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- Title
- Molineaux
- Description
- Full-length portrait of the frank, champion African American boxer, standing, bare-chested, fists raised, a crowd of spectators in the background. Portrait published following Molineaux's second unsuccessful bid to defeat the popular Champion of England Tom Cribb. Molineaux, a man emancipated from enslavement because of his boxing abilities, emigrated to England in the early 19th century, where he earned a living and a controversial reputation as a champion boxer., LCP exhibition catalogue: An African American miscellany p. 34., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1976 p. 65., 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 the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Date
- Jan. 1812
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department portrait prints - M [P.8911.653]
- Title
- Gottlob Freimann Aus Africa als sclave nach Amerika entfuhrt, in Europa als Wilder zur Schau gestellt als Glaubiger in Christo gestorben in Dusfelthal den 13ten August, 1826
- Description
- Left profile, bust portrait showing Freimann. He has curly hair, sideburns, and a goatee. He is attired in a jacket with the collar turned up and a top coat. Freimann was a converted free man who was also known as Jean Baptiste., Title from item., 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., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Purchase 1995.
- Creator
- Kreeft, P. W., lithographer
- Date
- [ca. 1826]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department portrait prints - F [P.9497]
- Title
- Official first day of issue. Honoring Salem Poor, Gallant Soldier, distinguished patriot of Bunker Hill, Valley Forge and White Plains
- Description
- ArtCraft "First Day Cover" (i.e., designed envelope with a stamp affixed and cancelled on the day the stamp was issued) from the "Contributors to the Cause "series issued for the United States Bicentennial. Contains illustration after John Trumbull’s historical painting based on his eyewitness account of the Battle of Bunker Hill while serving as a commissioned officer during the American Revolution. Depicts American Major General Joseph Warren’s death proceeding the Americans’ retreat from the hill and includes the figure of Salem Poor, who has also been identified as another Black soldier, Peter Salem, in the context of the painting., Title from item., Date supplied from content., Logo of printer printed in lower left corner: Text "ArtCraft" set on a paint palette with brushes inserted through the hole for the artist's thumb., Image caption: Salem Poor received commendation for his heroics during the Battle of Bunker Hill., Contains ink-stamp postmark: Cambridge, MA. Mar 25 1975 02139 and cancelled "First Day of Issue" color-printed U.S. 10-cent stamp "Contributors to the Cause. Salem Poor. Gallant Soldier" depicting a half-length portrait of Poor with a rifles in hand. Poor was an enslaved African-American man who purchased his freedom in 1769 and became a soldier in 1775., Contains printed address., The Washington Press ArtCraft brand was introduced in 1939 for the printing of First Day Covers. The firm stopped producing ArtCraft First Day Covers in 2016., Gift of George R. Allen, 2022.
- Date
- [1975]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department ephemera - envelopes - Poor [P.2022.42.3]
- Title
- Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa the African
- Description
- Bust portrait of the British, Black free man and abolitionist, Olaudah Equiano, who authored one of the earliest and most influential autobiographies by a formerly enslaved person. He is attired in a dark-colored jacket with a collar and buttons and a white collared shirt, cravat, and waistcoat. He holds the Bible in his right hand, which is open to “Acts Chap. IV. V. 12.”, Title from item., Publication information and date inferred from source in which the portrait was originally included., Published as the frontispiece in Olaudah Equiano's The interesting narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano...(New York: W. Durrell, 1791). (LCP Am 1791 Equ, Log 3936.D)., Accessioned after 1870 and before 1900., 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
- Tiebout, Cornelius, 1777-1832, engraver
- Date
- [1791]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Portrait Prints - E [1885.F.145]
- 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
- [Early model for Freedmen's Memorial by Thomas Ball]
- Description
- Front and oblique views with a dark background, likely photographed in Thomas Ball's studio, showing his model for a design later proposed and adapted for the Freedman's Memorial to Lincoln (erected 1876, Washington, D.C.) that was first discussed as a Lincoln monument in the later 1860s. Shows the model composed of a figure of Abraham Lincoln (left) and a kneeling, emancipated, enslaved Black man figure (right). The Black man figure, is portrayed in left profile, looking out toward the vista, and with his left knee to the ground and his right knee bent. His left foot is arched up from the ground. He holds his left hand with his knuckles to the ground and his right hand across his waist and resting on the inner elbow of his left arm. The figure has curly hair and wears a Liberty cap and a loin cloth. Broken shackles adorn his wrists. The Lincoln figure, attired in a suit with a long coat, stands, looks down on the Black man figure, and holds out his left hand above the kneeling man, while his right hand holds the Emancipation Proclamation (semi-rolled) on a plinth decorated with patriotic symbols. Symbols include a profile portrait of George Washington, the fasces of the U.S. Republic, and a shield adorned with the stars and stripes. The base of the plinth is inscribed "T. Ball 1865." The figures rest on a base marked "And upon this act-I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favour of Almighty God.", A national monument project sponsored by the Western Sanitary Commission of St. Louis was initiated after formerly enslaved Charlotte Scott of Marietta, OH pledged $5 for a monument to Abraham Lincoln following his assassination in 