Search results

Title: Leadbeater's renowned stove polish
Description: Racist advertisement for Leadbeater & Co.’s stove polish depicting a white woman and an African American woman polishing stoves. In the left, the brown-haired white woman, attired in a blue ruffled dress, white gloves, a necklace, and bracelets, stands holding a bottle of Leadbeater’s stove polish in her left hand, which she brushes onto a heating stove. In the right, an African American woman domestic, attired in a yellow head kerchief, gold hoop earrings, a red collared shirt with the sleeves rolled to her elbows, and a green skirt with black stripes, kneels as she brushes polish on the cooking stove. She turns her head to see her reflection on the stove in the left. Also visible in the image are a framed portrait, landscape, and still life, and a green sideboard with white plates and a cup. Leadbeater & Company, was a one year partnership between Philadelphia stove polish merchants, F.C. Leadbeater and D.L. Wells, at 920 Market Street., Title and date from manuscript note written on recto: Leadbeater's Renowned Stove Polish; Feb. 1861., Not in Wainwright, Philadelphia on Stone, POSP 134, Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of engravings relating to Philadelphia. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Date: [February 1861]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department BW - Advertisements [(7)1322.F.441a]

Title: The house intended for the President of the United States, in Ninth Street Philadelphia
Description: View showing the executive mansion, originally built for President Washington, on Ninth Street below Market Street. Erected between 1792 and 1797 by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the residence (completed after Washington's term in office), never housed a president, and was later purchased by the University of Pennsylvania. In the foreground, a horse-drawn cart travels the street; an African American man rides on horseback; and a white woman with a basket, possibly a peddler, sits across the street. Views of the Alms House and House of Employment are visible in the background., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Illustrated in S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's views of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982, rev. 2000), pl. 13., Accessioned 1979., 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.
Creator: W. Birch & Son
Date: 1799
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [Sn 13/P.2276.25]

Title: Back to back
Description: Racist caricature ridiculing attendees of an African American dance ball. Depicts an African American man woman couple with their backs together as they learn a dance step of which the man has "cocht de figure now!" In the left, the woman looks to the left, holds a fan and handkerchief to her left side, and stands on her toes. She is attired in a headpiece consisting of feathers, ribbons, and pearls, and an off-the-shoulder, ankle-length ball gown with puff sleeves and a pleated skirt, as well as patterned stockings, slipper shoes, and jewelry, including earrings, necklace, and a bracelet. In the right, the man holds his arms to his sides, and his hands open, as he stands on his toes. He wears a mustache and is attired in a coat with a wide collar and tails, a patterned vest and shirt with turned up collar, pantaloons, patterned stockings, and black slipper shoes adorned with buckles. The figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features., Title from item., Date inferred from content and name of artist., Due to the similar content of this caraciature to the prints in the original "Life in Philadelphia" series, Murrell classifies this lithograph as a part of the series., Contains one line of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect above the image: I reckon I’ve cotch de figure now!, Imagery similar to earlier work by artist "African Fancy Ball" in Lessons in dancing, : exemplified by sketches from real life in the city of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: Published by R.H. Hobson, Chesnut Street, 1828). Copy in the holdings of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, MA and Rosenbach Library and Museum, Philadelphia, PA., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Acquired in 1968.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, artist
Date: [ca. 1829]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Set) [7688.F]

Title: Life in Philadelphia. "Good evening Miss..."
Description: Sexist caricature satirizing middle-class mores and depicting a white man dandy sexually harassing a well-to-do white woman as she traverses a Philadelphia street. The man stands next to her, in the right, and the woman has an aghast expression. She has a bouffant hairstyle adorned with flowers and ribbons. She wears a long hooded cape over her hourglass shape and large hair. The dandy is dressed in a corset, a top hat, coat with tails, vest, gloves, and large bow tie. He holds a walking stick toward the ground in his right hand. A handkerchief hangs out of his right coat pocket. Cityscape and two men pedestrians are seen on the street in the background., Title from item., Date from item., Inscribed: Plate 8., The symbol of a key is used in place of the name Clay., Contains five lines of dialogue above the image: “Good evening Miss, shall I have the pleasure of walking with you?” _ Me sir!! for whom do you take me, sir? __”Come, come that’s a good one!__ for whom do I take you? Why for myself to be sure!”__, William Simpson was a Philadelphia "fancy store" proprietor who published the first 11 prints of the "Life in Philadelphia" series. He also marketed the series as part of his "Artists' Repository.", Bottom corners mended., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, etcher
Date: 1828
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Set) [P.9692]

Title: Life in Philadelphia. Fancy ball
Description: Social caricature showing a white man-woman couple in costume at a Philadelphia ball. The man, in the left, his head slightly turned to the right, wears a costume reminiscent of the 16th century. He is attired in red and blue striped ballooned knickers, a green brocade jacket with a red sash and cape, white ruffle collar, and a blue cap adorned with white ostrich feathers in the front. The woman, in the right and looking toward her left, is dressed in a pastorial attire. She wears a flat yellow head piece with red and blue bows on top, a white shirt with a low décolleté neckline and puff sleeves beneath a black corset, and a blue skirt with yellow trim underneath a white apron adorned with bows and a floral border. Scene also includes men and women attendees standing behind the couple., Title from print., Date from print., Inscribed: Plate 10., The symbol of a key is used in place of the name Clay., William Simpson was a Philadelphia "fancy store" proprietor who published the first 11 prints of the "Life in Philadelphia" series. He also marketed the series as part of his "Artists' Repository" and possibly helped finance the cost of production., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, etcher
Date: 1829
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Set) [P.9693]

Title: Life in Philadelphia. "Dat is bery fine, Mr. Mortimer..."
Description: Racist caricature of an African American couple singing and playing guitar in a parlor. In the right, "Mr Mortimer," stands with his right hand over his heart and with his other holding a sheet of music. He wears mutton chops and is attired in a brown coat with tails, a white bow tie, black pants, black stockings, black slipper shoes, and white gloves. His eyes look up and his mouth is open. He sings a love song while the woman seated in the left plays a guitar decorated with blue ribbons. Her head is turned toward the man and she sits on a bench with a blue cushion. She wears a large white bonnet adorned with red and blue bows and with ribbons tied into a bow under her chin. She is also attired in a maroon dress with long puff sleeves, black trim, and a laced bodice, black ankle-tied slipper shoes, as well as rings on her fingers. She comments that he sings "con a moor as de Italians say!!" The figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features. Their skin tone is depicted with brown hand coloring. Setting also includes a carpet with a decorative pattern., Title from item., Date supplied by article about print in Daily Chronicle, December 10, 1829, p. 2., Contains eight lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect above the image: Dat is bery fine, Mr. Mortimer, _ you sing quite con a moor, as de Italians say!! “Take away, take away dos rosy lips, “Rich, rich in balmy treasure!_”Turn away, turn away dose eyes o blub, “Less I die wid pleasure!!!”, Inscribed: Plate 12., Inscribed: Copy right secured., S. Hart & Son was a partnership between Sarah and Abraham Hart, Jewish owners of a Philadelphia stationery store who assumed the publishing of the "Life in Philadelphia" series in 1829. She reprinted the entire series of 14 prints in 1830., Described in Daily Chronicle, December 10, 1829, p. 2., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, etcher
Date: 1829
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Set) [P.9694]

Title: Life in Philadelphia. "Good evening Miss..."
Description: Sexist caricature satirizing middle-class mores and depicting a white man dandy sexually harassing a well-to-do white woman as she traverses a Philadelphia street. The man stands next to her, in the right, and the woman has an aghast expression. She has a bouffant hairstyle adorned with yellow flowers and ribbons. She wears a long pink cape with a blue hood over her hourglass shape and large hair. The dandy is dressed in a corset, a black top hat, blue coat with tails, pink vest, gloves, and large pink bow tie. He holds a walking stick toward the ground in his right hand. A white handkerchief hangs out of his right coat pocket. Cityscape and two men pedestrians are seen on the street in the background., Title from item., Date from item., Inscribed: Plate 8., The symbol of a key is used in place of the name Clay., Contains five lines of dialogue above the image: “Good evening Miss, shall I have the pleasure of walking with you?” _ Me sir!! for whom do you take me, sir? __”Come, come that’s a good one!__ for whom do I take you? Why for myself to be sure!”__, Sarah Hart was a Jewish Philadelphia stationer who with her son, Abraham Hart, a future eminent Philadelphia publisher, assumed publication of the "Life in Philadelphia" series in 1829. She, alone, reprinted the entire series of 14 prints in 1830., Reaccessioned as P.9701.2., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, etcher
Date: [1830]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Set) [P.9701.2]

