Search results

Title: Dreadful tragedy.
Description: In Serious almanac, 1845 & '46 (New York, 1845), p. [25]., According to the accompanying article, Julian Gardner answered the door when her husband was not at home. A black man wielding a lighted torch pushed his way in and “with one blow split open the head of Mrs. G. with an axe.”, Probably a fictitious character., The same image appears in Tragic almanac. 18-46 (1845), p. [13].
Date: [1845?]

Title: Horrible murder of a husband by his wife.
Description: In Serious almanac, 1845 & '46 (New York, 1845), p. [33]., According to the accompanying article, Mr. and Mrs. Dominick Sweeney “were part of a drunken Irish family, and had been intoxicated and quarrelling for several days.”, Probably a fictitious character., Full-length portrait of a woman wielding a knife over a man on the ground; a bottle is on a table in the background; and an overturned drink glass is on the ground in the foreground.
Date: [1845?]

Title: Murder of Mr. Corlis.
Description: In The Tragic almanac (New York, 1849), p. [10]., According to the accompanying article, Mrs. Colton shot Mr. Corlis after having had “illicit intercourse” with him., Probably a fictitious character., Full-length portrait of the murderer standing on a sidewalk, firing a pistol at the victim.
Date: [1849?]

Title: Murder of Mr. Ewing by Miss Hamlin
Description: In Tragic almanac 1843 (New York, 1842), p. [17]., According to the accompanying article, Miss Hamlin (aka Miss Goodrich) killed Mr. Ewing in a theater in Mobile, Alabama, on March 25, 1842. “She eluded all pursuit and was not heard of till some months afterward when she was seen in male attire in one of the West India islands.”, Probably a fictitious character., Full-length portrait of the actress, in costume, attacking her actor husband with a knife.
Date: [1842?]

Title: Streeter in the act of murdering his wife.
Description: In Tingley, H.F. Incidents in the life of Milton W. Streeter, the jealous and infatuated murderer, who murdered his young and beautiful wife, Elvira W. Streeter (Pawtucket, R.I., 1850), p. [3]., Full-length portrait of the woman, prostrate on the floor, with a man holding her by the hair to position her on his knee while he wields a razor high above his head; the woman has her right arm raised toward the razor.
Date: [1850?]

Title: Attempt of a husband to burn his wife.
Description: In Tragic almanac 1843 (New York, 1842), p. [28]., According to the accompanying article, Mary Bird said her husband “gave me no reason for doing it, except he was drunk.”, Probably a fictitious character., Full-length portrait of the victim (Mary Bird), tied to a chair and engulfed in flames.
Date: [1842?]

Title: Gang of lawless villains throwing Mary C. Rogers, from the Cliff at Hoboken
Description: In Tragic almanac 1843 (New York, 1842), p. [21]., According to the accompanying article, Mary C. Rogers left her job in a cigar store on Broadway in New York City after customers started a rumor that she had been seduced. “The Beautiful Segar Girl” returned home to live with her mother. One Sunday, she set out to visit her cousins, but did not arrive. The following Wednesday her body was found floating in the North River, with “a rope tied around her neck in a way which ... created the suspicion that the persons who committed the act must have been seamen.”, The character of Marie Rogêt in Edgar Allan Poe's The Mystery of Marie Rogêt (the first installment of which appeared in the Ladies companion, v. 18, no. 1 (Nov. 1842)) is based on Mary Cecilia Rogers (1820-1841)., Full-length portrait of the victim struggling to escape the grasp of two men in top hats.
Date: [1842?]

Title: How can it be done?
Description: Image depicts a mob of slaveholders who are raiding an abolitionist press. Members of the mob are dragging off a broken printing press., Illustration in the Anti-Slavery Record (New York: Published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1835-1837), vol. II, no. IX (September, 1836), whole no. 21, p. 1., Curator's note: This is one of several antislavery graphics depicting the proslavery assault on the antislavery movement and their demand for the suppression of antislavery literature. This and several other illustrations link antislavery agitation to first amendment freedoms., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [September 1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per A 245 60026.D v 2 n 9 cover page, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2853

Title: Murder of Mrs. Elizabeth Topping
Description: In Tragic almanac 1843 (New York, 1842), p. [25]., According to the accompanying article, Thomas Topping beat his wife Elizabeth for five hours before she died. He also threatened to kill Catharine Kelly, who was in the room, if she made any effort to sound an alarm., Probably fictitious characters., Full-length portrait of the victim on the ground with her left hand raised to avert a blow; a woman lies in a bed in the background.
Date: [1842?]

Title: Murder of Mrs. Adams, by her husband.
Description: In Tragic almanac 1843 (New York, 1842), p. [30]., According to the accompanying article, James Adams, a street sweeper, quarreled with a servant girl named Ann Gorman. “During the dispute he seized a plate ... and threw it at the girl’s head, when his wife expostulated with him.” He killed his wife after she threatened to call an officer., Probably fictitious characters.
Date: [1842?]

