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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]

Title: Views at Chestnutwold, residence of C.H. Clark
Description: Album of 12 photographic views showing the West Philadelphia estate of Philadelphia banker and collector Clarence Howard Clark at 4200 Locust Street. Images depict the front gate to the residence, the residence, green house and garden, and pond with fountain. Also depicts members of Clark's family posed at the residence, on the grounds, in a goat carriage, and in a boat on the pond. Views also include an African American servant posed near an entrance, gardeners at the greenhouse, wooded areas, paths, and lawn chairs., Photographer's imprint from blind stamp on mounts., Title from brown morocco binding, plate on front cover., Bookplate of The Divinity School of the Protestant Episcopal Church pasted inside front cover. Typed Gift of Clarence Clark Zantzinger (1925)., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., LCP AR [Annual Report] 1990, p. 54., Housed in phase box., Clarence Howard Clark, banker, book collector, philanthropist, horticulturalist, and prominent land developer of West Philadelphia resided in Chesnutwold from about the 1860s. The property was originally built by Samuel K. Hopkins Jr. for banker Nathaniel Borrodail Browne after 1851. Altered during the 1880s, including an addition, the estate grounds were open to the public by 1895 when Clark donated some of his other land holdings for an adjacent public park (i.e., Clark Park). Following Clark's death, Chestnutwold was presumed to be given to the city as a public park, but instead was purchased in 1917 by The Divinity School of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Clark was married to Amie Hampton Westcott (d. 1870) and later Marie Motley Davis with whom he had three sons, including Philadelphia mayor Joseph S. Clark.
Creator: Newell, Robert, 1822-1897, photographer
Date: ca. 1870
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums [P.9291]

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]

Title: Original & selected poetry &c
Description: Album belonging to Martina Dickerson, a young middle-class African American Philadelphian, probably created as a pedagogical exercise, with twenty-two contributions dating from 1840 until around 1846. Contains original and transcribed poems, prose, and essays on topics including love, friendship, sympathy, courage, and female refinement. Also includes drawings, primarily of flowers. Identified contributors are mainly Black elite scholars active in the African American anti-slavery and cultural community of mid-19th century Philadelphia., Contains the following contributions: calligraphed title page by abolitionist James Forten, Jr.; prose on "Literature," "The Album," and "The Year" by entrepeneur and abolitionist James Forten, Sr. or his son, James, Jr.; prose entitled "Perserverance" by tailor, abolitionist, and civil rights activist John C. Bowers; prose, sketches, and watercolors by Quaker abolitionist, educator, and artist, Sarah Mapps Douglass; watercolor and transcribed poem, "The First Steamboat on the Missouri," by Sarah's brother, artist, community activist, and abolitionist, Robert Douglass; essay entitled "Sympathy" by William Douglass, pastor and historian of the St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Philadelphia; transcription from Wordsworth's "Excursion" by educator and anti-slavery activist Charles L. Reason; gouache of a bunch of flowers by A.H.H., probably Ada Howell Hinton, an African American educator and anti-slavery activist; and prose, poems, and gouache by Mary M. MacFarland, V.E. Macarty, Y.J. Grice, Rebecca F. Peterson, H.D. Shorter, C.D.R., and J.F.V., Title from item., Inclusive range of dates inferred from entries inscribed with dates., Embossed and gilt morocco binding., Lithograph title page, "Flowers," containing flower illustration hand-colored with gouache and watercolor., Blank album published in London by Wm. & Hy. Rock., Lib. Company. Annual Report 1993, p. 17-25., Research file available at repository., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Dickerson, a pupil of African American educator Sarah Mapps Douglass, was the daughter of African American activists, Martin and Adelia Dickerson, and step-father Samuel Van Brackle.
