© 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
- Centennial Exhibition. Philadelphia. MDCCLXXVI [1876]
- Description
- Souvenir viewbook containing 12 prints connected by accordion folds and depicting Centennial Exhibition buildings. Titles include U.S. Government Building; Delaware Building; Connecticut Building; Indiana Building; Ohio Building; Pennsylvania Building; New Jersey Building; Arkansas Building; Colorado and Kansas Building; Spanish Building; English Commission Building; and Japanese Dwelling. Majority of the Centennial buildings were built after the designs of Herman Schwartzmann, Henry Pettit and Joseph M. Wilson. The Centennial Exhibition celebrated the centennial of the United States through an international exhibition of industry, agriculture, and art., Marbled brown paper binding, stamped with border design and containing gold seals replicating the Centennial medal on recto and verso. Seals illustrated with female allegorical figures representing the Genius of American Independence and Liberty. Seal on recto reads "In Commemoration of the Hundredth Anniversary of American Independence 1876." Seal on verso reads "These United Colonies are and of Right Ought to be Free and Independent States 1776.", Name of publisher from advertisement pasted on inside back cover. Advertising text reads: 12 copyright Photographs transferred on to stone by the New German Process rendering Photographs permanent. From Philip Frey & Co.'s Art Repository. Sole first hand Manufacturers and well-known original Makers of "Souvenirs" of the most frequented and interesting Countries and cities of the World in a variety of objects, such as Albums, Medallions, Fans, Baskets, Roses etc. containing illustrated Views in Photographic and Coloured Print., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Housed in phase box.
- Date
- [1876]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums - Frey [P.9617]
- Title
- First annual prize exhibition of the Philadelphia Sketch Club held at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts December 1865
- Description
- Poster containing seated figures incorporated into the lettering to promote the exhibition of the professional artists' club founded in 1860. Figures include a female muse working with a sketch, and cherubic boys sculpting a bust and painting from a palette. Letters designed as trees, vinery, and a fish tail., Not in Wainwright., Philadelphia on Stone, POSP 80, Stein & Jones established in 1859 was active under that name until the death of Stein in 1871., Cresson, an illustrator, was an early member and served as secretary of the club 1863-1864.
- Creator
- Cresson, William Emlen, 1843-1868, artist
- Date
- [1865]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums - Specimens Album [P.9349.75b]
- Title
- Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia. 1876
- Description
- Sample album containing half stereographic prints by the commissioned photographic company of the Centennial Exhibition of 1876. Contains images of the exhibition that celebrated the centennial of the United States through an international exhibition of industry, agriculture, and art. Photographs depict the installation of exhibits; exhibition grounds including bird's eye views, scenes in Lansdowne Valley and along exhibition avenues, rail lines, fountains, statuary, and outdoor horticultural displays; interiors and exteriors of exhibition buildings, including Agricultural Hall, Horticultural Hall, Main Exhibition Building, Memorial Hall, the United States Government Building, states' buildings, the Women's Pavilion and the portico of the building of the Centennial Photographic Co.; views of special exhibits and dioramas, including Hunter's Camp, the first locomotive, and "The Dying Elk"; displays showing the wares, products, or cultural artifacts of specific companies and countries, including Peruvian mummies; and displays of art particularly of Italian statuary. Many of the exterior views and some of the interior include fair visitors and personnel., Exhibitors depicted include American Book Association; American Steamship Co.; American Watch Co.; Clinton Wire Cloth Company; Farmers Friend Manufacturing Co.; J. F. Tyrell & Co.; J. & P. Coats; Kingsford Starch Co.; Mason's Blacking; Midnight Yarn Co.; Mrs. Maxwell (taxidermy); Pacific Guano Co.; Shomacker Piano Mftg. Co.; and Singer Sewing Machine., Architects of the main buildings include Herman Schwartzmann, Henry Pettit, Joseph M. Wilson, and James H. Windrim. Architects of the states buildings include George A. Frederick, Carl Pfeiffer, E. L. Rice, Jr., Croff & Camp, and Heard & Sons., Brown leather and maroon cloth binding with gilt., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Album disbound and reformatted for conservation., Over 200 duplicate images held in the Raymond Holstein Stereograph Collection. See Holstein stereo - Centennial Photographic Company., Catalogue of the Centennial Photographic Company's Views of the International Exhibition, 1876. LCP Rare Books Am1876Cen (51856.D.10)., Ongoing series of articles about photographing the exhibition by John L. Gihon, a photographer employed by the Company, appeared in Philadelphia Photographer throughout 1877 under the title "Rambling Remarks Resumed.", Original photographs by the Centennial Photographic Company appeared as the frontispieces for Philadelphia Photographer in March, April, July and November 1877. P.8965.70f showing the statue "Cupid" illustrated the November 1877 issue., LCP AR [Annual Report] 1983 p.42-43., The Centennial Photographic Company was granted exclusive rights to photograph the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876. Company officers included President William Notman, a prominent Canadian photographer; Vice President and Proprietor Washington Irving Adams, representative of the Scovill Manufacturing Company which supplied equipment for large-scale production to the company; Superintendent & Treasurer and Proprietor Edward L. Wilson, publisher of Philadelphia Photographer; and Art Superintendent John Arthur Fraser, Notman's partner in the Toronto photographic firm of Notman & Fraser. Employing over 400 men and women, the Company produced over 3,000 views of the exhibition, and portraits of officials and exhibitors.
