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Title: Fire Association of Philadelphia Insure from loss by fire buildings. Furniture and merchandise generally
Description: Tradecard containing a view of the Fairmount Waterworks. View looking from the west bank of the Schuylkill River showing the waterworks originally built between 1812 and 1822 after the designs of Frederick Graff. Shows the engine house, mill house, mound dam, and Reservoir Hill. Also shows individuals fishing from and on a boat near the Schuylkill Canal lock in the foreground. Also contains the pictorial detail of a running hose entwined around a fire hydrant., Names of Trenton and Plainfield, N.J. agents stamped in blue ink on recto., Not in Wainwright., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 251, Smithsonian Institution: NMAH Archives Center - Warshaw Collection - Fires & Firefighting - Box 2 Folder 23 - Fire Association
Creator: Major & Knapp Engraving, Manufacturing & Lithographic Co.
Date: [ca. 1868]
Location: Smithsonian Institution | NMAH Archives Center Warshaw Collection SI NMAH Archives Center - Warshaw Collection - Fires & Firefighting - Box 2 Folder 23 - Fire Association

Title: If dat ar fish knowd dis wor Merrick's thread, he wouldnt ha bit Merrick Thread Co. Best six cord 8
Description: Racist trade card for the Merrick Thread Company at 248 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia and depicting Black men, attired only in loincloths, pulling a captured whale onto a beach. The five men, portrayed in racist caricature, stand on the beach and hold onto the thread coming from an oversized spool labeled, "Merrick Thread Co. Best Six Cord 8," in the right. The whale with an open mouth of sharp teeth is pulled from the ocean onto the beach. In the background, two men run, and palm trees are visible in the right. Merrick Thread Co. was founded in 1865 by Timothy Merrick, Austin Merrick, and Origen Hall in Mansfield, Connecticut. After its founding, the company established mills in Holyoke, Massachusetts. In 1898, the company merged with thirteen other independent thread and yarn manufacturers to form the American Thread Company., Title from item., Date inferred from date of operation of advertised business., Advertising text printed on verso promotes Merrick Thread Co.'s best six cord soft finish spool cotton for machine & hand sewing and offers patrons "two lithoed water-color engravings" and "Sunshine for Little Children" on receipt of twenty-five cents., Gift of Emily Phillips, 1883., 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. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Merrick [P.2002.30]

Title: Rustic boat landing. Central Park, N. Y
Description: Landscape view of two boys recreating near a small rustic boat landing on a lake or pond in New York City's Central Park. One boy fishes in the foreground and the other sits on a rock looking down at the water., Title printed on mount below image., Yellow mount with rounded corners., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Gift of Mr. Saul Koltnow.
Date: [ca. 1875]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - unidentified - Non-Philadelphia - New York [P.9022.43]

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: [Dock workers transporting ice on a pier in Philadelphia]
Description: View showing an active pier on the Delaware River depicting dock workers, including African Americans, transporting barrels and ice from a "Retail Ice" shed on the pier. In the left, barrels line the pier. In the right, men stand within several docked ships, probably fishing boats, which include the "Majorie" and "Josephine.", Title supplied by cataloger., Gift of Joseph Kelly, 1982., 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.
Creator: Photo Illustrators (Firm)
Date: [ca. 1935]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Photo-Illustrators [P.8836.6]

Title: [Fishing], Sea Girt, NJ
Description: Film negative showing a group of adults and children fishing off the side of a wooden dock at Sea Girt. One child lays on their stomach and leans out over the water. The other child holds a string with bait over the water. Two people paddle a canoe to the right of the dock and a large building stands on the shore., August & September, 1908., Digitization and cataloging has been made possible through the generosity of David Marriott Morris, Eleanor Rhoads Morris Cox, and William Perot Morris in memory of Marriott Canby Morris and his children: Elliston Perot Morris, Marriott Canby Morris Jr., and Janet Morris and in acknowledgment of his grandchildren: William Perot Morris, Eleanor Rhoads Morris Cox, Jonathan White Morris, and David Marriott Morris., Edited.
Creator: Morris, Marriott Canby, 1863-1948, photographer
Date: 1908
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Marriott C. Morris Collection [P.2013.13.282]

