© Copyright 2025 - The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1314 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. TEL (215) 546-3181 FAX (215) 546-5167
For inquiries, please contact our IT Department
- Title
- [Lewis Fatman & Co., steam paste blacking, steam friction matches, 41 N. Front Street, Philadelphia]
- Description
- Advertisement showing the three-story building covered in signage for the polish and match business located between Market and Arch streets on Front Street. A clerk, crates, cans piled on a table, and a rope hoist are visible through the first floor window and entrances. Another worker is visible in a third-floor window. A conestoga wagon passes in the street with the driver astride one of the four horses in the team. Fatman operated a second factory at 412 Coates Street, i.e., Fairmount Avenue., Date from Poulson inscription on recto: N. Front streets. Dec. 1847., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 437, LCP copy trimmed and lacking title and imprint., Wainwright retrospective conversion project, edited.
- Date
- [December 1847]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department W217 [P.2110]
- Title
- [Lewis Fatman & Co., blacking manufactory, steam friction matches manufactory, back of No. 412 Coates Street, Philadelphia]
- Description
- Advertisement showing the adjoined three-and two-story manufactory buildings covered in signage for the polish and match business located on the 1000 block of Coates Street, i.e. Fairmount Avenue. Laborers, including one carrying a stack on his shoulder, are visible at a few windows and at an entrance. In the foreground, a gentleman walks, and a boy plays with a hoop near some crates and barrels, on the sidewalk. In the street, a drayman transports planks of wood, a "Fatman and Co.'s Matches & Blacking" wagon is parked, and a laborer loads crates on to a dray. Fatman operated a factory from this location circa 1844-1848 in addition to a second factory on North Front Street., Date from Poulson inscription on recto: Dec. 1847. Back of No. 412 Coates Street., Title supplied by cataloguer., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 436, Wainwright retrospective conversion project, edited., Trimmed and lacking title.
- Date
- [ca. 1847]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *W218 [P.2109]
- 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]
- 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]

