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Title: Odumata's sleeping room ; Inner square of Apookoos house
Description: Plates are included in Chapter VI, "Architecture, Arts, and Manufactures." Top plate shows the sleeping room of Odumata, an old Ashanti aristocrat. Bowdich described the room as being "one side of an oblong area in a very retired angle of his house, about 25 feet by 8." As he continued,"The cloth suspended to the left of the door on the top of the steps, hides the bloody stools which are in the recess. The small gallery in front of the upper room is only wide enough for one person to walk in. The recess and small room below accommodate confidential slaves. The bed room was very small, about 8 feet square, but being hung round with a variety of gold and silver ornaments, had a very rich appearance. The bed is generally about 5 feet high, and composed entirely of large silk-cotton pillows piled one above another. The King of Gaman, we were assured, had steps of solid gold to ascend to his bed. A man wearing a crier's cap, is playing the sanko." (p. 307) As the title suggests, the bottom plate shows the inner square of Apokoo's house. (Apokoo was the keeper of the Ashanti royal treasury.) Describing the image, Bowdich wrote, "No. 6, is a perspective view of the entrance area to Apokoo's house; the fourth side is an open fronted building like those on the right and left for attendants to wait in, and for the hearing of palavers. The opposite closed side is a bed room. The figure is playing the bentwa." (p. 307), Two plates in T. Edward Bowdich's Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee: with a statistical account of that kingdom, and geographical notices of other parts of the interior of Africa (London: J. Murray, Albemarle-Street: printed by W. Pulmer and Co., Cleveland-Row, St. James's, 1819), p. 306., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.
Date: Dec. 2, 1818
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare *U Afri Bowd 12983.Q p 306, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2895

Title: Chapel of the Lebanon Cemetery
Description: View of the chapel with steeple at the African American rural cemetery founded in 1849 at Passyunk Road near 18th and Wolf streets in South Philadelphia. Also shows monuments in the cemetery and visitors, including a family. Cemetery protected by a stone wall with iron fencing, including an iron gate. Cemetery was condemned in 1899 and closed in 1903, with the bodies removed to Eden Cemetery., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 103, Historical Society of Pennsylvania: Bc 63 L 441, Repair upper left edge.
Creator: Dubois, George, artist
Date: [ca. 1850]
Location: Historical Society of Pennsylvania HSP Bc 63 L 441

Title: The kraals and hutts of the Hottentots ; The Hottentot skinner
Description: Top engraving accompanies Chapter XVIII, "Of the Kraals, or Villages, of the Hottentots; their Huts and Hut-Furniture." It shows a Khoikhoin kraal, or village, in the background. As Kolb wrote, "I have seen Hundreds of Kraals, and never saw one that consisted of less than Twenty Huts. There are many so large that the Huts are not easily counted: And it is, in the Eye of a Hottentot, a very contemptible Kraal that contains not more than a Hundred Souls. The Generality of the Kraals contain each from Three Hundred to Four Hundred Souls. Some contain about Five Hundred. On the Area of a Kraal they can and do sometimes lodge several Thousands of Small Cattle." (p. 218) The foreground of the engraving features two oval-shaped Khoikhoin huts, one only partially built. According to Kolb, these huts usually ranged from ten to fourteen feet in diameter. They were built with flexible wooden sticks, which were then covered with animal skins. As Kolb explained, the top of the hut was rarely "so high that a man could stand under it erect." (p. 221) Bottom engraving shows a Khoikhoin skinner, and accompanies Chapter XIX, "Of Certain Handy-Crafts the Hottentots exercise among themselves." Referring to the engraving, Kolb wrote: "I shall now let the Reader into the Art and Mystery of a Hottentot Skinner. He takes a Sheep Skin, fresh and reeking from the Back of the Sheep, and rubs into it as much Fat as he can. At this Work he takes Abundance of Pains; and the Effect is, that the Skin is thereby render'd tough and smooth, and the Wool or Hair is secur'd from Falling off. This is All he does if he dresses a Sheep-Skin for an European: And he does the same, and no more, if he dresses the Skin of a Wild Beast for him. And, whatever the Reader may think of the Matter, a Skin dress'd in this Manner by a Hottentot is a very curious Piece of Work." (p. 232), Page from Peter Kolb's The Present State of the Cape of Good Hope (London: Printed for W. Innys and R. Manby, at the west end of St. Paul's, MDCCXXXVIII [1738]), vol. 1, p. 218., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.
Date: [1738]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare U Afri Kolb 532.O v 1 p 218, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2919

