Search results

Title: A fact with a short commentary
Description: Lunging forward onto his left knee, a slaveowner points a double-barreled rifle at a male slave who is stretched out on the ground beneath him. Propping himself up with his left arm, the slave uses his right arm to gesture toward the slaveowner in a protective manner. The slaveowner's hat, which rests on the ground, and an overturned table in the background suggest that the action has proceeded quickly. In the background, the slave's child watches from the doorway of his hut., 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. I (January, 1836), whole no. 13, p. 1., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [January 1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 60026.D v 2 n 1 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2846

Title: ASSU Illustration 3363
Description: Block numbered in two places: 3363, also 717 on small adhesive label on back of block., Image of a man grasping the throat of a woman and making a fist with his other hand while two small children attempt to restrain him; a table, a chair, a tankard, and other objects are overturned on the floor; a second woman standing in the doorway waves one of her arms.
Date: [s.a.]
Location: ASSU Woodblocks -- Box 21

Title: Passionate Woman.
Description: A woman holds a tea pot over her head to throw it., Text: In Hymen's noose to hang myself, / My earnest only wish is, / But I'd ne'er wed one who when mad, / Would break my head and dishes., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
Date: [between 1840 and 1880?]

Title: You ugly, cross and wrinkled shrew,
Description: A woman holds a whip and stands over a fallen man. Her hair forms horns., Text: You ugly, cross and wrinkled shrew, / You advocate of woman's rights, / No man on earth would live you, / For fear of endless fights., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
Date: [between 1840 and 1880?]

Title: To a Moulder.
Description: A man squats and holds a long-handled pan over a metal mold. "Castings" is written behind him. The man has a large nose and wears a small knit cap. "Moulder" is also slang for "pugilist," and "lam" is slang for to "hit hard.", Text: HERE you are, you Moulder elf, / You see the likeness of yourself, / A nose just like a steam trip-hammer -- / God help your wife, I'm sure you'll 'lam' her., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
Date: [between 1840 and 1880?]

Title: The Tyrant.
Description: A man holds a cat o' nine tails whip and a pistol. He frowns, has sharp teeth, and facial hair., Text: I ne'er for a husband a tyrant would have, / Because he would treat me just like some old slave; / And if he should try, his persuasions to urge, / I'm sure it would be 'cross my back with a scourge., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
Date: [between 1840 and 1880?]

Title: The Shrew & Brawler.
Description: A man holds a magnifying glass to a book with a heart drawn on it. The valentine possibly alludes to sexually transmitted diseases., Text: See what results from passion vile! / Look on this face, what ravage! / Let those beware, who would defile / Their natures like this savage., Cf. Valentine 9.46., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
Date: [between 1840 and 1880?]

Title: A Shrew and Brawler.
Description: A woman stands with her hands on her hips and her nose turned up. She flexes her right arm. The woman has pox marks on her cheek. The valentine possibly alludes to sexually transmitted diseases., Text: See what results from passion vile! / Look on this face, what ravage! / Let those beware, who would defile / Their natures like this savage., Cf. Valentine 9.47., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
Date: [between 1840 and 1880?]

Title: A Hopeful Wife.
Description: A wrinkled woman wearing a bonnet sits in a chair. "Caudle" refers to a popular "Punch" magazine character serialized in 1845. The valentine suggests her husband's desire to be absent from his wife is warranted and that he will face violence when he returns., Text: Poor Mr. Caudle has gone to his club -- / A club waits for Caudle at home: / How can he such a dear creature snub? / How wish from her arms e'er to roam?, Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector., Provenance: Punch (London, England).
Date: [not before 1845]

Title: Ill looking, ill conditioned Brute.
Description: A man holding a piece of rope stands over a woman with a black eye who is kneeling on the floor. On the wall behind them is a clock with a disapproving face. The sender criticizes the recipient's brutish behavior in beating his wife and suggests that many of the neighbors share his opinion., Text: Ill looking, ill conditioned Brute, / What punishment your crime will suit, / That coward from I’d naked strip, / And put in each neighbour’s hand a whip / To hunt you as they would a beast, / From North to South, From West to East, / Until you knelt at spousy’s feet, / Humbly for pardon to entreat., "199", Provenance: Helfand, William H..
Date: [between 1840 and 1880?]

