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Title: Do they miss me at home?
Description: Trimmed vignette showing a caricature of a young African American girl, possibly a satirical personification of the popular mid-19th century song of the same title. Depicts the girl, attired in a baby doll dress, her hair in short coils, and the fingers of one hand in her mouth as, in the other, she holds the string of a rolling pull toy horse visible behind her. Published in 1852 and composed by S. M. Grannis with lyrics by Caroline Atherton Mason, "Do they Miss Me at Home" was written in the voice of a homesick girl away at school. The song remained popular through the Civil War when translated to the voice of soldiers. Bufford, later J. H. Bufford's sons, issued trade cards 1870-1875 containing images portraying racial and ethnic stereotypes, as well as personfications of popular 19th-century songs, ballads, and poems., Copyrighted, Bufford, Boston., Date inferred from style of copyright statement., Gift of Wendy Woloson.
Date: [ca. 1870]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department GC - Genre [113487.D]

Title: A Brown study
Description: Full-length portrait study, possibly used as a book illustration, depicting a young African American girl standing in front of a wheelbarrow. The girl, attired in a brimmed hat, a white collared shirt, a jacket, a skirt, and shoes, holds the handle of the wheelbarrow with her right hand and holds a rock in her left hand as she looks at the viewer. Behind her, steps leading to a porch stocked with supplies in wooden crates and sacks are visible. Sheets hang on a clothesline over the porch., Title from item., Probably Helen P. Gatch (1861-1942), a turn-of-the-century pictorial photographer whose prize-winning photographs were widely published and exhibited., Gift of Mrs. S. Marguerite Brenner, 1984., 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: Gatch, Helen M., photographer
Date: [ca. 1890]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department portrait photographs - photographer - Gatch [P.9057.158]

Title: [Young Black girl articulated paper doll]
Description: Paper doll of an unclothed figure of a young Black girl with moveable limbs. The girl is depicted with short, cropped, tightly curled hair, auburn eyes, and slightly smiling. A blue-beaded string necklace adorns her neck. She also wears white, above-the-ankle length socks and black "Mary Jane" shoes. The articulated limbs are attached by brass brads to a white cardboard torso, likely not the original. About the late 1880s, Littauer & Boysen (established circa 1882), a premier German chromolithographer of novelties, began to print articulated dolls for the paper box company. Dennison sold the German firm's dolls to further market its special line of tissue/crepe paper as doll's clothing. The Massachusetts company, established 1844, also manufactured shipping tags, gummed labels, and holiday tags. The firm opened a salesroom in Philadelphia in 1862. In 1898, the firm consolidated operations in Framingham, Ma. from plants in Roxbury, Ma. Brooklyn, N.Y., and Brunswick, Me. where it was originally established in 1844., Title supplied by cataloger., Manufactured and distributed by Dennison Manufacturing Company, Ma., Publication information from Mary Young, 20th Century Paper Dolls Identification and Values (Collector Books, 2006)., Date inferred from published sources, the years of operation of the publisher, and the early era of the style of footwear depicted., Purchased with funds from Walter J. Miller Trust for the Visual Culture Program., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Date: [ca. 1885-ca. 1895]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *ephemera - paper dolls [P.2015.68.1]

Title: Old Black Joe. Dan Bryant Songs & chorus written & composed by Stephen G. Foster
Description: Sheet music cover containing a genre scene showing minstrel performer Dan Bryant in the character of "Old Black Joe." "Joe," attired in worn and torn clothing, sits on a chair with a book in his lap and with one foot propped on a stool next to a white girl, wearing a ribbon in her hair and attired in a short-sleeved dress with ruffles. The girl sits on her knees and holds an edge of the book as she reads. Also includes a chest of drawers, jugs, and a pitcher. Scene based on a Napoleon Sarony photograph of Bryant in the character of Uncle Tom. Photograph in the Harvard Theatre Collection, The Houghton Library, Harvard College, Boston, MA., Blackface minstrelsy is a popular entertainment form, originating in the United States in the mid-19th century and remaining in American life through the 20th century. The form is based around stereotypical and racist portrayals of African Americans, including mocking dialect, parodic lyrics, and the application of Black face paint; all designed to portray African Americans as othered subjects of humor and disrespect. Blackface was a dominant form for theatrical and musical performances for decades, both on stage and in private homes., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entry according to act of Congress in the year 1860 by Firth, Pond & Co. in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern Dist. of New York., Printed above the image: Ten Thousand Copies Sold., Names of nine additional publishers printed on the recto. Includes Chicago, Root & Sons; San Francisco, M. Gray; St. Paul, J.A. Weide; Pittsburg, H. Kleber & Bro.; Milwaukee, H. N. Hempsted; Savannah, Ludden & Bates; San Jose, A. Waldteufel; Houston, E. H. Cushing; New Haven, Skinner & Sperry., Manuscript note on recto: 4th Edition., Manuscript note on verso: First Ed. (same year) by Firth, Pond & Co., Gift of S. Marguerite Brenner, 1984., 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., Description of Blackface minstrelsy and minstrel characters from Dorothy Berry, Descriptive Equity and Clarity around Blackface Minstrelsy in H(arvard) T(heater) C(ollection) Collections, 2021.
Date: 1860
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department GC- Entertainment [9156.F]

