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Title: Bought of George A. Clark & Brother, sole agents for the Clark Thread Company. 14 South Fifth Street. Clark's O.N.T. crochet & darning cotton's
Description: Billhead for the Philadelphia retail branch of the New York firm containing a vignette image showing "Clark's O.N.T. Spool Cotton" spool of thread. Clark, a native Scotsman, established an American house in New York for the exclusive distribution of cotton thread in 1855 and built a manufactory in Newark circa 1865., Completed in manuscript to Mr. Jas. R. Mercer on March 27th, 1893 for "34 B[?] Ball[?] 200 yds, 45, $15.30; 2 @ 6%, $3.80: $11.50 net., Printed on recto: Terms Cash, In Bankable Funds Within 30 Days. This Bill is Net Cash., Calculations in ink on recto., Manuscript note on recto: Will forward balance of order soon as received from our mill., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Gift of Helen Beitler and Estate of Helen Beitler.
Date: [ca. 1890]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Helen Beitler Graphic Ephemera Collection - Receipts [P.2011.10.133]

Title: Brook's prize medal spool cotton. Hand & machine sewing
Description: Illustrated trade card depicting two groups of men demonstrating the strength of Brook's cotton thread by playing tug of war with it on a dirt path near a body of water. A goat stands on its hind legs on top of a spool of cotton labeled "Brook's six cord 40" in the foreground. Another spool labeled "Brook's patent glace thread 50" sits adjacent to the first., Text printed on verso lists medals and awards won by the company in various world cities between 1851 and 1880., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Digitized.
Date: [ca. 1885]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Brook's [1975.F.47]

Title: If dat ar fish knowd dis wor Merrick's thread, he wouldnt ha bit Merrick Thread Co. Best six cord 8
Description: Racist trade card for the Merrick Thread Company at 248 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia and depicting Black men, attired only in loincloths, pulling a captured whale onto a beach. The five men, portrayed in racist caricature, stand on the beach and hold onto the thread coming from an oversized spool labeled, "Merrick Thread Co. Best Six Cord 8," in the right. The whale with an open mouth of sharp teeth is pulled from the ocean onto the beach. In the background, two men run, and palm trees are visible in the right. Merrick Thread Co. was founded in 1865 by Timothy Merrick, Austin Merrick, and Origen Hall in Mansfield, Connecticut. After its founding, the company established mills in Holyoke, Massachusetts. In 1898, the company merged with thirteen other independent thread and yarn manufacturers to form the American Thread Company., Title from item., Date inferred from date of operation of advertised business., Advertising text printed on verso promotes Merrick Thread Co.'s best six cord soft finish spool cotton for machine & hand sewing and offers patrons "two lithoed water-color engravings" and "Sunshine for Little Children" on receipt of twenty-five cents., Gift of Emily Phillips, 1883., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Digitized.
Date: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Merrick [P.2002.30]

Title: Use Merrick's thread. "Gully this cotton beats 'em all!"
Description: Racist trade card promoting Merrick thread and depicting a domestic scene of an older African American man sewing. Shows the man, in a cabin setting, seated atop a stool, his feet slightly turned in, and mending the seat of a pair of blue pants. The man holds the pants in his left hand and pulls a needle and thread through a patch on the pants in his right. The thread comes from a large spool beside the man which is marked with "Merrick Thread Co. Best Six Cord 8" logo. Behind the man is a window with a sill, which is lined with potted plants. A candle holder rests on a shelf attached to the wall below the window. The man is attired in a red button-down shirt, blue suspenders, brown pants, and brown shoes. Merrick Thread Co. was founded in 1865 by Timothy Merrick, Austin Merrick, and Origen Hall in Mansfield, Connecticut. After its founding, the company established mills in Holyoke, Massachusetts. In 1898, the company merged with thirteen other independent thread and yarn manufacturers to form the American Thread Company., Title from item., Date inferred from content and genre of print., Advertising text printed on verso: Buy Merrick Thread Co's best six cord soft finish spool cotton for machine & hand sewing warranted 200 yds. also these threads are made from the finest quality of combed sea island cotton, and for strength, evenness, elasticity and smoothness surpass anything in the market. By the use of the "ready wound bobbins" the annoyance of winding the iron bobbin is done away with, and a more perfect stitch obtained. When in want of more thread, don't fail to ask for Merrick's., See related copy: Goldman Trade Card Collection - Merrick [P.2017.95.122], Gift of George Allen, 2022., RVCDC
Date: [ca. 1885]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Trade cards - M - Merrick [P.2022.42.10]

Title: Factories of Brainerd & Armstrong Co
Description: Contains views of the dye house, spinning and twisting mill, and weaving and spooling mill of Brainerd & Armstrong Co., Number 2697 on recto., Text on verso., Sheet number: 40A02A, Digitized with funding from a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
Creator: Brightbill, George M., collector
Date: ca. 1910
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Brightbill postcards [Business and Industry - Miscellaneous - 40]

