Search results

Title: Wrestling for a bride, Dahomey, Africa
Description: Stereoview depicting a tableau vivant with a racialized tone in a studio setting in which two Black men attired in sarongs, face each other, and are in lunged stances. Behind them, to the left, three Black men, attired in sarongs, stand in front of a hut and palm trees, and watch the "wrestling" men. The kingdom of Dahomey established about 1600 by the Fon people became the independent country Republic of Dahomey, and was renamed Benin in 1975., Title from item., Date inferred from series title printed below title., Distributor's imprint printed on mount: Sold by Underwood & Underwood. New York, Liverpool, Toronto-Canada, Ottowa, Kansas., Title printed on verso in six different languages., J.F. Jarvis was the largest manufacturer of stereoviews in Washington D.C. during the late 19th century. He published his own trade list and numerous views of government surveys., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: Jarvis, J. F. (John Fillis), 1849-1931
Date: [1894]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereos - - misc. photo - Jarvis [P.2016.13.38]

Title: [Incomplete set of "Series C" of "Hidden Book Titles" rebus puzzle card game]
Description: Incomplete set of card game (9 of 15 cards) to which "ladies and gentlemen" couples interpreted the pictures on each card to name the title of the book (depicted as a rebus) and for additional credit, the name of the author. Some imagery is racialized. Includes No. 4 showing a framed portrait of a bride + "of" + a lamb + "R" + a three-quarter length image of the left profile of a Black man in a hooded robe holding out one arm and holding a staff with the other = The Bride of Lamermoor; No. 6 showing a map of the Southern portion of the U.S. as well as the Philippine Islands + a cluster of addressed envelopes = American Lands and Letters; No. 8 showing the front profile of a black cat = The Black Cat; No. 9 showing two capital letter Y's + "and" + two lower case letter y's = Wise and Otherwise; No. 10 showing an oblong-shaped globe turned to the side with Greenland, America, South America, and New Zealand visible = The Wide, Wide World; No. 11 showing an open chest + "R"+ a desk on which a series of books with titles beginning "Tales" stand = Old Chester Tales; No. 12 showing a lantern out of which a ray of light shines + a man using a manual lawn mower + "NA" = Ramona; No. 13 showing the front profile of a very round hog + "Rt" + the Pigot Diamond captioned "Exact Size of Pigot Diamond" = The Great Hogarty Diamond; and No. 14 depicting a woman with sunken cheeks lying up in bed and with a tray of food on her lap + an eye + a newspaper ad for a "Blacksmith" = Iliad. One of a series of four "Hidden Book Titles" games, including Series A with thirty cards, and series B and C with fifteen cards, and Series D (Literati) with fifty-five cards., Publication information based on copyright statement: Copyright Oct., 1899, by the Hidden Book-Title Publishing co., Philadelphia, Pa., Housed in envelope., Purchased with funds for the Visual Culture Program., RVCDC
Date: Oct., 1899
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department ephemera - games & toys - Hidden [P.2021.35.1a-i]

Title: Happy contraband
Description: Photographic reproduction of a caricature depicting a half-length, cameo portrait of an African American man playing a fife. Shows the man, posed to the right, looking up with his eyes, and holding up with both his hands, a fife to his pursed lips. He leans slightly forward, is portrayed with a furrowed brow, and is attired in a wide-brimmed hat adorned with a ribbon, white shirt with long sleeves, and a dark-colored vest. While commander of Fort Monroe, Virginia, General Benjamin Butler declared freedom seekers as "contraband of war," providing the impetus for Congress to enact the Confiscation Act of 1861. During the war, several visual materials, often satires, depicting Black persons as "contraband" were published., Title from manuscript note on verso., Date inferred from active dates of publisher., RVCDC, Philadelphia Photographic Company operated from 730 Chestnut Street circa 1864-1865 before relocating to 24 N. 8th Street. Active until about circa 1869, the firm, per advertisements, issued a catalog, sold "specialties" for albums, including "from original drawings by artists of high quality," and published "[Thomas H.] Johnson's Photographic Views of the Whole Oil Regions," as well as sold election campaign cards and badges.
Creator: Philadelphia Photographic Company
Date: [ca. 1865]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv - non-portrait -Philadelphia Photographic Company - Happy [P.2022.50]

Title: J. Smith, manufacturer of fine cigars, and dealer in tobacco, snuff, pipes, &c. 720 West Dauphin Street, near 4th and 8th Sts. depot, Philadelphia
Description: Illustrated trade card depicting embossed vignettes of crossed tobacco pipes, a bundle of cigars, the figure of an Indigenous woman, and a man smoking a cigar., Embossed., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Digitized.
Date: [ca. 1875]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Smith [P.9349.403]