Title: It’s evident, my angry fair,
Description: The angry woman beats her philandering lover with a broom as he lies across her lap. A speech balloon by her head reads " HOW DARE YOU PLAY WITH THE SERVANT?" as he cries, "Oh! Oh!", Text: It’s evident, my angry fair, / Whate’er your wrongs, How much you (bare) bear; / Tho’ I would rather not be sharing / My lot with one who’s so for bareing; / Such wives as thee who ever’s got ‘em, / Will find they’re very bad at BOTTOM! / So I for my part would decline. / Such a very STRIKING Valentine., Cf. Valentines 1.19, 1.20., Provenance: Helfand, William H..
Date: [between 1840 and 1880?]

Title: The Hen-Pecked Man.
Description: "Miss Nancy" is a derogatory term for effeminate men. "Judy" is a derogatory term for women derived from the puppet show "Punch and Judy." The man holds a baby as the character Judy does, and the hooked-nose woman resembles Punch and shakes her fist at them. The valentine mocks the reversal of gender roles and criticizes timid husbands and controlling wives., Text: You perfect Judy -- you Miss Nancy -- / Just such a thing as your wife did fancy; / She wanted a man that she could handle; / You suited, for you're just the thing to dandle. / MORAL. -- He would be a woman's tool, / Will find himself a henpecked fool., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
Date: [between 1840 and 1880?]

Title: Scolding Wife.
Description: A buck-toothed woman holds a rolling pin over a man's head, and the image resembles a "Punch and Judy" puppet show., Text: Who will marry such a termagant wife, The plague of her own poor husband's life? / Who distorts all her features with anger and rage, / Yet can't tell the reason why, I'll engage. / To others I such charms resign, You ne'er can be my Valen[tine]., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
Date: [between 1840 and 1880?]

Title: Portrait of Abraham Lincoln, President elect of the United States of America, with scenes and incidents in his life
Description: Periodical illustration containing a central bust-length, profile portrait of a beardless Lincoln and a decorative border comprised of vignettes representative of the 16th president's life. Also contains the text, "President Elect Abraham Lincoln," and the image of a rail, ax, and chain below the portrait., Title from item., Clippings pasted on verso., Published in Frank Leslie's Illustrated newspaper (v. 11, no. 276), March 9, 1861, p. 247-248., Vignette captions: Lincoln's father killed by the Indians; Cap. Abr. Lincoln in the Black Hawk War; Law office; Springfield Capitol; Lincoln cropping corn in Indiana for Mr. Crawford; Lincoln splitting rails for Mr. Crawford; and Lincoln's residence., Originally from a McAllister scrapbook of Lincoln materials. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., 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.
Date: [March 9, 1861]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **portrait prints- L [5792.F.16]

Title: Scrapbook with periodical illustrations, comic valentines, and patent medicine advertisements
Description: Eccentrically-arranged scrapbook predominantly containing newspaper clippings, patent medicine almanac advertisements, and comic valentines. Also contains scraps, trade cards, and labels. Clippings, many published in the sensational periodicals “National Police Gazette” and “Days' Doings” primarily depict illustrations of murders and violence, crimes and punishments, human curiosities, animal attacks, human peril, women in distress, evocative theatrical performances, acts of daring, cross dressing and comic scenes in silhouette.

Title: The bloody massacre perpetuated in King Street, Boston, on March 5th, 1770, by a party of the 25th Regt
Description: Depicts a scene during the "Boston Massacre" of March 5th, 1770 in which an officer signals seven British soldiers to fire into a mob of protesting colonists. The wounded lie on the ground or are carried away by the crowd. A woman in a shawl observes the carnage. Eighteen lines of verse criticizing the actions of the British and a list of colonists killed or injured appear below the image: "Saml Gray, Saml Maverick, James Caldwell, Crispus Attucks, and Patk Carr (killed) and it is noted that there were "Six wounded; two of them (Christr Monk & John Clark) Mortally." Crispus Attucks, included in the list of colonists but not transparently depicted, was a free man, sailor, and the alleged leader of the crowd who was the first colonist shot and killed., Title from item., Most well-known of Paul Revere's prints, and a nearly identical copy of a print entitled "The Fruits of Arbitrary Power, or the Bloody Massacre" by Henry Pelham who accused Revere of piratism., Facsimile based on the original by Revere., Inscribed: Copy Right Secured., One of the prints originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of views of Massachusetts. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., 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., Revere was a Boston silversmith, engraver, and cartoonist, most known for his patriotic activities during the American Revolution.
Creator: Revere, Paul, 1735-1818, artist
Date: March 5, 1832
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1770-1 [1884.F.25; 5738.F.8]