Title: Merrick Thread Co. "Fooled dis time, cully. Dis cotton ain't gwine to break."
Description: Racist trade card depicting a smiling African American boy portrayed as fishing bait for an alligator in a swamp. Shows the boy suspended from a tree limb over the gaping jaws of the head of the reptile jutting out from the body of water below him. The boy is held up by a hook in the seat of his pants that is attached to white thread wrapped around the tree limb and from a large spool that floats in the water. The spool bears the Merrick Thread Co. logo. The boy holds the fishing line of thread and fishing rod in his hands and by his face. He is barefooted and attired in a blue hat, a red shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a white vest, and blue pants with a patch on the right knee. The boy is depicted with exaggerated features. Print also contains an image on verso depicting a partially opened box of several spools of thread, on which the thread company's tagline "Merrick Thread Co's Ready Wound Bobbins for Sewing Machines Warranted 200 Yards" is printed. Merrick Thread Co. was founded in 1865 by Timothy Merrick, Austin Merrick, and Origen Hall in Mansfield, Connecticut. After its founding, the company established mills in Holyoke, Massachusetts. In 1898, the company merged with thirteen other independent thread and yarn manufacturers to form the American Thread Company. The distributor of the thread, Isaac J.H. Bordner, owned a store which was built in 1881 and located in the Mount Aetna neighborhood of Tulpehocken Township in Pennsylvania. In addition to being a businessman, Bordner was served as the local postmaster between 1870 and 1899., Title from item., Date inferred from content and genre of print., Advertising text printed on verso: Buy Merrick Thread Co.'s Best Six Cord Soft Finish Spool Cotton For Machine & Hand Sewing Warranted 200 Yds. Also., Distributor's imprint printed on verso: Isaac J.H. Bordner, Dealer in General Merchandise, Mt. Aetna, Berks Co., Pa.
Date: [ca. 1885]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Merrick [P.2017.95.120]

Title: Waterbury Drug Store, established 1797. Leavenworth & Dikeman, Exchange Place, Waterbury, Conn
Description: Series of illustrated trade cards containing "Fishing" showing a white man and woman couple fishing in a rowboat with a pet dog that has its head in their picnic basket; "Caught on the fly" depicting a white man attached to the hook of his own fishing rod as he stands next to a stream; "We met by chance, or waiting for the swell" showing a white man floating on a wave in the ocean and colliding with a white woman as she stands in the ocean near other white women and children; "What are the wild waves saying sister?" depicting a boy, attired in overalls and a wide-brimmed hat, standing next to his sister, attired in a bonnet and long-sleeved dress, looking out at the ocean with their backs to the viewer; "Oh, come and see us" showing a group of white children standing in a pond jeering at an older, white man who stands on dry land in the foreground; and "Scoot, brother scoot!" depicting an African American boy and girl holding hands and scurrying from the approaching waves of the ocean. Leavenworth & Dikeman, the partnership between Elisha Leavenworth and Nathan Dikeman, operated in Waterbury, Connecticut between 1850-1890., Title from item., Date inferred from dates of operation of advertised business., Four prints [P.9828.7033-7036] printed by Phoenix Card Co., N.Y., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Gift of William H. Helfand., 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.
Date: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Helfand Patent Medicine Trade Card Collection - Pharmacists - W [P.9828.7031-7036]

Title: [Wm. F. Simes & Son trade cards]
Description: Series of illustrated trade cards for Wm. F. Simes & Son, proprietors of the "little gem corn & bunion remedy", at 1102 Market Street in Philadelphia. Illustrations depict a couple embracing and reeling in a large fish; a woman and three anthropomorphic owls reading and standing on a thin tree branch; a girl reeling in a fish twice the size of her own body; a man with a large, bulbous nose standing next to a stork on a beach, looking toward the ocean where a male fairy flies to retrieve a hat floating in the water; a Native American female cherub kneeling before a small Greek statuette; a male cherub playing a banjo and synchronizing the movements of a tiny ballerina doll to the music with a string attached his leg; a male cherub picking flowers and observing a dragonfly; and a male suitor standing next to the bench where his female companion is seated., Title supplied by cataloger., One print [1975.F.858] copyrighted 1882 by [illegible?], Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Digitized.
Date: [ca. 1882]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Simes [1975.F.755-759; 1975.F.789; 1975.F.815; 1975.F.858]

