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- Title
- Improved Authors with Portraits & Autographs Card Game
- Description
- Incomplete card game containing 68 illustrated cards. Cards depict the bust-length portraits of Thomas Bailey Aldrich; William Cullen Bryant; Robert Burns; Samuel L. Clemens, "Mark Twain"; J. Fenimore Cooper; Ralph Waldo Emerson; James T. Fields; F. Bret Harte; Oliver Wendell Holmes; William Dean Howells; Henry W. Longfellow; James Russell Lowell; Samuel Rogers; Bayard Taylor; Alfred Tennyson; Charles Dudley Warner; Richard Grant White; and John G. Whittier. Some portraits are in profile. Versos of cards contain an allegorical image composed of a stack of books, scrolls and leaves of paper, a laurel wreath, and a quill pen. Includes small number of incomplete sets for J. Fenimore Cooper, Henry W. Longfellow; James Russell Lowell, and Richard Grant White. Lowell set includes a cut-out of the portrait from an original card.
- Title
- John J. Smith and Rachel Collins Pearsall Smith Family Photograph Album
- Description
- Photograph album containing predominantly posed portraits of the family, extended family, and friends of prominent Philadelphia Quakers John Jay and Rachel Collins Pearsall Smith.
- 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 portaits., 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]
- Title
- Portraits
- Description
- Bound volume of portrait plates issued between circa 1804 and 1831 from various publications, including "Mechanics Magazine"; "New British Lady's Magazine"; and the compilation "Boxiana or Sketches of Antient [sic] and Modern Pugilism" (London: George Virtue, 1829). Portraits depict prominent and celebrity European figures, predominantly from Great Britain, including clergymen, legislators, entertainers, scientists and inventors, royalty and pugilists. Plates include full-length, half-length, and bust-length portraiture, with some containing backgrounds, props, or ornate borders. Portraits of religious figures predominantly published by London publishers F. Westley and Westley & Davis and arranged in alphabetical order by sitter's name. Portraits of legislators, celebrity and other prominent figures predominantly published by London publishers Fisher Son & Co. and J. Robins & Co. and arranged in alphabetical order by sitter's name. Portraits of pugilists predominantly published by G. Smeeten and Sherwood, Jones & Co. and most arranged in alphabetical order by sitter's name. Volume also includes a title page and views titled "The John Bull Fighters Splendid Silver Cup" and "A Sparring Match at the Fives Court" from the Pierce Egan's "Boxiana" series originally published in parts in 1813 and later as volumes between 1818 and 1828., Sitters include reverends George Burder (Senior Secretary of the London Missionary Society), William Milne (Late Missionary to the Chinese), David Stuart (Theological Tutor of the Irish Evangelical), and Robert Vaughan; physician Carl Linnaeus; inventor Sir Richard Arkwright; Queen Caroline; statesman John Wilson Croker; authors Madame De Genlis, Madame De Stael, and Hannah More; (Victoria Mary Louisa) Duchess of Kent; George I, II, III, and IV; performers Josephine Girardelli and Anna Maria Tree; architect Peter Nicholson; Whig politician Thomas Spring Rice; and chemist William Hyde Wollaston. Sitters also include pugilists Peter Crawley; Dick Curtis; Josh Hudson; Tom Owen; Ned Painter; Dutch Sam (i.e., Samuel Elias); Ned Turner; and expatriate, African American pugilists Bill Richmond and Tom Molyneux (portraits on the same page)., Portraits of Bill Richmond and Tom Molyneux show the men in bust-length. Richmond looks slight to the right. He has curly hair and is attired in a patterned shirt with a ruffled collar and a jacket. Molyneux is shown in right profile. He has curly hair and is attired in a shirt with a ruffled collar and a jacket., Title from stamp on spine., Inscribed on front free end paper: R. B. bind as arranged., Pages numbered in ink in upper left corner., Inscribed on verso of portrait of ‘His Most Gracious Majesty, George Augustus-Frederick The Fourth” (p. 110): On Celebrated Englishmen, Various artists and engravers, including George Cruikshank; Isaac Robert Cruikshank; Fenner, Sears & Co.; W. T. Fry; W. Hollins; Thomas Lawrence; R. Page; W. T. Page; George Parker; Sherwood, Jones & Co.; J. R. Wildman; and J. W. Wright., Publishers include Knight & Lacey; George Smeeton; F. Westley; Westley & Davis; T. Williams; and Williams & Smith., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Accessioned 1882., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