Title: Promenade in Washington Square
Description: Caricature depicting a modishly dressed white couple (man and woman) strolling through Philadelphia's Washington Square near the Society Hill section of the city. The woman wears a bright yellow dress with extremely puffed leg o'mutton sleeves and a dramatically large yellow hat with a massively wide brim. Blue and yellow striped ribbons are attached to the hat and hang down from the brim. A kerchief and necklace adorn her neck. She carries a purple purse and a pink umbrella in her left hand and a pink monocle in her right. She holds the monocle close to the side of her chin. The man wears a blue waistcoat with massively puffed leg o'mutton sleeves, a plaid cravat, brown trousers, and top hat. He holds a walking cane in his left hand to the side of his waist. Both figures are depicted with corseted waists. Two fashionably dressed women, a fashionably dressed couple (man and woman) with a child, and multi-story buildings and trees are seen in the background. In the early 1800s Washington Square evolved from a pasture ground and a burial ground for the city’s African American community, indigent community, and Revolutionary War soldiers in the 18th century to a park at the request of the wealthy residents in the neighborhood., Title from item., Date inferred from dates of later plates in the series., Probably published by William Simpson., Inscribed: Plate 1., Nancy Reynolds Davison's E.W. Clay: American political caricaturist of the Jacksonian era. (PhD. diss., The University of Michigan, 1980), p. 86. (LCP Print Room Uz, A423.O)., Part of the 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., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Accessioned in 1999.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, etcher
Date: [1828]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Set) [P.9688]

Title: South east corner of Third, and Market Street. Philadelphia
Description: Street scene depicting the bustling southeast corner of Third and Market Streets. Several vendors, mostly women, sell meat and produce from their basic stands and baskets to the numerous patrons, including two Black women in kerchiefs and shawls, milling on Market Street. View includes the commercial business block erected in 1792 by prosperous jeweler and developer Joseph Cooke, known as "Cooke's Folly." The lavish building, containing residences and stores to have been won as lottery prizes, was demolished in 1838 after several years of decay from lack of investment., Title from item., Illustrated in S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's views of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982), pl. 8., Accessioned 1979., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: W. Birch & Son
Date: 1799
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [Sn 8/P.2276.15]

Title: Life in Philadelphia. The cut direct. or getting up in the world
Description: Racist caricature portraying nouveau riche African Americans as prejudiced against lower class African Americans. Depicts an African American bootblack greeting an elegantly dressed African American couple who feign ignorance of the man's acquaintance after their return from New York. The raggedly dressed bootblack, while holding his rod of boots in one hand, uses his other hand to grab the hand of "Casar." "Casar" dressed in a hat and overcoat looks suspiciously at their joined hands. He states that the bootblack has mistaken his identity as his wife, dressed in a large bonnet with feathers and a veil and a dark overcoat, confirms the mistake and adds, "we are Guinea People, you Imperdent Nigger.", Charles Ingrey was one of the premier London lithographic printers of the 1830s., Nancy Reynolds Davison's E.W. Clay: American Political Caricaturist of Jacksonian America (PhD. diss., The University of Michigan, 1980), p. 80-81. (LCP Print Room Uz, A423.O).
Date: [ca. 1832]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (London Set) [7893.F.2]

Title: Life in Philadelphia. The cut direct. or getting up in the world
Description: Racist caricature portraying nouveau riche African Americans as prejudiced against lower class African Americans. Depicts an African American bootblack greeting an elegantly dressed African American couple who feign ignorance of the man's acquaintance after their return from New York. The raggedly dressed bootblack, while holding his rod of boots in one hand, uses his other hand to grab the hand of "Casar." "Casar" dressed in a hat and overcoat looks suspiciously at their joined hands. He states that the bootblack has mistaken his identity as his wife, dressed in a large bonnet with feathers and a veil and a dark overcoat, confirms the mistake and adds, "we are Guinea People, you Imperdent Nigger.", Charles Ingrey was one of the premier London lithographic printers of the 1830s., Nancy Reynolds Davison's E.W. Clay: American Political Caricaturist of Jacksonian America (PhD. diss., The University of Michigan, 1980), p. 80-81. (LCP Print Room Uz, A423.O)
Date: [ca. 1832]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (London Set) (P.9718a)

Title: Life in Philadelphia. The cut direct. or how to get up in the world
Description: Racist caricature portraying nouveau riche African Americans as prejudiced against lower class African Americans. Depicts an African American bootblack greeting an elegantly dressed African American couple who feign ignorance of the man's acquaintance after their return from New York. The raggedly dressed bootblack, while holding his rod of boots in one hand, uses his free hand to grab the hand of "Casar." "Casar" dressed in a hat and overcoat looks suspiciously at their joined hands. He states that the bootblack has mistaken his identity as his wife, dressed in a large bonnet with feathers and a veil and a dark overcoat, confirms the mistake and adds, "we are Guinea People, you Imperdent Nigger.", Charles Ingrey was one of the premier London lithographic printers of the 1830s., Nancy Davison's E.W. Clay: American Political Caricaturist of Jacksonian America (PhD. diss., The University of Michigan, 1980), p. 80-81. (LCP Uz, A423.O).
Date: [ca. 1833]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (London Set) [P.9718b]

Title: Life in Philadelphia. "Good evening Miss..."
Description: Sexist caricature satirizing middle-class mores and depicting a white man dandy sexually harassing a well-to-do white woman as she traverses a Philadelphia street. The man stands next to her, in the right, and the woman has an aghast expression. She has a bouffant hairstyle adorned with yellow flowers and ribbons. She wears a long red cape with a blue hood over her hourglass shape and large hair. The dandy is dressed in a corset, a black top hat, blue coat with tails, pink vest, yellow gloves, and large yellow bow tie. He holds a walking stick toward the ground in his right hand. A yellow handkerchief hangs out of his right coat pocket. Cityscape, a lamp post, and two men pedestrians are seen on the street in the background., Title from item., Date inferred from content and name of publisher., Inscribed: Plate 8., Contains five lines of dialogue above the image: “Good evening Miss, shall I have the pleasure of walking with you?” _ Me sir!! for whom do you take me, sir? __”Come, come that’s a good one!__ for whom do I take you? Why for myself to be sure!”__, Charles Hunt was a respected 19th-century London engraver who was most known for his aquatints of sporting subjects., LCP copy has left side mended., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Purchase 1968.
Creator: Summers, William, artist
Date: [ca. 1831]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (London Set) [7706.F]

Title: Die Hessen vom General Washington am 25ten Dec. 1776 zu Trenton uberfallen, werden als Kriegsgefangne in Philadelphia eingebracht
Description: Scene depicting General George Washington and his bodyguard on horseback marching the Hessian prisoners captured on Christmas 1776 over a Philadelphia drawbridge. Spectators line the bridge, including a woman and an African American man., Inscribed upper left corner: S.iii., Plate 6 from Matthias Sprengel. Historisch-genalogischer Calendar oder Jahrbuch... (Leipzig: bey Haude und Spener von Berlin, 1783). (LCP Am 1783 Spre, Log. 5059.D)., Accessioned 1982., 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., Chodowiecki was a prominent German engraver and painter who specialized in prints of historical subjects.
Creator: Chodowiecki, Daniel, 1726-1801, etcher
Date: [1783]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *GC - American Revolution [P.8935.6]

Title: Congress Hall and New Theatre, in Chestnut Street Philadelphia
Description: Street scene showing Chestnut Street near Sixth Street, including views of Congress Hall and the New Theatre. Depicts white men and women and an African American woman holding an African American baby in her arms and with a white boy at her side, strolling or conversing near a wooden post in front of the hall. In front of the theatre a large crowd is gathered, a white female peddler sells her goods, and a coach travels up Chestnut Street. Congress Hall, completed in 1789 to house the Pennsylvania district and county courts, was the first quarters of the U.S. Congress from 1790 until 1800. Completed in 1793, the New Theatre, or the First Chestnut Street Theatre, was established by actor Thomas Wignell and musician Alexander Reinagle. Modeled after a lavish English theatre, it quickly became the fashionable theatre of the city., Title from item., Illustrated in Robert Teitelman's Birch's views of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982, rev. 2000), pl. 20., Accessioned 1979., 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.
Creator: W. Birch & Son
Date: 1800
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [Sn 20/P.2276.45]