1865. Donations from formerly enslaved persons grew to $20,000 within months of Scott's original donation. After years of competing projects, designs, and sponsoring agencies, on April 14, 1876, Ball's sculpture adapted from the model depicted, the "Emancipation Memorial," and designed without the input of the formerly enslaved donors was erected in Lincoln Square, Washington, D.C. on an eastern edge of Capitol Hill., Title supplied by cataloger., Photographer's imprint stamped on mount., Manuscript note on verso of verso of P.2023.32.1: Florence March 15th 1872. Emancipation Proclamation. T. Ball of Boston., Manuscript note on verso of verso of P.2023.32.1: Florence March 15th 1872. Emancipation Proclamation. T. Ball of Boston. Sculptor in Florence., Date from manuscript note on verso., Thomas Ball (1819-1911), sculptor, focused his career on the portrayal of statesmen and historical figures. He located to Florence to study sculpture in 1854. Between 1857 and 1865, he worked in Boston before returning to Florence until 1897. Ball was part of an expatriate community of artists and sculptors, including Hiram Powers, father of Longsworth Powers., See Kirk Savage, Standing soldiers, kneeling slaves: Race, war, and monument in nineteenth-century America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), p.77-83 and 114-123., RVCDC, Longsworth Powers (1835-1904), son of sculptor Hiram Powers, lived in Florence with his family in the 1830s and returned in 1860 and began a career as a sculptor and photographer. Powers photographed prominent men and women in the city.
- Creator
- Powers, Longsworth, 1835-1904, photographer
- Date
- [1872]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - Powers [P.2023.32.1-2]
- Title
- The Rev. Richard Allen, Bishop of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church, in the U. States
- Description
- Half-length portrait of the African American bishop, seated, and holding the Holy Bible upright in his lap with his right hand. Allen is depicted with gray curly hair and is attired in a shirt with a high neck collar, a vest, and a jacket. A geometric border frames the portrait. Allen, born into slavery in Philadelphia, founded and was ordained the first bishop of the denomination, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, in 1816., Original painting attributed to Raphaelle Peale., Title from item., 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., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Purchase 2006.
- Creator
- Boyd, John, engraver
- Date
- cDecember 8th, 1823, December 10th, 1823
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *portrait prints - A [P.2006.29]
- Title
- "The Freedman's Bureau."
- Description
- Visual pun on the Freedman's Bureau, a benevolent government organization, which aided formerly enslaved African Americans in the South by providing food, housing, and jobs, as well as establishing schools, hospitals, and a court system. Depicts a simply furnished attic room where an African American man, portrayed in racist caricature, ties his tie as he stands beside his bed and before his dresser/bureau. Atop the bureau, which has its top drawer open, is a stand with a broken mirror upon which you see the man's reflection. A portrait of Lincoln and a bow and fiddle hang on the wall. His overcoat and hat rest on a chair with a broken back behind him., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the year A.D. 1868 by Currier & Ives in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York., Purchase 1968., 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., Worth was a comic and genre artist whose popular work was published by the lithographic firm Currier & Ives.
- Creator
- Worth, Thomas, 1834-1917, artist
- Date
- 1868
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1868-2W [7687.F]
- Title
- Robert Small, pilot of the steamer Planter, Charleston, S.C
- Description
- Bust-length portrait of the formerly enslaved and later South Carolina congressman who commandeered and harbored fifteen enslaved people on the Confederate steamer, "Planter," consequently escaping to freedom across the Charleston Bay in May 1862. Smalls, a "Planter" crew member who impersonated the Confederate Captain, surrendered the vessel to a flotilla of the Union Blockade after navigating passed several Confederate fortifications. The nationally publicized escape sparked a military campaign to recruit African American volunteers in South Carolina. Small, attired in a white shirt and a dark-colored jacket, looks at the viewer., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by McAllister & Brother, 728 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia., See account of escape with illustrations in Harper's Weekly, June 14, 1862, p. 372. (LCP **Per H, 1863)., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of portraits. 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 Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Date
- 1862
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits -sitter-Small [(3)5750.F.44b]
- Title
- Tobias Gilmore House, Raynham, 1781-1918. "Toby" Gilmore, born in Africa, was a patriot of the American Revolution
- Description
- Souvenir card depicting the second Raynham, Ma. residence of Black Revolutionary War soldier Shibodee Turry Wurry also known as Tobias Gilmore. Shows the two-story wooden residence with portico, hipped roof, and chimney and grassy, front grounds. Trees and shrubbery line and surround the house. Wurry born in West Africa, was kidnapped and enslaved in 1757. Captain John Gilmore of Rayham, Ma. became his enslaver and renamed Wurry, Tobias Gilmore. Gilmore enlisted in military service in 1776, during the American Revolution, to gain his freedom. In December 1781, Gilmore was discharged from service, including serving at the Battle of Fort Ticonderoga. He returned to Rayham a free man. In 1784, he purchased land in Rayham and built his first home. He built his second home circa 1800. The residence was destroyed by fire in 1918., Title from item., Date inferred from "1918" date in title and year of destruction of the depicted dwelling., Description reviewed 2022., Access points reviewed 2022.
