Album with locks of hair sewn onto the pages in loops of stylized flowers with colored drawings of flowers. The hair was assembled by Margaret Williams. Family names contained in the book are: Williams, Barmore, Mary, Washburn, Lee, Holden, Pullen, Armstrong, Darlen, Underhill, McIntyre, Rasnell, Halsted, Marshall, Philips, and Smith., Exhibited in: the Library Company's exhibition, Picturing Women (2004) ; and the Living Book: New Perspectives on Form and Function (2017-2018).
Gift of David Doret and Linda G. Mitchell, 2022., Label on the verso from Montclair Art Museum (Montclair, N.J.) (Double Head Study), Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ethan D. Alyea. 1964.51., Bust-length, forward-facing portrait study of two white women. In the left, shows an older woman with brown ringlet curls framing her forehead and attired in a white lace day cap tied in a bow under her chin and a dark-colored dress with a white lace collar. In the right, shows a young woman with her dark brown hair parted in the middle and tied back and attired in dress with a white neckline. There is an additional portrait of a woman on the verso of the canvas. A cut out in the frame reveals the eyes of the portrait. A photocopy reproduction is taped to the back. Bust-length portrait of a white woman with her blonde hair tied back and attired in drop earrings, a multi-stranded necklace, and a light blue dress.
Margaret Burke was the sister of Mathew Carey. Not long after her portrait was taken, she followed her brother to the United States. She married a Baltimore sea captain named James Burke, who presently abandoned her and their children. She moved to Philadelphia and for a while worked as a school mistress and a milliner., Gift of Mrs. H. Lea (Mary) Hudson, 1994.
Eleven samplers, mounted on board in the form of a book, made by Emily Bell while attending the Bethlehem Female Seminary in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The sampler includes examples of buttonhole, hemming, and pin-tuck stitches., Exhibited in: The Library Company's exhibitions, The Hook and the Book: The Emergence of Crochet and Knitting in American Popular Culture, 1840-1876, (2001) and The Home Sewing Machine: America's "Queen of Inventions" (2009).
Mehitabel (Hitty) Cox was the daughter of James S. Cox of Bermuda, who became a prominent Philadelphian, and his wife Catherine Sitgreaves. Hitty married John Markoe in 1804., Gift of Dr. Mary De Witt Pettit, 1965.
Susan Barton was the sister of Phoebe Ann Rush and the wife of John Rhea Barton., LCP Minutes vol. 15, Feb. 1944, p. 101: “The President presented a letter from Mrs. Ridgway, offering to the Library Company a bust and portrait of Mrs. Barton, the sister of Mrs. James Rush. On motion, these gifts were accepted with gratitude of the Board, and the President was asked to write to Mrs. Ridgway to accept them and to express the appreciation of the Board.”, Gift of Mrs. Thomas Ridgway, 1944.
Susan Barton was the sister of Phoebe Ann Rush and the wife of John Rhea Barton., LCP Minutes vol. 15, Feb. 1944, p. 101: “The President presented a letter from Mrs. Ridgway, offering to the Library Company a bust and portrait of Mrs. Barton, the sister of Mrs. James Rush. On motion, these gifts were accepted with gratitude of the Board, and the President was asked to write to Mrs. Ridgway to accept them and to express the appreciation of the Board.”, Gift of Mrs. Thomas Ridgway, 1944.
Reads, "Am I Not A Woman & A Sister 1838." The back reads, "United States of America." Picture of a wreath with "Liberty 1838" within it., These tokens were sold at antislavery fairs organized by abolitionist women to raise money for the cause. In this example, to avoid charges of counterfeiting, the N in United States is reversed., Gift of Chris McCauley, 1996., Exhibited in the Heritage Center at the Union League of Philadelphia exhibition, Philadelphia 1861: The Coming Storm (2011).
LCP Minutes vol. 14, Dec. 1, 1938, p. 35: “Mr. Parrish said that the grandsons of Mr. Howard Roberts have recently presented books to the Library and have offered to present to the Library Mr. Roberts’ statues of Hester and Lot’s wife. … Resolved that the Directors on behalf of the Library Company as well as on their own behalf warmly thank Mr. Paul Roberts and Mr. Radclyffe Roberts for their generous donations.” LCP Annual Report, May 1, 1939: “A collection of valuable books, formerly the property of the late Mr. and Mrs. Howard Roberts, was given to the Library by Mr. Paul Roberts. At the same time Mr. H. Radclyffe Roberts presented to the Library the marble statue of Hester Prynne and Pearl, the first important work of Howard Roberts. When exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy in 1872 it attracted widespread attention throughout the country.”, Gift of H. Radclyffe Roberts (the artist's grandson), 1939., Exhibited at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (1872) and the Philadelphia Art Museum (1966-1981).
Souvenir fan commemorating the Centennial Exhibition held in Philadelphia in 1876. Folding fan with thirty blades including guards. Shows the Main Building at Fairmount Park, designed by Henry Pettit and Joseph M. Wilson. Numerous men and women visitors walk the grounds in front of the building. A Japanese woman, wearing her hair up with Kanzashi hair decorations, and attired in a pink, blue, and red kimono, stands holding a fan. Red roses grow at her feet. In the right, a Japanese woman, wearing her hair up and attired in a blue, red, and pink kimono, holds a red fan in her left hand, and in her right hand she holds the hand of a young Japanese boy, attired in a yellow and red kimono. The verso depicts a bird perched on a branch with pink and red flowers, and the silhouette of two birds against a blue background. Text printed across the top lists the names and addresses of Philadelphia hotels: “Irving House. 817 Walnut St.; Guy’s. Cor. 7th St. and Chestnut; Colonnade. Cor. 15th St. and Chestnut; St. Cloud. 709 Arch St.; La Pierre. Broad St. Below Chestnut; Girard. Corner Ninth and Chestnut; Continental. Corner Ninth & Chestnut; Bingham. Corner 11th St. and Market St.; American. 517 Chestnut St.; Merchant’s. 42 North 4th St.; Washington. 711 Chestnut St.; Markoe. 919 Chestnut St.” Additional text includes, “Main Building, International Exhibition. Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. 1876. Length 1880 feet. Width 464.”, Gift of Linda Kimiko August, 2023.
Cushman was a Boston-born actress who became the leading American stage actress and immensely famous in both America and England. Cushman was the stage manager of the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia from 1842 to 1844, and this portrait was painted during that time., The Folger Shakespeare Library has an almost identical portrait of Charlotte Cushman, also painted by Sully, which was donated to them in 1936 by Mrs. Vincent Cushman, wife of Charlotte's nephew., Bequest of Anne Hampton Brewster, 1892., Exhibited in: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts' exhibition, Memorial Exhibition of Portraits by Thomas Sully (1922); Philadelphia Art Alliance for a theatrical exhibition culled from the Charlotte Cushman Club (1955); National Portrait Gallery's exhibition, This New Man (1968); National Portrait Gallery's exhibition, Thomas Sully, Portrait Painter (1983); Library Company and Historical Society of Pennsylvania's exhibition, Women 1500-1900 (1974); Milwaukee Art Museum and San Antonio Museum of Art's exhibition, Thomas Sully: Painted Performance (2013-2014).
