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Title: Conflagration of the steam boat New Jersey on the Delaware River opposite Philada. March 15 1856 in which 50 persons lost their lives
Description: Shows, under the winter night sky, in the distance, clouds of smoke rising from the Philadelphia and Camden Ferry Co. steamboat as rowboats race to the wreck. In the right of the image, a partial view of the ferry "Dido" traveling to the rescue is visible. Captained by Ebenezer Corson, the "New Jersey," on mid-voyage to Camden from Philadelphia via an alternate elongated route due to heavy ice, caught fire as the result of defective boilers. With the fire spreading rapidly, Corson retreated to Arch Street Wharf in Philadelphia, and came within thirty feet of the pier when the pilot house collapsed leaving the boat unmanned and out of control. Corson survived by leaping ashore before the uncontrolled ship drifted back out on the river., Reduced variant of print issued by the same artist and publisher [Wainwright 81]. Title altered from "60 persons" to "50 persons.", POS 155, Philadelphia on Stone, Wainwright retrospective conversion project, edited.
Creator: Heiss, George G.
Date: [1856]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department W82 [P.2026]

Title: The moral character of the Africo-Americans
Description: Set in New York, the image shows William Peterson, a black boy who prepares to rescue a white boy who has fallen through the ice while skating. Next him, a white boy supports another skater whom Peterson has saved from drowning. A few others continue to skate in the background., Caption title vignette in the Anti-Slavery Record (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1835-1837), vol. II, no. IV (April, 1836), whole no. 16, p. 1., Small caption underneath the image reads: "William Peterson -- The Heroic Colored Boy.", Curator's note: Notice here the use of the term "Africo-Americans," used infrequently but persistently by some African Americans and abolitionists from at least the early 1830s through the Civil War period. The common usage of "blacks" and "Africans" was supplanted in the 1820s with "Negro" common among most whites, and "Colored" among most African Americans. As in all the terms used to describe black Americans over time, there is a nationalist-assimilationists dichotomy at work here, with "Africo-Americans" suggesting separate nationality and culture, and "Colored" suggesting darker-hued members of the common American nation and culture., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [April 1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 60026.D v 2 n 4 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2849

Title: The dreadful accident on the North Pennsylvania Rail-road About 14 miles above Philadelphia, on Thursday, July 17, 1856 at about 6 A.M. which resulted in the death of over sixty, and terribly wounding about one hundred persons, excursionists of St. Michael's R.C. Church, Kensington. The collision took place at Camp Hill Station, destroying both locomotives and burning up several cars, in which a number of people were consumed
Description: Chaotic disaster scene showing the "Picnic Train Tragedy", the worst rail disaster at that time. Shows the burning wreck near Ambler, Pa. from the collision of North Pennsylvania excursion trains "Shakamoxon," departed from the Cohocksink depot, and "Aramingo" departed from the Wissahickon station. Burning tangled engines and train cars pile up on the single track line in the middle of farmland. People are propelled and jump from the burning railcars. In the foreground, bodies lay within the wreckage as rescuers rush in buckets of water. Others attempt to catch individuals jumping from a burning train car in the rear, carry children's bodies on a gurney, and comfort the grieving. In the lower left, a man wipes his face with a handkerchief as he stands over a legless body on a mattress. Nearby another man holds a body in his arms. Also contains the names of "The Killed" and "The Wounded" printed below the image as well as notice that "Many of the wounded are in a very precarious condition, and the death of several is hourly looked for." One train carried hundreds of children from St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church Sunday School in Philadelphia. The crash occurred due to an attempt by the "Shakamoxon" engineer to make up time for its late departure. It collided with the regularly scheduled Aramingo, before arriving at a siding pass. The boilers of the trains collided and caused an explosion that decimated the front cars, but left the rear cars intact. Around 60 persons died and 100 were injured from the crash., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 191, Duplicate of 7663.Fa., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited.
Creator: Magee, John L.
Date: c1856
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *BW - Disasters [P.8970.8]

Title: Conflagration of the steam boat New Jersey on the Delaware River opposite Philada March 15th 1856 in which 60 persons lost their lives
Description: Shows, in the distance, clouds of smoke rising from the Philadelphia and Camden Ferry Co. steamboat under the winter night sky as rowboats race to and from the wreck. In the foreground, two survivors sit and cling to cakes of ice near floating debris. In the right of the image, her sister ferry "Dido" travels to the rescue, the ship's reflection visible in the water. Captained by Ebenezer Corson, the "New Jersey," on mid-voyage to Camden from Philadelphia via an alternate elongated route due to heavy ice, caught fire as the result of defective boilers. With the fire spreading rapidly, Corson retreated to Arch Street Wharf in Philadelphia, and came within thirty feet of the pier when the pilot house collapsed leaving the boat unmanned and out of control. Corson survived by leaping ashore before the uncontrolled ship drifted back out on the river., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 154, Historical Society of Pennsylvania: Bc 83 N 548, See reduced variant "Conflagration of the steam boat New Jersey on the Delaware River opposite Philada. March 15th 1856 in which 50 persons lost their lives" [LCP Wainwirght 82, P.2026]
Creator: Heiss, George G.
Date: [1856]
Location: Historical Society of Pennsylvania HSP Bc 83 N 548

Title: A. Erkenbrecher's St. Bernhard Starch Works, Cincinnati, O
Description: Illustrated trade card depicting a vignette of two St. Bernard dogs sitting in the snow with an incapacitated traveller framed by ears of corn to represent the starch industry and patriotic symbols, including laurel wreaths, bugles, and a flag., Contains "Legend of the St. Bernhard Dog" text printed on verso., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Digitized.
Date: [ca. 1875]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Erkenbrecher [1975.F.291]

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