Creator: Dickerson, Martina, 1829-1905
Date: [ca. 1840-ca. 1846]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Martina Dickerson album [13859.Q]

Title: The girl graduate: her own book
Description: Memory book compiled by Philadelphia High School for Girls student Mildred Davis Zaiser (later Cope) containing snapshot portraits with signatures and addresses of her classmates, including three African American students; prose and essays by her fellow students about their school experiences, teachers and classes; transcriptions of the class yell, motto, and commencement address; and class autographs and lists of class officers. Also contains an inserted snapshot photograph depicting four young well-dressed women in “Washington DC 5/9/14” (p. 31); snapshot photograph depicting history instructor “Miss Isabel W. Franklin” (p. 57); professional group portrait photograph showing the student members of “The Captain Ball Team of A prime 8” (a few of the girls hold a stuffed cat, a ball, and the school banners); anecdotal entries titled “Class Prophecy, And how it comes out” and “Class History”; tongue-in-cheek “Last Will and Testament” essay of student bequests to school instructors and departments; and a copy of the commencement announcement. “Miscellaneous” section contains several essays colloquially describing classes and written and signed by Zaiser’s fellow students, including ‘Physics Hour” written by Lucy Seiber (p. 169-171); “Mathematics Hour” written by Emily M. Woodward and Blanche Rostow (p. 172-177); “Drawing Hour” incomplete and unsigned (p. 178-179); “Physiology Hour” written by Marie Zaun (p. 181-184); “Gymnasium Hour” written by Della Martin (p. 185 -188); and “English Hour” written by Lillian Schivare (p. 189). Notes by Zaiser detailing the class flower and colors and her graduation gown and presents and the prose “Who’s Who in A8” written by Dorothy Noe (p 141-143) also comprise the manuscript content of the book. Captain ball is a game similar to basketball played on an area marked with six circles with the goal to pass the ball to the player in the end circle., Portrait sitters (p. 15-29) include: Rheba Luberoff, 1928 N. 7th St., Phila; Mary Olivell, 341 S. Lawrence St., Phila; Helen Mahoney, 1502 Hollywood St., Phila; Della Markie, 4118 Pechin St., Rox.; Minnie Mayerle, 2406 Sedgely St., Phila.; Minnie Mayerle, 2406 Sedgely St., Phila.; Della Markie, 4118 Pechin St., Rox.; Minnie Mayerle, 2406 Sedgely St., Phila.; Florence Martin, 1234 N. 54th St., W. Phila ;Lea Meisel, 630 N. 55th St., W. Phila.; Mattie Miller, 3859 Olive St., W. Phila. (African American student); Dorothy Noe, 3311 N. 17th St. [830 Windsor Square, Phila – crossed out in different hand]; Tillie Mellanoff, 634 Hoffman St., Phila.; Mary Patterson, House of Correction, Holmesburg; Helen Pechin, N.E. Cor. 20th St. and Columbia Ave., Phila.; Lillian Pollard, 5339 Lena St., Germantown; Helen Radcliffe, 801 E. Washington Lane [6213 Germantown Ave G’m’t – crossed out in different hand]; Blanche Rostow, 1222 N. 7th St., Phila; Marion Schurer, 1103 Fairmount Ave., Phila.; Lillian Schware, 1342 Poplar St., Phila.; Lucy Seiber, 7024 Second St. Pike, Lawndale, Phila.; Elva Smith, 2502 N. Garnet St., Phila.; Fannie Still (later Lloyd)(abolitionist William Still’s granddaughter), 1607 Bainbridge St., Phila.; Helen Taylor, Upsal and Sullivan Sts.; Esther Tittman, 419 Moore St., Phila; Arabella Turney, 2334 S. 17th St., Phila.; Rosalie Tutleman, 5230 N. Broad St., Phila.; Grace Wilhelm, 1524 Parker St., Phila.; Annie Wood, 762 N. Uber St., Phila. (African American student); Emily Woodward, 518 W. Venango St., Phila.; Mildred Davis Zaiser, 4548 Manayunk Ave., Rox.; Marie Zaun, 122 E. Gorgas Lane, Mt. Airy; and Alberta Goodwin, President of the Graduating Class, Feb. 1915., The portraits are bust-length and the sitters are posed in profile, facing forward, and looking down upon books. Most of the young women wear their hair long and swept back and up. Some wear their hair bobbed or with bangs. The attire of most of the students include white or patterned blouses and neckties and neckerchiefs. Some also wear necklaces