Search results

Title: [Celebration at building construction site]
Description: Group portrait of white men celebrants, attired in light-colored hats and suits, at a building construction site on a major city street. An older white man, attired in an oversized hat decorated with flowers, holds a baton and sits before the group of men who stand on planks balanced across exposed iron girders in the sidewalk, on a large pulley, and on cement blocks before the unfinished building. In the left, four African American men musicians with guitars and a fiddle stand on the planks of wood and look at the viewer., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from attire of the sitters., Purchase 1989., 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: [ca. 1910]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - unidentified - construction [P.9260.426]

Title: [African American construction crew installing a utility pole]
Description: Scene of a crew of African American men construction workers nearing completion of the installation of a utility pole along a cobblestone city street lined with homes and businesses. Most of the crew members hold their mallets on their shoulders and wait on the sidewalk as another laborer retrieves a long pipe from their nearby utility truck. A mound of freshly dug dirt is piled near his feet. A white pedestrian observes the scene. A gas station is visible on the opposite side of the street., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from photographic medium and attire of the sitters., Purchase 1989., 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: [ca. 1925]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - unidentified - construction [P.9260.603]

Title: [Group portrait of brick masons]
Description: Depicts seven masons, including two African American men, posed at an outside worksite in front of a partially completed brick wall. They stand on wood scaffolding and look at the viewer. Most hold tools of the trade, including trowels. Bricks, buckets, and other equipment are on the scaffolding around the worksite., Title supplied by cataloger., Purchase 2001., 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 Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [ca. 1910]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department group portrait photographs - occupations - masons [P.9985.3]

Title: The results of abolitionism!
Description: Cartoon reflecting the fear among Northern white workers of job competition with free African Americans. Depicts African American men bricklayers, portrayed in racist caricature and speaking in vernacular, on a construction site giving orders to white laborers in a reversal of roles. The laborers work on a large multi-storied brick building fronted by scaffolding and a ladder. The African American supervisors hold trowels and stand at the top of the scaffolding. They hurl orders and abuse at white workers exclaiming: "Bring up the mortar you white rascals" and "You bog-trotters, come along with them bricks." An African American man standing on the ground, attired as a dandy, exclaims, "White man hurry up them bricks." A white man climbs the ladder and two white men work on the ground shoveling and picking up bricks. Another white man stands and says, "Sambo hurry up the white laborers.", Title from item., Date inferred from content., Originally part of American political caricatures, likely a scrapbook, accessioned 1899. Collection primarily comprised of gifts from Samuel Breck, John A. McAllister, and James Rush., 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 the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [ca. 1835]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *Political Cartoons - 1835 - Res [5780.F.1]

Title: [Construction crew in a fenced ditch below street level, July 12, 1904]
Description: Scene depicting a predominately African American construction crew, working with shovels and picks around a fire hydrant, exposed pipes, and a storm drain within a large fenced off ditch. Planks and sheet metal cover part of the site. Workers place dirt into steel bins. A crane hovers above. Spectators, including white men and boys and African American man, line the fence and pass the construction site. Further down the street another predominately African American construction crew works within another ditch., Title supplied by cataloger., Purchase 1989., 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: [July 12, 1904]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - unidentified - Construction [P.9260.423]

Title: [Construction crew near railroad tracks, July 8, 1904]
Description: Scene depicting a predominately African American construction crew working with picks and shovels in a pit deeply dug out of a stone embankment near railroad tracks. Within the pit lined with wood planks, a well-dressed white man, standing near the hook end of a crane hanging above, oversees the work crew. At street level, near a pile of rubble, a horse-drawn flatbed truck loaded with logs and two white workers stand idle. In the foreground, a "P.R.R." (Pennsylvania Railroad) air brake steel car stands motionless on the track., Title supplied by cataloger., Purchase 1989., 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 Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [July 8, 1904]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photos - unidentified - Construction [P.9260.424]

Main menu