Title: Alexander Anderson and Henry Richards in the act of murdering.
Description: In Rockafield, H. A. The Manheim tragedy (Lancaster, 1858), back wrapper., Anderson and Richards were hanged at Lancaster, Pa., April 9, 1858., Full-length view of the women struggling with their assailant, one of whom holds a pistol and the other an axe.
Date: [1858?]

Title: An accurate sketch from nature, of the exterior and interior of the house no. 39, Nth. Fourth St. Philadelphia, where the atrocious murder of Mrs. Rademacher was committed on the night of the 23d, March 1848, her wounds, and exact position when discovered
Description: Sensational print containing two views of the murder scene of Catherine Rademacher, sister-in-law of lithographer Augustus Kollner. Her husband, Charles L. Rademacher kept a bookstore and medicinal shop on the first floor of the Fourth Street address, and his residence with the Kollner family on the second and third floors. On March 23, 1848, the Rademachers were awakened by an intruder searching their bedroom who beat Rademacher unconscious and slain his wife. A broken knife, resembling a shoemaker's tool, but not the only instrument used in the slaying, was found at the scene. A recently released inmate from Eastern State Penintentiary and German shoemaker, Charles Langfeldt was convicted, and executed on October 20, 1848 for the crime despite his declaration of innocence. Upper view shows the murderer, dressed in black, including a top hat, on the rear shed roof of the red brick residence and store. He approaches an upper floor window with a shutter half open. The lower windows of the building are shuttered and a partial view of a leafless vine climbing an arbor (neighbor's yard) is visible in the left of the image. Lower view shows the bedroom and scene of the crime. The murdered woman, attired in a night dress, lies on the floor, face up, with blood surrounding her upper body. The victim has cut marks on her face, chest, and arm., Her husband lies face down on the bed. His head is positioned near the foot of the mattress. Blood stains his shoulder and the pillows at the head of the bed. Blood splatter is also visible on the wall above and the knob of a door near a dresser in the left corner of the room. Other furniture includes a chair on one side and a night table with wash bowl and pitcher on the other side of the bed. Near another door to the room, the leg of the murderer is visible as he flees through a window adorned with drapery., Manuscript note on recto: Langfelt, pdcc00017, Philadelphia on Stone, POS 9, Free Library of Philadelphia: Castner 19:11
Date: [1848]
Location: Free Library of Philadelphia. | Print and Picture Collection. FLP FLP Castner 19:11

Title: Colored schools broken up, in the free states
Description: Depicts an attack on a school established by Prudence Crandall in Caterbury, Connecticut that was destroyed by a white mob in September 1834. Image shows a mob of whites raiding, torching, and throwing cobblestones at a building whose sign reads "School for colored girls." At the left, two young girls exit the side door of the school., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1839 (New York: Published for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1838), p. 15., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date: [1838]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1838 Ame Ant 16996.D.3 p 15, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2763

Title: [Ruins of the Hall]
Description: Depicts the burnt ruin of the abolitionist meeting place at Sixth and Haines Streets in Philadelphia. Several white men and women pedestrians walk on the sidewalk. The hall was erected in 1838 as an arena for "free discussion." On May 17, 1838, after 3 days of interracial dedication ceremonies and services, hostile mobs set the hall on fire. The ruin continued to stand until the Odd Fellows Society built a hall on the lot in 1846., Title from P. Lee Phillip's, "A Descriptive list of maps and views of Philadelphia in the Library of Congress, 1683-1865" (Philadelphia: Geographical Society of Philadelphia, 1926), p. 49., Originally published in: [Samuel Webb's], History of Pennsylvania Hall. (Philadelphia: Printed by Merrihew and Gun, 1838). Last page contains advertisement for a limited supply of larger frameable versions of the plate to be sold at the Anti-Slavery Office, No. 29 N. 9th Street, in Philadelphia., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of views of engravings related to Philadelphia. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., 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.
Creator: Gilbert, Reuben S., engraver
Date: [1838]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Ph Pr-8x10-Associations-Pennsylvania Hall [(6)1322.F.98c]

Title: [Destruction of the hall]
Description: Depicts a street scene with the abolitionist meeting place, Pennsylvania Hall, engulfed in flames at Sixth and Haines Streets in Philadelphia. Crowds, including a group of drunken men and other revelers, look on as several fire companies using handpumps hose the adjoining spared building. The hall, erected in 1838 as an arena for "free discussion," was set on fire by a mob of hostile citizens who had witnessed 3 days of interracial dedication ceremonies and services. For disputed reasons, the fire companies did not attempt to extinguish the burning hall. The building was razed and never rebuilt., Title from: [Samuel Webb's], "History of Pennsylvania Hall," p. 136., Manuscript note on verso: Destroyed by a mob by fire on the night of 17th May 1838., Originally published in: Samuel Webb's History of Pennsylvania Hall. (Philadelphia: Printed by Merrihew and Gun, 1838). (Am 1838 Hist Pa Hall). Last page contains advertisement for a limited supply of larger frameable versions of the print to be sold at the Anti-Slavery Office, No. 29 N. 9th Street, in Philadelphia., LCP exhibition catalogue: Negro History #101., Accessioned 1979., 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.LCP exhibit catalogue: Negro History #101., Sartain, a member of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society and a premier 19th century Philadelphia engraver, often instilled his work with his reformist beliefs.
Creator: Sartain, John, 1808-1897, engraver
Date: [1838]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department PhPr - 8x10 - Events - Fires [P.2283.2]

