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- Title
- Illustrations of Philadelphia. Vol. IX
- Description
- Scrapbook containing newspaper clippings, prints, and ephemera predominately dated 1857 and pertaining to the built environment, and social, cultural, and economic climate of Philadelphia. Majority of the contents are articles about city businesses and industries; public interest stories; editorials relating to public concerns and social mores; reports, lists, and statistics; and caricatures and cartoons. Several articles concern the new house numbering system; the chartering of Fairmount and Sedgeley parks; the Academy of Music (New Opera House), including the inaugural ball and first opera season; the temporary relocation of the Post Office; progress of Camden; volunteer fire companies, including the debate over the oldest instituted, new fire houses, and parades; fires on the 300 and 600 blocks of Chestnut (i.e., Peterson/Goodyear building and Melodion); transportation, including omnibus lines and the Camden and Atlantic, and Philadelphia and Baltimore Central railroads; and the new coinage of cents issued from the mint. Also contains numerous columns about building dedications, laying of cornerstones, and improvements and new construction to the city’s infrastructure, including Drown’s Umbrella Manufactory (86 Market); the silver plated ware establishment of John O. Mead (Ninth and Chestnut); the Butler house lot (800 block Chestnut); the hall of the "Colored Masons"; the Spring Garden district and Northwestern section of the city (Twelfth, Thirteenth, and Fifteenth wards); the Pennsylvania Bank building; First Welsh Presbyterian Church (1500 Lombard); the Penn Widow’s Asylum; Washington building (000 block S. Third); and the restaurant of John Campbell (500 block Chestnut)., Other articles describe the Library Company’s receipt of the ca. 1720 Peter Cooper painting of Philadelphia; culture, politics, and economy of the year 1856; local medical schools and hospitals, including Penn Medical University, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia small-pox hospital, and Eclectic Medical College; local industries and trades, including Wood & Perot's ornamental iron work establishment, Newell & Knight barrel making machinery and the oyster trade; and Moyamensing Prison. Anecdotal columns and editorials provide commentaries about Philadelphia Insurance companies; Aprils Fools Day; servants; tramps; the city’s “noisy spot” of Third and Chestnut; the lore of stage coaches; popular catch phrases, including those from the theater; the Molly Maquires; the public expense of public lamps and paupers; the importance of newspapers, including as a more perfect venue for advertising than storefront signage; the poor use of the language in classified advertisements; storefront and tavern signages (p.41-42); and the cricket mania. Also contains historical pieces about the University of Pennsylvania; Independence Square; Chew’s Mansion; Zion Lutheran Church; and the Chinese Museum; reports, lists and statistics detailing the crime and mortality rate, sales of stocks and real estate; the retail, cattle and produce markets, meteorology and weather, telegraph use for the year, the comparative health of manufacturing cities, and architectural improvements in progress; a column about how the 1785 city directories represented the population of the city from the series "Philadelphia As It Was"; and an illustrated article about shawls., Graphics, predominately caricatures and cartoons, include lithographs, engravings, and wood engravings. Majority of cartoons satirize the hoop skirt, including the Clara and Charles series. Other cartoons satirize German beer culture, patent medicine, P.T. Barnum, and the social mores of the upper classes. Caricatures, often racist, depict African Americans while at work, including a sweeper, cook, and painter. Prints also include advertisements, vignettes, and views. Advertisements depict the Union hotel (300 block Arch); Thornley & Chism, importers, jobbers and retailers of fancy & staple dry goods (N.E. cor. Spring Garden and Eighth); Lincoln, Wood & Nichols, manufacturers and importers of straw goods; and Fairbank’s patent platform scales. Vignettes depict a knife cleaning apparatus, Olmstead stove, and a piano. Views show a genre scene titled by Poulson "An ‘omnibus’ sleigh and a 'rung' "; the Academy of Music; Jefferson Medical college, Presbyterian Church; Central Presbyterian Church; and "The Performing Elephants" at the National Circus accompanied by the classified for the performance. Scrapbook also contains ephemera, including the "Deaf and Dumb Alphabet" chart inscribed "In use at Phila Institution 1857 as per report Jany 1858" ; a "Premium medal, Franklin Institute"; and two elaborately illustrated tickets to the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society., Majority of contents annotated by Poulson with dates and explicative manuscript notes., Title page trimmed and illustrated with a ca. 1856 lithographer's advertisement issued by Wagner & McGuigan after the work of lithographer Maurice Traubel and artist William Croome. Depicts an allegorical, patriotic scene with the figure of Columbia, attired in a toga, American flag, and laurel wreath, and with a broken shackle under her foot as she stands on a pedestal., Chart "Length of Squares East and West" pasted on verso of title page., Label inscribed "The "Articles" in the book are taken from fugitive sources only; and the dates affixed to each are those of the newspapers &c from which they were procured CAP" pasted on verso of front free end paper., "Index to set in back part of vol. XI.", Insert: “Report of the President of the Girard College to the committee on Instruction September 3, 1850, Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