Title: McNeely & Co. manufacturers of morocco, buckskin & chamois, white leather, bark tanned, sheep, calf & deer skins, parchment, vellum &c. 64 N[or]th 4th. St. below Arch St. near the Merchants Hotel, Philadelphia. Manufactory 4th & Franklin Aven[ue]
Description: Advertisement depicting the large factory's several industrial buildings, sheds, and fenced yard near a busy street and sidewalk. Workers attend to a maze of drying lines with hanging leather pieces; delivery carts traverse the yard and depart through the gate under the sign "McNeely & Co."; and a laborer uses a horse-drawn cart to collect coal from a mound beside the main building. Pedestrians, including a white woman and boy, stroll and converse on the sidewalk. In the street, an African American man and woman couple push a filled handcart and a crowded horse-drawn omnibus from the "Frankford Road - Fourth Street" line passes by. The McNeely family operated a leather manufactory in Philadelphia from 1830 until the early 20th century., Title from item., Date of publication supplied by Wainwright., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 463, Accessioned 1982., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Rease, a prominent mid-19th century Philadelphia trade card lithographer known to highlight details of human interest in his advertisements, partnered with Francis H. Schell in the 1850s and eventually operated his own press until around 1872.
Creator: Rease, W.H, artist
Date: [ca. 1860]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **W230 [P.2129]

Title: London Coffee House
Description: Exterior view of the coffee house and merchants' exchange at the southwest corner of Front and Market streets in Philadelphia during the colonial era. An auction of enslaved African American people occurs outside the coffee house and pedestrians traverse the sidewalks and street, including an African American woman carrying a basket on her head. Views of the adjacent printing house and book store of "Pennsylvania Journal" publisher, William Bradford, are visible. Erected in 1702 and established as a coffee house in 1754 by Bradford, the site was a public center for social and economic activities during the later 18th century, including auctions of enslaved people. Razed in 1883., Title from item., Plate published in John F. Watson's Annals of Philadelphia...(Philadelphia: E.L. Carey & A. Hart, 1830), opp. p. 339., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 442, Gift of James Rush., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Breton, William L., lithographer
Date: [1830]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department BW - Hotels, Inns, Taverns [9245.Q.20], http://www.lcpimages.org/afro-americana/F-London.htm

Title: Representation of the Philadelphia fish market
Description: Periodical illustration depicting the bustling market near the Camden Ferry and the Delaware River on Market Street below Water Street. Under the market shed, in the right, women peddlers sell their goods to the many milling customers. Under the adjacent canopy walkways, in the left, white men sailors and couples of men and women stroll and an African American man and woman couple argues. On the street, in the right background and center foreground, dockworkers deliver wheelbarrows of goods and a white woman peddler chases a dog stealing a fish. From the late 18th century, Philadelphia continually had a fish market below Water Street. The permanent shed, built in 1816, was torn down when the market closed in 1860., Title from item., Originally published in Gleason's pictorial drawing room companion, ca. 1852., Purchase 1991., 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., Leslie, most known as the publisher of "Frank Leslie's Illustrated News," began his career as an engraver at "London Illustrated News." He left the London newspaper for "Gleason's Pictorial..." where he worked from 1851 until 1853.
Creator: Leslie, Frank, 1821-1880, engraver
Date: [ca. 1852]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department PhPr - 11x14 - Markets-Philadelphia Fish Market [P.9361.2]

Title: Mrs. Lena Mason's Chautauqua meetings, Aug. 1st - Sept. Phila, Pa
Description: Postcard showing an African American Chautauqua meeting. Depicts African American men, women, and children gathered near several tents. In the foreground, an African American woman and man, possibly Mrs. and Mr. Mason, stand and look at the viewer next to a wooden chair with a hat on top of it. Chautauqua meetings, developed from the Lyceum Movement, were traveling tent shows providing education and entertainment to early 20th-century audiences., Title and date from item., Photographic paper company's imprint on verso: Mermont Photo Paper Co., New York., Purchase 2001., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Digitized with funding from a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
Date: 1908
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department LCP postcards - Events [P.9933.9]

Title: R. & G.A. Wright. Manufacturers of fine perfumery &c. 624 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa
Description: Exterior view of the storefront of the perfumery established in 1860. Building is adorned with an American flag. Also shows street and pedestrian traffic, including: clusters of men, women, and children pedestrians walking on the sidewalk; a horse-drawn carriage traveling down the street; and an African American paper boy running among the crowds., Vignette in the Philadelphia, western & southern trade journal. Illustrated supplement. (P.9384a-w), Accessioned 1992., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., 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., Van Ingen & Snyder, a partnership between William H. Van Ingen and Henry M. Snyder, was active from about 1853 until 1871.
Creator: Van Ingen & Snyder, engraver
Date: [ca. 1868]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department ***Ph Pr - Government Buildings [P.9384l]

Title: Life in Philadelphia (London)
Description: Collection of social caricatures lampooning the pretensions of early 19th-century middle-class Philadelphians, mainly the city's growing community of free African Americans. Influenced by an increasing fascination with American culture and a growing racism stemming from the abolition of slavery in England, the African American characters are depicted with grotesque features and manners, wearing outlandish clothes, and speaking in patois and malapropisms to be portrayed as ineptly attempting to mimic white high society. Subject matter of the caricatures include absurd scenes of courtship and displays of etiquette on the street, at residences, at society balls, and in allegory; fashion; promenades; the abolition of slavery; the election of President Andrew Jackson; tea parties; and depictions of African Americans at work., British reprint of E.W. Clay's "Life in Philadelphia" series with ten of the original fourteen prints redrawn by William Summers, etched with aquatint by Charles Hunt, and published by Harrison Isaacs in London in the early 1830s. W.H. Isaacs continued issuing the prints altering the original content of the series by adding new subjects and removing the white caricatures. Around 1833 engraver and print seller, Gabriel Shire Treager assumed the publication of the series and added six new subjects creating a series of twenty. In 1834, Tregear published a similar series of caricatures in book form without the "Life in Philadelphia" moniker entitled, "Tregear's Black Jokes, being a Series of Laughable Caricatures in the March of Manners amongst Blacks." In 1860, London publisher T. C. Lewis reissued the series of twenty prints. Variants of prints from the series and additional caricatures with similar content; "The Cut Direct," "Sketches of Character. At Home and Abroad," "Philadelphia Dandies," and "The Lay Patroness of Alblacks" have been included as a part of the series., LCP AR [Annual Report] 1967 p. 51-53., LCP AR [Annual Report] 1968 p. 18-20., Nancy Reynolds Davison's E.W. Clay: American Political Caricaturist of the Jacksonian Era (PhD. diss., The University of Michigan, 1980), p. 85-100. (LCP Print Room Uz, A423.O)
Creator: Summers, William, artist
Date: ca. 1831-ca. 1860, bulk 1831-1834
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (London Set)

Title: Arch Street ferry, Philadelphia
Description: View of the Arch Street ferry terminal on the Delaware River. Depicts Philadelphia's busy waterfront and includes sailing ships, warehouses, bartering merchants, and dock workers weighing, as well as loading, barrels and bundles of produce onto carts. Others, including white women, are fishing and looking out onto the river. To the far left of an unoccupied dock, dock workers, including an African American man, move large bundles. At the turn of the 19th century ferries were the main source of transportation to Southern New Jersey. New Jersey provided much of the fresh produce sold at Philadelphia markets., Inscribed: 1., Title from item., Illustrated in S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's views of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982, rev. 2000), pl. 4., Accessioned 1979., 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.
Creator: Birch, William Russell, 1755-1834, engraver
Date: [ca. 1860]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [Sn 4c/P.2276.7]

