenes, and views that symbolize the social, political, and technological progress of the country. Oval frames surround the texts, which encircle bust-length portraits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The frames are adorned with banners labeled with the names of the original 13 colonies and the 38 states recognized as of 1876. Two bird's eye views showing the development of a cityscape, possibly New York City, from 1776 to 1876 are visible between the framed texts. Other images show the "Battle of Bunker Hill"; "Battle of Gettysburg"; "Surrender of Cornwallis"; "Columbus - 1492"; colonists landing at "Plymouth Rock"; "[Lafayette's] Visit to U.S. in 1824"; "A Home of 1776" with a white woman at a loom; "Franklin's Printing Press"; "Hoe's Ten Cylinder Press"; "A Home of 1876" with a white woman at a sewing machine; the marine battles of the "Constitution and Guerriere" and "Merrimac and Monitor"; Independence Hall, and the U.S. Capitol., Uncaptioned vignettes show an auction of enslaved African American people, African American children in a classroom, farmers harvesting a field by hand, a farmer harvesting a field with a horse-drawn reaper, a man traveling by horseback, a speeding train, a hand-pump fire engine of "1776" and a steam engine of "1876." Other pictorial elements include an American eagle, flags, and a view of the Main Building of the Centennial Exhibition incorporated into the title design in addition to floral vinery interweaved between the vignettes, scenes, and views., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1876, by D.T. Ames in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington., Letters of title illustrated with state seals., Title based on quote by Bishop George Berkley., Not in Wainwright., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 96, Gift of David Doret, 2001., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
- Creator
- Ames, Daniel T., artist
- Date
- 1876
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department ***BW - Centennial [P.9974.2]
- Title
- Afro-American historical family record
- Description
- Blank African American genealogical certificate containing a family tree surrounded by portraits of the first twenty-four U.S. presidents; portraits of prominent African American men and women religious, political, and educational leaders; and eleven vignettes contrasting life in the South of the enslaved versus the free. African American portraits include Frederick Douglass flanked by Washington and Lincoln; Judson W. Lyons, Register of the Treasury; Miss Lucy C. Laney, Founder of the Haines Institute; Booker T. Washington; H.M. Turner, Bishop of the A.M.E. Church; T. Thomas Fortune, editor New York Age; Hon. John M. Langston, diplomat; Madam Sissiretta Jones, performer and singer; Miss Hallie Q. Brown, educator and African American women's rights activist; Prof. Mary V. Cook, Principal of the State University, Louisville, KY; Miss Ida B. Wells, editor and author; Hon. John R. Lynch, U.S. Paymaster and ex-Congressman; Dr. Henry Fitzbutler, founder of the Louisville National Medical College; and L.H. Holsey, Bishop of the C.M.E. Church. Vignettes depicting slavery include the last auction of enslaved people in Savannah; enslaved cotton pickers working the field; enslaved people dancing and playing instruments "as children were taught in the dark days of slavery"; and an enslaved family in front of their “hut.” Contrasting post-emancipation scenes include a view of Tuskegee Institute; a view of "progressive farming as taught at Tuskegee Institute"; a group portrait in front of a "school house erected by a Tuskegee graduate"; the Victorian house of R.R. Church, a free man; and Spanish-American War battle scenes of African American regiments assisting the Rough Riders, including at San Juan Hill. Also contains the white eye of Providence below the title., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1899, by J.M. Vickroy, Terre Haute, Ind., Printed on recto: Branch Office Terre Haute, Ind., Purchase 2002., 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., Vickroy, a prominent Indiana fine arts publisher, specialized in genealogical and fraternal order certificates.
- Date
- 1899
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC - African American Heroes [P.2002.16]

