Racist caricature of a Chinese man laundry worker holding an iron and an ironing board and bending down towards a rat. In the right, the Chinese man wears a queue hairstyle with a red bow tied at the end of his braid and is attired in a blue tunic with gold trim, black pants, red socks, and green cloth slip-on shoes. He holds an iron in his right hand and an ironing board in his left hand. He bends over and looks down at a rat that runs away. In the left are red hearts and a clothespin. The text is written in pidgin English: Just a little Chinaman laundry work fine, will cookie, washee, ironie if you'll be his valentine., Title from item., Date inferred from medium and content., Series no. printed on verso: Series IV., Library Company copy has manuscript message and address written on verso and is postmarked, Blodgett Mills, N.Y., Feb. 12, P.M. 1906; Syracuse Feb. 13, A.M. 1906. Includes one-cent stamp depicting Benjamin Franklin., RVCDC
Date
[ca. 1906]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department LCP Postcards - Genre - Just [P.2024.11]
Trade card promoting L.F. Shanovski’s shoe store and depicting a racist caricature of a Chinese man upset that a cat has taken a rat from his plate. Shows the man, wearing a queue hairstyle and attired in red pants and brown cloth slip-on shoes, holding a large white plate across his chest and a pair of chopsticks in his right hand. He opens his mouth upset that a cat is taking a dead rat from his plate. Louis F. Shanovski was born in Germany and moved to Chicago in the early 1870s, opening a shoe store in circa 1877. The firm L.F. Shanovski and Bro. dissolved in 1899., Title from item., Date inferred from dates of operation of business advertised., Gift of Linda Kimiko August., RVCDC
Date
[ca. 1888]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade cards - Shanovski, L.F. [P.2023.43.1]
