Leadbeater's renouned [sic] stove polish.
Title
Leadbeater's renowned stove polish
Description
Racist advertisement for Leadbeater & Co.’s stove polish depicting a white woman and an African American woman polishing stoves. In the left, the brown-haired white woman, attired in a blue ruffled dress, white gloves, a necklace, and bracelets, stands holding a bottle of Leadbeater’s stove polish in her left hand, which she brushes onto a heating stove. In the right, an African American woman domestic, attired in a yellow head kerchief, gold hoop earrings, a red collared shirt with the sleeves rolled to her elbows, and a green skirt with black stripes, kneels as she brushes polish on the cooking stove. She turns her head to see her reflection on the stove in the left. Also visible in the image are a framed portrait, landscape, and still life, and a green sideboard with white plates and a cup. Leadbeater & Company, was a one year partnership between Philadelphia stove polish merchants, F.C. Leadbeater and D.L. Wells, at 920 Market Street., Title and date from manuscript note written on recto: Leadbeater's Renowned Stove Polish; Feb. 1861., Not in Wainwright, Philadelphia on Stone, POSP 134, Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of engravings relating to Philadelphia. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Date
[February 1861]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department BW - Advertisements [(7)1322.F.441a]
Wootten's excelsior stove lustre or pure black lead
Title
Wootten's excelsior stove lustre or pure black lead Prepared by John Wootten, Jr. No. 94 Spruce St. Wholesale Depot, no. 13 North Third Street Phila
Description
Racist advertisement promoting Wootten’s Excelsior Stove Lustre and depicting an African American man, portrayed in caricature, polishing a stove. Shows the African American man servant, barefoot and attired in a plaid, collared shirt and pants, kneeling before a stove with a brush in his left hand. On the floor in front of him is a glass of water, an open can of polish, and a box labeled, Wootten’s Excelsior Stove Lustre or Pure Black Lead. In the right, a white woman stands wearing her brown hair in a bun and attired in an off-the-shoulder dress with a bow at the chest and lace sleeves. She looks toward the man and asks, “Uncle Tom whose blacking is that you are useing [sic].” He replies in the vernacular, “La Missey don’t you know dat -- dat is Wooten's Lustre." To the left of the woman, a black cat stands on a wooden chair with its back raised and looks at the man. Also visible in the image are plates, bowls, and cups on shelves, another wooden chair, and an open window that has a potted plant on the ledge. John Wootten Jr. (1820-1872) is listed in the 1861 Philadelphia city directory as a blacking maker., Title from item., Date from Poulson inscription on recto: Mar. 28 -59; S. 4 (old no.) Spruce Street., Not in Wainwright., Text printed on recto: For polishing and beautifying stoves, this Lustre stands unrivalled. It may with perfect justice be called The Housekeeper’s Choice; it gives a more brilliant appearance, retains it gloss longer, and requires Fifty per cent less labor than any other preparation in existence, when moistened with a little water, and applied vigorously to iron work of any kind, the effect is truly magical; housekeepers and others are well aware what great labor is requisite, and time expended in the attempt to give a fine polish with many of the lustres sold at the present day – here however both these evils are remedied; a beautiful gloss is obtained in a few minutes, and without scarcely any exertion whatever. Another advantage which this article possesses over all others, is, that it tends to preserve the iron from the deleterious effects of damp and rust, which so often render a stove entirely useless in the course of a few seasons. This Lustre is prepared with great care from the very best lead that can be found in the market, and is entirely free from all those foreign substances which so greatly destroy the efficacy of other articles.", Philadelphia on Stone, POSP 279, Accessioned 1982., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator
Sinclair, Thomas S., approximately 1805-1881, lithographer
Date
[March 28, 1859]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *BW - Advertisements [P.8729.21]
Mason's challenge blacking. James S. Mason & Co., nos. 138 & 140 North Front Street, Philadelphia.