- Date
- [ca. 1918]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department ephemera - souvenirs & keepsakes [P.2021.15]
- Title
- [The scourged back]
- Description
- Three-quarter length portrait showing the severely scarred back of the former enslaved and Union soldier, Gordon, taken in Louisiana and sent to the Surgeon General of Massachusetts., Image reproduced as wood engraving with accompanying article in Harper's weekly, July 4, 1863, p. 429. (LCP **Per H, 1863.) Name of photographer supplied by article., Title and publication information supplied by William Darrah's Cartes-de-visite in nineteenth century photography (Gettysburg: William C. Darrah, 1981), p. 148., Manuscript note attributing original publisher on verso of P.8925.4: "Gordon" by C. Seaver, Jr. Seaver, Jr., a Boston photographer, published the carte-de-visite in support of the abolitionist movement., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of Civil War Miscellanies [5786.F.157c]. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886. Accessioned 1982 [P.8925.4]., 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
- M'Pherson and Oliver, photographer
- Date
- [ca. 1863]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits - sitter - Gordon [5786.F.157c; P.8925.4]
- Title
- Moses Williams, cutter of profiles
- Description
- Silhouette of Peale's Museum premier African American silhouettist, facing left. Williams wears his hair in a ponytail adorned with a bow at the end. A bow adorns his collar as well. Williams was enslaved by Charles Willson Peale following the manumission of his parents in 1786. After his manumission in 1804, Williams began work as a silhouettist in Peale's Museum., Possibly by Moses Williams or possibly Raphaelle Peale., Title from manuscript note on recto., Manuscript note on verso: Moses Williams, the Cutter of Profiles. Peales Museum., 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., See Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, " 'Moses Williams, Cutter of Profiles': Silhouettes and African American Identity in the Early Republic," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 49 (March 2005), particularly p. 36., See Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, "'Moses Williams, Cutter of Profiles,' Silhouettes and African American Identity in the Early Republic," in Portraits of a People. Picturing African Americans in the Nineteenth Century (Seattle & London: Addison Gallery of American Art in association with the University of Washington Press, 2006 ), pp. 45-55, 69., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of portraits., McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
- Date
- [ca. 1803]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Silhouette Collection [(3)5750.F.153b]
- Title
- The Freedman's Bureau! An agency to keep the negro in idleness at the expense of the white man. Twice vetoed by the president, and made a law by congress. Support Congress & you support the negro. Sustain the president & you protect the white man
- Description
- Racist campaign poster in support of Democratic candidate Heister Clymer published during the Pennsylvania gubernatorial election of 1866 attacking his Republican opponent James White Geary and the Republican Congress's support of the Freedmen's Bureau. Depicts an oversize figure of an African American free man, portrayed in racist caricature with grotesque features, lazing on his back under the quote in the vernacular, "Whar is de use for me to work as long as day make dese appropriations." The figure is surrounded by imagery, including scenes, quotes, and a table, condemning the legislature's financial support of African Americans. Scenes include a white man chopping wood as "the white man must work to keep his children and pay his taxes"; a white man farmer plowing his field for "in the sweat of thy face thou eat thy bread"; and a view of a building similar to the Capitol under the heading "Freedman's Bureau! Negro Estimate of Freedom!" The building is inscribed with divisive words and terms including: "Freedom and No Work"; "Goods to eat & drink. Uncle Sam will have to keep me"; "Idleness"; "White Women"; "Apathy" and a list of foods stereotyped as part of the African American diet. Also includes a table listing appropriations issued by Congress in support of the Freedman's Bureau; a quote indicating the inequity of Civil War veteran's bounties in favor of African Americans; and a statement disapproving of the cost of the Freedman's Bureau to the "Tax-payers of the Nation.", Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Readex July 2013 update: This political cartoon is now housed in the Print Room; formerly Lib. Company. Afro-Americana, 3815., 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
- [1866]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *political cartoons - 1866-6 [(6)5777.F.79]
- Title
- The bloody massacre perpetuated in King Street, Boston, on March 5th, 1770, by a party of the 25th Regt
- Description
- Depicts a scene during the "Boston Massacre" of March 5th, 1770 in which an officer signals seven British soldiers to fire into a mob of protesting colonists. The wounded lie on the ground or are carried away by the crowd. A woman in a shawl observes the carnage. Eighteen lines of verse criticizing the actions of the British and a list of colonists killed or injured appear below the image: "Saml Gray, Saml Maverick, James Caldwell, Crispus Attucks, and Patk Carr (killed) and it is noted that there were "Six wounded; two of them (Christr Monk & John Clark) Mortally." Crispus Attucks, included in the list of colonists but not transparently depicted, was a free man, sailor, and the alleged leader of the crowd who was the first colonist shot and killed., Title from item., Most well-known of Paul Revere's prints, and a nearly identical copy of a print entitled "The Fruits of Arbitrary Power, or the Bloody Massacre" by Henry Pelham who accused Revere of piratism., Facsimile based on the original by Revere., Inscribed: Copy Right Secured., One of the prints originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of views of Massachusetts. 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., Revere was a Boston silversmith, engraver, and cartoonist, most known for his patriotic activities during the American Revolution.
