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Title: [Artist's study of detail from New Lutheran Church, in Fourth Street Philadelphia]
Description: Street scene on Fourth Street below Cherry Street depicting Speaker of the House of Representatives, Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, leading a tour of a delegation of Native American men. Native American delegations visited the city to pay respects and to negotiate land treaties when Philadelphia served as the nation's capitol. Muhlenberg led a tour of several tribal groups in 1793. Also shows buildings in the right, including the New Lutheran Church built 1795-1796., Title from plate 6 in the first edition of Birch's "Views of Philadelphia.", Bequest of Charles Poulson, 1866., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Originally part of a Poulson scrapbook., See Martin Snyder's "William Birch: His Philadelphia views," The Pennsylvania magazine of history and biography 73 (July 1949), p. 271-315., Reproduced in Julius Sachse's Pictures of old Philadelphia from the originals in the collection of the Library Company of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 1901), vol. 1, plate 43. (LCP Print Room Albums)., Reproduced in Edwin Wolf's Philadelphia : Portrait of an American city (Philadelphia: Camino Books in cooperation with The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1990), p. 105.
Creator: Birch, William Russell, 1755-1834, artist
Date: [ca. 1799]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department drawings & watercolors - Birch - Colonel Muhlenberg [P.9666]

Title: New Lutheran Church, in Fourth Street Philadelphia
Description: Street scene based on a watercolor study by William Birch. Depicts Speaker of the House of Representatives, Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, on tour with a delegation of Native American men across from the second edifice of the New Zion Lutheran Church, built on Fourth Street below Cherry Street 1795-1796. The first church building, erected 1766-1769 to accommodate the overflow of the growing German congregation of St. Michael's Lutheran Church, was rebuilt in its original form following a fire in 1794. Scene also includes street and pedestrian traffic of a loaded horse-drawn dray and cart; and a laborer hauling a barrel upon his back. Native American delegations visited the city to pay respect and to negotiate land treaties when Philadelphia served as the nation's capitol. Muhlenberg lead a tour of several tribal groups in 1793., Illustrated in S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's Views of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982, rev. 2000), pl. 6., LCP holds related watercolor study. (LCP P.9666)., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited.
Creator: Birch, William Russell, 1755-1834, engraver
Date: [1804]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch, William-Views of Philadelphia [Sn 6b/P.2276.12]

Title: The International Exposition 1876 at Philadelphia, PA. U.S.A View from George's Hill
Description: Allegorical commemorative print celebrating the internationalism and historic significance of the Centennial Exhibition. Depicts a bird's-eye view of the active exhibition grounds including the Agricultural Building, Horticultural Building, Main Building, and Machinery Hall. In the foreground, figures representing various races, ethnicities, and cultures convene and interact with one another. An African American woman and man sit on a bench. An African American man, attired in a black suit, tips his top hat and greets a white woman sitting on a bench. Groups of people stand in clusters to converse and walk including Native Americans, attired in feather headdresses, and Chinese women and men. Middle Eastern and Russian men ride on horseback. Contains ghost-like imagery visible in the sky depicting significant historic American moments, figures, and buildings, including William Penn's Treaty with the Indians, George Washington, and the White House. Contains the names of the prominent exhibition halls below the image., Copyrighted by George H. Ellsbury & J. Hayward., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 390, Accessioned 1983., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Ellsbury, George H., lithographer
Date: 1876
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **BW - Centennial [P.8966]

Title: Views of Philadelphia
Description: Collection of prints from the various editions and restrikes of Birch's "Views of Philadelphia," originally published in 1800 as The City of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania North America; as it appeared in the year 1800. Four editions of the views, purchased through subscription and totaling 44 unique plates including a map of the city and title page with vignette, were published by William Birch in Philadelphia from 1800 until 1828. First and largest edition contained 29 plates, the pictorial views drawn by Thomas Birch and engraved by Samuel Seymour between 1798 and 1800; with the map and title page executed by script engraver William Barker. Bookseller Robert Campbell is listed as a seller on many of these plates, but appears to have been disassociated with the project before publication of the bound volume. Second edition of 22 plates was published in 1804. Third edition of 14 plates was published in 1809. Fourth edition of 12 plates was published between 1827 and 1828. The first and second edition were printed by Philadelphia printer, Richard Folwell. The later editions, predominately completed by William Birch alone, contained reissues of selected plates from the first edition as well as new engravings of prominent city structures erected after 1800. In the 1840s restrikes of five plates were produced by bookseller Robert Desilver, and in the 1860s, twelve by the antiquarian John McAllister, Jr; many of the restrikes originally published in the fourth edition. Collection also contains the second edition copper plate of the Bank of Pennsylvania, and the fourth edition copper plate of The Late Theatre in Chestnut Street., Series of late 18th and early 19th-century views of principal sections of the city of Philadelphia including primary streets, government buildings, local landmarks, and financial, religious, educational, and benevolent institutions. The series, the first of its kind in the United States, was created to attract new citizens and to illustrate to an international audience the vitality of the nation's premiere city. The views focus on structures, but also contain lively depictions of daily street life in Philadelphia. Plates depict Philadelphia's Delaware River port with the Penn Treaty Tree; several street views including Arch Street, High (Market) Street, and Third Street; city markets; city banks, such as the Bank of the U.S.; the State House (Independence Hall); Congress Hall; prominent churches, such as Christ Church; Pennsylvania Hospital; Library and Surgeon's Hall; Chestnut Street Theatre; the Alms House; Walnut Street Jail; the Water-Works; and the Schuylkill Bridge., See S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's views of Philadelphia. (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982, rev. 2000)., Snyder, "William Birch: His Philadelphia views," The Pennsylvania magazine of history and biography 73 (July, 1949), p. 271-315., Snyder, "Birch's Philadelphia views: New discoveries," The Pennsylvania magazine of history and biography 88 (April, 1964), p. 164-173., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., William Birch, trained in England, was a Philadelphia engraver, miniaturist, and enamel painter. He also engraved and published in 1804 "The Country Seats of the United States of North America."
Creator: Birch, William Russell, 1755-1834
Date: 1800-1860, bulk 1800
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [Sn 1 - Sn 43]

Title: Cornwallis is taken! The watchman's cry - Philadelphia 1781
Description: Print commemorating the surrender in 1781 of British General Cornwallis at Yorktown depicting the watchman's purported moonlit announcement of the event on October 22nd at the Philadelphia residence of Thomas McKean, the president of Congress. Near the "Geo. Washington" tavern, the white watchman, one hand raised, a lantern in the other, his mouth open and with a few teeth missing, cries the news to the crowd of men, women, and children surrounding him and McKean. McKean, wearing a silken robe, chin in hand listens. His face portrayed with a look of contemplation. The crowd, many in nightclothes hold candlesticks, pray, cheer, and listen solemnly. Included in the crowd are a white man veteran with a prosthetic wooden peg leg, an African American boy, an African American woman caregiver holding presumably McKean's baby in the doorway, a white man and woman couple facing each other and holding hands, white women in shawls and elegant robes, a seated Native American woman attired in moccasins, and a white man portrayed with a frowned expression near behind the watchman., Title from item., Date inferred from duplicate with variant imprint in the collections of the American Antiquarian Society.., Gift of Mrs. Francis P. Garvan, 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 Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Doney, Thomas, engraver
Date: [ca. 1856]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC-American Revolution [8384.F.23]

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