Title: Clark's mile-end 60 spool cotton
Description: Racist trade card promoting Clark Thread Company and depicting a genre scene of an African American man and woman in conversation on a country road. The man and woman are portrayed with exaggerated features and speaking in the vernacular. Shows, in the left, the man standing on a dirt road and holding a piece of thread attached to a giant spool labeled "Clark's mile-end 60 spool thread." He is attired in black boots; yellow striped pants with patches on the knees and rolled to his calves; a white shirt; a red vest; and a green jacket. His straw hat is upturned on the ground beside him. In the right, an African American woman sits in a horse-drawn wagon holding the reins to a white horse. She tells the man, "Ef dat mile end thread don't hold, dere ain't anything - lucky I got a spool to mend yer old clos' with." She is attired in a yellow head kerchief and a red dress with yellow trim at the neck. The George A. Clark & Brother Company, manufactory of embroidery and sewing thread, was founded in 1863 in Newark, N.J. The firm was renamed Clark & Co. in 1879, and in the 1880s created a six-cord, soft finished thread called "Our New Thread" or "O.N.T." The business merged with J. & P. Coats in 1896, which lead to a series of mergers with fourteen other companies. Into the 21st century, the company continues to manufacture thread under the name Coats & Clark., Title from item., Place of publication deduced from place of operation of advertised business., Date deduced from history of the advertised business., Text on recto: Ef dat mile end thread don't hold, dere ain't anything- lucky I got a spool to mend yer old clos' with., Advertising text printed on verso: Clark's Mile-End Spool Cotton is the best for hand and machine sewing. Clark's Mile-End Colors are made expressly to match the leading shades of dress goods, and are unsurpassed both in quality and color. Clark's Mile-End Spool Cotton is six-cord in all numbers to 100 inclusive., Stamp on the recto is illegible., See related copy: Goldman Trade Card Collection - Clark [P.2017.95.33]., Gift of George Allen, 2022., RVCDC
Date: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Trade cards - C - Clark's [P.2022.42.7]

Title: [Clark's O.N.T. spool cotton trade cards]
Description: Series of illustrated trade cards for Clark Thread Company's O.N.T. spool cotton. Illustrations depict children in various settings, including flying a kite with a thread from Clark's O.N.T. spool and a little girl fishing. Also shows a family walking with their dog on the sidewalk in front of a large advertisement for Clark's; a mother sewing buttons onto her daughter's coat; and a mother using a Clark's spool thread to keep her walking toddler from falling., Title supplied by cataloger., Printers and engravers include Wemple & Kronheim (N.Y.) and Chas. Shields Sons' (N.Y.)., Two prints [1975.F.213 and 1975.F.879] contain advertising text printed on rectos and versos for Joseph H. Traeger's foreign and domestic dry goods store in Bethlehem, Pa., Two prints [1975.F.186 and 1975.F.190] contain six-month calendars on versos., One print [P.9988.2], die cut and shaped into a cylinder, contains advertising text for Clark's O.N.T. spool cotton on verso along with a distributor's stamp: Holm & McKay, 50, Worcester, Mass., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Digitized.
Date: [ca. 1883]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Clark's O.N.T. [1975.F.147; 1975.F.186; 1975.F.190; 1975.F.213; 1975.F.879; P.9988.2]

Title: H.M.S. Pinafore
Description: Illustrated trade card depicting a scene from Sullivan & Gilbert's comic opera "Her Majesty's Ship Pinafore" including a captain, his crew and women on the deck of a ship with two large spools of Willimantic's "Superior Six Cord Thread". Caption reads: "B.--Did you ever? C.--No! Never! B.--What never? C. Positively never! used anything equal to Willimantic Six Cord Spool Cotton.", Advertising text printed on verso lists the awards won by Willimantic's Six Cord Spool Cotton, including the gold medal awarded by Maryland Institute Fair in 1878. Includes vignettes of the obverse and reverse surfaces of the medal., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Digitized.
Date: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Willimantic [1975.F.666]

Title: John D. Cutter & Co. manufacturers of pure silk threads & fabrics Sewing silks, embroidery tablets, machine & button-hole twist. Gros grains, satin de chine, serge, handkerchiefs, braids, &c. &c
Description: Illustrated trade card depicting a silk worm on a mulberry leaf, a butterfly, cocoons, and two spools of thread., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Digitized.
Date: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Cutter [1975.F.118]