- Creator
- Revere, Paul, 1735-1818, artist
- Date
- March 5, 1832
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1770-1 [1884.F.25; 5738.F.8]
- Title
- Revd. John Gloucester Late pastor of the First African Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia
- Description
- Half-length portrait of the first African American man ordained by the Presbyterian Church, seated and facing left, and with his right hand raised. Gloucester is attired in a shirt with a high neck collar, a vest, and a jacket. Contains decorative border with an inset of the Bible inscribed with the verse John I:29. Born and enslaved in Tennessee, Gloucester, initially a missionary, presided over the first African American Presbyterian church in the country., Title from item., See Lib. Company. Annual report, 1973, p. 43., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., McAllister Collection, gift, 1886. Accessioned 1973., 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
- B. Tanner & W.R. Jones, engraver
- Date
- August 1st 1823
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department portrait prints - G [P.8911.430]
- Title
- [Glorification of the American Union]
- Description
- Allegorical print glorifying life and liberty in post-Civil War America depicting the figure Columbia, depicted as a white woman, atop a tall pyramid-shaped pedestal. Flanked by George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, the latter holding the "Proclamation of Emancipation," she raises her hand toward emancipated enslaved men and women to her right who acknowledge her with raised shackled hands, a knelt position, and a tipped hat. Newly arrived European immigrants are gathered to her left. Abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher stands among the enslaved men, women, and children who have been emancipated, and revolutionary and diplomat Carl Schurz stands before the immigrants. The freed persons embrace each other, break free from shackles, and brandish instruments of free labor as behind them the Capitol, a large American flag, and apparitions of colonial soldiers stand vigil. The immigrants, depicted in their native attire, look to Schurz as they carry their belongings ashore. More ships continue to arrive in the background., Title from copy print at the Calvert Gallery, Washington, D.C., Printer's proof., Manuscript note on recto: Aun myn goeden arrend J. Bollens; J. B. Michiels., After a painting by Belgian historical painter Ferdinand Willem Pauwels, exhibited in 1867 at the Kunstschule in Weimar and possibly at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia under the title, "The New Republic.", See Hugh Honour's The Image of the Black in western art (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989) Part 2, Vol. IV, p.248-249., Purchase 1999., 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
- Michiels, Jean-Baptiste P., 1821-1890, engraver
- Date
- [ca. 1873]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC-Emancipation [P.9672]
- Title
- The shackle broken - by the genius of freedom
- Description
- Print containing a montage of vignettes and quotes supportive of African American civil rights centered around a scene of "Hon. Robert B. Elliott, of South Carolina, delivering his great speach [sic] on 'civil rights' in the House of Representatives, January 6, 1874" to the packed floor of white and African American Congressmen and balcony of spectators. Contains an American flag inscribed with the quote, "What you give to one class, you must give to all. What you deny to one class, you shall deny to all;" scenes of African American soldiers, officers, and sailors; statues of Lincoln holding his "Emancipation Proclamation" and Senator Charles Sumner holding his "Bill of Civil Rights;" and quotes referring to African American participation in the Civil War. Also contains a scene espousing "free labor is the present, slave labor is the past" with an African American family at their homestead where they "toil for [their] own children and not for those of others.", Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1874 by E. Sachse & Co. Baltimore in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington., LCP exhibition catalogue: Negro History #213., Accessioned 1999., 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., E. Sachse & Company, a Baltimore lithographic firm active until the 1870s, was operated by Edward Sachse (also a painter), his brother William, and relative Theodore. The company produced numerous folio sized views.