Title: [Armand Dalsemer trade cards]
Description: Series of illustrated trade cards for Armand Dalsemer's "fine shoes" and "common sense shoes" at 136 North Eighth Street in Philadelphia. Illustrations depict a grinning African American man, portrayed in racist caricature, standing in an open window holding a newspaper labeled "The American Citizen"; a cherub sitting on a lily pad in a lily pond; and a portrait of a little girl wearing a bonnet., Title supplied by cataloger., Printers and engravers include Sunshine Publishing Company (Philadelphia) and Leon Meyers, 29 S. Liberty St., 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 - Dalsemer [1975.F.15; 1975.F.19; 1975.F.286]

Title: [Croft, Wilbur & Co. trade cards]
Description: Series of illustrated trade cards promoting confectioners Croft, Wilbur & Co. and depicting children performing a variety of activities, including two white girls playing tug-of-war over a wrapped piece of candy; and boys and girls eating sweets, including a white boy eating a candy stick while holding his dog on a leash. Also shows flowers; a courting white boy and girl couple sitting on a log; two white boy clowns dancing, playing a drum, and strutting a homemade pitchfork; and a man in Colonial attire popping out of a large cracker or bon-bon and dumping candy to white woman who catches it in her skirt. Racist card depicting an African American boy, portrayed in caricature, and a white girl on a candy stick seesaw. In the left, shows the white girl attired in a large, white bonnet; a yellow dress with red polka dots; a blue and white checked smock; orange stockings; and brown shoes, sitting on a red and white striped candy stick. In the right, the barefooted African American boy, attired in an orange shirt and gray pants, sits on the other side of the candy see saw. The fulcrum is a piece of chocolate. Founded in Philadelphia in 1865 by Samuel Croft and Henry Oscar Wilbur, Croft, Wilbur & Co. divided into H.O. Wilbur & Sons and Croft and Allen in 1884., Title supplied by cataloger., Four prints printed by E. Ketterlinus & Co., Includes two prints [1975.F.120 and 1974.F.141] with advertising text printed on versos., 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 - Croft [1975.F.120; 1975.F.141; 1975.F.145; 1975.F.168; 1975.F.176; 1975.F.178; 1975.F.182a; 1975.F.196; 1975.F.210]

Title: Concentrated leaven or bread powders
Description: Advertisement for baking powder depicting an African American woman cook, portrayed as a racist caricature, displaying her oversized bread to a white woman. In the right, the African American woman, attired in a yellow kerchief, hoop earrings, a red dress with the sleeves rolled up, a white apron, white stockings with red stripes, and yellow shoes, holds a shovel in her left hand and points to the bread with her right hand. The gargantuan bread in the pan rests on a table covered in a white tablecloth alongside other pans of baked goods. Behind the table, the brown-haired, white woman, attired in a white dress with blue stripes with lace at the neck and sleeves, holds her hands up in shock over the over-proved bread. Underneath the table, the cook’s young daughter, attired in a short-sleeved yellow dress, sits on a rug and makes bubbles with a bowl and stick to play with a cat. Image also includes an oven and a metal basin., Not in Wainwright, Title from item., Date from content., Philadelphia on Stone, POSP 40, Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of engravings relating to Philadelphia. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Date: [ca. 1860]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department BW - Advertisements [(7)1322.F.441b]