Title: Chil dren of all nations. A series of 50
Description: Series of pop out cigarette cards depicting waist-length portraits of children (boys and girls) of different nationalities attired in their "native" costume. Includes Arabia (boy); Australia (boy); Belgian Congo (boy); Belgium (girl); Bulgaria (boy); Burma (girl); Denmark (girl); Egypt (girl); England (boy); Greece (girl); Holland (girl); Hungary (boy); Italy (girl); Ireland (girl); Mexico (boy); Natal (girl); New Zealand (girl); Norway (girl); Palestine (girl); Patagonia (girl); Poland (girl); Portugal (boy); Rumania (girl); Russia (girl); Scotland (boy); Siam (boy); Spain (girl); Sweden (girl); Tahiti (girl); Tibet (girl); Tunis (girl); Turkey (girl); United States (girl); and Wales (girl). The Ogden Branch was originally founded by Thomas Ogden as the Ogdens Tobacco Company in 1860. In 1901, American Tobacco Company bought Ogden's Tobacco Company and it in turn was bought by Imperial Tobacco Co. in 1902. Ogden started to include cigarette cards in its packaging in 1894., Date inferred from pop out format. Series issued in 1924 as pop outs., Printed above images: Ogden's Cigarettes., Title from series title on items., Versos contain explicative statements describing the depicted children's appearance, social life, and customs., Gift of George Allen., RVCDC, Description reviewed 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Date: [ca. 1924]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department ephemera - Cards [P.2016.56.1-34]

Title: [Morgan & Headly trade cards]
Description: Series of illustrated trade cards promoting jewelers Morgan & Headly in the Mutual Life Building at the northwest corner of Tenth and Chestnut Streets in Philadelphia. Trade card depicts a large diamond jewel [1975.F.579]. Illustrated trade card depicts a caricaturized Japanese woman and boy playing a horn. The woman, wearing her hair tied up and decorated with kanzashi (decorative hair ornaments) and attired in a floral patterned kimono, stands before a Japanese-style building. She leans her left arm over a wall and looks down at a boy, wearing a shaved head with a small ponytail and attired in a tunic, a belt, pants, and cloth, slip-on shoes, playing a horn next to a bird with its beak open [1975.F.592]. Trade card depicting a Japanese-stylized scene of a crane bending over and cleaning its feathers with its beak. Also includes flowering tree branches [1975.F.593]., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from content and history of the advertised business., One print [1975.F.579] contains vignette printed on verso depicting a hand-held fan superimposed onto a ribbon., RVCDC, Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Digitized.
Date: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Morgan [1975.F.579; 1975.F.592 & 593]

Title: Some of our brave colored boys who helped free Cuba
Description: Stereoview depicting a lineup of African American soldiers in an exterior beach setting during the Spanish American War, 1898. The men, attired in the uniform of campaign hat, button down jacket, trousers, bullet belts, and leggings, stand at attention, and with their rifles held to the sandy ground. Most of the men look straight ahead with a few looking toward the viewer. In the background, an American flag at the end of the line of men and a military encampment with tents and soldiers is visible. The Spanish American War was the conflict between Spain and the United State originating with the Cuban War of Independence. Cuba gained independence and the United States acquired the territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippine Islands from Spain. The regular army's four Black troops (9th and10th Cavalry and 24th and 25th Infantry) and thousands of Black men volunteers served during the war. AFrican American troop's service during the war caused controversy within the African American community which still did not have equal civil rights as citizens of the United States., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Copyright 1899 by J. F. Jarvis., Distributor's imprint printed on mount: Sold by Underwood & Underwood. New York, London, Toronto-Canada, Ottowa-Kansas., Semi-legible maunscript note on verso: Deliver to Mr. [Heyburn?] ... with ..., J.F. Jarvis was the largest manufacturer of stereoviews in Washington D.C. during the late 19th century. He published his own trade list and numerous views of government surveys., RVCDC
Creator: Jarvis, J. F. (John Fillis), 1849-1931
Date: [1899]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereos - misc. photo - Jarvis [P.2023.6]

Title: FacSimile of the revolutionary flag, A.D. 1774
Description: Depiction of the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry’s flag from 1774. Shows the flag with fringed edges on a spiked flagpole adorned with two tassels and held open by a rope from its upper right corner tied to a tree in the right. In the top left of the flag are thirteen stripes representing the colonies. In the center, flanking a shield illustrated with thirteen ropes tied into a Gordian Knot are allegorical figures representing Liberty and Fame. Liberty, depicted as a barefooted Native American figure attired in a headdress, feather skirt, and with a quiver of arrows on their back, carries a bow and a liberty cap on a pole. Fame, depicted as a winged angel, blows a trumpet. Above the shield is a horse’s head wearing a bridle with the letters “LHC,” which stands for light horse cavalry. A banner below the shield reads, “For these we strive.”, Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress in the Year 1839, by Wm. M. Huddy, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Penna., Printed on recto: Plate No. 4., Gift of David Doret., RVCDC
Date: 1839
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Doret and Mitchell Collection – Prints [P.2019.64.33]