Title: [Clark's mile end spool cotton trade cards]
Description: Series of illustrated trade cards for John Clark Jr. & Co.'s mile end spool cotton products numbered 24, 30, and 60. Illustrations depict circus performers or acrobats; an artist tethered and hanging from a large spool of cotton as he paints "Clarks mile end" on the side of a cliff overlooking the ocean; a boy attired in robes navigating a chariot pulled by two white horses; a backyard view of a dog stealing the bone of a much larger dog that is restrained by a thread from a large spool of cotton; and flowers., Title supplied by cataloger., Three prints [1975.F.137, 1975.F.139, 1975.F.143] contain advertising text printed on versos., Three prints printed by Forbes Co. (Boston) and two prints printed by Donaldson Brothers (New York)., Four prints [1975.F.140, 1975.F.144, 1975.F.166, 1975.F.170] contain six-month calendars on versos, with the imprint for Thomas Russell & Co., sole agents, New York., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Digitized.
Date: [ca. 1885]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Clark's mile end [1975.F.137; 1975.F.139-140; 1975.F.143-144; 1975.F.166; 1975.F.170]

Title: French etching silk for outlining. Eureka silk. Every spool warranted. The standard silk of the world
Description: Illustrated trade card depicting a couple attired in fancy clothes adorned with flowers. The man holds a staff decorated with a ribbon in his left hand., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Digitized.
Date: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Eureka [1975.F.849]

Title: [Brainerd & Armstrong Co. trade cards]
Description: Series of illustrated trade cards depicting children pulling on a thread of silk used as kite string; spools of silk labeled "Brainerd, Armstrong & Co."; a fairie; "good luck" horseshoe; silkworms; and butterflies., Title supplied by cataloger., Two prints [1975.F.88 and 1975.F.97] printed by the National Bureau of Engraving, Phila., Advertising text printed on rectos and versos promotes Brainerd & Armstrong Co. silk by offering a beautiful chromo card to buyers; announces the company's dyeing abilities; and suggests using the silk for good luck., Stamped on recto of one print [P.2006.20.50]: Sold by Wm. Menke & Bro., 804 Arch Street., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Digitized.
Date: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Brainerd [1975.F.88; 1975.F.97; P.2006.20.50]

Title: [J. & P. Coat's thread trade cards]
Description: Series of trade cards promoting J.&. P. Coats thread and depicting men, women and children performing a variety of activities with the thread, including a white girl swinging on a tree swing; a white man fishing in a stream while a white woman watches; and several white children pretending to be a horse team. Includes a large frog on a riverbank. "So do my sisters and my cousins and my aunts!" depicts an older white woman carrying packages. "Gulliver and the Lilliputians" based on Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" shows an oversized Gulliver being tied down with thread by the Lilliputians. "That's the kind! Bring me some more" depicts an older white woman inspecting different colored spools of thread in a box held up by a white boy. "Ef dis don't fetch you nothing will" depicts an African American man and woman, portrayed in racist caricature, trying to tame a donkey. In the left, the woman, attired in a white bonnet with a red ribbon, a red shirt, a blue scarf, a yellow shirt, a white apron, and gray shoes, uses thread from an enormous J. & P. Coats spool to pull on the bridle on the donkey, who pulls back with its mouth open. Behind the donkey, the man stands, attired in a brown, brimmed hat, a red shirt, blue plaid pants, and blue shoes, who holds a rope in his left hand and scratches his head with his left hand. "We never fade!" depicts an African American boy, portrayed in racist caricature, sitting on an oversized spool of thread in a field. Shows the boy seated and with his legs straddling a giant spool of black thread. He says “we never fade!!” and points his finger at the sun, which has a face and a concerned expression with a downward turned mouth. The boy is barefoot and attired in a white collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows; a multi-colored tie and belt; and red pants rolled up to the knees. In the foreground, two black crows look at the thread. A house is visible in the right background., Brothers James Coats, Jr. (1803-1845) and Peter Coats (1808-1890) established the firm J.&P. Coats, a thread manufactory. Their brother Thomas Coats (1809-1883) joined the firm soon after. By 1840, three quarters of the British company’s business was with the United States. In 1896, the firm merged with thread manufacturer Clark & Co. and formed J. & P. Coats, Ltd. In 2015, the firm was renamed, “Coats Group.”, Title supplied by cataloger., Five prints printed by E. Ketterlinus & Co., Ten prints contain advertising text printed on versos, including promotions for J. & P. Coat's best six cord, soft finish spool cotton; a table of needle and thread numbers; a calendar for 1880; and a description of "Gulliver and the Lilliputians" illustration (on recto of print 1975.F.220)., Gift of Emily Phillips, 1883. Purchase 1999. Purchase 2001., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Digitized.
Date: [ca. 1885]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Coats [1975.F.123; 1975.F.126; 1975.F.133; 1975.F.150; 1975.F.157; 1975.F.193; 1975.F.195; 1975.F.220; 69211.D; P.9743; P.9984.4]

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