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: Dixon's carburet of iron stove polish
Description: Series of trade cards promoting Joseph Dixon Crucible Company's stove polish and depicting a racist caricature of an African American woman nanny at work. Shows the nanny smiling, holding, and scrubbing an unclothed white girl, who is coated in black stove polish along her right side. The long, brown haired girl wears a red headband and is partially covered by a white cloth draped around by the nanny. The nanny uses a scrub brush under the right arm of the girl. The girl stands, her right leg raised, upon a table covered with a yellow tablecloth and stained by the polish. She looks down and touches the nanny's face with her right hand. She places her left hand over the woman's hand on her left side. The nanny is attired in a white head kerchief with red polka dots; a yellow short-sleeved shirt with red stripes; and a blue skirt. On the table is a plate; a brush; and boxes labeled Dixon's Stove Polish. Image also includes, in the left background, a stove with a steaming copper kettle and a partial view of a stove pipe and checkered flooring. The Joseph Dixon Crucible Company, established by Joseph Dixon in Salem, Mass. in 1827, produced graphite pencils, crucibles and stove polish, and relocated to Jersey City, N.J. in 1847. In 1868, the firm name changed from Joseph Dixon & Co. to the Jos. Dixon Crucible Co. In 1870 the firm won a trademark case against a Philadelphia competitor selling J.C. Dixon Stove Polish., Title from item, Printers and engravers include Major & Knapp Engraving, Manufacturing & Lithographic Co. (New York) and A. Gast & Co. (New York and St. Louis)., Advertising text printed on verso: Advertising text printed on verso: Established 1827. Dixon's stove polish; over fifty years in the market. Neat; quick; brilliant, and lasting. No dust. No odor. Nothing will make a stove so bright and cheerful for so long a time as the Dixon stove polish. It is by far the cheapest in use, in the long run. Buy it. Try it. Take no other. Pressed into a neat quarter-pound packet, absolutely free of adulteration. Six millions sold in 1880. Jos. Dixon Crucible Co., Jersey City, N.J., Gift of Emily Phillips, 1883. Purchase 1998., 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 - Dixon [1975.F.235; P.9577.14; P.9599]

Title: The last days of Webster at Marshfield To the family and friends of the late Daniel Webster, this plate, representing a scene from his last days at Marshfield, is most respectfully dedicated by the publishers
Description: Engraving after a painting by Joseph Ames showing family, relatives, and friends gathered around the dying Daniel Webster, who sits in bed propped up against a pillow. Webster, a Whig senator from Massachusetts, died at his home in Marshfield in 1852 after falling from his horse. His attendees, gather around the foot of his bed, including his wife Caroline LeRoy Webster, attired in a white lace veil, who cries with her head in her hand. In the right, a seated, Mrs. Caroline Fletcher Webster gazes at Webster while her son leans against her and a young, white girl rests on a stool at her feet. Behind her is Sarah, an African American servant, holding a silver tray with a pitcher and cup. Attendees include: Charles Henry Thomas, Jacob LeRoy, Edward Curtis, Caroline LeRoy Webster (wife), Mrs. James W. Paige, Samuel A. Appleton, James W. Paige, George Ashmun, Rufus Choate, Peter Harvey, Daniel Fletcher Webster (son) and his wife Caroline S. White, Caroline L. Appleton, Daniel Webster, Ashburton Webster, Caroline Webster (granddaughter), Dr. J. Mason Warren, Dr. John Jeffries, Sarah (African American servant), John Taylor (farmer), and Porter Wright (farmer). A bust of George Washington sits on a shelf on the wall in the right. In the lower margin is a small vignette of the estate at Marshfield., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1858 by Smith & Parmalee in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York., See A Description of the great historical painting of The last days of Webster at Marshfield. Painted by Joseph Ames, of Boston. New York : Smith Brothers and Parmelee, 1855. [Am 1855 Smi Bro, 73625.O], LCP also holds one trial proof, two proof without letters, two engraved artists proofs without letters, and five additional copies of print. [***GC - Webster, P.2012.69.1-10], Gift of David Doret, 2011., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Mottram, Charles, 1817-1876, engraver
Date: 1858
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department ***GC - Webster [P.2011.63.26]