and/or jackets or smocks or ribbon headbands., Book illustrated with art nouveau-style pictorial, border, and ornamental details depicting images of young women in flouncy dresses reading newspapers, holding brownie cameras, writing invitations and in a journal; views of desks and shelves containing objects associated with studying, school, and young women, including books, ink wells, candlesticks, a box of letters, and flowers; and borders and ornaments composed of rose and floral designs., Bound in limp olive suede with blind-embossed design and gilt titling on front cover. Cover stamped with design composed of book, quill pen, and a bough of greenery with banner., Title stamped in gilt on cover: The Girl Graduate: Her Own Book., Contains inscription: This book belongs to [Mildred Davis Zaiser]. Graduated from [The Philadelphia High School for Girls. 17th and Spring Garden Sts.] Inscription in art nouveau-style border shaped like a frame and composed of flowers and branches., Title page illustrated with art nouveau-style border composed of vinery, roses, and the bust of a young woman attired in a flouncy blouse and with a yellow ribbon in her hair., Table of Contents: Date. Flower. Colors 11; Class Yell. Motto 13; Class Photographs 15; Class Autographs 33; Class Officers 49; The Teachers 53; Class Prophecy 61; Her Invitations 75; The Programmes 83; Social Events 95; Press Notices 113; Her Gowns 125; The Presents 133; Jokes and Frolics 141; Baccalaureate Sermon 161; Miscellaneous 169., Several editions of "The Girl Graduate" with variant cover designs and a loose leaf version were published 1906-ca. 1927., Purchase 2015., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Mildred Zaiser Cope (1897-1981) was raised in a German section of Philadelphia and noted as the "German Dictionary" by her classmates at her graduation in 1915. She still lived with her parents in 1920 when she worked as a clerk for the Board of Education. By 1930 she had married William Cope and lived in Norwalk, Connecticut., Louise Perrett (b. 1878) was an illustrator who studied under Howard Pyle. She was also an instructor at the Art Institute of Chicago circa 1920s. She partnered with Sarah K. Smith on several memory albums first published by Reilly and Britton Co. in the early 1900s. By 1940 she was an art teacher at the Elizabeth Peabody House in Boston.
Creator: Perrett, Louise, illustrator
Date: [ca. 1915]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums [P.2015.2]

Title: [Album]
Description: Album belonging to Mary Anne Dickerson, a young middle-class African American Philadelphian, possibly created as a pedagogical exercise, with contributions dating from 1833 until 1882. Contains engraved plates depicting scenic views, and original and transcribed poems, prose, essays, and drawings on topics including friendship, motherhood, mortality, youth, death, flowers, female beauty, and refinement. Also contains a one page record of family deaths, marriages, and births with entries up to the birth of Mary Anne's grandson in 1882. Identified contributors are mainly Black elite scholars active in the African American anti-slavery and cultural communities of mid-19th century Philadelphia, New York, and Boston., Contains the following contributions: "The Mother's Joy," a poem by C.F., possibly by abolitionist and second wife of entrepreneur James Forten, Charlotte Vandine Forten; illustration after "The Boroom Slave" and the poem, "To the Album," by artist and activist Robert Douglass; prose, "To Mary Ann", about living a happy life by Philadelphian anti-slavery activist Amy Matilda Cassey; a memorial, "To My Dear Willie," by Mary Anne to her deceased son, William Jones; poem, "The Night of Death," by J.A.J., Mary Anne's husband, John A. Jones; Boston author and civil rights activist William C. Nell's transcription of the poem, "The Rights of Women"; allegorical prose on the meaning of life by New York abolitionist Harriet Forten Purvis; transcription of the poem, "The Pearl Diver," by white Philadelphian anti-slavery activist Arnold Buffum; prose to "Mary Annie" about remembrance by Ada, possibly by