Search results

Title: Louisa A. White Album
Description: Photograph album of portraits of unidentified middle-class African Americans including fourteen men, eleven women, and three babies.

Title: Dining car, Pennsylvania Limited
Description: View showing the interior of a dining car of a train of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Two African American waiters, wearing mustaches and attired in white suits, stand among tables adorned in table cloths and with seating for four. In the background, a beverage service, including bottles, silver ice buckets, silver bowls, and possibly a decanter are visible. View also includes hooks above the car windows and light fixtures on the ceiling. One of the waiters carries a bottle of champagne on a tray. In June 1887, the Pennsylvania Limited began running between New York and Chicago, which was replaced by the Pennsylvania Special in 1902 and by the Broadway Limited in 1912., Title from item., Copyrighted., Additional places of publication printed on mount, including St. Louis and Liverpool, Eng., Griffith & Griffith, established in Philadelphia in 1896, expanded in 1908 to included offices in St. Louis and Liverpool. The non-Philadelphia offices were relocated in 1910., Purchase 2013., 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.
Creator: Rau, William Herman, 1855-1920
Date: [ca. 1900]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - Rau - Transportation [P.2013.1]

Title: [Country place of worship]
Description: Genre scene from a children's moral instruction book showing a man, children, and horses at leisure outside of a small church building within a grove of trees. In the right foreground, an African American man lies against a log, arms crossed, head down, and dozes near three, saddled horses bridled to a tree. Behind him, two white boys sit in the grass beside a dog and look over a book. In the right background, two, saddled horses are bridled to a tree near two white boys and a girl in conversation. In the left background, three, saddled horses are bridled within a cluster of trees. Scene also includes a small turtle passing the horses in the foreground. One appears to watch it. A white man stands near the church in the center background. Pastureland is visible in the distant, right background. All the male figures are attired in hats, jackets, and pants. The girl wears a bonnet and dress., Title from manuscript note on recto., Date from date of publication in which print is included., Published in Common sights on land and water (Philadelphia: American Sunday-School Union, 1852)., Gift of David Doret., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: Kollner, Augustus, 1813-1906
Date: [1852]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Doret and Mitchell Collection - Prints [P.2018.63.4]

Title: [Country place of worship]
Description: Genre scene from a children's moral instruction book showing a man, children, and horses at leisure outside of a small church building within a grove of trees. In the right foreground, an African American man lies against a log, arms crossed, head down, and dozes near three, saddled horses bridled to a tree. Behind him, two white boys sit in the grass beside a dog and look over a book. In the right background, two, saddled horses are bridled to a tree near two white boys and a girl in conversation. In the left background, three, saddled horses are bridled within a cluster of trees. Scene also includes a small turtle passing the horses in the foreground. One appears to watch it. A white man stands near the church in the center background. Pastureland is visible in the distant, right background. All the male figures are attired in hats, jackets, and pants. The girl wears a bonnet and dress., Title from manuscript note on recto., Date from date of publication in which print is included., Published in Common sights on land and water (Philadelphia: American Sunday-School Union, 1852)., Gift of David Doret., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: Kollner, Augustus, 1813-1906
Date: [1852]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Doret and Mitchell Collection - Prints [P.2018.63.4]

Title: Sawnee The wonderful musical contraband known as the "Human Organ."
Description: Full-length portrait of the formerly enslaved African American performer, attired in a Union uniform. He stands facing the viewer, holding his cap in his left hand and with his right hand tucked inside his sack coat. Found homeless in 1862 in Chambersburg, Pa. by promoter Robert Criswell, the "Human Organ" imitated the organ, any sound, and sang plantation songs during exhibitions in the North, including New York City and Philadelphia., Article about Sawnee published in Franklin repository, January 27, 1864 (Chambersburg, Pa.), p. 5., 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 Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [ca. 1863]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits - sitter - Sawnee [P.8925.2]

Title: Sawnee The wonderful musical contraband known as the "Human Organ."
Description: Full-length portrait of the formerly enslaved African American performer, attired in a Union uniform. He holds his hat with his left hand and tucks his right hand into his sack coat while leaning against a chair. Found homeless in 1862 in Chambersburg, Pa. by promoter Robert Criswell, the "Human Organ" imitated the organ, any sound, and sang plantation songs during exhibitions in the North, including New York City and Philadelphia., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Unmounted carte-de-visite., Article about Sawnee published in Franklin repository, January 27, 1864 (Chambersburg, Pa.), p. 5., 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 Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [ca. 1863]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits - sitter - Sawnee [P.8925.3]