Title: FacSimile of the revolutionary flag, A.D. 1774
Description: Depiction of the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry’s flag from 1774. Shows the flag with fringed edges on a spiked flagpole adorned with two tassels and held open by a rope from its upper right corner tied to a tree in the right. In the top left of the flag are thirteen stripes representing the colonies. In the center, flanking a shield illustrated with thirteen ropes tied into a Gordian Knot are allegorical figures representing Liberty and Fame. Liberty, depicted as a barefooted Native American figure attired in a headdress, feather skirt, and with a quiver of arrows on their back, carries a bow and a liberty cap on a pole. Fame, depicted as a winged angel, blows a trumpet. Above the shield is a horse’s head wearing a bridle with the letters “LHC,” which stands for light horse cavalry. A banner below the shield reads, “For these we strive.”, Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress in the Year 1839, by Wm. M. Huddy, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Penna., Printed on recto: Plate No. 4., Gift of David Doret., RVCDC
Date: 1839
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Doret and Mitchell Collection – Prints [P.2019.64.33]

Title: The Inasmuch Mission
Description: Reproduction of a drawing of a busy street scene with the four-story "Inasmuch Mission Men's Hotel and Restaurant" at 1019 Locust Street, Philadelphia. Completed in 1913, the mission house, the exterior resembling a warehouse, rehabilitated "fallen" men through religious and social services. Scene includes views of the nearby markets adorned with awnings under which men and women shoppers peruse displays, converse, and stand idle. The African American man, attired in a bowler hat, a shirt, a jacket, pants, and shoes, stands leaning against the awning pole with his hands in his pockets. In the right, the Chinese man, wearing a queue and attired in a tunic, pants, and slip-on, cloth shoes, stands against a wall and looks down the street away from the viewer. A horse-drawn wagon and pedestrians traverse the street. In the left, a man organ grinder with a monkey entertains children standing on the sidewalk., Copyrighted., Drawn by artist in 1914., See accompanying pamphlet containing the artist's descriptions of the views, "Ever-Changing Philadelphia" (Philadelphia: Frank H. Taylor), p. 6., Accessioned circa 1916., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: Taylor, Frank H. (Frank Hamilton), 1846-1927, artist
Date: [drawn 1914, printed 1915]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Taylor - Case 11-6 [2717.F]

Title: The Inasmuch Mission
Description: Reproduction of a drawing of a busy street scene with the four-story "Inasmuch Mission Men's Hotel and Restaurant" at 1019 Locust Street, Philadelphia. Completed in 1913, the mission house, the exterior resembling a warehouse, rehabilitated "fallen" men through religious and social services. Scene includes views of the nearby markets adorned with awnings under which men and women shoppers peruse displays, converse, and stand idle. The African American man, attired in a bowler hat, a shirt, a jacket, pants, and shoes, stands leaning against the awning pole with his hands in his pockets. In the right, the Chinese man, wearing a queue and attired in a tunic, pants, and slip-on, cloth shoes, stands against a wall and looks down the street away from the viewer. A horse-drawn wagon and pedestrians traverse the street. In the left, a man organ grinder with a monkey entertains children standing on the sidewalk., Copyrighted., Drawn by artist in 1914., See accompanying pamphlet containing the artist's descriptions of the views, "Ever-Changing Philadelphia" (Philadelphia: Frank H. Taylor), p. 6., Accessioned circa 1916., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: Taylor, Frank H. (Frank Hamilton), 1846-1927, artist
Date: [drawn 1914, printed 1915]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Taylor - Case 11-6 [2717.F]