Title
Mason's challenge blacking. James S. Mason & Co., nos. 138 & 140 North Front Street, Philadelphia
Description
Advertisement depicting a "shoe blacking" competition between two African American shoe shiners to promote the manufactory of blacking established in 1832 by James S. Mason. Shows two African American men, portrayed in racist caricature, holding a brush, a canister of "Mason's" blacking, and a boot, while they dance on a table. An African American man fiddler sits on a stool and plays. In the foreground, a white man holds an oversized boot. A white shoe shine boy, his pack on his back, stands behind an older man holding his arm as he points at his reflection in the boot. In the left background, a troop of white Union soldiers marches in behind a parade marshal adorned in "M" insignias. The men carry a banner reading "Mason's (Original) Challenge Blacking (Philadelphia)," as well as boots, and signs spelling "M-A-S-O-N." In the right background, a crowd of spectators, including figures likely representing Germany, the Ottoman Empire, Britain, and possibly France, stand and watch the competition attentively. Scene also includes boxes of Mason's Challenge Blacking. Following the death of Mason in 1888, his son Richard assumed the business which was in operation into the 20th century., Title from item., Date inferred from directory listings for the artist and engravers., Attributed by cataloger to Francis H. Schell, but possibly by Frederick B. Schell., 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
Schell, Francis H., 1834-1909, artist
Date
[ca. 1863]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Ph Pr - 11x14 - Advertisements - M [P.2013.51]
[Robert Swayne collection of Philadelphia photographs] [graphic].
Title
[Robert Swayne collection of Philadelphia photographs]
Description
Collection of photographs documenting Philadelphia cityscapes, neighborhoods, landmarks, churches and benevolent institutions, businesses and factories, street views, and local events. Images depict interiors, exteriors, and alleyways. Many views include storefront signage; utility poles and street clocks; railroads and stations; and street and pedestrian traffic, as well as show the Western, Southern, and Northern sections of the city. Subjects depicted include All Saints Church (Torresdale); Cliveden; views along the Delaware River; Fairmount Park and Waterworks; Wissahickon Creek, Schuylkill River and Boathouse Row; Frankford Arsenal (1948); Philadelphia Gazette Building (924 Arch Street); the WCAU building (Bala Cynwyd) ; Rittenhouse and Logan squares; the “Clothesline Show” at Rittenhouse Square: a ca. 1930 view of a baseball game at the Baker Bowl, i.e. National League Park (2622 North Broad St.); the power house of the Westinghouse Gas Engine Machinery (Manayunk); the attic and basement of the original United State Mint (37-39 N. 7th Street, built 1792) photographed ca. 1890 by Newell & Son; interior of the second Mint Building (Broad and Chestnut);, the construction of the Delaware River, later Benjamin Franklin, Bridge (ca. 1924), Hahnemann Hospital (1928), Philadelphia Municipal, later JFK, Stadium (ca. 1926); the interior of an unidentified bakery (53rd and Vine) photographed ca. 1905 by C.H. Miller; interior and exterior of Geo. W. Einselen, Fine Cake Bakery and Ice Cream Saloon (1372 Somerset St.) photographed 1904 by Joseph Pearce; progress photographs photographed 1926 of the property of “Philadelphia Brick Co. Required for P.R.R. Temporary Track” and photographed 1921 by J.E. Bewley of and near the 3400 block of North 5th Street ; “Stephen Girard's ‘Alleged Slave Dungeons,’ Front & Market Streets uncovered by demolition” photographed 1906-1907 by John Trautwine, likely the civil engineer (P.2017.88.37.1-7); ca. 1880s studio portraits of adult and child mummers photographed by Richter & Co.; workers on scaffolding attached to the Nixon Building (20 S. 52nd St.); an exterior view photographed ca. 1873 by Newell & Son of the carpenter shop of Clarkson Fogg in front of which numerous household