Title: " Creme" oat meal toilet soap
Description: Incomplete series of trade cards, including duplicate and variant imagery with the same series number, to promote "Crème" toilet soap manufactured by J.D. Larkin & Co. Depicts racist, anthropomorphic chimpanzee figures in social situations and leisure and cultural activities., Series no. I (variant 1) depicts a man and woman as well-dressed anthropomorphized chimpanzees greeting each other. In the left, the man attired in a black top hat, blue jacket, and checkered yellow pants, nods his head to the left and holds up his walking stick. In the right, the woman, her back to the viewer, is attired in a yellow bonnet adorned with flowers and a ribbon, and a long-sleeved green dress with a pink belt at the waist and a bow at the bustle. She lifts up her skirt and exposes her slip. Series no. I (variant 2) depicts an anthropomorphized chimpanzee as a man artist. He rests back on his chair, and holds a palette in one hand, and a paint brush in the other. He sits in front of an easel and canvas. He is attired in a green-colored smock shirt with collar and buttons, yellow pants, and brown laced shoes. His eyelids droop down and his mouth is slightly ajar., Series no. II depicts an anthropomorphized chimpanzee as a man hunter. He stands in front of a section of tall grass and holds a clutch of birds in his left hand and a shot gun under his right arm. He is attired in a hunting cap, red jacket, tan pants, and black high boots. Leather straps are criss-crossed over his chest. Series no. III depicts an anthropomorphized chimpanzee as a man fishing at a dock. The man hangs his legs over a pier and holds a pole into the water. A basket of fish lays beside him. He wears a wide-brimmed hat, a brown jacket with the collar turned up, and blue checkered pants. The backs of two other anglers are visible in the left background. Series no. IV (2 copies) depicts anthropomorphized chimpanzees as a man and woman couple on promenade. The woman, in the left, is attired in a yellow bonnet, a yellow, three-quarter length sleeved dress with ruffling down the front and ruching on the skirt, and white gloves. She holds a fan by her left cheek, looks to her left, and lifts up the skirt of her dress and shows the edge of her slip. To the right, the man smiles and looks over her shoulder. He is attired in a bowler, red jacket, and grey-striped pants and holds a walking stick up under his arm., Series no. VI depicts anthropomorphized chimpanzees as a man and woman couple getting married by a clergyman. The couple, their backs to the viewer, stand to the left of the clergyman attired in his ceremonial robes. The man wears a suit with a long jacket. The woman wears a white wedding dress with a veil adorned with floral ornaments. The dress is composed with ruched sleeves, and adorned with pink bows and ribbons. The figures all have solemn expressions. J.D. Larkin & Co. was founded in 1875. By 1881 the soap company included over 100 factory workers and sustained specialized departments for advertising and shipping, as well as solicited to door-to-door private residences in addition to shopkeepers. Trade cards with the company logo were included with each box of soap. By 1885 the firm only directly sold their products to residential customers and was known for their premiums. The company was sold in 1941 and continued as a mail-order business until 1962., Title from items., Date, publisher, and manufacturer (printer) from copyright statements on prints: Copyright J.D. Larkin & Co., Buffalo, N.Y. 1881 and Copyright Clay & Richmond, Buffalo, N.Y. 1881., Majority of prints (P.2020.3.1-4&7) distributed by J.D. Larkin & Co., P.2020.3.5&6 distributed by the People’s Manufacturing Co., Prints include the company logo “J.D. L. & Co., Buffalo, N.Y.” in two designs; one in cursive and the other as a monogram with a central block letter., Includes series numbers: I. (2 variant images); II.; III.; V. (2 copies, same image); and VI., Five of the prints contain variant advertising text on verso. All texts include statement: To Card Collectors.- There are six different designs in this set. We will mail the complete set to any address, on receipt of 3 c./three cent stamp., RVCDC, Description reviewed 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Date: 1881
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade cards - Larkin [P.2020.3.1-7]