Title: Photographing the baby
Description: Trade card after an 1870 Sol Eytinge Harper's Weekly illustration with white figures depicting a racist, caricaturized genre scene to promote the coach varnish firm Clarence Brooks & Co. Scene shows a white photographer taking the portrait of an African American toddler in hi studio. The African American figures are portrayed with caricatured and exagerrated features. In the right, the white photographer stands next to his camera and tripod. He holds a cloth in his right hand, at his side, and a yellow-colored, monkey-like string puppet in his raised left hand. He wears a beard and is attired in a long brown jacket and blue striped pants. Between him and his young sitter is a framed advertisement above maroon paneling on an olive-colored wall. The advertisement reads: "Clarence Brooks & Co., Fine Coach Varnishes, Cor. West & West 12th Sts." In the left, the African American girl sits stiffly on a plush, green arm chair. Her eyes are opened wide in a surprised expression. She wears a sleeveless pink dress with blue bows at the shoulders. Behind her, in the doorway, are two African American women. The younger woman, likely to be perceived as the girl's mother, peers around from the left of the doorway. She wears a stylish hat, white blouse, and red bow at her neck. An older woman, likely to be perceived as the girl's grandmother, stands in the right of the doorway. She wears a brown-colored bonnet with a large bow around her chin and a brown-colored dress and shawl. Clarence Brooks established his varnish business in 1859 as Brooks and Fitzgerald, later Clarence Brooks & Co. In the early 1880s the firm issued calendars illustrated with African American caricatures in genre scenes, often after Sol Eytinge Harper's Weekly illustrations., Title from item., Publication date inferred from dates of activity of publisher (1888-1892) as cited in Jay Last, The Color Explosion (Santa Ana: Hillcrest Press, 2005)., Purchased with funds for the Visual Culture Program (Junto 2015)., Housed with the Emily Phillips Advertising Card Collection., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: National Bank Note Co.
Date: [ca. 1890]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Brooks [P.2016.17.1]

Title: [Incomplete set of racist playing card game Game of In Dixieland. No. 1118]
Description: Incomplete collection of playing cards from the racist card game "Game of In Dixieland. No. 1118" issued by the Fireside Game Co. of Cincinnati, the subsidiary company established in 1896 by executives of the U.S. Playing Card Company. Advertised by the publisher as "life-like reproductions of characteristic sketches from the Sunny South," the captioned and lettered cards depict stereotyped and caricatured portraits and scenes of African American men, women, and children and African American southern life. The object of the game was to compile all the cards with the same letter into a book, with the winner holding the most books. Cards include: "A1. The Crossing Sweeper." Scene depicts an African American boy street sweeper on a street corner. He is attired in oversize jacket and pants. He also wears a cap and holds a broom. "A3. In Clover." Scene shows three young African American boys, attired in worn long-sleeve shirts and pants, seated on a log and eating quarters of a watermelon. The boy in the middle wears a bucket hat. Stacks of watermelon, including the remaining quarter of the one being eaten by the children rest at their feet. "A4. Picking Cotton." Scene shows an African American boy in a field of cotton, bent over, and picking a cotton boll. He wears a cap, long-sleeved shirt, and loose ankle-length pants. He is barefoot. Men picking cotton and a cart are visible in the background. "B2. Picking Up a Living." Portrait shows an African American girl holding a large satchel over her left shoulder. She wears a checkered, long-sleeved dress, and floppy hat. "B3 '"Jest A Restin’."' Portrait shows a young African American man seated on a crate next to a barrel and a second crate. He wears a domed