Bits of nature and some art products, in Fairmount Park, at Philadelphia, Penna.
Title
Bits of nature and some art products, in Fairmount Park, at Philadelphia, Penna
Description
Volume of compiled prints and drawings by lithographer, etcher, and artist Augustus Kollner primarily depicting landscapes of Fairmount Park and originally published in his "Bits of Nature ...," one of four volumes in his 1878 series of small folio pictures. Also contains views of Philadelphia and Bucks and Montgomery counties. Several of the prints also show park and riverscape; residences and estates; animals, including canal mules, horses, cows, and dogs; park visitors, including an African American family, children, and persons on foot and on horseback; steamboats, rowboats, and other vessels on the Schuylkill River; and rock formations. Other views show wharf workers at lunch and a cliff-side residence at North Twenty-Seventh Street near the park., Mount Pleasant Mansion was built 1761-1765 for Captain John Macpherson after the designs of Thomas Nevil in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pa. Macpherson, a privateer during the Seven Years’ War, purchased the estate with profits from these operations. Free white and Black laborers, indentured servants, and at least four enslaved people of African descent, whose names are unknown, worked on the plantation. In 1779, General Benedict Arnold purchased Mount Pleasant for his wife Peggy Shippen, but they never occupied the house. In 1792, General Jonathan Williams purchased the mansion. The City of Philadelphia purchased the property from the Williams family in 1869. On behalf of the city, the Philadelphia Museum of Art restored the house in 1926., Titles include Thos. Moore’s Cottage, Phila. Park; Schuylkill River, Fairmount Park, Phila. (Columbia Bridge); Prospect from Ridgeland and Fairmount Park, Phila.; (In Fairmount Park) Sweet Briar Mansion, in 1843; In Ravine near Sweet Briar Fairmount Park, Phila.; Schuylkill River below the Falls, Fairmount Pk. Phila.; Belmont and Waterworks. Mount Pleasant, Fairmount Park, Philada.; In Wissahickon Valley, Fairmount Park, Philada.; Peters Island, Fairmount Park, Philada.; Schuylkill Riv. above Fairmount Dam, Philada. in 1843; Phila. 1842; Schuylkill River Pa.; Pt. Pleasant, Pa.; Near Willow Grove Penna.; Life Scenes in Fairmount Park; Near East Park, Phila./ "S.E. corner 27th & [Arben?]"; Schuylkill Valley Pa (dated 1893).; Delaware Riv. [Easton?]; Life Scenes in Park; City Wharf Scene (dated 1894); and West Phila [illegible] near Sweet [Briar?] West Phila., Title from title page., Maroon leather binding, stamped in gilt on cover: Bits of Nature. A. Kollner., Spine stamped: Bits of Nature. Kollner., Prints variably signed AK; A. Kollner; A. Kollner fc.; From nate. and etchd by A. Kollner; and Kollner, fect., Titles on the stone or plate. Some annotated with inscribed titles., Two of prints [*Am 1878 Kol, 2086.F.15 and 16] printed on recto of proofs. Proofs depict "Life Scenes in Park" and "The Christian Soldier.", 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., Kollner advertised four volumes of small folio pictures, including "Bits of Nature and Some Art Products, in Fairmount Park ..." in 1878. Several of the lithographs from this volume were based on sketches he executed in the 1840s.
Creator
Kollner, Augustus, 1813-1906
Date
[1878-1894]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums - Kollner [*Am 1878 Kol, 2086.F]
[Family photograph album of views of Eastern and Central Pennsylvania] [graphic].
