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- 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
- 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
- Here is a picture of some slaves at work Reward of merit. This may certify that [Mr. George Snow] by diligence and attention to study, merits the approbation of [his] friends and teacher
- Description
- School token illustrated with a scene showing enslaved men and women working in a tobacco field near a shack. In the right, three younger enslaved men hoe and gather a bundle of tobacco. In the left, an enslaved man stands and converses with an enslaved woman, seated on a bale. They each hold the handles of farming implements. A large sack and crate rest to the left of the bale. In the left background, an enslaved woman stands in the doorway of the shack. Wooden buildings and harvested fields are visible in the right background. The young men wear short sleeves and shorts. The women wear dresses and the man wears short sleeves and pants. Rewards of merit were popular with teachers during the 19th century and were given to reward students who had excelled in their school work. The addition of pictures made a reward of merit card a more special acknowledgement of a pupil’s success., Title from illustration caption and text printed on verso., Date inferred from content of image and graphic medium., Verso contains decorative border surrounding the text., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., Illustrated in Patricia Fenn and Alfred Malpa, Rewards of merit (Charlottesville, Va.: Ephemera Society of America, 1994), 118., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., RVCDC
- Date
- [ca. 1830- ca. 1850]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Rewards of Merit - Slaves [118555.D]
- 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
- From the plantation to the Senate
- Description
- Commemorative print containing portraits of eminent 19th-century African American men above a central cotton plantation scene. In front of the plantation residence by a river, enslaved African American men and women pick and transport baskets of cotton as a well-dressed African American foreman on horseback confers with a man on the dirt road. Flanking the central portrait of "Hon. Frederick Douglass, Champion of Freedom" on a background of tropical flowers, vines, and fruits are: "Hon. Benj. S. Turner of Alabama"; "Rt. Rev. Richard Allen" of Philadelphia, "1st Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church"; "Hon. H.R. Revels of Mississippi"; "Hon. Joseph H. Rainy [sic] of South Carolina"; "Hon. Josiah T. Walls of Florida"; and "Wm. Wells Brown, M.D., Author of the Rising Sun [sic]". Also contains vignettes of romanticized images of African American home life by a river showing African Americans playing instruments and dancing, transporting watermelon by barge, and relaxing outside their home., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Copyrighted 1883 by Gaylord Watson., Watson was a New York lithographer who specialized in maps., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1974, p. 61., Purchase 1974., 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
- 1883
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC - African American Heroes [8091.F.275]
- Title
- Distinguished colored men
- Description
- Commemorative print containing a montage of portraits of eminent African American men centered around a portrait of Frederick Douglass and bordered by vignettes. Portraiture depicts: "Robert Brown Elliott, Ex-member of Congress" from South Carolina; "Blanche K. Bruce, Ex-Senator, U.S." from Mississippi; "Prof. R.T. Greener, Dean, Howard University"; "Wm. Wells Brown, M.D., author of the Rising Son"; "Henry Highland Garnett [sic], Late Minister of Liberia"; "Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, 1st Bishop of the African M.E. Church" in Philadelphia; first African American governor, "P.B.S. Pinchback, Ex-Governor of Louisiana"; "J.H. Rainey, Ex-Member of Congress"; "E.D. Bassett, Ex-Minister to Hayti"; "John Mercer Langston, Minister to Hayti". Vignettes depict a cornstalk, a twig of cotton, and scenes of romanticized images of African American home life by a waterway showing African Americans playing instruments, dancing, transporting watermelon by barge, and relaxing., Title from item., Inscribed lower right corner: Agents Wanted., Lower left corner inexpertly hand painted., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1975, p. 61., Accessioned 1975., 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
- 1883
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC - African American Heroes [8139.F]
- Title
- Heroes of the colored race
- Description
- Print commemorating men prominent in and representative of the advancement of African American civil rights. Depicts a central vignette of bust-length portraits of ex-Senator Blanche Kelso Bruce of Mississippi, abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and ex-Senator Hiram Revels of Mississippi surrounded by four scenes of pre- and post-Civil War African American life. Includes two titled scenes, "Receiving the News of the Emancipation" depicting an older African American man, two women, and children celebrating, and "Studying the Lesson" depicting an African American man teacher instructing a classroom of children. Adorning the borders of the central vignette are a portrait of John Brown flanked by a horn of plenty and school books, and an eagle holding American flags embellished with portraits of Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, and Ulysses S. Grant. Other scenes depict enslaved African American men and women picking cotton and African American Civil War soldiers fighting a battle. Includes corner portraits of African American legislators John R. Lynch of Mississippi, Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina, Robert Smalls of South Carolina, and Charles E. Nash of Louisiana., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1975, p. 60-61., Gift of Gordon Colket, 1975., Reaccessioned as P.9615., 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
- 1881
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC - African American Heroes [8140.F]