- Date
- [ca. 1804-ca. 1831]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums [Uz 3 51278.O]
- 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
- Pawson & Nicholson Photograph Album
- Description
- Photograph album compiled by James B. Nicholson containing predominantly portrait photographs of prominent local and national members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and their families, including men, women, and children. Photographs depict full-length, bust-length, and vignette portraits; group portraiture; and collages. Several male sitters wear the regalia of the Odd Fellows and most sitters are fashionably attired. Group portraiture depicts employees of Pawson and Nicholson in front of the bookbinding shop (139 S. Seventh), and rosters and meetings and excursions of members of the fraternal organization (1870s-1880s), including Warrior Lodge, no. 873. Collages include portraits of the Rulafson family of San Francisco and examples of work from the respected photographic firm Bradley & Rulafson. Also includes images of the photography department and sculpture at the Centennial Exhibition (1876); photographic reproductions of a Sir Walter Scott manuscript donated to the Sanitary Fair (1864), and an Odd Fellow membership certificate and medal; and a John Sartain engraved portrait of "E. Grand Captain General of Pennsylvania" Varhan Smith.
- Title
- Engravings by William Humphrys Scrapbook
- Description
- Scrapbook of print specimens and proofs engraved by Philadelphia and London engraver William Humphrys. Contents include postage stamp proofs, book and periodical illustrations, tile pages, portrait prints, advertisements, and cut outs of banknote and certificate vignettes. Majority of graphics depict allegorical imagery or illustrations of genre, religious, sentimental, and literary scenes, some from the plays of Shakespeare. Illustrations include scenes of courtship; female friendship; children with animals; a ghoulish-looking woman with a torch; a European man smoking a hookah; Jesus Christ; Adam & Eve; and imagery from Edmund Spencer's "Faery Queen", John Milton's "Palemon's Story," and John Gay's "Thursday: or The Spell." Allegorical works depict the figures of Columbia, Minerva, Mercury, Neptune, Bounty, Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Hope, and Apollo, as well as scenes with the American eagle; caducei for the "Liverpool Apothecaries Company"; citizens fighting a fire; cherubs charting a globe; Native Americans; a family; sailing ships; and symbols of farming, trade, and industry. Vignettes also show a portrait of Benjamin Franklin; Pocahontas saving John Smith; and a female warrior slaying a man of royalty captioned "Sic Semper Tyranus."
- Title
- American Celebrities Albums
- Description
- Two volume set of albums containing predominately cartes-de-visite photographic portraits of prominent American 19th-century figures in politics, education, and the arts, ca. 1870.
- Date
- 1869
- Title
- Memories of the home of Grandma Lewis Scrapbook
- Description
- Memory album compiled by Lewis containing written narratives, photographs, watercolors, textiles, drawings, prints and ephemera documenting her marriage, early married life, households and residences, and family events and excursions between 1851 and the 1890s. Specific narrative topics include the Lewis's honeymoon to Niagara; the death of their parents the Larcombes and John F. and Eliza Lewis; the birth of grandchildren; the method and style of interior decoration of their residences at Sixteenth and Walnut streets (1851-1855), 325 South Eighteenth Street (1855-1874), and 1834 DeLancey Place (1874-1915); the Civil War, Sanitary Fair, and Centennial Exhibition (1876); their religious life in the First Baptist Church; club meetings of the Lewis children when older and parlor "teas"; recreational activities, including sailing and skating on the Schuylkill River, carriage and horse back rides, excursions to Broad Top Mountain House (Pa.), and visits to their summer residences in Wallingford and the Bryn Mawr Hotel; boarding near Bryn Mawr ("Eachus Place") and the Delaware Water Gap ("Mr. Croasdale"); Anne and G. Albert's European trip (1891); and family pets.