Title: High Street, from Ninth Street. Philadelphia
Description: View of High (Market) Street from Ninth depicting a detachment of the First City Troop of Philadelphia drilling on horseback. The troop promenades up the busy street where several horse-drawn carts and a dray travel and several pedestrians, including an African American man and boy (in the right), watch the guard and/or stroll the tree-lined sidewalks. A market shed is seen in the distance. The First City Troop, one of the oldest continually mounted U.S. military units, was organized in 1774 to defend against British invasion. The troop used a variety of arenas to perform drills including circuses, riding schools, and various public grounds., Title from item., Illustrated in S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's views of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982), pl. 12., Accessioned 1979., 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.
Creator: W. Birch & Son
Date: 1799
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [Sn 12/P.2276.24]

Title: Ledger carriers annual greeting 1862 Girard College (Philadelphia)
Description: View of Girard College at Girard Avenue facing northwest from Corinthian Avenue including Founder's Hall and the eastern and western outbuildings. Street scene in the foreground includes a streetcar drawn by a team of six horses; elegantly dressed white pedestrians strolling, including men and women couples; and an African American man leaning against a pole smoking a pipe. The college buildings, designed by Philadelphia architect Thomas Ustick Walter in the Greek Revival style, were constructed from 1833-1847. Girard College was established through a bequest from Stephen Girard, a Philadelphia financier and philanthropist, for the creation of a school for poor white male orphans., Title from item., After drawing by Augustus Kollner published as plate 9 of a series of fifty-four lithographs executed by Isidore Laurent Deroy issued as a bound volume in New York and Paris by Goupil, Vibert and Company from 1848 to 1851 under the title "Views of American Cities.", 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: [1861]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *PhPr - Education - Girard [1883.F.182]

Title: The conflagration of the Masonic Hall Chesnut Street Philadelphia. Which occured on the night of the 9th of March 1819 This plate is respectfully dedicated to the active and much esteemed fire engine & hose companies, by their obed't serv'ts S. Kennedy and S.S. West
Description: Reissue of the print after a commemorative painting of the hall on fire by Samuel Jones at the request of the publishers with added figures by the prominent Philadelphia genre painter, John Lewis Krimmel. View depicts several volunteer firefighters hosing the flame-engulfed tower of the majestic hall, erected in 1811, purportedly after the design of William Strickland. A large frenzied crowd, including African Americans and well-dressed men and women couples, gather on the street. Spectators push, shove, are knocked down, and watch the fire in horror. Residents flee with their belongings as firefighters blow horns and transport a handpump. The fire started by a faulty flue destroyed the building, which after several successful masonic charity events was rebuilt, without a tower, in 1820 under the direction of Strickland., Title from item., Third state., Inscribed below image: Copy right secured., Samuel Kennedy and Samuel West were members and official print publishers for the Association of American Artists, later headed by Krimmel., Barber, a Philadelphia printer, artist, and engraver, was in business from 1867 until 1885., See Anneliese Harding's John Lewis Krimmel. Genre artist of the early Republic. (Winterthur, Delaware: The Henry Francis Dupont Winterthur Museum, 1997), p. 206-208., See Milo Naeve's John Lewis Krimmel: An artist in Federal America. (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1987), p. 109., LCP exhibition catalogue: Made in America #30., 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: Hill, John, 1770-1850, engraver
Date: [ca. 1876]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **PhPr - Associations - Masonic Hall [P.9210.5]

Title: Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Philada Founded in 1794 by the Revd. Richard Allen, Bishop of the first African Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States. Rebuilt in 1805
Description: Exterior view of the rough cast second edifice of the African American church at 125 South 6th Street. Pedestrians and church attendees, predominately women, stroll the sidewalk and enter the house of worship adorned with a simple stone tablet inscribed, "Bethel Church." Known as "Mother Bethel," the church was formed from African American congregants discriminated against by the Methodist Episcopal Church. The 1805 building, the site of the first convention of the Unified African Methodist Episcopal Church, stood until 1841 when a third building was erected on the site., Title from item., Kennedy and Lucas, operated by David Kennedy and William B. Lucas, printed the city's first commercial lithographs, a series of church subjects drawn by W.L. Breton, probably including "Mother Bethel.", Philadelphia on Stone, POS 39, Wainwright retrospective conversion project, edited., Description revised 2021., Accessioned 1965., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Breton, William L., artist
Date: July 1829
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department W26 [7500.F]

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: U.S. Custom House (formerly U.S. Bank)
Description: Exterior view of a classical style building constructed 1818-24 as the U.S. Bank (i.e. Second Bank of the United States) based on the designs of Philadelphia architect William Strickland. Served as custom house from 1844-1935. Street scene in front depicts white men, women, and children pedestrians. In the street, there is a carriage containing a white man and woman as passengers driven by an African American coachman, a white man on horseback, and a dog., Title from item., Plate 12 of a series of fifty-four views published by Goupil, Vibert & Company from 1848 to 1851 that were drawn by Kollner and lithographed by Deroy, and later bound under the title "Views of American Cities.", Not in Wainwright., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 763, Accessioned 1982., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Deroy, Laurent, 1797-1886, artist
Date: 1848
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *BW - Banks and Financial Institutions [P.2283.27]

Title: White's great cattle show, and grand procession of the victuallers of Philadelphia
Description: Lithograph after genre painter John Lewis Krimmel's 1821 watercolor, "Parade of Victuallers." Depicts a view from publisher M. Carey & Son's Bookshop at the southeast corner of Fourth and Chestnut streets of the March 15, 1821 trade union parade organized by butcher William White to celebrate, promote, and sell the city's high quality meat stock. The streets, balconies, doorways, and open windows teem with spectators, including an African American man oyster peddler sitting upon his cart and a small white boy displaying an illustrated banner inscribed, "Fed by William White." Image includes: the crowd watching white smocked victuallers on horseback turn on to Fourth Street pass the grocery of William Whelan; a two-tier horse-drawn platform with a band and a handler with a live ox and banner inscribed, "Fed by Lewis Clapier"; carts of meat; floats, including a replica of the ship, "Louis Clapier"; and a hot air balloon inscribed, "Fed by White," floats in the sky. Contains text from detailed local newspaper accounts of the event below the image. Also contains a seal of butchers with the motto: "We Feed the Hungry.", Title from item., Fate inferred from content., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 837, See Anneliese Harding's John Lewis Krimmel: Genre artist of the early Republic (Winterthur, Delaware: The Henry Francis Dupont Winterthur Museum, 1997), p. 215-218. (LCP Print Room Reference)., See Milo Naeve's John Lewis Krimmel: An artist in Federal America (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1987), p. 116-118., See Philadelphia: Three centuries of American art (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1976) #211., See LCP exhibition catalogue: Made in America #33., See LCP exhibition catalogue: Noteworthy Philadelphia, p. 27., Free Library of Philadelphia holds version printed circa 1850 by George Dubois. [Oversize Philadelphiana - Processions]., Accessioned 1983., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Haugg, Louis, 1827-1903, artist
Date: [ca. 1861]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **BW-Processions [P.8970.29]

Title: U.S. Custom House (formerly U.S. Bank)
Description: Constructed 1818-24 as the U.S. Bank (i.e. Second Bank of the United States) based on the designs of Philadelphia architect William Strickland. Served as custom house 1844-1935. Street scene in front depicts white men, women, and children pedestrians. In the street, there is a carriage containing a white man and woman as passengers driven by an African American coachman, a white man on horseback, and a dog., Plate 12 of a series of fifty-four views published by Goupil, Vibert & Company from 1848 to 1851 that were drawn by Kollner and lithographed by Deroy, and later bound under the title "Views of American Cities.", Title from item., Date inferred from content., Not in Wainwright., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 763, Free Library of Philadelphia: Philadelphiana - Streets - Chestnut - 4th-5th, Accessioned 1982., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Deroy, Laurent, 1797-1886, artist
Date: [1848]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department BW - Banks [P.2283.19]

