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Title: Game of Dr. Busby
Description: Early edition of the popular matching and memory card game designed by Ann Abbot and composed of four suits of five cards (Busby, Doll, Mr. Ninny-Come-Twitch, and Gardener). Suits are denoted with a different pictorial detail in the upper right corner: a mortar and pestle; pan of milk; an eye; and a spade. Suit of mortar and pestle cards depict “Dr. Busby” attired in a top hat, blue jacket with tails, and yellow pantaloons while standing with a walking stick and a bottle of medicine in his left hand in front of the corner of the “Busby Medicine's Drug" storefront with large display windows; “his Wife” attired in a long-sleeved red dress with yellow neckerchief and yellow cap while seated and embroidering; his “Son” wearing a mustache, a blue, cinched blouse, black pants, and a mortarboard, and standing with a walking stick in front a seminary-like building in the distant background; his female “Servant” wearing her hair in a low bun, a blue, deep neck dress with the sleeves pushed up, and a red apron while ironing a shirt next to a basket of laundry on a table; and “Doll, the dairy-maid’s black-eyed Lover” attired in a long-sleeved white shirt, red neckerchief, apron, and blue pants and standing, arms crossed, in front of a broom, wheel barrow of hay, and a barn yard in the distance., Suit of pan of milk cards depict “Doll, the dairy-maid,” her head tilted to the side, and attired in a corseted, red dress with half sleeves, a V-neck, and yellow apron while standing with a pail in one hand and the other behind her back near a fence and a milking stool; her “Father," balding, attired in a dark jacket, yellow vest, and blue pantaloons, while seated on a chair with a newspaper in his lap, a mug in one hand and smoking a pipe with the other beside a table with a tablecloth, lit candle, eye glasses, and a book; her “Brother” attired in a white, flouncy blouse with collar and red tie, yellow pants, and a yellow wide-brimmed straw hat and holding a rake in front of mounds of hay; her “Servant,” shown from the back, and attired in a blue sack coat, tan pants, and black wide-brimmed hat, while using a milkmaid’s yoke to carry pails of milk; her “pan of milk” being lapped at by a black cat while on a round table above a pail underneath it., Suit of eye cards depict Mr. Ninny-Come-Twitch attired in a top hat, yellow vest, red cravat, long black coat, and blue trousers with one hand on a walking stick and the other tucked into his coat while standing beside a dog resembling a greyhound; “his Wife,” her long hair on her shoulders and attired in a red, long-sleeved dress with bandeau neckline, and yellow apron while playing a piano from a book of music; his “Son” attired in a school outfit of a yellow short jacket with a white collar and blue pants, and his cap on the ground as he defends himself from a fight with another boy in school attire (red cap, red short jacket, and yellow pants) and with his fists up; his “Servant,” an African American man attired in a top hat, green coat with red collar and cuffs, ruffled white shirt, and tan pants while holding a basket over one arm and a whip in his opposite hand; and “One Eye” colored blue and part of a person’s face., Suit of spade cards depict “the Gardener” attired in a red jacket, yellow vest, and blue pants while holding a hook knife near a ladder and under a grape vine across from his hat on the ground and a fenced pasture in the background; “his Wife” attired in a blue, long-sleeved dress with white ruffled collar, and a yellow bonnet while using her apron to hold a bushel of roses in front of a young girl attired in a red dress with yellow pantaloons and yellow bonnet and holding a rose and basket; his “Son” attired in a red, blousy shirt, apron, blue pants, and wide-brimmed hat while using a hoe; his “Servant” attired in a short blue jacket, yellow vest and tan pants while walking through a fenced pasture and carrying a basket of fruit on his shoulder that hides his face; and his “Spade” resting idle on a stone wall on which a rose bush and other greenery climbs and two potted plants are displayed. "The Improved and Illustrated Game of Dr. Busby" first published in 1843 purportedly sold over 15,000 copies in 18 months. The game has been credited with creating the explosion in popularity of games in America during the 19th century and containing one of the earliest representations of an African American in an American game., Title from label pasted on maroon paper slip case: Gam[e] of Dr. Busby., Paper slip case contains a partially-removed illustrated label printed on green paper. Label depicts a woman ironing, i.e. the illustration on the Busby suit “Servant” card., Date from copyright statement printed on leaf of “Directions” pasted to inside of inner white cradle: Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1843, by W. & S. B. Ives, in the Clerk’s Office of the District court of Massachusetts., "Directions" explicate the suits, "players should sit round a table," and a player is to call upon his right hand neighbors for any card not in his own hand until "he calls for one which his neighbor has not in his hand." Directions also explain the next player needs to "call for those cards which have been called for and obtained by the first" so players must be attentive as "the game is made longer and more complicated by every failure of memory" until its close when the victor has all "four families united in his hand", LCP copy has variant title: Game of Dr. Busby., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., Housed in phase box., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Abbot, Anne W. (Anne Wales), 1808-1908
Date: 1843
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums - Busby [P.2015.28]