- Title
- Peter Moran Sketchbooks
- Description
- Pencil sketches and watercolors of bucolic scenes and animal and human figure studies by Philadelphia landscape artist Peter Moran, 1882.
- Title
- Views of Louden & Stenton Album
- Description
- Album of snapshots showing the Logan family residence Loudoun erected for Thomas Armat (photographer's great grandfather) in 1800 at 4650 Germantown Avenue and Stenton, the Logan family country seat at 4601 North Eighteenth Street in Germantown.
- Title
- George Albert Lewis Old Houses and Stores Album
- Description
- Memory album compiled by Lewis containing written narratives, photographs, watercolors, textiles, drawings, prints and ephemera documenting his childhood and his lineage and family businesses and residences from the late 18th century to mid 19th century. Specific narrative topics include the provenance of the "Pictures" included in the album; "Memorabilia"; the "Marriage of our Ancestor, 1786. Johann Andreas Philipp Ludwig (i.e., J. A. P. Lewis) and Anna Maria Klingemann"; 'In Memoriam: Johann Andreas Philipp Ludwig' "; the "Memorials of the old Houses, Stores &c.," including deed, plot, architectural, and decor information pertaining to Lewis family residences at 121, i.e., 311 North Fifth Street (1791-1797), 60, i.e., 128 North Fourth Street (1797-1805), 82, i.e., 132 North Second Street (1814-1818), 124, i.e., 264 South Third Street (1818-1824), 148, i.e., 264 South Second Street (1824-1840) and rear storehouse on Laurel Street, and Sixteenth and Walnut streets (1840-1858), and the stores at Walnut and Front streets (1829-1856).
- Title
- "Saturday Jaunts: One-Day Holidays Spent Near the City" by the Ledger Monastery
- Description
- Volume composed of reprinted "Saturday Jaunts" columns (spring and summer 1891) and 25 photographs documenting the one-day excursions of the "Saturday Jaunters," employees of the Public Ledger in Philadelphia. Saturday Jaunters (identified with "monkish" pseudonyms) referenced in and authors of the columns include Bonifacius (William E. Meehan), Benedict (Addison B. Burk), Chrysostum (Joel Cook), Angelo (John J. Mckenna), Damon (Charles S. Spangler), Photius (Edmund Stirling), Friar Tuck (Edward Robinson), Constantius (Stephen J. Burke), Pius (Israel F. Sheppard), Sacristan (C. Johann), Fabian (Dr. William H. Burk), Medicus, Ananias (Collins W. Walton), Titian (John A. Johann), Cephas (Peter J. Heborn), and Brother Alban (Captain Robert C. Clipperton). Contains the columns: I. Marble Hall and Spring Mill. II. A Visit to the Coal Fields of Pottsville. III. A Trip along Cresheim Creek and the "Happy Valley." IV. A Roundabout Journey to Edge Hill. V. A Pilgrimage through the Gulf and to Belvoir. VI. A Pilgrimage through the Gulf and to Belvoir (Continued). VII. A Pleasant Pilgrimage into New Jersey. VIII. A. Walk Up the Wissahickon Valley. IX. A Trip to Reading and Its Grand Environs. X. The Soapstone Quarries and Rockdale. XI. Villanova and Its Vicinity. XII. Glimpses from a Car window of a Picturesque Country. XIII. A Trip to Mount Gretna and the Cornwall Ore Banks.
- Title
- Scrapbook of Trade Cards, Holiday Cards, etc.
- Description
- Scrapbook possibly compiled by Fanny Keene containing trade cards, sentiment cards, holiday cards, rewards of merit, die cut and embossed scraps, and a temperance pledge card primarily issued in New England. Majority of the contents are chromolithographs and some contain trompe l'oeil, embossed, die cut and overlay designs.