Title: Old '76 and young '48 From the original picture in the possession of the American Art-Union
Description: Mexican War-era genre print evoking the memory of the American Revolution depicting a young, white man Mexican War soldier returned home to his family, including his grandfather, a Revolutionary War veteran. In a parlor, the young man, attired in his uniform, sits, turned away from his meal, surrounded by his mother, father, sister, grandfather, and family dog. He raises his hand in the air as he regales his family about his experiences. They all look at him intently, except the grandfather, seated in an arm chair, and leaning on a cane, who stares a little off to the side. In the background, three servants (two African American men and an African American woman) listen from the doorway. A portrait painting of the grandfather as a young man in his military uniform hangs on the wall. In the left, a fireplace with mantle is visible. Above the mantle, a framed print reproduced after Trumbull's painting "Declaration of Independence" is displayed near lamps, a clock, and a bust of Washington on a bookcase. Also shows the soldier's cap and sword lying on the floor in the foreground., Title from item., After an 1849 painting by Robert Caton Woodville in the collections of the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore., One of six prints issued in 1851 for the members of the American Art-Union in New York., Gift of David Doret, 2006., Description revised., Access points revised., Described in the Bulletin of the American Art-Union, June 1850, p. 46., 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: Pease, Joseph Ives, 1809-1883, engraver
Date: 1851
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *GC - Mexican War [P.2006.28.23]

Title: Etching of the large engraving of Mexican news one of the six plates for the members of 1851
Description: Genre print emphasizing the influence of the press on national sentiment and consumer culture during the Mexican War. The "penny presses" drummed up public interest and support for the war by espousing the doctrine of Manifest Destiny as the justification for Westward expansion. Depicts a crowd of white men on the porch of the "American Hotel" eagerly listening to an astonished-looking man reading the news of the progress to annex Texas. An African American man and child, attired in tattered clothing, listen from the steps of the porch. In the right, a white woman leans out of the window of the hotel and strains to hear the news., Title from item., After an 1848 painting "War News from Mexico" by Robert Caton Woodville exhibited at the free gallery of the American Art-Union in 1849. In the collections of the National Gallery of Art on long-term loan., One of six etchings printed in 1851 for the members of the American Art-Union in New York., Published in Vincent Virga et al.'s Eyes of the nation: A visual history of the United States. (NY: Knopf, 1997), p.115., Gift of Clarence Wolf, 1984., 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., Alfred Jones was born in Liverpool in 1819 and traveled to America with his family. He attended the National Academy of Design in New York, and in 1839 took an apprenticeship with a banknote engraver. He returned to Europe in 1840, where he studied under London’s master engravers. After returning to America, he became one of the premier engravers in the country, eventually establishing a career in postage stamp engraving. He also engraved a number of images for the American Art-Union, including this one, which was originally engraved and sold by subscription to the union’s members in 1851.
Creator: Jones, Alfred, 1819-1900, engraver
Date: [1851]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department GC - Mexican War [P.9046.18]

Title: Etching of the large engraving of Mexican news one of the six plates for the members of 1851
Description: Genre print emphasizing the influence of the press on national sentiment and consumer culture during the Mexican War. The "penny presses" drummed up public interest and support for the war by espousing the doctrine of Manifest Destiny as the justification for Westward expansion. Depicts a crowd of white men on the porch of the "American Hotel" eagerly listening to an astonished-looking man reading the news of the progress to annex Texas. An African American man and child, attired in tattered clothing, listen from the steps of the porch. In the right, a white woman leans out of the window of the hotel and strains to hear the news., Title from item., After an 1848 painting "War News from Mexico" by Robert Caton Woodville exhibited at the free gallery of the American Art-Union in 1849. In the collections of the National Gallery of Art on long-term loan., One of six etchings printed in 1851 for the members of the American Art-Union in New York., Published in Vincent Virga et al.'s Eyes of the nation: A visual history of the United States. (NY: Knopf, 1997), p.115., Gift of Clarence Wolf, 1984., 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., Alfred Jones was born in Liverpool in 1819 and traveled to America with his family. He attended the National Academy of Design in New York, and in 1839 took an apprenticeship with a banknote engraver. He returned to Europe in 1840, where he studied under London’s master engravers. After returning to America, he became one of the premier engravers in the country, eventually establishing a career in postage stamp engraving. He also engraved a number of images for the American Art-Union, including this one, which was originally engraved and sold by subscription to the union’s members in 1851.
Creator: Jones, Alfred, 1819-1900, engraver
Date: [1851]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department GC - Mexican War [P.9046.18]