Title: [Life in Philadelphia miniatures]
Description: Five cartes-de-visite size racist and sexist social caricatures derived from the series "Life in Philadelphia," including figures in brightly colored and ornately patterned fashion. Lines of dialogue are included below the images. Depicts a scene of a white man sexually harassing a white woman, their fashion caricatured (P.9717.1); a thwarted celebration of the election of Andrew Jackson centered on an African American man and boy portrayed in caricature (P.9717.2); a discussion of hot weather between an African American man and woman portrayed in caricature (P.9717.3); a dance ball centered on an African American man and woman portrayed in caricature ((P.9717.4); and the purchase of silk stockings by an African American woman portrayed in caricature (P.9717.5). The prints are captioned respectively: "Good Evening Miss..."; "Why for you hurrah for General Jackson?"; "How you find yourself dis hot weder Miss Chloe?"; "Shall I hab de honor to dance de next quadrille...?"; and "Have you any flesh colored silk stockings...?" The scenes also contain detailed backgrounds that include cityscape, pedestrian traffic, figures at celebration, bucolic scenery, the interior of a ballroom with white attendees, and the interior of a clothing store attended by a white man clerk speaking with a French dialect. The African American figures are portrayed with exaggerated features and stances. The white woman figure is portrayed with an exaggerated silhouette because of her fashion comprised of a bell-shaped overcoat and dress., Title supplied by cataloguer., Date inferred from content., P.9717.1 contains lines of dialogue below the image: Good evening Miss, shall I have the pleasure of walking with you._ Me Sir!! for whom do you take me, Sir?_ Come that’s a good one!-for whom do I take you? Why for myself to be sure., P.9717.2 contains lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: Hurrah! Hurrah for General Jackson. Why for you hurrah for General Jackson – you black Nigger – I’ll larn you better – I’m a ministration man., P.9717.3 contains lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: How you find yourself dis hot weder Miss Chloe? Pretty well I tank you Mr. Cesar, only I aspire too much., P.9717.4 contains lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: Shall I habe de honour to dance next Quadrille wid you Miss Minta. Tank you Mr. Cato wid much pleasure only I’, engaged for de next nine Set!”, P.9717.5 contains lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: Have you any Flesh color’d Silk Stockings young Man? Oui Madame! Her is von pair of de first quality., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Date: [ca. 1833]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (London) [P.9717.1-.5]

Title: [Life in Philadelphia miniatures]
Description: Five cartes-de-visite size racist and sexist social caricatures derived from the series "Life in Philadelphia," including figures in brightly colored and ornately patterned fashion. Lines of dialogue are included below the images. Depicts a scene of a white man sexually harassing a white woman, their fashion caricatured (P.9717.1); a thwarted celebration of the election of Andrew Jackson centered on an African American man and boy portrayed in caricature (P.9717.2); a discussion of hot weather between an African American man and woman portrayed in caricature (P.9717.3); a dance ball centered on an African American man and woman portrayed in caricature ((P.9717.4); and the purchase of silk stockings by an African American woman portrayed in caricature (P.9717.5). The prints are captioned respectively: "Good Evening Miss..."; "Why for you hurrah for General Jackson?"; "How you find yourself dis hot weder Miss Chloe?"; "Shall I hab de honor to dance de next quadrille...?"; and "Have you any flesh colored silk stockings...?" The scenes also contain detailed backgrounds that include cityscape, pedestrian traffic, figures at celebration, bucolic scenery, the interior of a ballroom with white attendees, and the interior of a clothing store attended by a white man clerk speaking with a French dialect. The African American figures are portrayed with exaggerated features and stances. The white woman figure is portrayed with an exaggerated silhouette because of her fashion comprised of a bell-shaped overcoat and dress., Title supplied by cataloguer., Date inferred from content., P.9717.1 contains lines of dialogue below the image: Good evening Miss, shall I have the pleasure of walking with you._ Me Sir!! for whom do you take me, Sir?_ Come that’s a good one!-for whom do I take you? Why for myself to be sure., P.9717.2 contains lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: Hurrah! Hurrah for General Jackson. Why for you hurrah for General Jackson – you black Nigger – I’ll larn you better – I’m a ministration man., P.9717.3 contains lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: How you find yourself dis hot weder Miss Chloe? Pretty well I tank you Mr. Cesar, only I aspire too much., P.9717.4 contains lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: Shall I habe de honour to dance next Quadrille wid you Miss Minta. Tank you Mr. Cato wid much pleasure only I’, engaged for de next nine Set!”, P.9717.5 contains lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: Have you any Flesh color’d Silk Stockings young Man? Oui Madame! Her is von pair of de first quality., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Date: [ca. 1833]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (London) [P.9717.1-.5]

Title: Cornwallis is taken! The watchman's cry - Philadelphia 1781
Description: Print commemorating the surrender in 1781 of British General Cornwallis at Yorktown depicting the watchman's purported moonlit announcement of the event on October 22nd at the Philadelphia residence of Thomas McKean, the president of Congress. Near the "Geo. Washington" tavern, the white watchman, one hand raised, a lantern in the other, his mouth open and with a few teeth missing, cries the news to the crowd of men, women, and children surrounding him and McKean. McKean, wearing a silken robe, chin in hand listens. His face portrayed with a look of contemplation. The crowd, many in nightclothes hold candlesticks, pray, cheer, and listen solemnly. Included in the crowd are a white man veteran with a prosthetic wooden peg leg, an African American boy, an African American woman caregiver holding presumably McKean's baby in the doorway, a white man and woman couple facing each other and holding hands, white women in shawls and elegant robes, a seated Native American woman attired in moccasins, and a white man portrayed with a frowned expression near behind the watchman., Title from item., Date inferred from duplicate with variant imprint in the collections of the American Antiquarian Society.., Gift of Mrs. Francis P. Garvan, 1978., 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: Doney, Thomas, engraver
Date: [ca. 1856]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC-American Revolution [8384.F.23]

Title: High Street in 1799 at present Market Street Philadelphia, Pa
Description: Founder's Week postcards commemorating the 225th anniversary of the founding of Philadelphia. Copies of William Birch's engraved view of High (Market) Street from Ninth depicting a detachment of the First City Troop of Philadelphia drilling on horseback. The troop promenades up the busy street where several horse-drawn carts and a dray travel and several pedestrians, including an African American man and boy (in the right), watch the guard and/or stroll the tree-lined sidewalks. A market shed is seen in the distance. The First City Troop, one of the oldest continually mounted U.S. military units, was organized in 1774 to defend against British invasion. The troop used a variety of arenas to perform drills including circuses, riding schools, and various public grounds. Founder’s Week celebrated the 225th anniversary of the founding of Philadelphia, October 4-10, 1908. There were numerous parades and activities with each day having a special designation, including Religious, Military, Municipal, Industrial, Children’s and Naval, Historical, and Athletic and Knights Templar Day., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Copyright 1908 by P. Sander, N.Y., Series no.: 254-1., Divided backs., Gift of Clarence Wolf, 1984., 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: 1908
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department LCP postcards - Streets - [P.9049.43 - 44]

Title: Life in Philadelphia. "Have you any flesh coloured silk stockings...?"
Description: Racist caricature of an African American woman shopping for a pair of "flesh coloured silk stockings" in a hosiery store with a white male sales clerk speaking with a French dialect. Depicts, in the center right, the woman standing at the counter in front of the clerk who holds up a pair of gray-colored stockings from out of a rectangular box. She is attired in a pink floral patterned dress, as well as tall, wide-brimmed pink hat adorned with several flowers, greenery, and a veil and long yellow ribbon, and yellow gloves, earrings, and blue button-up boots. She rests her yellow, flower-patterned purse on the counter and holds up a monocle from the end of her neck fob to inspect the stockings that the clerk declares are of "de first qualite!" Her red parasol rests against the counter. Rows of red, blue, and yellow stockings hang on the wall behind the clerk. The clerk is attired in a blue waistcoat with tails, a yellow vest, red cravat, and white pants. In the right, an African American woman attired in a yellow polka dot dress and tall, wide brimmed yellow hat adorned with ribbons is seen in the doorway of the shop in which multi-colored curtains hang and are pushed to the side. The wheel of a carriage is seen behind the woman. The figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features. The women’s skin tone is depicted with brown hand coloring. The man is depicted with rosy cheeks and brown, curled hair., Title from print., Date from print., Inscribed: Plate XI., Inscribed: Copy Right Secured., Contains five lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect above the image: Have you any flesh coloured silk stockings, young man? Oui Madame! here is von pair of de first qualité!, RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, etcher
Date: May 1829
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Set) [P.2004.39.1]