cap; loose, long-sleeved jacket; cropped pants; and rolled-down boots., "D4. Heavily Laden." View shows two young African American girls, attired in ankle-length shift dresses, and aprons, and carrying buckets on their heads. Girl in left, balances the bucket on her head, and her apron contains a hole at the chest. The girl in the right holds the bucket on her head with her hands. They are bare foot and stand near the brick wall of a mill. "E1.A Georgia Charmer." Bust-length portrait shows an African American woman, slightly smiling, and her right hand resting on the side of her chin. She wears a light-colored blouse with slightly puff sleeves; a short-brimmed, straw hat; and bracelet. "F2. The Coquette." Full-length portrait shows a young African American woman, her hand on her hip, bare foot, and standing in front of the door to a log cabin. She wears a kerchief on her head, a shirtwaist, belt, and calf-length skirt. "F3 '"Look pleasant, please."' Reproduction of a drawn view shows an African American man taking a photograph of an African American woman, three African American children, and a dog on a beach. The women and children, attired in summer dresses and jumpers, sit and stand on a log and the photographer stands by a makeshift camera and removes the lens cap. The photographer wears a hat, overalls, and a long-sleeved shirt., "G2. A Genuine Brunette." Full-length portrait shows a very young African American girl, bare foot, attired in a shift dress, and seated on a step. She frowns slightly and she clasps her hands in her lap. "G4. Learning to Walk." View shows two, very young, African American girls, in blousy dresses, standing side by side on a sidewalk and in front of the brick wall of a building. "H3. The Virginia Pine Chopper." Full-length portrait shows an older African American man, with a white beard, seated on a stump, holding an ax over his left shoulder. He also has the handle of a tin pail over his left wrist and holds a walking stick in his right hand. He is posed in a dirt yard laden with sticks. Stacks of logs and a wooden fence are visible in the background."I2. A Mississippi Beauty." Half-length portrait shows a young African American woman, her left hand resting on the side of her chin. She looks slightly to the right and has a slight smile. Her hair is pulled back and somewhat teased at the crown. She wears a shirtwaist and checkered, apron dress., "J2. A Hidden Nest in the Bushes." View shows two African American boys seated on their knees in a field and eating slices of watermelon. They wear wide-brimmed caps, long sleeved shirts, and pants. Boy in right also wears a jacket. “J3. On the Wharf.” View shows an African American man and woman seated on the edge of a wharf. The man attired in a long-sleeved shirt, vest, pants, and cap, sits with his feet dangling over the edge. The woman attired in a shirtwaist, skirt, and cap sits with her feet on the wharf landing. Sailing vessels are visible in the background. "K3.'"Mos’ to de end ob de road."' Full-length portrait shows an older African American man, with a beard, seated on a chair, in front of a crumbling brick wall. He wears a worn jacket, vest, shirt, and pants. A hat with kindling rests at his bare feet. He holds a walking stick that he rests between his legs. "L3. Among the Virginia Pines." View shows a log cabin, in the distance, along a dirt road lined with dry underbrush and a few trees, some barren. A woman stands in the yard of the cabin. Fireside Card Co. was dissolved in 1908 and U.S. Playing Card Co. began to issue educational card games., Publication information from copies included in the World Web Playing Card Museum. Publication date inferred from copyright date included on box covers., Card letter printed in upper left corner., Copyright statement printed on 8 of the cards: Copyright ’96 by L.D. Baldwin., Gift of Jennifer Woods Rosner., Housed in phase box., Many stained and in poor condition., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: Fireside Game Co.
Date: [1897]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums [P.2019.47]