Title: A Chinese laundry in Philadelphia
Description: Interior view of a Chinese owned and operated laundry in Philadelphia. In the center, shows the owner of the business attired in a top hat, white collared shirt, bowtie, suit jacket, waistcoat, and pants. He sits in a wooden chair with his legs crossed and smoking a cigarette as he supervises the workers. The four Chinese men laundry workers wear queue hairstyles and are attired in tunics, pants, and slip-on, cloth shoes. In the left, two men stand behind the counter and iron, one of whom spits water from his mouth onto the laundry. In the right, the man stands facing the viewer with his hand on top of his head while a man irons from another countertop. Steam rises up from the irons. There is a storage closet with the door partially open revealing shelves with folded laundry. More stacks of folded laundry sit on the countertops. In the right foreground, there are five irons warming on a heater and two baskets of laundry. A clock hangs on the wall., Title from item., Date and publication information from original source., Published in the June 3, 1876 issue of the Graphic, a British weekly illustrated newspaper., Text description of the engraving from the Graphic, p. 542: A Chinese Laundry in Philadelphia. Though not nearly so numerous as in California, where their presence has recently excited extreme hostility among the white working classes, the Chinese are to be found, though few and far between, in the Eastern States. There are several Chinese laundries in Philadelphia, and as they have only been recently introduced from California, they are almost as much objects of interest to Philadelphians as to foreigners. Our artist came across the laundry shown in our engraving unexpectedly. As soon as the Chinamen perceived him sketching it through the window, they rushed out and shouted after him, whereupon he made off, thinking it prudent to avoid a scene. The Celestial in European dress is the "boss," or master, who owns several laundries, and who attends to the customers and business arrangements. The manner of damping the clothes preparatory to ironing is peculiar, the operator fills his mouth with water, and squirts it over the linen., Gift of Linda Kimiko August., RVCDC
Date: June 3, 1876
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Ph Pr - 8x10 - Businesses - Chinese Laundry [P.2023.27.1]

Title: [View of the Centennial Machinery Hall with people from all nations]
Description: Block-printed wallpaper depicting an exterior view of Machinery Hall designed by Henry Pettit and Joseph M. Wilson for the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which celebrated the centennial of the United States through an international exhibition of industry, agriculture, and art in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. Horse-drawn carriages bring visitors to and from the Hall. A large crowd of spectators walk on the grounds. In the foreground, people from various nationalities and ethnicities are represented including Native Americans attired in feather headdresses; two men, including a Black man, attired in fez hats; two Chinese men, one carrying a fan, attired in conical hats and robes; two Arab men in white headdresses and robes; and a Scottish man attired in a kilt. Other spectators include a man attired in a sailor’s uniform, men and women couples, and young boys., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from content., Gift of David Doret., RVCDC
Date: [ca. 1876]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department ***Doret and Mitchell Collection – Prints [P.2022.62.3.49]

Title: Véritable extrait de viande Liebig La case de l'oncle
Description: Series of six captioned (in French) trade cards containing scenes from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s "Uncle Tom’s Cabin" to promote Liebig Extract of Meat. Cards depict scenes from chapters 4, 7, 12, 14, 17, and 41. Translated captions include: Aunt Chloe preparing corn cakes; Crossing the Ohio on floating ice, Elisa[sic] escapes from Haley; The fight against slave traders; The slave market; On the verge of drowning, Eva is saved by Tom; and the death of Tom. Scenes show enslaved African American woman “Aunt Chloe” at her brick stove, surrounded by three enslaved African American boys as the white adolescent son of her owner, George Shelby, teaches enslaved African American man and her husband "Uncle Tom" to write; enslaved African American woman Eliza Harris escaping white slave trader Mr. Haley with her son Harry in her arms as she runs across patches of ice on the Ohio River; Eliza Harris’s multi-racial husband George Harris shooting white mercenary Tom Loker in a chasm after departing his and his family’s shelter within a Quaker settlement and for Canada; the market of enslaved people attended by Haley following Eliza’s escape where a young enslaved African American boy stands for sale near a white man mercenary and an enslaved African American woman who reaches out for him; Tom swimming toward the flailing, young white girl Eva St. Clare, i.e. Little Eva, in the water near a dock and a steamboat lined with spectators watching the event; and an adult George Shelby visiting with a dying Tom who rests against a bundle amongst crates and straw within a shed after being beaten at the request of his white enslaver Simon Legree., Most of the African American figures are not caricatured in features or attire. Eliza and George Harris figures are depicted with fair complexions. Also depicts Tom as unbeaten in his "deathbed" scene. Von Liebig, a German-born chemist, who developed a manufacturing process for meat extract in 1840, established the Liebig Extract of Meat Company in 1865. The extract was marketed as an alternative to meat., Series title from items., Cards numbered No. 1 - No. 6., Printed lower right corners: Voir L'Explication au verso., Advertising text and explanation of the depicted scenes and their context printed in French on versos. Includes statement about the cards being distributed gratuitously with the purchase of Liebig extract., Majority of the cards contain a vignette depicting a jar of Liebig extract in the lower right corner. No. 1 contains the vignette in the upper left corner. No. 2 contains the vignette in the lower left corner, Date inferred from circa date of other trade card series issued by Liebig Company., Housed with the Emily Phillips Advertising Card Collection., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Date: [ca. 1904]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade cards - Liebig [P.2018.49.4a-f]

Main menu