Title: Southern chivalry - argument versus club's
Description: Cartoon critically addressing the Brooks-Sumner Affair in which Southern Congressman Preston S. Brooks caned antislavery Senator Charles Sumner in the Senate on May 26, 1856. Brook's "chivalrous" attack on Sumner was a reprisal for Sumner's two-day speech, "The Crime against Kansas," which attacked the violence occurring in Kansas over the issue of slavery; the South; and Brook's uncle, Andrew Butler. Depicts Sumner, head bloodied, quill in his raised hand and clutching a paper symbolically inscribed "Kansas.," He is held to the ground by Butler whose face is obscured by his raised arm and hand that holds his cane above his head. Butler is posed in mid-strike. Members of Congress observe in the background, some laughing, some scowling, with one member raising his hands in surrender from another who has his fist and cane raised., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Originally part of American political caricatures, likely a scrapbook, accessioned 1899. Collection primarily comprised of gifts from Samuel Breck, John A. McAllister, and James Rush., 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., Magee was a Philadelphia lithographer who established his own lithographic firm in Philadelphia in 1850.
Creator: Magee, John L., artist
Date: [1856]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1856-3W [5760.F.105]

Title: Liberty, the fair maid of Kansas-in the hands of the "Border Ruffians."
Description: Cartoon addressing the Democratic administration's responsibility for the violence in Kansas following the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Depicts Democratic leaders as violent, proslavery invaders known as "Border Ruffians." In the center, a drunken President Franklin Pierce, armed with a tomahawk, knife, pistol, and rifle, hovers over "Liberty," depicted as a white woman, and tramples the American flag draped on her shoulders. Senator Lewis Cass, armed with a tomahawk, sword, knife, and rifle, looks at Liberty with his tongue sticking out. Liberty stretches her arms out and exclaims, “O Spare Me Gentlemen, Spare Me!!” They assure her that she will not be harmed. In the right, Senator Stephen Douglas scalps a dead, white man farmer, who carries a scythe in his left hand. In the left, Secretary of State William Marcy, attired in a “fifty-cent" trouser patch (a joke used by his political enemies referring to his use of state funds to repair his pants when he served as an associate justice for the Supreme Court of New York,) empty the pockets of a slain, white man settler. Presidential candidate James Buchanan, stating "Might makes right," steals the dead man’s watch. In the left background, a white woman settler, made insane by the violence, mistakes a border ruffian for her husband as they mock her, "Ho! ho! She thinks I'm her husband, we Scalped the Cus and she like a D--m fool went Crazy on it, and now she wants me to go to heaven with her, ha! ha! ha!" In the distance are additional scenes of violence and murder., Title from item., Artist and publication information supplied by Reilly., Originally part of American political caricatures, likely a scrapbook, accessioned 1899. Collection primarily comprised of gifts from Samuel Breck, John A. McAllister, and James Rush., 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., Magee was a New York cartoonist and lithographer who eventually established his own lithographic firm in Philadelphia in 1850.
Creator: Magee, John L., artist
Date: [1856]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1856-9 [5760.F.90]