- Creator
- E. Sachse & Co., lithographer
- Date
- 1874
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *Political Cartoons - 1874-1 [P.9653]
- Title
- The battle at Bunker's Hill near Boston, June 17th, 1775
- Description
- Commemorative print after John Trumbull's historical painting based on his eyewitness account of the battle while serving as a commissioned officer during the American Revolution. Dramatically depicts the scene of American Major General Joseph Warren's death proceeding the Americans' retreat from the hill. Amidst a melee of activity, Warren lays dying in the arms of an American militiaman who fends off a bayonet pointed down over his body by an English soldier. British Major John Small restrains the bayonet of his soldier as Americans Captain Thomas Gardner, holding a musket, Major Andrew McClary, and Colonel William Prescott stand guard over their fallen compatriot. Behind Small, British Major John Pitcairn, mortally wounded, is held up by Lieutenant William Pitcairn and to the far right American Lieutenant Thomas Grovesnor stands en guarde shielding an armed African American man usually identified as Peter Salem, credited as the fatal shooter of Pitcairn, but more likely Grovesnor's enslaved man. British Generals William Howe, Henry Clinton, and Lieutenant Francis Lord Rawdon, flag in hand, continue the charge in the background. Other American soldiers involved in the battle include: Colonel Israel Putnam who gallantly leads the retreat; Rev. Samuel McClintock; Major Willard Moore, as well as an African American soldier, possibly Peter Salem. American Lieutenant Colonel Moses Parker and British Lieutenant Colonel Sir Robert Abercromby lay dying., Title from item., Theodore Sizer's The works of Colonel John Trumbull (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1967), 95., The Library of Congress' An album of American battle art, 1755-1918. (Washington, D.C.: The U.S. Printing Office, 1947), 27-30., See Elisa Tamarkin, Anglophilia: deference, devotion, and antebellum America (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008), 137-8 for Peter Salem misidentification., 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., Muller, was a renown German painter, engraver, and professor, commissioned, following the refusal of the English artist community, to engrave Trumbull's historic painting. Muller completed the painting in 1786 at his mentor Benjamin West's London studio.
- Creator
- Müller, Johann Gotthard, 1747-1830, engraver
- Date
- 1798
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC - American Revolution [1142.F.4]
- Title
- Proclamation of Emancipation. By the President of the United States of America
- Description
- Print commemorating the Emancipation Proclamation containing a bust-length portrait of Abraham Lincoln and two abolitionist vignettes above text from the Proclamation. In the center, Lincoln, attired in a white collared shirt, a black bowtie, waistcoat, and jacket, faces slightly right and is bordered by an American eagle clutching an olive branch and arrows in front of a backdrop of American flags. To the left and right of the portrait are scenes of an auction of enslaved people, with an African American woman, and free African American men working in a carpentry shop. Below the scenes, two African American cherubs hold a banner inscribed, "By the President of the United States of America." Below the text, an allegorical vignette contrasts the productive North with the destitute South depicting a white woman crying, surrounded by her children, sitting underneath a tree., Title from item., Date from copyright statement., Purchase 1972., 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., J. Mayer & Company, the Boston lithography firm established by John Julius Mayer in 1862, specialized in practical lithography. Despite the official firm name, John Mayer had no partners.