Title
[Family photograph album of views of Eastern and Central Pennsylvania]
Description
Family snapshot photograph album photographed and compiled by a Lorah family member, possibly Mary (Lorah) Rismiller and containing portraits of family members and friends and views of Eastern and Central Pennsylvania during family visits and excursions between 1907 and 1916. Album pages are annotated with the name of town visited and often the date of the visit. The photographs are captioned with descriptive or identifying titles and/or annotated with the names of the sitters photographed. Towns and cities visited include Houtzdale, Pa. in 1910; Emaus, Pa. in 1911; Duncannon, Pa. in 1911; Millerstown, Pa. ; Philadelphia, Pa.; Ocean Grove, N.J.; Atlantic City, N.J.; Camden, N.J.; Mexico, Pa. in 1915; and Wernersville, Pa. in 1916. Imagery includes views of businesses and industries, several churches, schools, residences, and recreational areas, as well bridges, streetscapes, cityscapes, and landscapes. Sites depicted show the Houtzdale Coal Mining Region, including views of workers, the entrance, the breaker “after the fire,” and the air shaft; Camden, N.J. Alms House Hospital and Stables; Edwin Glass near the brick oven of a bake shop and “Novelty works” (Duncannon, Pa.); a duck farm (Emaus, Pa.); the Office of Dr. M.J. Stine, Old & New Shirt Factory of B.W. Paget & Son, a wooden tripod structure “Devils Catcher,” and Slaughterback Hill (Millerstown, Pa.); the Juniata River; a bridge and shirt factory (Mexico, Pa.) and South Mountain Park (Wernersville, Pa.), Several photographs document the facilities and staff, including Mary’s brother W. C. Lorah, at the State Hospital at Wernersville. The views show the “Filtering Bed,” “Turburcular” [sic] ward, “Stables,” the “Reservoir,” “Refectory,” “Day Room,” “Isolation Building,” “Laundry/Cold Storage,” “Industrial Building,” “Green Houses,” “Infirmary Force,” (i.e. hospital attendants); and the “Dormitory.” Also contains views from the Lorah family hometown of Blandon, Pa., including the “Lorah House”; views of the railroad, including tracks, stations, and bridges; camping along the Delaware River; and the Camden Carnival., Portrait photographs show men, women, and children posed in front of residences, in yards and public spaces, and on outings. Several of the portraits depict Mary Ritzmiller’s mother Ellen Becker Lorah, as well as niece Selena Lorah, and nephew Merit O. Lorah (as a baby), and brother W.C. (William Chester) Lorah. Other portraits depict a group portrait of “J. Benson employees” posed in front of a shoe store in Holzdale; “Mrs. Lukens” posed from her wheelchair; and an out of focus view of W.C. Lorah “Among the Fens.” Portraiture also includes a portrait taken in Blandon and captioned “Black Annie” and shows an older Black woman standing on the steps of probably a general store and attired in a kerchief, heavy jacket, and skirt. She wears a tambourine at her waist and walks with a cane. A few portraits depict women in chicken coops and Ellen Lorah holding a goose. Several portraits are also annotated with humorful and wry-toned captions, including a series of images of individuals posed to represent “Sports," “Obeying,” “Cherubs,” “Temptation,” and “Just for Fun.” Many of the photographs include objects of the everyday, including horse-drawn vehicles, water pumps, wash tubs and a hand-powered washer, baby carriages and rockers and other children’s furnishings, dolls and stuffed animals, and an automobile. Album also contains portraits of friends from and views of Toledo and Gibsonburg, Ohio in June 1907., Title supplied by cataloger., Date from content., Stamped on front cover: Photographs., Photographs arranged in diagonal patterns on p. [24-30]., Many of the pages contain titles., Majority of images annotated with a caption., Mary Lorah Rissmiller (1883-1959), daughter of Allen Lorah (1849-1922) and Ellen Becker Lorah 1856-1917), was born in Blandon, Pa. and married railroad freight laborer William Rismiller (1879-1959) in 1903. Her siblings included Daniel Clement Lorah (b. 1874), Josiah Curtis Lorah (1876-1957), Allen Harvery Lorah (1886-1967), and William Chester Lorah (1888-1918).
Creator
Rismiller, Mary Lorah, 1883-1959
Date
[1907-1916]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums [P.2022.14]