anti-slavery activist Sarah Forten Purvis or educator and anti-slavery activist Ada Howell Hinton; floral drawing by A.H.H., probably by Ada Howell Hinton; prose and floral watercolors by educator, abolitionist, and Quaker Sarah Mapps Douglass, the sister of Robert Douglass; "Lines Addressed to a Wreath of Flowers Designed on a Present for Mary Ann" by E.S. Webb, possibly Elizabeth Susan Webb, sister of novelist Frank J. Webb; and prose by Mary Anne about mortality. Additional entries of prose and poetry by John G. Dutton, E.S. Webb, Lydia A.B., Henrietta, W.F.P, and S.L.C., unattributed entry, "To Esther," and unattributed entry of a floral watercolor. Also contains engraved plates by A.B. Durand, C. Fielding, C.G. Childs, Robert Walter Weir, James Smillie and Thomas Cole entitled respectively, "Falls of the Sawkill"; "Italy, The Bay of Naples"; "Weehawken"; "Delaware Water Gap"; "Catskill Mountains"; "Fort Putnam"; and "Winnipiseogee Lake"., Title supplied by cataloguer., Inclusive range of dates inferred from entries inscribed with dates., Contains engraved illustrated title page: Album. The Mother's Joy., Blank album published in New York in 1833 by J.C. Ricker., Embossed and gilt morocco binding., Release of Dower document dated 1838 giving the Dickerson home to the surviving children, contemporary unidentified newspaper clippings, manuscript poetry transcriptions, contemporary greeting cards, trade card, and other miscellaneous loose items removed and housed separately., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 1993, p. 17-25., Research file available at repository., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Dickerson, a pupil of African American educator Sarah Mapps Douglass, was the daughter of African American activists, Martin and Adelia Dickerson, and step-father Samuel Van Brackle.
Creator: Dickerson, Mary Anne, 1822-1858
Date: [ca. 1833-ca. 1882]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Mary Anne Dickerson album [13860.Q]

Title: Original & selected poetry &c
Description: Friendship album of Amy Matilda Cassey, a middle-class African American woman active in the antislavery movement and African American cultural community, containing contributions dating from 1833 until 1856. Contains original and transcribed poems, prose, and essays on topics including slavery, womanhood, religion, friendship, female refinement, death, and love. Also contains drawings, watercolors, and gouaches of flowers and a rustic, residential scene, possibly in New York. Contributors, including many women from the antebellum African American elite community, are prestigious reformers and abolitionists active in the anti-slavery, scholarly, educational, and cultural community of the antebellum North, including Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and Baltimore., Contains the following contributions: entry by African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass, dated Philadelphia 1850, about his "coarse" contribution in an album of "refined" entries; an original sonnet, "Fallen Bird," and essay, "The Abolition Cause," by anti-slavery activist, author, and editor, William Lloyd Garrison, dated Philadelphia 1833; floral watercolors and calligraphed poems by Philadelphia Quaker activist, educator, and artist Sarah Mapps Douglass; essay, "Moral Reform," dated Philadelphia 1834, by Harrisburg businessman and activist William Whipper; calligraphed version of Washington Irving's poem, "The Wife," by New York African American engraver Patrick Henry Reason dated New York 1839; poem about "Friendship" dated 1837 by anti-slavery activist Robert Purvis; prose on faith penned in 1853 by women right's activist and abolitionist Lucy Stone;, floral watercolors, poems and prose on friendship, womanhood, abolition, and remembrance by Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society associates Rebecca Buffum, Susan C. Wright, and sisters Hannah L. Stickney and Mary T. Stickney, and sisters Mary Forten (p.10), Margaretta Forten, and Sarah Forten Purvis, as well as their sister-in-law Mary Virginia Wood Forten (p.22); memorials to his deceased wife