- Creator
- J. Mayer & Co., lithographer
- Date
- 1865
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC - Emancipation [8025.F.4]
- Title
- In commemoration of the hundredth anniversary of American independence
- Description
- Elaborate Centennial Exhibition commemorative print depicting an arched monument containing a central full-length portrait of George Washington surrounded by vignettes; allegorical figures; and religious quotes by the first president. Washington is depicted mounted on his horse. Arch is adorned with the names of the 38 states and is flanked by columns containing views representing the industries of the North, East, South, and West. Views show a white man laborer of the North chopping a tree at a waterfront, white women loom workers of the East, an overseer on horseback watching an enslaved African American man picking cotton in the South, and a white man farmer reaping his harvest with a horse-drawn plow in the West. Columns also contain allegorical figures to represent the years 1776 and 1876. Justice and Independence (depicted as white women and holding the Declaration), and a prostrate British soldier represent the year 1776 and Peace and Liberty (depicted as white woman and holding a "Ballot"), and a seated enslaved African American man free from his shackles represent the year 1876. Monument also contains views of Independence Hall and Memorial Hall (Centennial Exhibition), the scene showing the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and allegorical figures and emblems symbolizing the classical and industrial arts. Other pictorial elements depict the all-seeing eye; American eagle, shield, and flag; vignettes showing Washington praying, and accepting the sword of surrender from Lord Cornwallis during the American Revolution; and vignette views with dimensions of Centennial Exhibition buildings. Buildings include the Art Gallery, Main Building, Agricultural Hall, Machinery Hall, and Horticultural Hall. The centennial of the United States was celebrated through an international exhibition of industry, agriculture, and art in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia., Not in Wainwright., Improvement copyrighted 1877 The Presbyterian Philadelphia, Pa., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 370, Gift of David Doret, 2007., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
- Date
- 1876, 1877
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **BW - Centennial [P.2007.28.7]
- Title
- Slave emancipation; or, John Bull gulled out of twenty millions
- Description
- Anti-abolitionist satire of the indemnification expenses to be paid as a result of the abolition of slavery in the British colonies in 1833. Depicts William Wilberforce, a prominent British abolitionist, leading a tour group comprised of a white man enslaver, a white man Whig, and "John Bull" through the dwellings of enslaved people. As the tour passes, a group of happy and celebrating Black men, attired in yellow, blue, or green pants and shoes and portrayed in racist caricature, dance and smoke from pipes. One man sits with his back to the viewer and smokes a pipe beside a jug labeled, "Rum." Wilberforce preaches about the necessary expense of emancipation and the wretched condition of the enslaved to which Bull laments about "our poor innocent factory children, for whom you haven't one small spark of pity." The white men comment about the personal effect of emancipation on them., Title from item., Date and place of publication inferred from content., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1978, p. 55., Purchase 1978., 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. 1833?]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1833 - Sla [8392.F]
- Title
- Rev. Richard Allen, founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, in the United States of America, 1779
- Description
- Half-length portrait of the African American bishop, seated, and holding a book, possibly the Bible, in front of a curtain. He looks slightly to the left and points to an open page of the book with his right hand and clasps the upper edge of the other side of the book with his left hand. Allen is attired in a collared shirt, a vest, and a jacket. Allen was the first African American bishop as well as founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He was born in Philadelphia and was enslaved by Benjamin Chew. He worked as a wood-cutter during his ordination. A full-length portrait of the white Quaker abolitionist and little person Benjamin Lay is on the verso. Lay is attired in a tricorn hat, a long shirt and jacket, britches, and boots. He holds a cane and book in his right hand., Manuscript note on border: "The curiosity of the portrait below is that it was made for the first Black Bishop in the UStates and perhaps the world! He is indeed a self created Bishop; nevertheless, as such he has now, in his 65 years, in 1824, probably created 100 ministers, by his ordination! He was born & bred in Philada. He was originally a slave of Benjn Chew's Esqre & learnd the trade of a Shoemaker; & like St. Paul, 'labored with his own hands,' while he ordained-", Title from item., Date form item., In John Fanning Watson's Extra-illustrated autograph manuscript of "Annals of Philadelphia", p. 276., Gift of John F Watson, June 1830., 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
- 1813
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Watson's Annals manuscript [Yi2 1069.F.276]
- Title
- The battle at Bunker's Hill near Boston June 17, 1775
- Description
- Book illustration after John Trumbull's historical painting based on his eyewitness account of the battle while serving as a commissioned officer during the American Revolution. Dramatically depicts the scene of American Major General Joseph Warren's death proceeding the Americans' retreat from the hill. Amidst a melee of activity, Warren lies dying in the arms of an American militiaman who fends off a bayonnet pointed down over his body by an English soldier. British Major John Small restrains the bayonnet of his soldier as Americans Captain Thomas Gardner, holding a musket, Major Andrew McClary, and Colonel William Prescott stand guard over their fallen compatriot. Behind Small, British Major John Pitcairn, mortally wounded, is held up by Lieutenant William Pitcairn and to the far right American Lieutenant Thomas Grovesnor stands en garde shielding Peter Salem, an armed African American soldier who discharged the fatal shot at Pitcairn. British Generals William Howe, Henry Clinton, and Lieutentant Francis Lord Rawdon, flag in hand, continue the charge in the background. Other American soldiers involved in the battle include: Colonel Israel Putnam who gallantly leads the retreat; Rev. Samuel McClintock; Major Willard Moore, as well as several other free African American soldiers. American Lieutenant Colonel Moses Parker and British Lieutentant Colonel Sir Robert Abercromby lay dying., Published in John Howard Hinton's The history and topography of the United States of North America,... [LCP *Am 1834 Hinto, 11860.Q.1] and later editions., Printed below title: Vol. I. page . 226., Original painting at Yale School of Fine Art, New Haven, Connecticut., Described in Theodore Sizer's The works of Colonel John Trumbull (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1967), p. 95., Described in The Library of Congress' An album of American battle art, 1755-1918. (Washington, D.C.: The U.S. Printing Office, 1947), p. 27-30., 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., Access points revised 2021., Description revised 2021., Gift of Dolly Maass, 2002.
