Racist trade card depicting a sentimentalized view of an African American girl. Shows the smiling, cherubic-faced girl in bust-length, standing behind a barely-visible brick wall and holding a white cloth with embroidered edges over it. The girl holds the cloth in both hands as well as an up-turned feathered duster in her right hand. She is attired in an orange and white ruffled cap, an orange bowtie, a white and orange polka dot shirt, and a blue and white striped apron. Visible in the background are flowers and greenery. Mertens & Phalen, a branch of the firm J.M. Merten's & Co., was a retail business in Troy, New York. J.M. Merten's was founded in 1888 after J.M. Merten assumed ownership of a clothing manufacturing business formerly owned by A.C. Yates and Theodore Dissel., Title from item., Date inferred from dates of operation listed in Dwight Hall Bruce, ed., "Memorial History of Syracuse, N.Y.: From Its Settlement to the Present Time," (H.P. Smith & Company), 636-637., Gift of David Doret.
Date
[ca. 1890]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Mertens [P.2017.95.124]