Title: The Declaration of Independence illustrated
Description: Cartoon evoking the Declaration of Independence to promote the emancipation from enslavement. Depicts rays of light representing God above a soaring American eagle that clutches olive and oak branches and two American flags labelled "All Men are Created Equal" and "Stand by the Declaration." Suspended from the flags is a large basket in which an African American man and a white man are seated. The African American man drops his broken shackles out of the basket as the abolitionist proclaims "Break Every Yoke; Let the Oppressed Go Free" to a large crowd of men, women, and children cheering below. Among the crowd is a white man Union soldier; a white newsboy selling the "Herald," an abolition newspaper; and a free African American man. Verses of text appear atop the rays of light and beside the basket espousing the religious, moral, and historical justifications for emancipation., Title from item., Date from copyright statement., Purchase 1968., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War., Dominique C. Fabronius was a respected Belgian born lithographer, watercolorist, and portraitist who worked in Philadelphia, Boston, and New York.
Creator: Fabronius, Dominique, artist
Date: 1861
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1861-41 [7700.F]

Title: [Scraps no. 3 for 1832]
Description: Plate two from the 1832 edition of, "Scraps," Johnston's popular satirical series of societal caricatures published between 1828 and 1840, and in 1849. Depicts a montage of nine scenes lampooning contemporary social issues and everyday life, such as dueling, juries, the wealthy, debt, education, and the use of coal as a fuel. Includes "Fair Play: Safe Play" depicting two absurd methods of dueling utilizing chalked figures on a rotund man and a barn door; "Hunger Versus Judgment Jury -Room" depicting a hungry jury voting for execution in order to adjourn for dinner; "Who Are You Looking At?" depicting an indignant white man looking at the viewer; "The Last Bell" depicting a wealthy, white "belle" with an entourage transporting her numerous belongings for a river voyage, annoyed with her son who has fallen in the water; "Military Precocity" depicting a young white boy aspiring to fit into his grandfather's oversized military uniform; "Anti-Phlogistic" depicting white gentlemen experimenting with safe, economical "Rhode Island coal" in a fireplace attended by an African American man servant; "Primary School Examination" depicting an elementary classroom where a white man teacher is mocked as a "jackass" and a white girl student reveals during a spelling lesson that her mother takes rum in her tea; "An Incarcerated Monster" depicting a white man artisan debtor on display in his prison cell in front of a wealthy family commenting about his deserved incarceration as a monster., Title supplied by cataloger., Printed in upper left corner: Plate 2., Published in D.C. Johnston's Scraps No. 3 1832 (Boston: D.C. Johnston, 1832), pl. 2., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Accessioned 1979., 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., African American household employees
Creator: Johnston, David Claypoole, 1799-1865
Date: [1832]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1832-Scr (b) [P.2275.26]

Title: Emancipation: the past and the future
Description: Emancipation print contrasting African American life during and after slavery. Central scene portrays the interior of a free person’s home where several generations of the family socialize around a "Union" stove as the mother cooks. The horrors of slavery are depicted through scenes of the flogging, branding, selling, and capturing of enslaved people. The forthcoming results of freedom are depicted through scenes of the exterior of a free person’s cottage, African American children attending public school, and African Americans receiving payment for their work. Also depicted are: a baby angel freeing the shackles of a kneeling enslaved man as the angel, who has the year 1863 above his head, is held by Father Time; Thomas Crawford’s statue of freedom; and the hellhound Cerberus fleeing liberty., Title from item., Originally published in Harper's weekly, January 24, 1863., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Nast was a cartoonist and illustrator most known for his work for the 19th-century periodical "Harper's Weekly."
Creator: Nast, Thomas, 1840-1902, artist
Date: 1865
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *Political Cartoons - 1865-3 variant [(10)1540.F]