Title: Scrapbook with periodical illustrations, comic valentines, and patent medicine advertisements
Description: Eccentrically-arranged scrapbook predominantly containing newspaper clippings, patent medicine almanac advertisements, and comic valentines. Also contains scraps, trade cards, and labels. Clippings, many published in the sensational periodicals “National Police Gazette” and “Days' Doings” primarily depict illustrations of murders and violence, crimes and punishments, human curiosities, animal attacks, human peril, women in distress, evocative theatrical performances, acts of daring, cross dressing and comic scenes in silhouette.

Title: [Scrapbook with periodical illustrations, comic valentines, and patent medicine advertisements]
Description: Eccentrically-arranged scrapbook predominantly containing newspaper clippings, patent medicine almanac advertisements, and comic valentines. Also contains scraps, trade cards, and labels. Clippings, many published in the sensational periodicals “National Police Gazette” and “Days’ Doings” primarily depict illustrations of murders and violence, crimes and punishments, human curiosities, animal attacks, human peril, women in distress, gender non-conforming people, evocative theatrical performances, acts of daring, and comic scenes in silhouette. Illustrations include H. P. Peer's 1879 jump from the Niagara Falls bridge and a fight between the elephant "Bolivar" and a camel in Van Amburgh's menagerie. Patent medicine advertisements primarily promote the products of Barker’s Horse, Cattle, and Poultry Powder; C. I. Hood’s Sarsaparilla; Dr. Morse’s Indian Root Pill; and E. S. Well's Rough on Rats. Valentines satirize various professions and gender and ethnic stereotypes, including a cook, music teacher, machinist, hatter, seamstress, “French nurse –(from Ireland),” “novel reader,” “prudish young woman,” and “an old bore.”, Also contains some sentimental and genre imagery, including mothers and children, children playing, and pets; landscape and cityscape illustrations; racist caricatures of African Americans; Tobin trade cards depicting comical views of baseball players (p. 21); an advertisement for The Electric Era/ German Electric Belt Agency (Brooklyn, N.Y.); Dalziel Brother illustrations of scenes from popular Charles Dickens novels like “Nicholas Nickleby”; chromoxylograph illustration from Aunt Matilda series “The Little Deserter” (McLoughlin Bros., ca. 1869); illustrated children's book covers; and a finely-designed chromolithographic advertisement depicting allegorical figures, flowers, and produce to promote gardens (Lowell, Mass.)., Title supplied by cataloger., Small number of pages contain hand-coloring., Also originally included tucked-in partial editions of N.Y. newspapers issued in 1890. Issues housed in mylar and with scrapbook., Scrap depicting two racing horses and their jockeys pasted on back cover., Housed in phase box., Purchase 2012., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Date: [ca. 1869-ca. 1890, bulk 1880-1890]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *albums (flat) [P.2012.42]

Title: The meeting of the Friends. City Hall Park
Description: Cartoon portraying a distorted version of events surrounding New York Governor Horatio Seymour's "My Friend's" speech during the Draft Riots of 1863 when several African Americans were killed by working-class rioters. Portrays Seymour on the steps of City Hall in front of a riotous mob composed primarily of armed Irish-Americans who march past the building for "The Tribune," an anti-Seymour newspaper. Supporting Seymour from behind are a fool with a cap inscribed "Express" (i.e., a Pro-Seymour newspaper), and former Mayor Fernando Wood and Tammany boss Peter B. Sweeny, both "Copperhead" Democrats who advocated peaceful settlement with the South and who believed Republican philanthropy favored African Americans at the expense of working-class whites. Seymour placates the mob announcing that he is their friend and that he has ordered the President to stop the draft. At his feet is an African American with a noose around his neck. A white man holds the severed head of an African American man, and several more African Americans are seen hanging from trees in the background., Probably drawn by Henry L. Stephens., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Place of publication supplied by Reilly., Text printed below image: A friendly voice.—Governor, we want you to stay here. Horatio Seymour.—I am going to stay here, “My Friends.” Second Rioter.—Faith, and the Governor will stay by us. Horatio Seymour.—I am your “Friend,” and the “Friend” of your families. Third Rioter.—Arrah, Jemmy, and who said he cared about the “Dirty Nagurs”? Fourth Rioter.—How about the draft, Saymere? Governor.—I have ordered the President to stop the draft! Chorus.—Be Jabers, he’s a “Broth of a Boy.”, RVCDC, 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.
Date: [1863]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1863-12 [P.2275.11]

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