- Creator
- Poulson, Charles A. (Charles Augustus), 1789-1866, compiler
- Date
- 1857-1858
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Poulson scrapbooks - vol. 9 [(9)2526.F]
- Title
- Illustrations of Philadelphia, from fugitive sources only
- Description
- Scrapbook containing clippings, prints, and ephemera dated between 1778 and 1864 pertaining to the built environment, and social and cultural climate of Philadelphia. Illustrated newspaper and periodical clippings (several from The Casket) describing prominent city landmarks during the 1820s to 1840s forms the majority of the content. Subjects include St. Stephens Church (Poulson's annotation states image includes the rear of President’s House on Ninth Street in background); Pagoda near Philadelphia; Gray's Ferry; the Philadelphia Library (i.e., Library Company of Philadelphia); "Statue of Wm. Penn, at the South Front of the Pennsylvania Hospital"; "New Street Cleaning Machine"; and "Rail Shooting on the Delaware.", Scrapbook also contains newspaper articles, advertisements, and prices lists. Subjects include historical anecdotes about Market Street in 1729, the Library Company of Philadelphia, Walnut Street Theatre, Letitia Court, Dock Street, Superstitions of ‘Ye Olden Times,’ and American “firsts”; improvements and alterations to city architecture, including Walnut Street Theatre and the State House; Infant Schools; the April 25, 1846 Eclipse of the Sun; an 1828 transparency illustrated with a caricature of Andrew Jackson; the dissolution of the circulation of “small notes” (1828); the Labyrinth Garden of Thomas Smith at Arch above Broad; Pennsylvania Museum and Menagerie (Market Street); commemoration of the Landing of William Penn; steamboat and stage coach schedules (1828); shift in social classes in Philadelphia society (1842); the 1837 court case against Commodore Perry sloop Capt. Blankman; and the Mauch Chunk Railway. Ephemera includes a facsimile of the original circular "Proposal for the Printing of a large Bible, by William Bradford" held by Nathan Kite. Many of the articles are accompanied by commentaries or are partially transcribed by Poulson. Scrapbook also includes detailed manuscript notes about Hamilton Mansion and the Old Court House., Graphic materials, predominately advertisements and views of prominent landmarks, include wood engravings, engravings, lithographs, and an albumen print. Views include images of "T.W. Dyott’s Apoth’y and Patent Medicine Store N.E. cor. Vine and Second Street"; "Gray’s Ferry on the Schuylkill (a Relic of the Olden Time)"; "Green Hill, The Seat of Samuel Meredith Esq. near Philadelphia"; Birmingham Meeting House "from a Daguerreotype by Mess. Langenheim"; and Cornelius & Baker manufactories on Cherry Street and Columbia Avenue. Advertisements depict N. Lloyd & Son (Seventh and Cherry) elegant coal grates; John Duross Black Horse Alley Old and Extensive Printing Establishment (showing a printing press); M.B. Dyott, manufacturer of Gas Fixtures and Lamps; Bennett’s Tower Hall Clothing Bazaar; Moore, Henzey & Co., hardware; and Wright, Smith & Co., china, glass, queensware. Graphics also include an 1828 vignette showing a carriage and captioned "High Fashion"; "The Stage Coach in 1816"; an 1857 caricature of a Quaker couple; and material added in the 20th century, including a 1905 photo-engraving of the "House and Counting House of Stephen Girard.", Majority of contents annotated with a date and explicative manuscript notes by Poulson., Title page illustrated with a ca. 1856 lithographer's advertisement issued for Wagner & McGuigan. Depicts an allegorical, patriotic scene with the figure of Columbia, attired in a toga, American flag, and laurel wreath, and with a broken shackle under her foot as she stands on a pedestal., Verso of front free end paper contains Poulson inscription: “The Dates of the articles herein, are those of the newspapers &c from which they were cut. Cut out designed with floral details frames the inscription., "Index to set in back part of vol. XI.", Artists, engravers, and printers include John Boyd; William Breton; Jacob Hoffman; George Gilbert; John Hill; Kennedy & Lucas; E. Rogers; Frederick Pilliner, Samuel Sartain; M. Schmitz; James W. Steel; and George Worley., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Several pages have been removed., Small number of original photographs by McClees removed to the Print Department.
- Creator
- Poulson, Charles A. (Charles Augustus), 1789-1866, compiler
- Date
- 1798-1864, bulk 1829-1845
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Poulson scrapbooks - vol. 11 [(11)2526.F]