and daughter by Baltimore African Methodist Episcopal Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne written in 1849; and an essay by abolitionist Reverend Isiah George DeGrasse dated Bridgewater 1836. Additional contributions by Baltimore anti-slavery activist Emily Willson; anti-slavery activists Ann Warren Weston and Elizabeth Le Brun (Stickney) Gunn; Philadelphia barber and activist John Chew; abolitionist James Miller M'Kim; University of Glasgow trained activist James McCune Smith; Boston reformer Wendell Phillips; C.L.R., possibly Charles L. Reason, abolitionist and brother of engraver Patrick Henry Reason; A.W.H., possibly Quaker abolitionist Anna W. Hopper, and E.G., possibly Quaker abolitionist Elizabeth Garrigues., Also includes sketches and a poem by probably Lydia A. Bustill and unattributed watercolors and sketches possibly by Amy Matilda Cassey., Title from item., Inclusive range of dates inferred from entries inscribed with dates., Embossed and gilt morocco binding with blue moiré silk doublures., Lib. Company Annual Report 1998, p. 25-35., Research file available at repository., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Cassey, an abolitionist, temperance and civil rights activist and founding member of the multiracial Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society and the African American literary and science society, Gilbert Lyceum, was the daughter of New York black community leader, Reverend Peter Williams. She was the wife of Philadelphia businessman and civil rights activist Joseph Cassey, and later married Boston anti-slavery lecturer Charles Lenox Remond.
Creator: Cassey, Amy Matilda, 1808-1856
Date: [ca. 1833-ca. 1856]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Amy Matilda Cassey album [P.9764]

Title: [Portrait album of well-known 19th-century African American men of Philadelphia]
Description: Photograph album containing identified portrait photographs, bust-length, half-length, and full-length, of twenty-one prominent Philadelphia African American men. Named sitters in order of inclusion in album include veteran Harmon Richardson attired in a military uniform; educator and activist Octavius Catto; civil rights activist Edwin Chew (son of John and Charlotte Henson Chew); janitor and later undertaker Guy M. Burton with musician Ed[ward] H. Johnson and Terry V. Hall; musician Joseph G. Anderson; Civil War veteran and waiter Taylor Aldridge; Johnson al-Jube holding a basket; laborer Parker T. Smith; Jeremiah V. Hall; George Hall; waiter William I. Lancaster; barber James Keith; caterer Henry Tobias; Cheslea Bass, barber and partner to James Keith, with caterer Andrew F. Stevens; Edwin Lewis; Jas. H. Williams ae.[sic] Rush; Thomas Proctor; and restauranteur/caterer Ja[me]s B. Page. Musicians Edward Johnson and Joseph G. Anderson were members of Francis Johnson's band in the 1830s and 40s., Title supplied by cataloger from label on spine., Date from content and medium of photographs., Cardboard binding with torn spine label inscribed: Portraits of Well Know[n]. Insides of binding covers include scribbles and a pasted partial scrap of a flower., Photographs are loose or attached to album pages within binding., Sitters, and occasionally their profession, identified by manuscript notes on verso of photograph or album page. Some notes include statement "deceased," including for sitters Harmon Richardson, Edwin Chew, Octavius Catto, Edward H. Johnson, Terry V. Hall, Joseph G. Anderson, Johnson al-Jube, George Hall, James H. Williams, and James Page., Mostly unidentified photographers with identified Philadelphia photographers John L. Gihon and Parlor Gallery., Portrait photograph of Octavius Catto reproduced after a circa 1871 portrait photograph taken by African American Philadelphia photographer Gallo W. Cheston and/or Philadelphia photographers Broadbent & Phillips. See "Amy Cohen's Catto the Forgotten Hero" at catto.ushistory.org/. See also Harper's Weekly 15 (October 28, 1871), p. 1005 and a copy of the original portrait at https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.2006.8. Photograph stamped on verso: Kean Archives, Phila., Portrait photograph of Taylor Aldridge inscribed on verso: Nov. 27 '83., Verso of album page with portrait photograph of Edwin Lewis inscribed: July '83., Verso of album page with portrait photograph of James Page printed: Sharpless Bros. Dry Goods, Chestnut and Eighth Sts. Philadelphia., Purchase 1990., Description revised 2023., Access points revised 2023., 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. 1865-ca. 1885]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums [P.9304]