- Creator
- Archer & Boilly, engraver
- Date
- [1834]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department GC - American Revolution [P.2002.14]
- Title
- The man that blocks up the highway
- Description
- Cartoon satirizing President Andrew Johnson and his reconstruction policies as sympathetic to Southerners and an obstruction to Radical Republican policies and African American civil rights. Depicts Johnson with jackass ears standing at a road block labeled "veto" and greeting pardoned former Confederates, including an unrepentant white man counterfeiter and two white men ruffians. The ruffians brag about the murder of major-generals, curse the Yankees, and threaten an overthrow of the North and nullification of civil rights after the re-establishment of a Southern presence in the Congress. As Johnson welcomes the Southerners, he orders Secretary of State William Seward, attired as a servant, to pass around whiskey, belittles the barred "Radical Republicans," and boasts about his veto power. Behind the "veto" barricade, carriages driven by Republicans and labeled "Freedman's Bu[reau]," "Civil Rights," and "[Recon]struction," including one attended by an African American man portrayed in racist caricature, stand idle (an allusion to Johnson's vetoes of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the renewal of the Freedman's Bureau). The drivers compare Johnson with Marc Anthony who was "blowing before the People about his great love for the Constitution while conspiring with Caesar for the overthrow of the Republic." In the right, near crates of "Southern Appointments" and "Southern Pardons," John Bull and French dictator Napoleon III stand. Napoleon praises Johnson, proclaiming him "Emperor Americane." Also includes, a shack adorned with the sign "Andy Johnson Tribune of the People" in the background., 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 Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Date
- [1866]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1866-5W [5760.F.111]
- Title
- On the march to the sea
- Description
- Civil War scene from Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's notorious campaign across Georgia in 1864 and 1865 depicting the depredation and destruction of countryside near the Atlantic coast. Amidst smoke, Sherman sits on his horse, looks through a scope, and scouts the horizon. Around him, white men Union soldiers and an African American man dismantle railroad tracks, and further down the line a railroad car has been set on fire. Newly free African Americans leave on foot and by raft. In the right, an African American family of a mother, father, son, and grandfather, attired in worn and torn cloths, carry bundles as they travel over the dismantled railroad tracks. The mother holds her son’s one hand while he uses the other to rub his eyes. The father rests his hand on the back of the grandfather. Behind them, two Union soldiers cut down a telegraph pole. In the background, Union soldiers round up cattle, burn homesteads and a bridge, and fire upon retreating Confederate soldiers. In the lower margin is a portrait of Sherman., Title from item., Plate signed by Darley lower right corner., Manuscript note on verso: Acc. No. 0479; Gift Minnie Owen., See Nancy Finlay's Inventing the American past: the art of F.O.C. Darley (New York: New York Public Library, 1999), p. 28 and opp. p. 32., Accessioned 2000., 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., Ritchie, a New York painter and prolific engraver of portraits and genre scenes, produced many engravings after the works of the premier illustrator of the 19th century and native Philadelphian, F.O.C. Darley.
- Creator
- Ritchie, Alexander Hay, 1822-1895, engraver
- Date
- c1868
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC-Civil War [P.9854]
- Title
- Immediate emancipation illustrated
- Description
- Critical satire of the American Anti-Slavery Society, which was founded on the principle of immediate abolition by Arthur Tappan and William Lloyd Garrison, who are depicted discussing the society's principles with an unnamed abolitionist, possibly Lewis Tappan. Above their heads is the banner "Anti Slavery Society Founded Anno Domini MDCCCXXXIII." The seated Garrison comments on the origin of the bundle of Italian linen at his feet, which is to be used for his newspaper "the Emancipator." In the right, the figure of a leopard rests upon a pedestal marked "Fanaticism. Brought the Inquisition upon Spain. Beggary upon Italy. And may drench America in blood!!" (an allusion to the idiom a leopard cannot change its spots and to the Spain and the Iberian War, 1807-1814). In the left, a Black man, labeled "Emancipated Slave," is portrayed in racist caricature and is naked except for a leaves wrapped around his waist. He chases an insect calling, "Food," while carrying a knife. In the background, a scene labeled "Insurection (sic) in St. Domingo! Cruelty, Lust, and blood!" depicts Black people using swords and axes to kill white people, including a white woman on the ground. A building burns behind them., Title from item., Date supplied by Weitenkampf., Probably the "A Caricature" cited in the Emancipator (New York, N.Y.), October 19, 1833 and Liberator (Boston, Mass.), November 2, 1833., The "Emancipated Slave" figure is similar to the figure depicted in the lithograph by Alfred Ducôte, "An Emancipated Negro" ([London]: Thomas McLean, 1833). Copies in the collections of National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London., Purchase 1986., 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
- [1833]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1833 - 27W [P.9140]
- Title
- From the plantation to the Senate
- Description
- Commemorative print containing portraits of eminent 19th-century African American men above a central cotton plantation scene. In front of the plantation residence by a river, enslaved African American men and women pick and transport baskets of cotton as a well-dressed African American foreman on horseback confers with a man on the dirt road. Flanking the central portrait of "Hon. Frederick Douglass, Champion of Freedom" on a background of tropical flowers, vines, and fruits are: "Hon. Benj. S. Turner of Alabama"; "Rt. Rev. Richard Allen" of Philadelphia, "1st Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church"; "Hon. H.R. Revels of Mississippi"; "Hon. Joseph H. Rainy [sic] of South Carolina"; "Hon. Josiah T. Walls of Florida"; and "Wm. Wells Brown, M.D., Author of the Rising Sun [sic]". Also contains vignettes of romanticized images of African American home life by a river showing African Americans playing instruments and dancing, transporting watermelon by barge, and relaxing outside their home., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Copyrighted 1883 by Gaylord Watson., Watson was a New York lithographer who specialized in maps., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1974, p. 61., Purchase 1974., 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.
