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Title: The old and the new – “Nothin’ but niggers nohow.”
Description: Photographic reproduction of a print drawn by Helen M. Colburn, daughter of New Jersey artist Rembrandt Lockwood, depicting an older African American woman watching and "judging" a young African American couple walking in a park. The figures are drawn with racist and caricatured features and mannerisms. Shows, in the right, the older woman, attired in a kerchief, coat, shawl, long skirt, and holding a wooden cane, and with a squinted expression looking toward the back of a fashionably-attired couple in the left. The man of the couple to the right of the woman looks down and at his companion whose back is to the viewer. She is attired in a cap, a long winter wrap, and a skirt with a short train. The man wears an imperial mustache and is attired in a cap and a long winter coat. The man and women walk on a path lined with trees and birds peck at the ground. In the far left background, a woman and child attired in winter wear and walking on the path are visible. Robinson, married to Washington U.S. Treasury clerk Rollinson Colburn, lived in the Capitol between circa 1870 and her death in 1912. In 1887 eight of her works, some purported to based on her own eye-witness accounts during the 1870s, showing African American life in the city were published as a collectible series of photographs. Occassionally, Colburn described and signed her descriptions of the scenes on the versos of the photographs., Title printed on mount., Date from copy right statement printed on mount: Copyright 1887., Written in lower right of original print: Mrs. R. Colburn 1881., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Purchased with the 2019 Junto Fund.
Date: 1887
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photos - 5 x 7 - unidentified - Events [P.2020.16.3]

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: 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., Sarah Hart was a Jewish Philadelphia stationer who assumed printing of the "Life in Philadelphia" series in 1829. She reprinted the entire original series of 14 prints in 1830., Pendelton, Kearny, & Childs, in operation from 1829 until 1830, was the first successful lithographic firm in Philadelphia. The firm's partners were John Pendleton, Frances Kearny, and Cephas G. Childs., 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)., Described in Daily Chronicle, December 26, 1829, 2 and “The Dead Cut,” Philadelphia Inquirer, December 31, 1829, 2., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Acquired in 1970.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, etcher
Date: 1829
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Set) [7893.F.1]

Title: Life in New York. "Blakey I say, can't you by the powers of your stame engine..?"
Description: Racist caricature depicting a conversation between a middle-class African American merchant and a working-class Irish man. Depicts the well-dressed man "merchant" of a "Patent Steam" laundry and his well-dressed woman companion being approached by a white Irish man outside the doorway to his “Patent Steam Scouring Establishment. Clothes of all kinds, etc.” He wears a top hat, green waistcoat, a white ruffled shirt and stiff collar, white pants, and black shoes. He holds a walking stick. His companion wears a yellow, wide-brimmed hat adorned with feathers and ribbons, a blue and yellow, long-sleeved dress with lace details, white stockings and slipper shoes. She holds up a monocle toward the Irish man who is in bare feet and attired in worn and torn clothing. He holds a stained and patched waistcoat. The Irish man asks the merchant to "shift" his coat for a new one, as by the appearance of the merchant's coat, he is just the man for whom he has been looking since leaving "Kilarney." The merchant and his companion are "salted" by the notion that they are of the same nature as the "ruffian" and will "larn" him better by telling him to "ply to the office." The African American figures are portrayed with oversized features and their skin tone is depicted in black hand coloring., Title from item., Date inferred from content and name of publisher., Contains several lines of dialogue in dialect and the vernacular below the image: What you mean sir! I’m a merchant, I larn you better! cant you rid dat dere Sign, ply to the Office./Aint it too gusting for a lady of quality to be salted so in Street by Ruffians./Blakey I say! Can’t you by the powers of your Stame Engine Shift me this coat for a new one! I trust by the looks of yours youre the very man I have been looking for since I left Kilarney., Inscribed: Pl. 2., Charles Ingrey was a premier London lithographic printer of the 1830s., LCP AR [Annual Report] 1972 p. 60., 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., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Purchase 1972.
Date: [ca. 1831]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in New York (London Set) [8025.F.2]

Title: Life in New York. "Blakey I say, can't you by the powers of your stame engine..?"
Description: Racist caricature depicting a conversation between a middle-class African American merchant and a working-class Irish man. Depicts the well-dressed man "merchant" of a "Patent Steam" laundry and his well-dressed woman companion being approached by a white Irish man outside the doorway to his “Patent Steam Scouring Establishment. Clothes of all kinds, etc.” He wears a top hat, green waistcoat, a white ruffled shirt and stiff collar, white pants, and black shoes. He holds a walking stick. His companion wears a yellow, wide-brimmed hat adorned with feathers and ribbons, a blue and yellow, long-sleeved dress with lace details, white stockings and slipper shoes. She holds up a monocle toward the Irish man who is in bare feet and attired in worn and torn clothing. He holds a stained and patched waistcoat. The Irish man asks the merchant to "shift" his coat for a new one, as by the appearance of the merchant's coat, he is just the man for whom he has been looking since leaving "Kilarney." The merchant and his companion are "salted" by the notion that they are of the same nature as the "ruffian" and will "larn" him better by telling him to "ply to the office." The African American figures are portrayed with oversized features and their skin tone is depicted in black hand coloring., Title from item., Date inferred from content and name of publisher., Contains several lines of dialogue in dialect and the vernacular below the image: What you mean sir! I’m a merchant, I larn you better! cant you rid dat dere Sign, ply to the Office./Aint it too gusting for a lady of quality to be salted so in Street by Ruffians./Blakey I say! Can’t you by the powers of your Stame Engine Shift me this coat for a new one! I trust by the looks of yours youre the very man I have been looking for since I left Kilarney., Inscribed: Pl. 2., Charles Ingrey was a premier London lithographic printer of the 1830s., LCP AR [Annual Report] 1972 p. 60., 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., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Purchase 1972.
Date: [ca. 1831]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in New York (London Set) [8025.F.2]

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