Title: Pictorial views of houses & places in Germantown yr 1859
Description: Photograph album commissioned by antiquarian Ferdinand Dreer containing twenty salted paper prints depicting nineteenth century Germantown landmarks. Views include prominent and historic residences, businesses, a school, and a church, predominately on Germantown Avenue. Images accompanied by numbered annotations of brief notes about the history of, significance of, and persons associated with the buildings., Photographs depict the Germantown Mennonite Church (6121 Germantown Avenue) and Samuel Keyser residence (6133 Germantown Avenue); Germantown Academy (110 School House Lane); Cliveden (6401 Germantown Avenue); Congress Hall boarding house (6100 block Germantown Avenue); Leonard Nutz residence (5329 West Penn Street); John Fanning Watson residence (Price Street); Thomas Godfrey Farm (Limekiln Pike at Church Lane); Samuel Morris residence (5442 Germantown Avenue); Roberts Mill (Church Lane at Wingohocking Street); John Smith residence, i.e., Daniel Keyser residence, near the old turnpike toll gate (5800 block Germantown Avenue); Michael Keyser, i.e., John Knorr residence (6100-6106 Germantown Avenue); John Johnson residence used as an Underground Railroad station (6306 Germantown Avenue); Parson Rodney House, i.e., Macknett's Tavern (5900 block Germantown Avenue); Benjamin Engle residence (5938 Germantown Avenue); Christopher Sower residence (5300 Germantown Avenue); Pugh residence, i.e., James De La Plaine residence (5521-5523 Germantown Avenue); Bank of Germantown (5275-5277 Germantown Avenue); Rock House (East Penn Street) ; Michael Billmeyer residence (6505-6507 Germantown Avenue); and Washington Tavern (6200 block Germantown Avenue). Also contains a lithograph portrait of John Kelpius, a founder of Germantown, printed by P.S. Duval & Sons., Paper binding., Title page inscribed: Pictorial views of house & places in Germantown in 1850. Taken for F.J. Dreer., The Johnson House was built 1765-1768 by master builder Jacob Knor at 6306 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, PA. John Johnson resided in the house during the Battle of Germantown. The dwelling sustained damage including a hole in the parlor door caused by a cannon ball and a chipped corner. It served as a station on the Underground Railroad. The Johnson family owned the house until 1908. The Woman's Club of Germantown purchased the house in 1917, and in 1980, gifted the house and its contents to the Germantown Mennonite Historic Trust to operate as a house museum. In 2002, the deed of ownership was transferred to the Johnson House Historic Site, Inc., Cliveden is the colonial residence built 1763-1767 by master carpenter Jacob Knor for Philadelphia attorney Benjamin Chew at 6401 Germantown Avenue. It was the site of the turning point in the Battle of Germantown in 1777. The Chew family enslaved people of African descent in the city of Philadelphia and in Germantown during the 18th and 19th centuries. The estate was the Chew family residence until 1972 when it was acquired by the National Trust for Historic Preservation., Fifteen of images duplicated in F. De B. Richards Photograph Collection., Duplicate album with variant annotations entitled "Houses & Places in Germantown in 1859 illustrated by John F. Watson" in the collections of the Germantown Historical Society, Gift of Mrs. Charles Willing, 1972., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: Richards, F. De B. (Frederick De Bourg), photographer
Date: 1859
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Richards album [66037.D]