Title: Girard slave pens
Description: Exterior view of the entranceway to stone pens for the purpose of incarcerating enslaved persons of Philadelphia banker, financier, and Louisiana plantation owner, Stephen Girard. Shows a wooden ladder leading to an open door. In the right are two windows covered in bars. Below are two covered basements windows with a wooden crate leaning against the one in the left. The dilapidated walls show exposed brick., Title from negative sleeve., Photographer's imprint inscribed on negative., Negative cracked., Purchase 1981., 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.
Creator: Jennings, William Nicholson, 1860-1946, photographer
Date: [1894]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Jennings - glass negatives [P.9480.50]

Title: Brazilian Cotton Exhibit - Agricultural Building
Description: Interior view of the Agricultural Building. Depicts the Brazilian Cotton Exhibit. The cotton is displayed attached to a temporary decorative wall, with flags extending at the top. At the base of the wall are bags of cotton.
Creator: Centennial Photographic Co., photographer., creator
Date: 1876
Location: Centennial - album [P.8965.26b]

Title: Goal, in Walnut Street Philadelphia
Description: Active street scene at Sixth and Walnut streets with a view of the Walnut Street Jail, completed in 1776, after the designs of Philadelphia architect Robert Smith. Depicts several individuals, including a child, lining Sixth Street witnessing a large wood shed on wheels, possibly the first edifice of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, being moved by a team of horses. A dog runs in the street and another sits next to a spectator in the right foreground. The prison closed and was razed in 1835, the prisoners relocated to Moyamensing Prison. The first edifice of Bethel Church, a former blacksmith shop, was transported to Sixth and Lombard streets., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Illustrated in S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's views of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982, rev. 2000), pl. 24., Accessioned 1979., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: W. Birch & Son
Date: 1799
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [Sn 24/P.2276.56]

Title: Cliveden 1911
Description: Series of exterior and interior views of the Germantown estate Cliveden built 1763-1767 by master carpenter Jacob Knor for Philadelphia attorney Benjamin Chew at 6401 Germantown Avenue. Benjamin Chew (1722-1820), the patriarch of an influential Quaker family, was one of Pennsylvania’s largest enslavers. Images depict front, front oblique, and "rear" views of the façade of the residence, including outbuildings and landscaped lawns and grounds; the front "doorway" with steps and sculptures; the "pump" near an ivy-covered wall; the "barn" near which a horse-drawn cart loaded with hay rests across from a cow out to pasture; a cracked "fireback" resting against a tree; "servant’s quarters," i.e. quarters for enslaved persons; and multiple views of the "hall at Cliveden" modestly furnished with chairs, a desk, side table, a long rifle, and framed prints and a painting. Hall views also depict columns fronting a hallway and stairway., Chew House, also known as Cliveden, was the site of the turning point in the Battle of Germantown in 1777. The Chew family enslaved people of African descent in the city of Philadelphia and in Germantown during the 18th and 19th centuries. The estate was the Chew family residence until 1972 when it was acquired by the National Trust for Historic Preservation., Series title from manuscript note on mounts., Date from title., Many of the images accompanied by captions written on the mounts., Two of the mounts (P.2017.88.4.2-5 and P.2017.88.4.6-9) contain manuscript note: Cliveden 11-7-1911., Verso of mount P.2017.88.44.1 contains manuscript note: New York Public Library 1911., Copies of images included in “Pictorial Archives of Early American Architecture” (PAEAA), PAEAA PA 51-Germ, 64D-1, assembled by the Library of Congress during the 1930s., Three of images (P.2017.88.4& 7 &11) published in Harry M. Tinkom, Margaret Tinkom and Grant Miles Simon, Historic Germantown: ... (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1955)., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Date: 1911
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Swayne Collection [P.2017.88.4.1-13]