Title: Uncle Jimmie, Beaufort, S.C
Description: Stereograph depicting “Uncle Jimmie,” an older African American man knitting the corner edge of a mesh fishing net extended out in front of him from a pole on the porch of a wood cabin. Shows the man, with receding, short, cropped hair, seated, and in profile. He wears a white, long-sleeve, button-down shirt; dark-colored pants; and work shoes. The man, possibly Gullah, uses a flat rule and needle on the edge of the net. Behind the man, in the background, an open door to an entryway with an open window is visible. A vertical beam is also visible in the left of the image. Knitting fish net was and is one of a number of Gullah traditions (customs developed by enslaved Africans living along the Atlantic coast of South Carolina) practiced in Beaufort, S.C., Title from manuscript note on verso., Date inferred from active dates of Wilson & Havens partnership., Orange mount with rounded corners., Description reviewed 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: Wilson & Havens, photographer
Date: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - misc. photographer - Wilson & Havens [P.2020.38]

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]

Title: John Weik's (Philadelphia) kochbuecher (cookbooks)
Description: Whimsical publisher's advertisement containing four vignettes in a fanciful border of food imagery surrounding a list of cookbook titles in German and English authored by Marianne Struf and the steward of the Union League, William Vollmer. Vignettes depict three quirky scenes representing agricultural work, hunting, fishing, and fine dining. Also contains a scene depicting four women peeling apples, mincing meat, and baking in a kitchen. Vignettes include an African American man waiter and an African American woman cook. Fanciful border contains stone pedestals adorned with seals comprised of cooking implements, as well as a basket of bread, bottles of wine, a crab holding oranges, a tureen of soup, dead game, ears of corn, plates, a pitcher, a coffee grinder, and mischievous monkeys., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1856 by J. Weik in the Eastern District Court of Pa., Printed above image: Life Preserver., Printed under title in German: All five books can be had here., Not in Wainwright., Philadelphia on Stone, POSP 126, LCP exhibition catalogue: The Larder invaded, aft. p. 9., LCP exhibition catalogue: Philadelphia revisions #32., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1973, p. 44., Top corner and center edge mended., Purchase 1973., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Nissle, J., artist
Date: 1856
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **BW - Advertisements [8074.F.1]

Title: [Partridge & Richardson trade cards]
Description: Series of illustrated trade cards and caricatures for Artemus Partridge & Thomas D. Richardson's "bee hive" dress trimmings' store at 17, 19 & 21 North Eighth Street in Philadelphia. Illustrations include various series depicting flowers; men and women couples promenading; bust-length portraits of well-dressed women; children playing and fishing on the beach; frogs and cherubs seated on or near mushrooms holding umbrellas in the rain; and anthropomorphic rabbits jumping rope, one rabbit pulling another on a sleigh with a banner labeled "Rabbit Transit," the sleigh crashing through the ice, and two African American men, portrayed in racist caricature, trying to lure rabbits into a trap. Other imagery includes an anthropomorphic moon smiling down at a boy sitting on the limb of a bare tree with two cats singing from sheet music labeled "Clair de lune"; a portrait of a mother holding her infant; a female cherub picking flowers; a girl picking flowers; a fox standing under a grapevine trellis; three cats in a basket; a girl blindfolding a dog; a boy fishing in a pond; and two boys and a girl pulling and guiding a dray of flowers., Title supplied by cataloger., Four prints [1975.F.660-662 & 665] copyrighted 1881 by Chas. Moritz., Printers and engravers include Graf Brothers (Philadelphia), Sunshine Publishing Company (Philadelphia), Wemple & Kronheim (New York), and Craig, Finley & Co. (Philadelphia)., Four prints [1975.F.701-704] signed with the same trademark initials (C.A. or A.C.) and contain French titles, including "Zozor revenant du bain," "Lili pechant la crevette," "Nini prenant sa leçon de natation," and "Petit marin faisant une découverte"., 1975.F gift of Emily Phillips, 1883., P.2024.74.1 gift of Ivan Jurin., 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., Added to African Americana Digital Collection 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: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Partridge [various]