implements and furniture are lined, as well as men, women, and children, including a policeman are posed (449 N. 10th St.); ca. 1868 view of the 100 block of North Third Street, including the storefront for Dr. Stoever's Bitters manufactured by Kryder & Co (121 N. Third); Maryland Metal Bldg. Co. Incorporated classroom modules for the Philadelphia School District (ca. 1924); ca. 1920 advertising photos for an unidentified lighting company of examples of their work in Philadelphia manufactories with sewing machines (Greenwald Bros., Inc., 313 Arch St. and Trio Waist Co., 821 Arch St.) and of the moulding room of S.J. Cresswell Iron Works (2250 Cherry St.); the ca. 1905 interior of the cigar store of Ramon Azogue (102 S. 8th St.);, ca. 1930 view of the hairdressing salon at the Benjamin Franklin Hotel; ca. 1895 view of the interior of the Bourse (i.e., Philadelphia Stock Exchange); and a ca. 1930s exterior view of the Roxborough Home for Indigent Women (601 Leverington Avenue). Other images show a WWI benefit parade "to Keep the War Chest Filled" (1419 N. 2nd St.); a ca. 1900 lavish display of elaborately-decorated cakes photographed by William Phillipi; a posed WWI publicity still with release statements on the verso for Eastman Kodak showing Anna B. Graham with a camera and a young girl in a nurse’s uniform photographed by William F. Langrock; the storefront of a women’s owned business (Mrs. R.T. Anderson); a ca. 1920s contact sheet of variant bust-length portraits of a young woman photographed by the Lipp Studio; and the Walter Lippincott family posed on the porch of a residence., Portrait photographs, including of engraver John Sartain (P.2017.88.77.1 & 2), African American Rev. C. M. Tanner (1869-1933)(P.2018.66.4), John McAllister, Jr. and family members, and “physio-psychism” researcher Emil Sutra (P.2018.66.2) by Philadelphia photographers and occupational, school, and organizational group portrait photographs also comprise the collection. Group portraits document the Bellview Wheelmen; a class trip to the Franklin Institute; and performers attired in leotards, including jugglers, titled “Mr. Jonathan Evans, Haines & Cheer St.” Collection also includes William Stuart McFeeters family photograph album; a small number of images depicting African American men (P.2017.88.11, P.2017.88.61, P.2017.88.76.9 & 38); an organizational group portrait with a man with dwarfism (P.2018.66.15); candid snapshots, including ca. 1900 views of women using cameras along the Schuylkill River; and two film negatives depicting the WCAU building., Title supplied by cataloger., Various photographers, including Frank B. Cassel; William Bell; Berry & Homer; J. E. Bewley; Coward & Shannon; Harry A. Derr; Eagle Photo View Co.; Empire Photo Co.; H. Fetters; S.M. Fisher; Frederick Guteknust; Hansbury Studio; Henry C. Howland; Keystone Instantaneous View Company; William J. Kuebler; William F. Langrock; Lipp Studio; Charles Luedecke; F. Mattes; Monarch Photograph & Publishing Co.; Marriott C. Morris; Robert Newell; Newell & Son; Newell Studio; C. H. Miller, C. R. Pancoast; Joseph N. Pearce; William Phillipi; William Rau; Frederick DeBourg Richards; Schreiber; George Sheridan; Alfred Taylor; John Trautwine; Universal Photo Service; and W. D. Weland, Cartes-de-visite portraits of John Sartain (P.2017.88.77.1 & 2) housed separately and with cdv portraits – sitters - S., View by Schreiber of horse cart racing (1903) housed separately and with *photo – Schreiber., Cartes-de-visite portrait photographs of John McAllister, Jr. and family members (P.2017.88.79-102) housed with the McAllister Family Portrait Collection - cartes-de-visite., Electronic inventories of collection available at repository., See Lib. Company. Annual report, 2016, p. 64-65., RVCDC, Access points revised 2022., Robert Swayne (1927-2011) was a West Chester antique dealer, collector of vernacular photographs, and local writer about the Civil War.
Date
[ca. 1860-ca. 1952]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Swayne Collection [P.2017.88 & P.2018.66]