Title: Slaves concealing their master from a search party
Description: Proslavery print depicting an enslaved African American family hiding their white man enslaver in their cabin from a Union search party on horseback. The enslaver, holding a pistol, hides behind the open door from which the mother, her chair turned over behind her, misdirects the search party down the road. Near the hearth, an older son holds a skillet defensively as a younger petrified sibling holds unto him for protection., Inscribed upper left corner: 12., Issued as plate 12 in Sketches from the Civil War in North America (London [i.e., Baltimore]: [the author], 1863-1864), a series of pro-Confederacy cartoons drawn and published by Baltimore cartoonist Adalbert John Volck under the pseudonym V. Blada. The "first issue" of 10 prints (numbered 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 12, 15, 16, 21, 24), with imprint "London, 1863" were printed as etchings. The remaining 20 prints (numbered 4, 8, 9-11, 14, 17-20, 23, 25-27, 29, 30, 32, 33, 40, 45) headed "Second and third issues of V. Blada's war sketches" and dated "London, July 30, 1864" were printed as lithographs., Title and publication information from series at Brown University Library., Research file about artist available at repository., Accessioned 1935., 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: Volck, Adalbert John, 1828-1912, artist
Date: [1863]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Volck - Sketches - Volck 12 [2990.F.3]

Title: Oh! Massa Jeff. dis sesesh fever will kill de nigger
Description: Cartoon depicting the ill effect of secession on enslaved people. In the dwelling of the enslaved African American men, Jefferson Davis, attired in a broad-brim hat and with the Union flag hanging from his pocket, checks the pulse of an emaciated, bedridden African American man with "Bond Plasters" on his chest. An angst-ridden enslaved African American man stands behind the bed and weeps as he holds a bottle of medicine. On the wall behind him are three posters advertising various medicines: "Dr. Jeffy's Celebrated Bond Plasters ...," "The Great Southern Remedies," "Dr. Jeffy's Celebrated Lettres du Marque A Radical Remedy for all Constitutional Afflictions.", Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1861 in the Clerks Office of the District Court of the Southern District of Ohio., Purchase 1961., 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: 1861
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1861-22W [6449.F]

Title: "Father, I cannot tell a lie: I cut the tree"
Description: Genre scene of the fictitious moment when the young George Washington confesses to his father, Augustine, a plantation owner, that he cut a cherry tree on their Virginia plantation. Depicts Washington's father holding his son's hand and comforting him. George looks up at his father and points his left hand towards the cut tree in the right. On the ground is an ax and an upturned hat. In the background, an enslaved African American man plows the pasture with a team of oxen, and an enslaved African American man and woman couple stands near the gate of a cottage, probably their dwelling., Title from date., Date based on the active dates of engraver., Gift of Mrs. Francis P. Garvan, 1978., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: McRae, John, engraver
Date: [1860]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC - Washington [8384.F.16]