Title: Life in Philadelphia. "How you like de new fashion shirt...?"
Description: Racist caricature ridiculing the 1829 male fashion fad of striped shirts depicting an African American man-woman couple discussing the "new fashion shirt" that he is wearing. In the right, the man stands slightly turned and hands on hips. He is attired in a brown waistcoat with tails, a red vest, a blue-striped shirt, black cravat, tan pants, yellow gloves, black shoes, and a neck fob. He holds a black top hat in his left hand. In the left, "Miss Florinda," stands, forward facing, and holding a fan near the right side of her face. She wears a red and yellow headpiece over her hair that is in a top knot. She is attired in a yellow calf-length, cap sleeved dress with floral details, red and white trim, and décolleté neckline; white opera gloves; ankle-laced slippers; flower-detailed stockings; and jewelry, including earrings, necklace, and bracelets. She holds a handkerchief in her left hand and states that she finds the fashion elegant and how his wearing it within the "Abolition siety" will make him look like "Pluto de God of War!" They stand on a patch of grass. In classical mythology, Pluto is also the god of the underworld and wealth. The figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features. Their skin tone is depicted with brown hand coloring., Title from item., Date inferred from content., After the work of Edward W. Clay., Plate 9 of the original series published in Philadelphia., Contains seven lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect above the image: How you like de new fashion shirt, Miss Florinda? I tink dey mighty elegum_ I see you on New year day when you carry de colour in de Abolition ‘siety -You look just like Pluto de God of War!, LCP exhibit catalogue: Made in America p. 29., Nancy Reynolds Davison's E.W. Clay: American Political Caricaturist in Jacksonian America (PhD. diss., The University of Michigan, 1980), p. 88-89. (LCP Print Room Uz, A423.O)., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Imbert, Anthony, 1794 or 5-1834
Date: [ca. 1830]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (New York Set) [P.2004.39.2]

Title: Sketches of character. Plate 2. At home. Plate 3. Abroad
Description: Racist caricature contrasting two scenes of the same African American couple "At Home" and "Abroad." The "At Home" scene depicts the couple in their kitchen with a wood floor washing dishes together. In the right, the woman, attired in a kerchief, short sleeves, apron, skirt, and slip on shoes, is bent over and washes the dishes in a tub on a stool. In the left, the man, barefoot and attired in a shirt with the sleeves rolled up, vest, bow tie, and pants, sits on the edge of a butcherblock table on top of which a pile of dishes rests, and dries one. The man and woman look at each other. In the background, on the wall, cooking utensils, pots and pans, and a slab of bacon hang from hooks underneath a shelf lined with cook and dishware near a large woven basket, a cupboard, and a small shelf with two bottles. The "Abroad" scene depicts the pair well attired and about to promenade down a city street, possibly Philadelphia and from near Independence Hall. The woman wears a large plumed bonnet with a veil and a ribbon tied under her chin, a blue cape over a dress giving her the appearance of a bell, and gaiter-like shoes. Her husband wears spectacles, a top hat, white shirt, yellow vest, black waist coat, grey pants, and yellow gloves. He holds a walking cane down toward the ground in his left hand and his other arm out to his companion. A guardhouse is seen in the right and the edge of a building (possibly Independence Hall) in the left. Cityscape is visible in the distant background. Figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features and their skin tone is depicted in brown hand coloring., Title and date from item., Copy right secured., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 2013, p. 51., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857
Date: January 12, 1830
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Set) [P.2013.74]

Title: Sketches of character. Plate 2. At home. Plate 3. Abroad
Description: Racist caricature contrasting two scenes of the same African American couple "At Home" and "Abroad." The "At Home" scene depicts the couple in their kitchen with a wood floor washing dishes together. In the right, the woman, attired in a kerchief, short sleeves, apron, skirt, and slip on shoes, is bent over and washes the dishes in a tub on a stool. In the left, the man, barefoot and attired in a shirt with the sleeves rolled up, vest, bow tie, and pants, sits on the edge of a butcherblock table on top of which a pile of dishes rests, and dries one. The man and woman look at each other. In the background, on the wall, cooking utensils, pots and pans, and a slab of bacon hang from hooks underneath a shelf lined with cook and dishware near a large woven basket, a cupboard, and a small shelf with two bottles. The "Abroad" scene depicts the pair well attired and about to promenade down a city street, possibly Philadelphia and from near Independence Hall. The woman wears a large plumed bonnet with a veil and a ribbon tied under her chin, a blue cape over a dress giving her the appearance of a bell, and gaiter-like shoes. Her husband wears spectacles, a top hat, white shirt, yellow vest, black waist coat, grey pants, and yellow gloves. He holds a walking cane down toward the ground in his left hand and his other arm out to his companion. A guardhouse is seen in the right and the edge of a building (possibly Independence Hall) in the left. Cityscape is visible in the distant background. Figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features and their skin tone is depicted in brown hand coloring., Title and date from item., Copy right secured., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 2013, p. 51., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857
Date: January 12, 1830
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Set) [P.2013.74]

Title: Life in Philadelphia. "Dat is bery fine, Mr. Mortimer..."
Description: Racist caricature of an African American couple singing and playing guitar in a parlor. In the right, "Mr Mortimer," stands with his right hand over his heart and with his other holding a sheet of music. He wears mutton chops and is attired in a green coat with tails, red collar, blue bow tie, yellow pants, stockings, black slipper shoes, and yellow gloves. His eyes look up and his mouth is open. He sings a love song while the woman seated in the left plays a guitar decorated with pink ribbons. Her head is turned toward the man and she sits on a bench with a pink cushion. She wears a large yellow bonnet adorned with bows and with ribbons tied into a bow under her chin. She is also attired in a blue dress with long puff sleeves, trim, and a laced bodice, ankle-tied slipper shoes, as well as rings on her fingers. She comments that he sings "con a moor as de Italians say!!" The figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features. Their skin tone is depicted with black hand coloring. Setting also includes a carpet with a decorative pattern., Title from item., Date inferred from content and name of publisher., Contains eight lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect above the image: Dat is bery fine, Mr. Mortimer, _ you sing quite con a moor, as de Italians say!! “Take away, take away dos rosy lips, “Rich, rich in balmy treasure!_”Turn away, turn away dose eyes o blub, “Less I die wid pleasure!!!”, Inscribed: Plate 12., Inscribed: Copy right secured., Sarah Hart was a Jewish Philadelphia stationer who with her son, Abraham Hart, a future eminent Philadelphia publisher, assumed the publishing of the "Life in Philadelphia" series in 1829. She, alone, reprinted the entire series of 14 prints in 1830., First edition of print described in Daily Chronicle, December 10, 1829, p. 2., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, etcher
Date: [1830]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Set) [P.9701.4]

Title: Life in Philadelphia. "What you tink of my new poke bonnet...?"
Description: Racist caricature depicting an African American woman trying on a bonnet in the company of her African American companion, "Frederick Augustus." Depicts the woman in profile, in front of a standing mirror tilted toward her, trying on a yellow Dunstable bonnet so large that the side of her face is obscured. Her hand rests on the side of the hat adorned with a pink ribbon. Her reflection is not visible in the mirror. She wears a yellow calico dress with a white collar that covers her shoulders, black gloves, patterned stockings, and blue slipper shoes. She asks "Frederick Augustus" what he thinks. He stands behind her with his arms crossed and looks toward the mirror. He holds a walking stick under his left upper arm. A dog with a muzzle sits behind him. He responds that he does not like the style. He wears a beard and is attired in a top hat, long green overcoat with collar, red-striped pants, white gloves, and black slipper shoes. A white woman sales clerk, wearing a large top-knot hairstyle, watches the woman from behind a counter on which another Dunstable bonnet is displayed. Pink bunting is visible above the clerk’s head. The figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features. Their skin tone is depicted with black hand coloring., Title from item., Date from item., Inscribed: Plate 14., Inscribed: Copy right secured., Contains seven lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect above the image: What you tink of my new poke bonnet Frederick Augustus? I don’t like him no how, case dey hide you lubly face, so you can’t tell one she nigger from anoder., Sarah Hart was a Jewish Philadelphia stationer who with her son, Abraham Hart, a future eminent Philadelphia publisher, assumed the publishing of the "Life in Philadelphia" series in 1829. She, alone, reprinted the entire series of 14 prints in 1830., Described in Pennsylvania Inquirer, 17 June 1830, p. 2 and ‘Life in Philadelphia, No. 14. The Dunstable Bonnet’, Pennsylvania Inquirer, 17 June 1830, p. 3., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, etcher
Date: 1830
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Set) [P.9701.5]