Title: [Scraps for the year 1830]
Description: Plate three from the 1830 edition of "Scraps," Johnston's popular satirical series of societal caricatures published between 1828 and 1840, and in 1849. Depicts a montage of nine scenes lampooning contemporary society titled: Practitioners of the Bar Lamenting the Failure of the United States Mint; Putting the Best Leg Foremost; Fixed Air; Erudition; A Discharge of Filth; Improvement in Bathing; Conjugal Affection; Making Up a Party of Pleasure; and Hot Corn. Scenes depict: white men commodities brokers bemoaning the "winter" market at a tavern; white women shoppers lamenting a lost butter firkin and questioning the quality of a leg of meat including an African American man carrying a basket of food; two white men in a bed chamber with a closed window discussing the unhealthiness of "fixed air"; a white man quibbling over the omission of the word "physician" in the dictionary; the chastisement of a Boston drunkard near his overturned cart pulled by his drunk "haus"; a white man shower-bathing with an umbrella; the fattening of a dying white man to be purchased as a cadaver ; a working class, white Boston family reminding a destitute woman of the pleasure in witnessing a hanging; and a discussion of the processing of "hot corn" between a African American waiter and two white men patrons. Includes two African American characters, a servant and a waiter, portrayed in racist caricature and speaking in the vernacular., Title supplied by cataloger., Inscribed upper right corner: Pl 3., Published in D. C. Johnston's Scraps for the year 1830 (Boston: D.C. Johnston, 1830), pl. 3. (LCP Am 1830 Joh, 7021.F.3)., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Accessioned 1979., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., 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 Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Johnston, David Claypoole, 1799-1865
Date: [1830]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - [1830]-Scr [P.2275.25]

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]

Title: [Print specimens depicting African Americans from the Thomas Richardson and American Bank Note Company scrapbook]
Description: Includes predominantly banknote specimens showing enslaved, free, and possibly free African American men, women, and children. Images depict an African American man driver hauling a wagon filled with hay (p. 38); an African American man farm hand tending to horse in a farmyard (p. 38); enslaved men harvesting a field of grain (p. 45); an African American man cart driver hauling bundles up an incline (p. 50); enslaved men picking cotton juxtaposed with a townscape vista (p. 54); African American men workers collecting sap from trees under the view of a white foreman on horseback (p. 61); enslaved men, women, and children cutting and loading sugar cane onto a wagon at a “Sugar Plantation” (p. 66); an African American man driver leading “The Mule Team” on a country road (p. 67); African American men workers “Breaking Hemp” (p. 68); and a proof copy of an illustration from Susan Fenimore Cooper's "Pages and Pictures from the Writings of James Fenimore Cooper" (New York, 1861) depicting a scene by a hearth from “The Spy” with an African American male servant looking over the shoulder of a white woman housekeeper (p. 26). Majority of specimens include roadside scenery or plantation or residential buildings in the background. “Sugar Plantation” view also shows a steamboat on a river in the background., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from the active dates of the partnerships of the printers in the imprints and content., Artists include F. O. C. Darley and Louis Denoce., Printers include American Bank Note Co.; Baldwin, Bald & Cousland; and Bald, Cousland & Co., Some items contain specimen number printed in lower right corner. Includes 131, 144, and 212., RVCDC, Accessioned 2012., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., 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., Thomas Richardson (b. ca. 1802) was a Philadelphia plate printer who served as the foreman of printing at the Philadelphia branch of the American Bank Note Company formed in 1858. He retired from the trade by 1880.
Date: [ca. 1855-ca. 1857]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *albums (flat) [P.2012.6]

Title: Johnny Q., introducing the Haytien Ambassador to the ladies of Lynn, Mass. Respectfully inscribed to Miss Caroline Augusta Chase, & the 500 ladies of Lynn who wish to marry Black husbands
Description: Anti-abolition print satirizing the Lynn Female Anti-Slavery Society which was successful in its petition to the state legislature to abolish race-proscriptive laws, including a ban on interracial marriage. Depicts a parlor where the Society's members, composed of unattractive white women and African American men, have gathered to be introduced to the fictitious Haitian Ambassador, General Marmalade, by John Quincy Adams. The ambassador, portrayed in racist caricature and attired in an uniform and powdered wig, takes his hat off and bows as he holds a monocle up. He lasciviously addresses the women in the crowd in broken French and vernacular, "Mesdames votre trés humble serviteur! me no speak much Anglish-En regardant ces charmants bontons de rose de Lynn l’eau vient dans la bouche! Excuse bot de charming rose buds ob Lynn make vater in my mouse." The women await their introduction and remark about the ambassador's "lovely" and "beautiful" features, as well as his overall attractiveness. African American men, portrayed in racist caricature and attired in elegant suits, stand behind the women and comment in the vernacular about the ambassador, "Demd fine specimen of a man! pon honor." In the right background, a white man servant and a white woman servant enter the room carrying trays of food and drinks., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1839, by John Childs, in the clerk's office, in the District Court for the Southern District of New York., Caroline Augusta Chase headed the Lynn Female Anti-Slavery Society., Purchase 1959., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., 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 Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Clay, born in Philadelphia, was a prominent caricaturist, engraver, and lithographer who created the "Life in Philadelphia" series which satirized middle-class African Americans of the late 1820's and early 1830's.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, artist
Date: 1839
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1839-25w [6333.F]

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