Title: Reading the Emancipation Proclamation
Description: Print depicting a white Union soldier reading the Emancipation Proclamation to families of enslaved African Americans in a cabin. The families are depicted with anxious and solemn mannerisms. Family members surround the officer near a dining table and hearth. An older boy holds a torch providing the officer with light. The father watches over the soldier's shoulder. Other figures, including a "young woman with two children, the house servant of her [enslaver], not belonging to the cabin but happened to be in on the occasion" pray, cheer, and cling to their mothers. Interior also includes a side of bacon hanging next to a ladder, a drying line with cotton balls handing from it above the hearth, and a cradle. Contains portrait of Abraham Lincoln below the image. The Emancipation Proclamation, effective January 1, 1863, granted African Americans not only their right to freedom but the right to join the Union Army., Title from item., Date from copyright statement., After painting by Henry Walker Herrick exhibited at the National Academy of Design in New York in 1865. Exhibited by "possessor" Lucius Stebbins., Publisher and copyright holder Stebbins published complementary pamphlet "Emancipation Proclamation of January 1st, 1864 [sic]" that included "Description of the Engraving." Description: Old man at the right with folded hands, Grand-father; Old lady at the left with cane in hand, Grand-mother; man leaning on ladder, the father; woman with child in her arms, the mother; lad swinging his hat, oldest son; one holding torch, second son; little girl, oldest daughter; infant in the arms of its mother. Young woman with two children, the house servant of her master, not belonging to the cabin but happened to be in on the occasion. Party reading, Union Soldier. The internal view of the Cabin is true to nature. The stone chimney, garret, ladder, side of bacon, rough cradle, piece of sugar cane and cotton balls, &c, all combine to give a correct idea of the slaves' home. Lincoln Financial Foundation copy of pamphlet accessible at Internet Archive., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1993, p. 44., LCP exhibition catalogue: An African American Miscellany p. 22., Purchase 1993., 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., Lucius Stebbins (1810-1901), born in Massachussets, worked in Hartford, Connecticut, in the businesses of map coloring and subscription book publishing (American Publishing Company).
Creator: Watts, James W., -1895, engraver
Date: 1864
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC-Emancipation [P.9429]