- Title
- Louella: Home of J. Henry Askin Album
- Description
- Album containing 27 photographs showing the grounds and residence of the estate in Radnor Township, later Wayne, Pa.
- Title
- [Engravings]
- Description
- Scrapbook containing primarily engraved gift book and periodical illustrations issued between circa 1832 and 1868 from American and British publications, including "Columbian Lady’s and Gentlemen’s Magazine"; "Godey's Lady's Book"; "Ladies Companion"; "New Mirror"; and "Sartain's Magazine." Illustrations, several engraved by A. L. Dick, predominantly depict sentimental, romantic, religious, genre and allegorical views and often include children and animals. Titles include "The Draught Players"; "The Lovers"; "The Philosopher & His Kite" (showing Benjamin Franklin); "They sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites [sic] for twenty pieces of silver; "Lake See Hoo and Temple of the Thundering Winds from the Vale of Tombs"; "Schuylkill Water Works"; "Luther on Christmas Eve"; "Farmers Nooning," including an African American man farm hand (after 1843 W. S. Mount painting); "Cup-tossing" (reading of tea leaves); "The Opera Box"; and "The Village School." Portrait prints, including an image of Jenny Lind, and a few architectural design prints also encompass the illustrations., Also contains chromolithographs and the illustrated title page from Henry Harbaugh's "Birds of the Bible" (1854) and many tinted lithographs printed by Ackerman from "Reports of Explorations and surveys,...for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean (1855-1861); several photographic reproductions of original paintings showing genre views, landscapes, and marinescapes, including the work of J. S. Fenimore; George C. Lambdin; Edward and Thomas Moran, W. T. Richards, Samuel Sartain, Christian Schussele, N. H. Trotter, and S. B. Waugh; and photographs of a paddle boat near the Fairmount Water Works and views of the Wissahickon. Some pages also include embossed and color vignettes of birds, flower vases, and flowers. Other lithographs and chromolithographs depict sentimental and religious views, including a baby "hatching" from a flower and the T. Sinclair religious tableauxes "Pontius Pilatus" and "Manoah’s Sacrifice"., Probably compiled by Mrs. H. Godley., Title from stamp on the leather spine., Inserts: Envelope inscribed "Mrs. H. Godley, 1725 Vine St." and engraved portraits of "Robert Moffat" and "Girl in a Florentine Costume of A.D. 1500." "Girl" print includes amateur pencil alterations., Various artists, engravers, lithographers, and printers including Ackerman; W. Allan; T. Allom; W. H. Bartlett; W. Bennett; J. Burnet; J. G. Chapman; A. L. Dick; T. Doney; Durand & Co.; J. B. Forrest; A. W. Graham; Charles Heath; J. R. Herbert; J. B. Longacre; W. S. Mount; J. Neale; E. T. Parris; Nicolas Poussin: Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Smillie; Rice & Buttre; H. S. Sadd; John Sartain; Eliza Sharp; Thomas Sinclair; and Benjamin Franklin Waitt., Various publishers, including American Sunday-School Union; Henry F. Annears; L.A. Godey; and Hurst, Chance & Co., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Purchase 1986.
- Date
- [ca. 1832-ca. 1868]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums [P.9152]
- Title
- Scrapbook of Greeting Cards, Menus, Invitations, etc.
- Description
- Scrapbook compiled by Philadelphia socialite Minnie Campbell Wilson (neé Harris) containing primarily place, greeting, holiday and calling cards predominantly issued in the United Kingdom and the Northeast United States. Majority of the cards are printed and or chromolithographs, with a small number illustrated with drawings by hand. Many cards also contain ornate border details, embossing, and adornments, including ribbons, fringe, lace, a wishbone, and overlays.
- Title
- Albert Hatch Photograph Album
- Description
- Photographs compiled and possibly taken by Albert Hatch showing city and landscape views as well as family views and portraits, ca. 1866-ca. 1888.