Title: [Stevens-Cogdell/Sanders-Venning family photograph album]
Description: Album compiled by a member of the African American middle-class Stevens-Cogdell and Sanders-Venning family containing portrait photographs of family and friends. Majority of contents are unidentified and include professionally photographed cabinet cards, cartes de visite, and tintypes, as well as snapshots. Several of the professional photographs also show props, including a baby's swing, fur rug, wicker chairs and stools. Other portraits include women dressed in early 20th-century beach attire, a ca. 1920's photo of a woman with a ukulele; and two men posed in front of an entryway draped in an American flag. Album also contains a reproduction of an unidentified painted portrait photograph; ca. 1828 silhouettes of Richard C. Cogdell and his brother Charles S. Cogdell (sons of Richard and Cecilia Cogdell) stamped on verso cut by Master Hankes, i.e., Jarvis F. Hanks; and a clipped periodical illustration depicting Maria Walpole, Countess of Waldegrave., Sitters include Cordelia Chew Hinkson and her daughter Cordelia Hinkson Brown as a baby (inside cover & insert before p. 32); Lillie Dickerson (p. 8); George Venning (insert before p. 10); Florence I. Warwick as a child and adult (insert before p. 10 & 24); Richard DeReef Venning (insert before p. 18 & 36); Louise Sanders Venning (insert before p. 32); and possibly Cordelia Chew (p. 36)., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from content., Some loose photographs contain identity of sitter and date inscribed on verso. Some inscriptions barely legible., Twelve ca. 1920s 2x3 snapshots showing vacation portraiture pasted on inside front cover., Two photographs inserted in slot on p. 8., Date of silhouettes inferred from active dates in Charleston, S.C. of silhouettist Jarvis F. Hanks. See Charleston Courier, March 13, 1828, 2 and "For A Few Days," Charleston Courier, March 31, 1928, 3., Various photographers, including Philadelphia photographers Baumgardner & Hebling; H. D. Garns (& Co.); L. Blaul; Kuebler; Swain & Bridle; M. Herbert Bridle; 1XL Gallery; Larkin Gallery; F. S. Keeler; Bell Studio; and Henrici & Garns., See Lib. Company Annual Report, 1991, p. 26-31., Gift of descendants Cordelia H. Brown, Lillie V. Dickerson, Mary Hinkson Jackson, and Georgine E. Willis in honor of Phil Lapsansky., See LCP exhibit catalogue: African American Miscellany p. 45., Genealogical charts available at repository., 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., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Date: [ca. 1860 - ca. 1925]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Stevens-Cogdell/Sanders-Venning Collection [P.2012.37.2]

Title: [Album of Richard DeReef Venning]
Description: Photograph album of African American government worker Richard DeReef Venning, a member of the African American middle-class Stevens-Cogdell and Sanders-Venning family, and containing predominantly unidentified portraits of African American and white men, women, and children, including family and friends. Contains bust, half and full-length portraits, often studio portraits. Several of the female sitters wear ornate hairstyles and many sitters also wear crosses. Also contains a carte de visite reproduction of a painted portrait of possibly George Cogdell (p.16) and a carte de visite inscribed “Pete” and “Sam” showing two men in checkered patterned jumper costumes, wigs, hats, and full-face masks (p.18). Identified sitters include Samuel Le Count Cook (p.2, photograph dated 7/4/[18]90 and imprint of DC photographer Rice on verso, ), Edward W. Venning (p.13, photograph dated 1869 and imprint of Philadelphia photographer G.W. Cheston on verso), Sarah Venning (p.13 &14, imprint of Philadelphia photographer Larkin on the verso), Richard DeReef Venning (p.13, photograph dated 12/7/[18]74 on recto and imprint of Philadelphia photographer Henrici & Garns on verso), Sarah Ann Sanders, daughter of Sarah Sanders (p.14, lower right, ca. 1865, inscribed on recto: S.A.S.; imprint of Philadelphia photographer B.F. Reimer and "property of ed. y.v." inscribed on verso), Cordelia Chew Hinkson (p.35), and Cordelia Hinkson Brown as a baby (p.35). Other sitters may possibly be William H. Chew (p.1), Addie Howard (p.3) and George Washington Musgrave (group portrait, p.19)., Album also contains a portrait signed "Ellie" (p. 22, photograph dated 11/16/[1875] and imprint of NY photographer G.H. Johnson on verso) and an unidentified portrait that is likely Cordelia Sanders (Chew) and her sons Richard and Charles Chew (p.15, lower left, imprint of Philadelphia photographer Miles & Foster on verso). Another unidentified portrait is likely Jacob C. White, co-founder of the Pythians, Philadelphia's first African American baseball club (p. 27, upper left, imprint of Philadelphia photographer Gutekunst). Also contained are inserted portraits (rehoused on boards and with album), including one of a Black man inscribed "H.S.S." and Jan. 11/82 on the recto and verso of the mount (L.W. Cook, Boston, photographer) and one of a Black woman inscribed "Respects of Marie" on the verso (J.P. Silver, photographer)., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from content., Contains title page: Album. Page illustrated with ornamental border., Contains several loose portraits., Various photographers, including Philadelphia photographers H. D. Garns & Co., G. W. Chesterton, African American photographer Gallo Cheston, Larkin Gallery, O. B. DeMorat, C. Hagemann & Co., Henrici & Garns, B. F. Reimer, H. D. Garns & Co., Miles & Foster, Broadbent & Phillips, M. S. Hagaman, Lothrop’s Ferrotype Gallery, Germon, J. Fenton, J. P. Silver, Parlor Galleries, as well as Washington, D.C. photographers Kets Kemethy and Rice, Norfolk photographer J. A. Faber, Trenton photographer J. Bainbridge, Charleston photographer Jesse E. Bolles, Boston photographer L. W. Cook, Salem photographer Smith & Bousley, and New York photographer G. H. Johnson., Inscription on front free end paper: R.D. Reef Venning, June 12/84, Washington, D.C., Some of the photographs contain inscriptions, including dates, identifications, and valedictions, on the versos., Label pasted on back cover: No. 464 Gately & Haskell, booksellers, Hoen building, Baltimore, MD., Ca. 1900 pastel portrait of possibly Clara, nurse to children and grandchildren of Sarah Sanders and R. W. Cogdell (P.9367.32, Stevens-Cogdell/ Sanders-Venning Collection) after ca. 1875 tintype photographed by J. Fenton (729 South St., Phila) P.2012.37.1.23b originally inserted in album and housed with album., See Lib. Company Annual Report, 1991 p. 26-31., Gift of descendants Cordelia H. Brown, Lillie V. Dickerson, Mary Hinkson Jackson, and Georgine E. Willis in honor of Phil Lapsansky., See LCP exhibit catalogue: African American Miscellany p. 45., Genealogical charts available at repository., Some photographs dated during conservation treatment in July 2021. Conservation notes in collection research file at repository (Graphic Arts Department)., 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., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Richard DeReef Venning (1846-1929), born in Philadelphia, was son of seamstress Elizabeth and carpenter Edward W. Venning. Venning worked as a grocer in Philadelphia before being appointed as a clerk to the Eastern Division of the Pension Office in 1881. He resided in Washington, D.C. from the early 1880s to early 1900s, and boarded with the African American Presbyterian minister Francis Grimké and his brother, lawyer and diplomat Archibald Grimké for several years. In 1914, Venning returned to Philadelphia and lived with his nephew George E. Venning's family who referred to him as "Dah." The family was active in the Philadelphia African American political, social, educational, and cultural community from the 1850s to the 20th century, including the St. Thomas P.E. Church, Church of the Crucifixion, Central Presbyterian Church, the Colored Institute of Youth, and the Citizens Republican Club.
Creator: Venning, Richard DeReef, 1846-1929
Date: [ca. 1865 - ca. 1922]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Stevens-Cogdell/Sanders-Venning Collection [P.2012.37.1]

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