Title: [Series of Clarence E. Brooks & Co. Fine Coach Varnishes, cor. West & West 12th St. N.Y. racist 1880 calendar illustrations after the "Blackville" series]
Description: Series of twelve captioned illustrations from the Clarence Brooks & Co. Fine Coach Varnishes 1880 calendar portraying scenes after the racist “Blackville” series drawn by Sol Eytinge for “Harper’s Weekly” in the 1870s and depicting caricatures satirizing the social mores, customs, and daily lives of African Americans of all classes. The figures are portrayed with exaggerated features and mannerisms. The attire of the figures includes long-sleeved dresses, shirtwaists and skirts, smocks, shirt, pants, jackets, and caps, and hats. Some of the attire depicted, particularly for younger figures, is worn and/or tattered. Includes scenes from the Eytinge Blackville series within a series - “the twins” (March, May, September illustrations). Scenes are titled (sometimes with text in the vernacular) and depict “The First Ulster in Blackville” (January) of a winter scene showing African American children, attired in shirts, pants, or skirts and hats or bonnets, paused from a snowball fight as an African American man in a blue ulster (an overcoat with hood), holding a cane, and smoking walks between them; “Christmas Dinner Done!” (February) showing an older African American man, attired in an overcoat, pants, and hat, and African American boy, attired in a shirt, pants, and a hat with a scarf tied around his head and chin, in a field, and watching a rabbit run away from a trap held by the boy; “Love in Blackville. The Wooing of the Twins” (March) showing African American women twins, each being courted by an African American man within an open room that has a stove and mantle as their older African American parents “watch” from a doorway;, "April-Fools Day-An Aggravated Case (April) showing an older African American woman, with an upset expression, standing in front of a row of cabins and near a basket of cabbages on a town block, and holding a dead rat within a cabbage as she is watched by two snickering African American boys, the practical jokers, standing within the opening to an alley; "The Great Social Event at Blackville. The Wed"ding of the Twins" (May) showing two African American women twin brides and their grooms within a parlor, near a table of food, being married by a reverend in front of friends and family of all ages; "The Coaching Season in Blackville._ The Grand Start" (June) showing an African American driver pulling at the reins of an unruly four-mule team coach of which African American passengers of all ages sit in and on the cab as African American towns folk wave from a line of cabins in the background and an African American boy and dog run past the wheel of the vehicle; "The 'Fourth' in Blackville" (July) showing a fenced paddock in which an African American boy holds an American flag in one hand and a gun in the other by a group of African American children and a woman who run, cover their eyes, jump the fence, and shield each other under the sight of an African American man in the window of an adjacent cabin; “Hi Abe Come Under De Brellar! Does Your Want to Sunstruck Yerself! De Fremoniter’s Gone Up Moren a Foot!” (August) showing a group of African American children of different ages, under a torn umbrella held by the tallest child, a girl, and approaching a young African American boy, “Abe,” within a fenced yard with a pond and patches of greenery and across from a cabin in which an African American man and woman, stand and sit in the doorway;, “After Doing Paris and the Rest of Europe, The Bridal Party Return to Blackville" (September) showing “the twins” on promenade with their husbands and an African American women caregiver holding their two babies as they walk on a dirt path lined by African American townsfolks of all ages who stare and also include an older woman who laughs behind a tree; "Who Struck De Futest?” (October) showing an older African American man, seated outside a cabin, and holding up a switch to two African American boys, in worn clothing, standing within the yard, near a broken object, and across from an African American girl in the cabin doorway and three boys seated and looking over a fence lining the property in the background; The “Small Breeds” Thanksgiving-Return of the First-Born from College 'Bress His Heart! Don’t he look edgecated?' ”(November) showing a young African American man portrayed in disheveled attire and manner as though drunk entering the door to his family, including a grandmother figure and a child in a high chair, at dinner around a cloth-covered table; and “No Small Breed Per Yer Uncle Abe Dis Chris'mas! Ain’t He a Cherub?” (December) showing “Uncle Abe,” an African American man holding a large, plucked turkey (with head and feet) near his chest and on a table surrounded by older women and child-aged family members who stand near a chest of drawers, a stool, and two windows with curtains visible in the background. Exterior scenes also often include a dog or cat, or a cabin or cabins, the latter marked “Clarence Brooks & Co. Fine Coach Varnishes. Cor. West & West 12th St. N.Y.” in the background; as well as fencing, groves of trees, and dirt paths. Interior scenes often include a dining table, chairs, displays of food and household items, such as a candlestick and framed prints advertising Clarence Brooks & Co. April-Fools Day image includes a cobble-stone street., Clarence Brooks established his varnish business in 1859 as Brooks and Fitzgerald, later Clarence Brooks & Co. In the early 1880s the firm issued calendars illustrated with African American caricatures in genre scenes, often after Sol Eytinge Harper’s Weekly illustrations., Title supplied by cataloger., Publication information inferred from image content and similar material issued by Clarence Brooks & Co. during the early 1880s., Two of the series contains ornamented borders (P.2022.8.2 & 4)., All of the prints inscribed in pencil on the verso with the name of a month, some abbreviated, between January and December., Image for “The First Ulster in Blackville” (P.2022.8.1) originally published in Harpers Weekly, March 18, 1876., Image for “Love in Blackville. The Wooing of the Twins” (P.2022.8.3) originally published in Harpers Weekly, May 11, 1878., Image for The Great Social Event at Blackville. The Wedding of the Twins (P.2022.8.5) originally published in Harpers Weekly, July 13, 1878., Image for “The Coaching Season in Blackville._ The Grand Start” (P.2022.8.6) originally published in Harpers Weekly, September 28, 1878., Image for “The ‘Fourth’ in Blackville” (P.2022.8.7) originally published in Harpers Weekly, July 14, 1877., Image for “After Doing Paris and the Rest of Europe, The Bridal Party Return to Blackville” (P.2022.8.9) originally published in Harpers Weekly, October 26, 1878., Image for “Who Struck de Futest” (P.2022.8.10) originally published in Harpers Weekly, June 13, 1874., Image for “No Small Breed fer yer Uncle Abe….” (P.2022.8.12) originally published in Harpers Weekly, January 1, 1876., Purchased with funds for the Visual Culture Program., RVCDC
Date: [1879]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *ephemera - calendars - C [P.2022.8.1-12]

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