Title: [Robert Swayne collection of Philadelphia photographs]
Description: Collection of photographs documenting Philadelphia cityscapes, neighborhoods, landmarks, churches and benevolent institutions, businesses and factories, street views, and local events. Images depict interiors, exteriors, and alleyways. Many views include storefront signage; utility poles and street clocks; railroads and stations; and street and pedestrian traffic, as well as show the Western, Southern, and Northern sections of the city. Subjects depicted include All Saints Church (Torresdale); Cliveden; views along the Delaware River; Fairmount Park and Waterworks; Wissahickon Creek, Schuylkill River and Boathouse Row; Frankford Arsenal (1948); Philadelphia Gazette Building (924 Arch Street); the WCAU building (Bala Cynwyd) ; Rittenhouse and Logan squares; the “Clothesline Show” at Rittenhouse Square: a ca. 1930 view of a baseball game at the Baker Bowl, i.e. National League Park (2622 North Broad St.); the power house of the Westinghouse Gas Engine Machinery (Manayunk); the attic and basement of the original United State Mint (37-39 N. 7th Street, built 1792) photographed ca. 1890 by Newell & Son; interior of the second Mint Building (Broad and Chestnut);, the construction of the Delaware River, later Benjamin Franklin, Bridge (ca. 1924), Hahnemann Hospital (1928), Philadelphia Municipal, later JFK, Stadium (ca. 1926); the interior of an unidentified bakery (53rd and Vine) photographed ca. 1905 by C.H. Miller; interior and exterior of Geo. W. Einselen, Fine Cake Bakery and Ice Cream Saloon (1372 Somerset St.) photographed 1904 by Joseph Pearce; progress photographs photographed 1926 of the property of “Philadelphia Brick Co. Required for P.R.R. Temporary Track” and photographed 1921 by J.E. Bewley of and near the 3400 block of North 5th Street ; “Stephen Girard's ‘Alleged Slave Dungeons,’ Front & Market Streets uncovered by demolition” photographed 1906-1907 by John Trautwine, likely the civil engineer (P.2017.88.37.1-7); ca. 1880s studio portraits of adult and child mummers photographed by Richter & Co.; workers on scaffolding attached to the Nixon Building (20 S. 52nd St.); an exterior view photographed ca. 1873 by Newell & Son of the carpenter shop of Clarkson Fogg in front of which numerous household implements and furniture are lined, as well as men, women, and children, including a policeman are posed (449 N. 10th St.); ca. 1868 view of the 100 block of North Third Street, including the storefront for Dr. Stoever's Bitters manufactured by Kryder & Co (121 N. Third); Maryland Metal Bldg. Co. Incorporated classroom modules for the Philadelphia School District (ca. 1924); ca. 1920 advertising photos for an unidentified lighting company of examples of their work in Philadelphia manufactories with sewing machines (Greenwald Bros., Inc., 313 Arch St. and Trio Waist Co., 821 Arch St.) and of the moulding room of S.J. Cresswell Iron Works (2250 Cherry St.); the ca. 1905 interior of the cigar store of Ramon Azogue (102 S. 8th St.);, ca. 1930 view of the hairdressing salon at the Benjamin Franklin Hotel; ca. 1895 view of the interior of the Bourse (i.e., Philadelphia Stock Exchange); and a ca. 1930s exterior view of the Roxborough Home for Indigent Women (601 Leverington Avenue). Other images show a WWI benefit parade "to Keep the War Chest Filled" (1419 N. 2nd St.); a ca. 1900 lavish display of elaborately-decorated cakes photographed by William Phillipi; a posed WWI publicity still with release statements on the verso for Eastman Kodak showing Anna B. Graham with a camera and a young girl in a nurse’s uniform photographed by William F. Langrock; the storefront of a women’s owned business (Mrs. R.T. Anderson); a ca. 1920s contact sheet of variant bust-length portraits of a young woman photographed by the Lipp Studio; and the Walter Lippincott family posed on the porch of a residence., Portrait photographs, including of engraver John Sartain (P.2017.88.77.1 & 2), African American Rev. C. M. Tanner (1869-1933)(P.2018.66.4), John McAllister, Jr. and family members, and “physio-psychism” researcher Emil Sutra (P.2018.66.2) by Philadelphia photographers and occupational, school, and organizational group portrait photographs also comprise the collection. Group portraits document the Bellview Wheelmen; a class trip to the Franklin Institute; and performers attired in leotards, including jugglers, titled “Mr. Jonathan Evans, Haines & Cheer St.” Collection also includes William Stuart McFeeters family photograph album; a small number of images depicting African American men (P.2017.88.11, P.2017.88.61, P.2017.88.76.9 & 38); an organizational group portrait with a man with dwarfism (P.2018.66.15); candid snapshots, including ca. 1900 views of women using cameras along the Schuylkill River; and two film negatives depicting the WCAU building., Title supplied by cataloger., Various photographers, including Frank B. Cassel; William Bell; Berry & Homer; J. E. Bewley; Coward & Shannon; Harry A. Derr; Eagle Photo View Co.; Empire Photo Co.; H. Fetters; S.M. Fisher; Frederick Guteknust; Hansbury Studio; Henry C. Howland; Keystone Instantaneous View Company; William J. Kuebler; William F. Langrock; Lipp Studio; Charles Luedecke; F. Mattes; Monarch Photograph & Publishing Co.; Marriott C. Morris; Robert Newell; Newell & Son; Newell Studio; C. H. Miller, C. R. Pancoast; Joseph N. Pearce; William Phillipi; William Rau; Frederick DeBourg Richards; Schreiber; George Sheridan; Alfred Taylor; John Trautwine; Universal Photo Service; and W. D. Weland, Cartes-de-visite portraits of John Sartain (P.2017.88.77.1 & 2) housed separately and with cdv portraits – sitters - S., View by Schreiber of horse cart racing (1903) housed separately and with *photo – Schreiber., Cartes-de-visite portrait photographs of John McAllister, Jr. and family members (P.2017.88.79-102) housed with the McAllister Family Portrait Collection - cartes-de-visite., Electronic inventories of collection available at repository., See Lib. Company. Annual report, 2016, p. 64-65., RVCDC, Access points revised 2022., Robert Swayne (1927-2011) was a West Chester antique dealer, collector of vernacular photographs, and local writer about the Civil War.
Date: [ca. 1860-ca. 1952]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Swayne Collection [P.2017.88 & P.2018.66]

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]

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