Title: [Scraps no. 3 for 1832]
Description: Plate one from the 1832 edition of, "Scraps," Johnston's popular satirical series of societal caricatures published between 1828 and 1840, and in 1849. Depicts a montage of nine scenes lampooning contemporary social issues and every day life such as corporal punishment, public drunkenness, popular fashion, marital relations, and libraries. Includes "Lock on the Understanding in two Toms bound in boards" depicting two "Toms" locked in a stockade without refreshment discussing their "Dry Goods" & "Stationary" business;" Heavy Wet" depicting a white man homeowner shocked to see a bank of snow fall from his roof unto a passerby's head; 'What a piece of work is a Man...." depicting hogs ashamed to be seen with a white man drunkard unconscious in their slop near a distillery; "Cowed Down" depicting a white wife upset about her cow's well-being as she watches her "mischievous" white husband being gored by it; "The Menagerie" depicting a confused African American man witnessing children mistaking a white man dandy and white woman dandiette for wild creatures at an animal menagerie; "Bullying Up" depicting a white farm boy haranguing a bull in front of his angry mother; "The Cat Doth Play & After Slay" depicting a picture "copied from an innkeeper's sign in Jugtown, N. Jersey" showing a cat playing a fiddle in front of a horse-drawn sleigh; "The Library" depicting the interior of a library where a foppish white woman, a Frenchman, and white men librarians misinterpret and misunderstand comments about popular literature; and "A Soporific" depicting an ailing white man unaffected by "laudanum opium" requesting his Reverend to preach a sermon in order to put him to sleep., Title supplied by cataloger., Printed in upper left corner: Plate 1., Published in D.C. Johnston's Scraps No. 3 1832 (Boston: D.C. Johnston, 1832), pl. 1., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Accessioned 1893., 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: Johnston, David Claypoole, 1799-1865
Date: [1832]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1832 Scr (a) [5656.F.25]

Title: Emancipation
Description: Emancipation print depicting a series of scenes contrasting African American life during and after slavery. Central scene portrays the interior of a free person's home where several generations of the family socialize around a "Union" stove as the mother cooks. Below this scene is a portrait of Lincoln and above it a depiction of Thomas Crawford's statue of freedom, as well as the hell hound Cerberus fleeing Liberty. Scenes to the right display the horrors of slavery including the flogging, branding, selling, and capturing of enslaved people. Scenes to the left display the forthcoming results of freedom including the exterior of a free person's cottage, African American children attending public school, and African Americans receiving payment for their work., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by J.W. Umpehent, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania., Originally published in Harper's weekly, January 24, 1863., McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Nast was a cartoonist and illustrator most known for his work for the 19th-century periodical "Harper's Weekly."
Creator: Nast, Thomas, 1840-1902, artist
Date: 1865
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1865-3R [5792.F]

Title: Reading the Emancipation Proclamation
Description: Print depicting a white Union soldier reading the Emancipation Proclamation to families of enslaved African Americans in a cabin. The families are depicted with anxious and solemn mannerisms. Family members surround the officer near a dining table and hearth. An older boy holds a torch providing the officer with light. The father watches over the soldier's shoulder. Other figures, including a "young woman with two children, the house servant of her [enslaver], not belonging to the cabin but happened to be in on the occasion" pray, cheer, and cling to their mothers. Interior also includes a side of bacon hanging next to a ladder, a drying line with cotton balls handing from it above the hearth, and a cradle. Contains portrait of Abraham Lincoln below the image. The Emancipation Proclamation, effective January 1, 1863, granted African Americans not only their right to freedom but the right to join the Union Army., Title from item., Date from copyright statement., After painting by Henry Walker Herrick exhibited at the National Academy of Design in New York in 1865. Exhibited by "possessor" Lucius Stebbins., Publisher and copyright holder Stebbins published complementary pamphlet "Emancipation Proclamation of January 1st, 1864 [sic]" that included "Description of the Engraving." Description: Old man at the right with folded hands, Grand-father; Old lady at the left with cane in hand, Grand-mother; man leaning on ladder, the father; woman with child in her arms, the mother; lad swinging his hat, oldest son; one holding torch, second son; little girl, oldest daughter; infant in the arms of its mother. Young woman with two children, the house servant of her master, not belonging to the cabin but happened to be in on the occasion. Party reading, Union Soldier. The internal view of the Cabin is true to nature. The stone chimney, garret, ladder, side of bacon, rough cradle, piece of sugar cane and cotton balls, &c, all combine to give a correct idea of the slaves' home. Lincoln Financial Foundation copy of pamphlet accessible at Internet Archive., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1993, p. 44., LCP exhibition catalogue: An African American Miscellany p. 22., Purchase 1993., 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., Lucius Stebbins (1810-1901), born in Massachussets, worked in Hartford, Connecticut, in the businesses of map coloring and subscription book publishing (American Publishing Company).
Creator: Watts, James W., -1895, engraver
Date: 1864
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC-Emancipation [P.9429]

Main menu