Title: The meeting of the Friends. City Hall Park
Description: Cartoon portraying a distorted version of events surrounding New York Governor Horatio Seymour's "My Friend's" speech during the Draft Riots of 1863 when several African Americans were killed by working-class rioters. Portrays Seymour on the steps of City Hall in front of a riotous mob composed primarily of armed Irish-Americans who march past the building for "The Tribune," an anti-Seymour newspaper. Supporting Seymour from behind are a fool with a cap inscribed "Express" (i.e., a Pro-Seymour newspaper), and former Mayor Fernando Wood and Tammany boss Peter B. Sweeny, both "Copperhead" Democrats who advocated peaceful settlement with the South and who believed Republican philanthropy favored African Americans at the expense of working-class whites. Seymour placates the mob announcing that he is their friend and that he has ordered the President to stop the draft. At his feet is an African American with a noose around his neck. A white man holds the severed head of an African American man, and several more African Americans are seen hanging from trees in the background., Probably drawn by Henry L. Stephens., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Place of publication supplied by Reilly., Text printed below image: A friendly voice.—Governor, we want you to stay here. Horatio Seymour.—I am going to stay here, “My Friends.” Second Rioter.—Faith, and the Governor will stay by us. Horatio Seymour.—I am your “Friend,” and the “Friend” of your families. Third Rioter.—Arrah, Jemmy, and who said he cared about the “Dirty Nagurs”? Fourth Rioter.—How about the draft, Saymere? Governor.—I have ordered the President to stop the draft! Chorus.—Be Jabers, he’s a “Broth of a Boy.”, RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War., 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.
Date: [1863]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1863-12 [P.2275.11]

Title: The Cincinnati platform, or the way to make a new state in 1856
Description: Antislavery cartoon criticizing presidential nominees James Buchanan and John C. Breckenridge's support of pro-slavery forces over freesoilers in the violent political struggle in "Bleeding Kansas" during the Democratic Convention of 1856 in Cincinnati. Depicts a pro-slavery militia, carrying a flag labeled "Kansas and Liberty," that has marshalled a group of shackled, enslaved African American men who wear loin-cloths. Several of them clasp their hands together and look with pleading expressions at the white militiaman, behind them, and who carries a whip in his left hand and drives them forward. They march toward a settlement, which has a "Free Soil and Fremont" flag where homes burn and settlers and cattle lay wounded or dead. In the right is the corpse of an assaulted, white mother, who lies on the ground with her breasts exposed. Her naked, dead baby lies face down over her left arm. In the upper left, Buchanan and Breckenridge, standing in front of seated convention delegates on a platform, oversee the violence and comment about the freesoilers being a curse to the country who would surely leave if forced to work for "10 cents a day.", Title from item., Date inferred from content., Copyright statement printed on recto: Entered in according to act of congress in the Clerk’s Office of the district Court for the Eastern District of Penna. By I. [sic.] Childs., Originally part of American political caricatures, likely a scrapbook, accessioned 1899. Collection primarily comprised of gifts from Samuel Breck, John A. McAllister, and James Rush., 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.
Date: [1856]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1856-10W [5760.F.95]

Title: Immediate emancipation illustrated
Description: Critical satire of the American Anti-Slavery Society, which was founded on the principle of immediate abolition by Arthur Tappan and William Lloyd Garrison, who are depicted discussing the society's principles with an unnamed abolitionist, possibly Lewis Tappan. Above their heads is the banner "Anti Slavery Society Founded Anno Domini MDCCCXXXIII." The seated Garrison comments on the origin of the bundle of Italian linen at his feet, which is to be used for his newspaper "the Emancipator." In the right, the figure of a leopard rests upon a pedestal marked "Fanaticism. Brought the Inquisition upon Spain. Beggary upon Italy. And may drench America in blood!!" (an allusion to the idiom a leopard cannot change its spots and to the Spain and the Iberian War, 1807-1814). In the left, a Black man, labeled "Emancipated Slave," is portrayed in racist caricature and is naked except for a leaves wrapped around his waist. He chases an insect calling, "Food," while carrying a knife. In the background, a scene labeled "Insurection (sic) in St. Domingo! Cruelty, Lust, and blood!" depicts Black people using swords and axes to kill white people, including a white woman on the ground. A building burns behind them., Title from item., Date supplied by Weitenkampf., Probably the "A Caricature" cited in the Emancipator (New York, N.Y.), October 19, 1833 and Liberator (Boston, Mass.), November 2, 1833., The "Emancipated Slave" figure is similar to the figure depicted in the lithograph by Alfred Ducôte, "An Emancipated Negro" ([London]: Thomas McLean, 1833). Copies in the collections of National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London., Purchase 1986., 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 the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [1833]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1833 - 27W [P.9140]