Title: [Partridge & Richardson trade cards]
Description: Series of illustrated trade cards and caricatures for Artemus Partridge & Thomas D. Richardson's "bee hive" dress trimmings' store at 17, 19 & 21 North Eighth Street in Philadelphia. Illustrations include various series depicting flowers; men and women couples promenading; bust-length portraits of well-dressed women; children playing and fishing on the beach; frogs and cherubs seated on or near mushrooms holding umbrellas in the rain; and anthropomorphic rabbits jumping rope, one rabbit pulling another on a sleigh with a banner labeled "Rabbit Transit," the sleigh crashing through the ice, and two African American men, portrayed in racist caricature, trying to lure rabbits into a trap. Other imagery includes an anthropomorphic moon smiling down at a boy sitting on the limb of a bare tree with two cats singing from sheet music labeled "Clair de lune"; a portrait of a mother holding her infant; a female cherub picking flowers; a girl picking flowers; a fox standing under a grapevine trellis; three cats in a basket; a girl blindfolding a dog; a boy fishing in a pond; and two boys and a girl pulling and guiding a dray of flowers., Title supplied by cataloger., Four prints [1975.F.660-662 & 665] copyrighted 1881 by Chas. Moritz., Printers and engravers include Graf Brothers (Philadelphia), Sunshine Publishing Company (Philadelphia), Wemple & Kronheim (New York), and Craig, Finley & Co. (Philadelphia)., Four prints [1975.F.701-704] signed with the same trademark initials (C.A. or A.C.) and contain French titles, including "Zozor revenant du bain," "Lili pechant la crevette," "Nini prenant sa leçon de natation," and "Petit marin faisant une découverte"., 1975.F gift of Emily Phillips, 1883., P.2024.74.1 gift of Ivan Jurin., 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., Added to African Americana Digital Collection 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: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Partridge [various]

Title: The pious Mr. All-bone, taking leave of his directors previous to his departure for Europe
Description: Cartoon about the Panic of 1857 satirizing the dubious overseas departure of the Bank of Pennsylvania president Thomas Allibone preceding the failure of the financial institution in the fall of 1857. Allibone claimed he departed for Europe for health reasons with the support of the Board of Director. The board later charged he resigned while in debt $200,000 to the bank. Shows the Bank of Pennsylvania board wishing a teary-eye Allibone farewell at the "Steamer Europe Sail" wharf. The board stands on "Bank of Pennsylvania" charters and many sneer and hold handkerchiefs to their faces. To the rear of the group, a white woman "reduced to absolute want" from the bank failure, stands with her children, including a baby at her breast, and asks one of the board members "could you not through your influence, obtain me a situation as housekeeper or school teacher?" The member jeers that his influence is "for his friends" and she should get "some tickets for soup." At the front of the group, the wart-nosed, rotund head of the board, shakes Allibone's hand. He assures the departing president of the entire respect and sympathy for his "good care" of the funds of the "Board, and the Widows, and Orphans." He hopes Allibone will return with "renovated health and strength" as well as a purchased title that includes "Gentleman of the Grand Order of the Rag Mill and the Check Marked Good.", Allibone stands on several sheets of "stock" near his valises. He holds a handkerchief to his face, and carries the book of "Common Prayer" in his coat pocket. He responds that if "a liberal expenditure of THEIR money" restores his health that he will attempt to purchase a title. He also suggests that his well-wisher go to church regularly, keep out of jail, and keep his breeches buttoned up and he "will sail through this crisis with flying colors." In the right, an African American woman peddler holds her nose and states in the vernacular that it is because of the "bad odor of dis paper! won't git much fur dis." Beside her, a white boy fishing at the pier remarks to his wriggling, hooked worm that "yer bound to be catched at last." Also shows an African American man, attired in worn and torn clothing, seated and chewing a stick in front of an overturned barrel while a white cabman races his horse-drawn coach down the street of grocery stores in the background. The driver hollers "Stop him! He owes me 130 dollars for Cab-hire." Groceries advertised include onions, molasses, soft sawder (i.e., blarney), sugar, oil, and vinegar., Artist probably John L. Magee., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Weitenkampf incorrectly provides date of 1837., John L. Magee's print "The Dreadful Accident on the North Pennsylvania Railroad" (1856) lithographed on the verso. [7663.Fb], Purchase 1968., 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.
Creator: Magee, John L., artist
Date: [ca. 1857]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1857-Pious [7663.Fa]

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