- Creator
- Centennial Photographic Co.
- Date
- c1876
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *albums (flat) [P.8965]
- Title
- Photograph album
- Description
- Photograph album compiled by James B. Nicholson containing predominantly portrait photographs of prominent local and national members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and their families, including men, women, and children. Photographs depict full-length, bust-length, and vignette portraits; group portraiture; and collages. Several male sitters wear the regalia of the Odd Fellows and most sitters are fashionably attired. Group portraiture depicts employees of Pawson and Nicholson in front of the bookbinding shop (139 S. Seventh), and rosters and meetings and excursions of members of the fraternal organization (1870s-1880s), including Warrior Lodge, no. 873. Collages include portraits of the Rulafson family of San Francisco and examples of work from the respected photographic firm Bradley & Rulafson. Also includes images of the photography department and sculpture at the Centennial Exhibition (1876); photographic reproductions of a Sir Walter Scott manuscript donated to the Sanitary Fair (1864), and an Odd Fellow membership certificate and medal; and a John Sartain engraved portrait of "E. Grand Captain General of Pennsylvania" Varhan Smith., Sitters include James B. Nicholson (often attired in regalia), his wife Adelaide, and sons Clarence and celebrated Civil War Colonel John Page; James Alexander Bartram ("first cousin of my father");; Past Grand Master George F. Borie; orator Henry Armitt Brown; Nicholson's partner James Pawson; Pennsylvania state senator George D. Jackson; businessman and District Deputy Grand Master, Clarion County Ruloff Ruloffson; Philadelphia businessman and Grand Treasurer M. Richards Muckle; Grand Sire Samuel H. Perkins; Past Grand Master Francis M. Rea; "Grand Master" Alfred R. Potter; the family of Past Grand Master Samuel Haworth; and "Gutekunst's daughter" attired in a costume., Green morocco binding., Spine stamped: Photographs., Photographers identified by inscriptions on album page., Several sitters identified by inscriptions on album page. Many noted as "Deceased.", Multiple portraits arranged as collages on many of the album pages., Various photographers include W. H. Bennett, P. E. Chillman, Frederick Gutekunst, and David Lothrop., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Album housed in phase box with index to sitters., James Bartram Nicholson was a premier Philadelphia bookbinder in the partnership Pawson & Nicholson established in 1848. He was also a prominent member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows serving as a Grand Sire (1863-1864), grand scribe, and grand secretary (1863-1901), as well as authored "I.O.O.F.: The Story of 65 or The History of the Grand Lodge of the United States... (1896)." He married Adelaide Broadnix (b. ca. 1822) in 1841 and with her had three sons, Colonel John Page (1842-1922), Howard B. (b. ca. 1855) and bookbinder Clarence S. Nicholson (b. ca. 1858) and a daughter Eliza (b. ca. 1852).
- Creator
- Nicholson, James Bartram, 1820-1901
- Date
- ca. 1853-ca. 1880
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums [P.9080]