Title: The people putting responsibility to the test or the downfall of the kitchen cabinet and collar presses
Description: Cartoon predicting the dire consequences to follow President Jackson's withdrawal of federal funds from the Bank of the United States. Depicts a riot in which Supreme Court Justice John Marshall warns that "the day of retribution is at hand" as anti-bank fiscal advisors Reuben Whitney and Thomas Ellicott use a rope to pull down a statue of Justice, depicted as a white woman holding scales and stepping on a snake, from a pedestal labeled "Constitution." An angry mob of white men farmers, laborers, and tradesmen carry instruments including axes, pitchforks, and shovels and papers labeled, “Broken Bank.” They fight and demand the recharter of the bank, shouting "Send back the deposites! Recharter the Bank!" and "Come back old responsibility." In the right, Jackson escapes on the back of "Jack Downing" cursing Postmaster General Kendall, "By the Eternal Major Downing; I find Ive been a mere tool to that Damn'd Amos [Kendall] and his set, the sooner I cut stick the better." In the left background, under "Senate Chamber," Henry Clay gloats to Daniel Webster and John Calhoun, "Behold Senators the fulfilment of my predictions." In the left foreground, two African American men, portrayed in racist caricature and speaking in the vernacular, predict freedom and the ascension to the throne of abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, "Hurrah! for Massa Garison, den he shall be King!" A Jewish banker, portrayed in caricature, undercuts a sailor offering him a ten dollar bank note, "Mine Got that ish one of the Pet Bankhs I'll give you one Dollar for the Ten." In the right foreground, newspapers supportive of Jackson, "collar presses," symbolized as dogs with human heads labeled "Evening Post, N. York Standard, Journal of Commerce, Albany Argus," run away chained together., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the Clerk's Office for the Southern District of New York by T.W. Whitley in the year 1834, and for sale at 104 Broadway., 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 the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Whitley was a mid-19th-century New York landscape and figure painter who also wrote about art and drama for the New York Herald.
Creator: Whitley, T. W. (Thomas W.), artist
Date: 1834
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1834-7 [1884.F.3]

Title: Practical illustration of the fugitive slave law
Description: Antislavery print depicting a fight between Northern abolitionists and supporters of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. In the left, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison and an African American man both raise guns to protect an enslaved African American woman who is attired in a head kerchief, earrings, a short-sleeved dress, and shoes. She raises both arms in the air and clutches a handkerchief in her right hand and exclaims “Oh Massa Garrison protect me!!!” Garrison wraps his right arm around her and says, “Don’t be alarmed, Susanna, you’re safe enough.” In the right, the white man mercenary, attired in a top hat with a star on it, who may represent the federal marshals or commissioners authorized by the act (and paid) to apprehend freedom seekers, carries a noose and shackles. He sits astride Secretary of State Daniel Webster, who is on his hands and knees clutching the Constitution and bemoaning, "This, though constitutional, is extremely disagreeable." Behind them a white man, possibly John C. Calhoun, declares "We will give these fellows a touch of Old South Carolina" and carries two volumes labeled "Law and Gospel." Another white man carries a quill and ledger and says "I goes in for Law & Order." In the background, a number of men on both sides fight. A white man lies on the ground on his back. An African American man grabs a white man enslaver by the head and holds a whip while saying “It’s my turn now Old Slave Driver.” A "Temple of Liberty" stands in the background with two flags flying which read, "A day, an hour, of virtuous Liberty is worth an age of Servitude," and "All men are created free and equal.", Title from item., Probable place and date of publication supplied by Reilly., Weitenkampf attributed this cartoon to the New York artist Edward Williams Clay, but Reilly refutes this attribution on the grounds that the draftsmanship, signature, and political opinions are atypical of Clay., Originally part of American political caricatures, likely a scrapbook, accessioned 1899. Collection primarily comprised of gifts from Samuel Breck, John A. McAllister, and James Rush., 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.
Date: [1850 or 1851]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1851-6 [5760.F.104]

Main menu