Title: Life in Philadelphia. "How you find yourself dis hot weader Miss Chloe?"
Description: Racist caricature mocking the ambitions of free Blacks depicting, "Mr. Cesar," an African American dandy asking an African American belle how she finds herself in "dis hot weader?" "Miss Chloe," responds that she is doing well, but "aspires too much!" In the left, the man stands and faces the woman, in the right, and whose back is to the viewer. The man is attired in a blue waistcoat with a black collar, a white vest, pink cravat, white pants, gloves, and black slipper shoes. He holds a walking stick perpendicular to the ground in his right hand. The woman is attired in a yellow, puff-sleeved, ankle-length dress and with a pink neckerchief, wide-brimmed yellow hat with a long veil and adorned with several pink flowers and blue ribbon, gloves, and white slipper shoes. She also wears a necklace and earrings. She holds a purse and fan in her left hand and a parasol in her right hand. The man and woman stand on a grassy knoll. The figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features. Their skin tone is depicted with black hand coloring., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Inscribed: P. 4., After the work of Edward W. Clay., Probably published by Anthony Imbert., Contains three lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: “How you find yourself dis hot weader Miss Chloe?” “Pretty well I tank you Mr. Cesar only I aspire too much!”, RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Acquired in 1968.
Date: [ca. 1830]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (New York Set) [7770.F.1]

Title: Life in Philadelphia. "Shall I hab de honour to dance de next quadrille...?"
Description: Racist caricature ridiculing the etiquette of attendees of an African American dance ball. Depicts, in the right and in profile, "Mr. Cato," an African American man dressed in a blue coat with tails and a black collar, white pantaloons and stockings, ruffled white shirt, yellow gloves, a gold neck fob, and black slipper shoes bowing with his hat in his hand to invite "Miss Minta" to dance. In the left, "Miss Minta," a curvaceous African American woman, forward facing, her head turned to the right, and dressed in a pink, cap-sleeved gown with an apron detail, a large pink headpiece, white opera gloves, and several pieces of jewelry, including a neck fob, bracelets, armlets, and earrings, declines his invitation because she is already "engaged for de nine next set." She also slightly holds up the lower right corner of her apron with her right hand. The figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features. Their skin tone is depicted with black hand coloring. Scene also includes background imagery depicting other African American men and women ball attendees., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Inscribed: No. 6., Plate 5 of the original series published in Philadelphia., Probably published by Anthony Imbert of New York., Shane White and Graham White's Stylin': African American Expressive Culture... (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998), p. 98. (LCP Ii4, A2880.O)., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Date: [ca. 1830]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (New York Set) [7770.F.3]

Title: Life in Philadelphia. "How you like de new fashion shirt...?"
Description: Racist caricature ridiculing the 1829 male fashion fad of striped shirts depicting an African American man-woman couple discussing the "new fashion shirt" that he is wearing. In the right, the man stands slightly turned and hands on hips. He is attired in a green waistcoat with tails, a red vest, a blue-striped shirt, black cravat, blue pants, yellow gloves, black shoes, and a neck fob. He holds a black top hat in his left hand. In the left, "Miss Florinda," stands, forward facing, and holding a fan near the right side of her face. She wears a red and green headpiece over her hair that is in a top knot. She is attired in a yellow calf-length, cap sleeved dress with floral details, red trim, and décolleté neckline; white opera gloves; ankle-laced slippers; and jewelry, including earrings, necklace, and bracelets. She holds a handkerchief in her left hand and states that she finds the fashion elegant and how his wearing it within the "Abolition siety" will make him look like "Pluto de God of War!" They stand on a patch of dirt. In classical mythology, Pluto is also the god of the underworld and wealth. The figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features. Their skin tone is depicted with black hand coloring., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Plate 9 of the series., The symbol of a key is used in place of the name Clay., Name of the artist, faint lower right corner., Contains seven lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect above the image: How you like de new fashion shirt, Miss Florinda? I tink dey mighty elegum_ I see you on New year day when you carry de colour in de Abolition ‘siety -You look just like Pluto de God of War!, LCP exhibit catalogue: Made in America p. 29., Nancy Reynolds Davison's E.W. Clay: American Political Caricaturist in Jacksonian America (PhD. diss., The University of Michigan, 1980), p. 88-89. (LCP Print Room Uz, A423.O)., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, etcher
Date: [ca. 1830]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Set) [P.9701.8]

Title: Life in Philadelphia. "Have you any flesh coloured silk stockings...?"
Description: Racist caricature of an African American woman shopping for a pair of "flesh coloured silk stockings" in a hosiery store with a white male sales clerk speaking with a French dialect. Depicts, in the center right, the woman standing at the blue and pink counter in front of the clerk who holds up a pair of gray-colored stockings from out of a rectangular box. She is attired in a pink floral patterned dress, as well as tall, wide-brimmed blue hat adorned with several flowers, greenery, and a veil and long yellow ribbon, yellow gloves, earrings, and blue button-up boots. She rests her blue, flower-patterned purse on the counter and holds up a monocle from the end of her neck fob to inspect the stockings that the clerk declares are of "de first qualite!" Her brown parasol rests against the counter. Rows of stockings, including in the color of blue, hang on the wall behind the clerk. The clerk is attired in a green waistcoat with tails, a yellow vest, red cravat, and white pants. In the right, an African American woman attired in a yellow polka dot dress and tall, wide brimmed hat adorned with blue ribbons is seen in the doorway of the shop in which blue curtains hang and are pushed to the side. The wheel of a carriage is seen behind the woman. The figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features. The women’s skin tone is depicted with black hand coloring. The man is depicted with rosy cheeks and brown, curled hair., Title from print., Date inferred from content., Inscribed: Plate XI., Inscribed: Copy Right Secured., Probably published by Sarah Hart of Philadelphia., Contains five lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect above the image: Have you any flesh coloured silk stockings, young man? Oui Madame! here is von pair of de first qualité!, RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, etcher
Date: [ca. 1830]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Set) [P.9701.9]

Title: Life in Philadelphia. "Have you any flesh coloured silk stockings...?"
Description: Racist caricature of an African American woman shopping for a pair of "flesh coloured silk stockings" in a hosiery store with a white male sales clerk speaking with a French dialect. Depicts, in the center right, the woman standing at the blue and white counter in front of the clerk who holds up a pair of brown-colored stockings from out of a rectangular box. She is attired in a pink floral patterned dress, as well as tall, wide-brimmed pink hat adorned with several flowers, greenery, and a veil and long yellow ribbon, white gloves, earrings, and tan button-up boots. She rests her white, flower-patterned purse on the counter and holds up a monocle from the end of her neck fob to inspect the stockings that the clerk declares are of "de first qualite!" Her green parasol rests against the counter. Rows of stockings, including in the color of blue and pink, hang on the wall behind the clerk. The clerk is attired in a tan waistcoat with tails, a white vest, purple cravat, and purple pants. In the right, an African American woman attired in a blue polka dot dress and tall, wide brimmed hat adorned with ribbons is seen in the doorway of the shop in which purple and white curtains hang and are pushed to the side. The wheel of a carriage is seen behind the woman. The figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features. The women’s skin tone is depicted with black hand coloring. The man is depicted with dark brown, curled hair., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Plate 11 of the original series published in Philadelphia., After the work of Edward W. Clay., Possibly by New York lithographer Curtis Burr Graham (1814-1890)., Contains five lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect above the image: Have you any flesh coloured silk stockings, young man? Oui Madame! here is von pair of de first qualité!, RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Date: [ca. 1830]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (New York Set) [P.9701.10]

