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Title: Midsummer dinner
Description: Racist, genre scene showing an African American boy eating watermelon for his dinner. He smiles, sits cross-legged on a wooden crate and has his right hand plunged into the flesh of one half of a watermelon. He looks slightly toward his right and wears a pork pie hat; long-sleeve, collarless shirt; and ragged pants. Seeds run along the side of his slightly outstretched right foot. The untouched second half of the watermelon rests next to him to his right. The crate contains writing that reads: #888/Stmp/Handle Carefully/Keeb Dry. A backdrop depicting panel molding along the bottom of a wall is visible in the background., Title from list of 70 titles printed on verso by printer E. Perry., Name of photographer printed on mount., Date inferred from style of mount and active dates of photographer/publisher., Printed on mount: Charleston & Vicinity., Yellow mount with rounded corners., Manuscript note written on verso, upper edge: Lukin., Gift of David Long., Frank A. Nowell began work as a photographer in Charleston in 1870. In 1880, he purchased the Charleston negatives and studio of Civil War photographer George N. Barnard. Nowell was active until 1890.
Creator: Nowell, F. A.
Date: [ca. 1870]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - misc. photo. - Nowell [P.2018.16.10]

Title: "D em brats done gone and stole dat melon."
Description: Racist, genre stereograph depicting an African American man coming upon three African American boys sitting next to each other and eating large slices of watermelon at the entrance to a stone root cellar. Shows an outdoor setting in which the man, holding a switch, peers around the stone, curved structure at the boys who sit with their legs crossed, or bent at the knees, or to the side, before the open entryway. Each holds a slice of watermelon toward their mouth. Half a watermelon with a knife in it and two other slices of the melon lie near the boys. View also show a grassy hillside in the background and a patch of greenry near the cellar. The man is attired in a soft-brimmed hat, shirtsleeves, a vest, and slacks. The children wear shirts and shorts., Title from item., Date inferred from active dates of publisher and content., Name of photographer and publisher from copyright statement: Copyright Griffith & Griffith., Curved grey mount with rounded corners., Griffith & Griffith, established in Philadelphia in 1896, expanded in 1908 to included offices in St. Louis and Liverpool. The non-Philadelphia offices were relocated in 1910., RVCDC, Gift of George R. Allen, 2022.
Creator: Griffith & Griffith
Date: [ca. 1900]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - Griffith & Griffith - Portraits & Genre [P.2022.42.18]

Title: Two souls with but a single thought
Description: Lantern slide formerly owned and probably used in art lessons by Philadelphia painter, photographer, and art teacher, Xanthus Smith of a racist depiction of African Americans in caricature by comic artist, Thomas Worth. Depicts a young and dapperly-dressed African American couple eating a piece of watermelon on a porch as the parents of one of the couple watches them from a doorway. Seated on a bench, the woman, wearing her hair tied up with a pink ribbon and attired in a blue shirt with buttons down the center, a white skirt with ruffles at the bottom, red and black checked stockings, and black shoes, sits beside the man, attired in a gray bowler hat, a white shirt with stripes, a gray waistcoat, gray and black striped pants, and black shoes. They hold a large slice of watermelon up together and bite from it while looking at one another. In the left, the mother, attired in a blue and pink plaid head kerchief, a pink and black striped shirt with a white lace collar, and a pink skirt, and the father, attired in a white collared shirt, a black waistcoat, and black pants, looks on at the couple from an open doorway. A banjo hangs from the post of the porch in the right. In the background, trees and the night sky is visible., Title from label on mount on verso., Gift of Edna Andrade, 1994., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., 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: [ca. 1890]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Lantern Slides-Smith, Xanthus [P.9471]

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