- Date
- 1883
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC - African American Heroes [8091.F.275]
- Title
- Distinguished colored men
- Description
- Commemorative print containing a montage of portraits of eminent African American men centered around a portrait of Frederick Douglass and bordered by vignettes. Portraiture depicts: "Robert Brown Elliott, Ex-member of Congress" from South Carolina; "Blanche K. Bruce, Ex-Senator, U.S." from Mississippi; "Prof. R.T. Greener, Dean, Howard University"; "Wm. Wells Brown, M.D., author of the Rising Son"; "Henry Highland Garnett [sic], Late Minister of Liberia"; "Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, 1st Bishop of the African M.E. Church" in Philadelphia; first African American governor, "P.B.S. Pinchback, Ex-Governor of Louisiana"; "J.H. Rainey, Ex-Member of Congress"; "E.D. Bassett, Ex-Minister to Hayti"; "John Mercer Langston, Minister to Hayti". Vignettes depict a cornstalk, a twig of cotton, and scenes of romanticized images of African American home life by a waterway showing African Americans playing instruments, dancing, transporting watermelon by barge, and relaxing., Title from item., Inscribed lower right corner: Agents Wanted., Lower left corner inexpertly hand painted., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1975, p. 61., Accessioned 1975., 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.
- Date
- 1883
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC - African American Heroes [8139.F]
- Title
- Afro-American historical family record
- Description
- Blank African American genealogical certificate containing a family tree surrounded by portraits of the first twenty-four U.S. presidents; portraits of prominent African American men and women religious, political, and educational leaders; and eleven vignettes contrasting life in the South of the enslaved versus the free. African American portraits include Frederick Douglass flanked by Washington and Lincoln; Judson W. Lyons, Register of the Treasury; Miss Lucy C. Laney, Founder of the Haines Institute; Booker T. Washington; H.M. Turner, Bishop of the A.M.E. Church; T. Thomas Fortune, editor New York Age; Hon. John M. Langston, diplomat; Madam Sissiretta Jones, performer and singer; Miss Hallie Q. Brown, educator and African American women's rights activist; Prof. Mary V. Cook, Principal of the State University, Louisville, KY; Miss Ida B. Wells, editor and author; Hon. John R. Lynch, U.S. Paymaster and ex-Congressman; Dr. Henry Fitzbutler, founder of the Louisville National Medical College; and L.H. Holsey, Bishop of the C.M.E. Church. Vignettes depicting slavery include the last auction of enslaved people in Savannah; enslaved cotton pickers working the field; enslaved people dancing and playing instruments "as children were taught in the dark days of slavery"; and an enslaved family in front of their “hut.” Contrasting post-emancipation scenes include a view of Tuskegee Institute; a view of "progressive farming as taught at Tuskegee Institute"; a group portrait in front of a "school house erected by a Tuskegee graduate"; the Victorian house of R.R. Church, a free man; and Spanish-American War battle scenes of African American regiments assisting the Rough Riders, including at San Juan Hill. Also contains the white eye of Providence below the title., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1899, by J.M. Vickroy, Terre Haute, Ind., Printed on recto: Branch Office Terre Haute, Ind., Purchase 2002., 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., Vickroy, a prominent Indiana fine arts publisher, specialized in genealogical and fraternal order certificates.
- Date
- 1899
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC - African American Heroes [P.2002.16]