Title: A dead cut
Description: Racist caricature portraying a middle-class African American man-woman couple as snobs who slight a working-class African American man shoeshiner and former acquaintance. Depicts the African American shoeshiner greeting the African American couple who feign ignorance of the man's acquaintance after their return from "de Springs." The laborer, attired in a rumpled top hat, torn overcoat with tails, and patched pants holds his rod of boots in his left hand, and uses his right one to grab the hand of "Cesa." "Cesa," dressed in a flat-top cap, and heavy, long overcoat with handkerchief in the pocket, and plaid pants, looks suspiciously at their joined hands. He holds a walking stick and his companion's parasol in his other hand. He states that the shoeshiner has mistaken his identity (You must be mistaking in de person black man!). His companion, her hand around his elbow, and dressed in a Dunstable bonnet, dark-colored overcoat, and button-down shirtwaist with a collar, agrees. With her hand placed on her hip and holding a purse, she declares, "What does the imperdent nigger mean?" Figures are depicted with oversize and exaggerated features., Title from item., Publication information from duplicate in collection and advertisement in the Philadelphia Inquirer, December 30, 1829, p. 3. Advertised as entitled "A Dead Cut, or an attempt to slight old Acquaintance.", Nancy Reynolds Davison's E.W. Clay: American political caricaturist of the Jacksonian Era (PhD. diss., The University of Michigan, 1980), p. 80-81. (LCP Print Room Uz, A423.O)., Sarah Hart was a Jewish Philadelphia fancy goods store owner and printseller who with her son future Philadelphia publisher Abraham Hart, assumed publication of the "Life in Philadelphia" series in 1829. Sarah Hart solely reprinted the entire series of 14 prints in 1830. She also published complementary in subject lithographs after the work of Clay during the same period., Described in the Daily Chronicle, December 26, 1829, p. 2., Accessioned 1893., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, etcher
Date: [1829]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | PRINT. Life in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Set) [5656.F.39]

Title: A dead cut
Description: Racist caricature portraying a middle-class African American man-woman couple as snobs who slight a working-class African American man shoeshiner and former acquaintance. Depicts the African American shoeshiner greeting the African American couple who feign ignorance of the man's acquaintance after their return from "de Springs." The laborer, attired in a rumpled top hat, torn overcoat with tails, and patched pants holds his rod of boots in his left hand, and uses his right one to grab the hand of "Cesa." "Cesa," dressed in a flat-top cap, and heavy, long overcoat with handkerchief in the pocket, and plaid pants, looks suspiciously at their joined hands. He holds a walking stick and his companion's parasol in his other hand. He states that the shoeshiner has mistaken his identity (You must be mistaking in de person black man!). His companion, her hand around his elbow, and dressed in a Dunstable bonnet, dark-colored overcoat, and button-down shirtwaist with a collar, agrees. With her hand placed on her hip and holding a purse, she declares, "What does the imperdent nigger mean?" Figures are depicted with oversize and exaggerated features., Title from item., Publication information from duplicate in collection and advertisement in the Philadelphia Inquirer, December 30, 1829, p. 3. Advertised as entitled "A Dead Cut, or an attempt to slight old Acquaintance.", Nancy Reynolds Davison's E.W. Clay: American political caricaturist of the Jacksonian Era (PhD. diss., The University of Michigan, 1980), p. 80-81. (LCP Print Room Uz, A423.O)., Sarah Hart was a Jewish Philadelphia fancy goods store owner and printseller who with her son future Philadelphia publisher Abraham Hart, assumed publication of the "Life in Philadelphia" series in 1829. Sarah Hart solely reprinted the entire series of 14 prints in 1830. She also published complementary in subject lithographs after the work of Clay during the same period., Described in the Daily Chronicle, December 26, 1829, p. 2., Accessioned 1893., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, etcher
Date: [1829]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | PRINT. Life in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Set) [5656.F.39]

Title: Life in Philadelphia. "How you like de Waltz, Mr. Lorenzo?"
Description: Racist caricature ridiculing the social pretentions of attendees of an African American dance ball depicting "Mr. Lorenzo" and his woman dance partner hand in hand as they waltz. In the left, Mr. Lorenzo’s woman partner wears a pink, large, oval-shaped headpiece with several feathers, an ankle-length blue and yellow dress with pink trim, puff sleeves and a pink rope belt with tasseled ends, white gloves, white ankle-tied slipper shoes, and jewelry, including earrings and a necklace. She looks toward her dance partner and points her left foot and has her right perpendicular to it. She asks how he likes the waltz. "Mr. Lorenzo," looks down toward her and responds that he believes the waltz is "for de common people." He is attired in white pantaloons, a green coat with tails, white vest, white shirt with turned up collar, white bow tie, white gloves, white stockings, and black slipper shoes. The figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features. Their skin tone is depicted with brown hand coloring., Title from item., Date from item., Inscribed: Plate 13., Copy right secured., Contains five lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect above the image: How you like de waltz, Mr. Lorenzo? ‘Pon de honour ob a gentleman I tink it vastly indelicate, _ Only fit for de common people!!, S. Hart and Son was a partnership between Sarah and Abraham Hart, Jewish owners of a Philadelphia stationery store who assumed the publishing of the "Life in Philadelphia" series in 1829. She alone reprinted the entire series of 14 prints in 1830., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, etcher
Date: [1829]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Set) [P.9697]

Title: Life in Philadelphia. "How you find yourself dis hot weader Miss Chloe?"
Description: Racist caricature mocking the ambitions of free Blacks depicting, "Mr. Cesar," an African American dandy asking an African American belle how she finds herself in "dis hot weader?" "Miss Chloe," responds that she is doing well, but "aspires too much!" In the left, the man stands and faces the woman, in the right, and whose back is to the viewer. The man is attired in a blue waistcoat with a yellow collar, a white vest, red cravat, red pants, gloves, and black slipper shoes. He holds a walking stick perpendicular to the ground in his right hand and a hat in his left hand. The woman is attired in a yellow, puff-sleeved, ankle-length dress, wide-brimmed green hat with a long veil and adorned with several yellow flowers and red ribbon, gloves, and red slipper shoes. She also wears a hair adornment, earrings, and necklace. She holds a purse and fan in her left hand and a parasol in her right hand. The man and woman stand on a grassy knoll. Clouds are visible in the background. The figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features. Their skin tone is depicted with black hand coloring., Title from item., Date inferred from name of publisher., Inscribed: Plate 4., Contains three lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: “How you find yourself dis hot weader Miss Chloe?” “Pretty well I tank you Mr. Cesar only I aspire too much!”, Sarah Hart was a Jewish Philadelphia stationer who with her son, future eminent Philadelphia publisher, Abraham Hart assumed publication of the "Life in Philadelphia" series in 1829. She, alone, reprinted the entire series of 14 prints in 1830., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, etcher
Date: [1830]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Set) [P.9698]

Title: Life in Philadelphia. "Shall I hab de honour to dance de next quadrille...?"
Description: Racist caricature ridiculing the etiquette of attendees of an African American dance ball. Depicts, in the right and in profile, "Mr. Cato," an African American man dressed in a blue coat with tails, white pantaloons and stockings, ruffled white shirt, white gloves, a neck fob, and black slipper shoes bowing with his hat in his hand to invite "Miss Minta" to dance. In the left, "Miss Minta," a curvaceous African American woman, forward facing, her head turned to the right, and dressed in a red, cap-sleeved gown with an apron detail, a large white headpiece, white opera gloves, and several pieces of jewelry, including a neck fob, bracelets, armlets, and earrings, declines his invitation because she is already "engaged for de nine next set." She also slightly holds up the lower right corner of her apron with her right hand. The figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features. Their skin tone is depicted with black hand coloring. Scene also includes background imagery hand-colored yellow and depicting other African American men and women ball attendees., Title from item., Date inferred from content and name of publisher., Contains four lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: “Shall I hab de honour to dance de next quadrille wid you, Miss Minta?” “Tank you Mr. Cato, _ wid much pleasure, _ only I am engaged for de nine next set!_”, Inscribed: Plate 5., The symbol of a key is used in place of the name Clay., Sarah Hart was a Jewish Philadelphia stationer who with her son, Abraham Hart, a future eminent Philadelphia publisher, assumed publishing of the "Life in Philadelphia" series in 1829. She reprinted the entire series of 14 prints in 1830., Shane White and Graham White's Stylin': African American Expressive Culture (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998), p. 98. (LCP Ii 4,A2880.O)., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, etcher
Date: [1830]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Set) [P.9699]

Main menu

Pages