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Title: To a Waiter.
Description: A waiter carries a large stack of plates. He has a cloth falling out of his pocket. A small dog is in his path., Text: With slomickey shoes upon your feet, / And greasy rag upon your arm, / You slop the hairy hash about, / And spill the gravy to a charm. / And when at noon you sometimes try, / To carry twenty plates or more; / With what a clatter then you drop, / The knives and forks upon the floor., Provenance: Helfand, William H..
Date: [between 1840 and 1880?]

Title: Reen & Trump, manufacturers of metal show cards for brewers, etc. 14 North Fourth Street, Philadelphia
Description: Illustrated trade card depicting a man and a woman seated at a table in a beer garden being served full beer mugs by a male waiter. The woman wears a large hat adorned with flowers and holds a decorative fan in her left hand. A boy kneels down and fills beer mugs from a cask in the right foreground. Reen & Trump, the partnership between Charles Reen and Watson Trump, operated a lithographic establishment in Philadelphia between 1872 and 1881., 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 - Reen [P.9941]

Title: [Detail from circular of views of the interior of a concert hall and saloon, probably F. & L. Ladner's Military Hall, 528-532 North Third St. Philadelphia]
Description: Clipped out detail of two views showing several male patrons gathered at tables in the central hall with a baby grand piano in the rear, and a side room decorated with a fountain adorned with a sculpture and fence. Most of the men look toward the viewer as they sit with their drinks, read newspapers, or are attended by waiters with trays of refreshments. One man has his hat and coat lying on his table. Other decorations include hanging plants, caged trees, lamps, and molding. The saloon and concert hall built 1857, was operated by the Ladners 1857-1881., Not in Wainwright., Artist's initials in lower right corner of one of the views., Attributed to Stein & Jones., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 180, See related advertisement print **BW - Hotels, Inns & Taverns [P.9008]
Creator: Rosenthal, Max, 1833-1918, artist
Date: [ca. 1865]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums - Specimens Album [P.9349.153j]

Title: Dining car, Pennsylvania Limited
Description: View showing the interior of a dining car of a train of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Two African American waiters, wearing mustaches and attired in white suits, stand among tables adorned in table cloths and with seating for four. In the background, a beverage service, including bottles, silver ice buckets, silver bowls, and possibly a decanter are visible. View also includes hooks above the car windows and light fixtures on the ceiling. One of the waiters carries a bottle of champagne on a tray. In June 1887, the Pennsylvania Limited began running between New York and Chicago, which was replaced by the Pennsylvania Special in 1902 and by the Broadway Limited in 1912., Title from item., Copyrighted., Additional places of publication printed on mount, including St. Louis and Liverpool, Eng., Griffith & Griffith, established in Philadelphia in 1896, expanded in 1908 to included offices in St. Louis and Liverpool. The non-Philadelphia offices were relocated in 1910., Purchase 2013., 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 the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Rau, William Herman, 1855-1920
Date: [ca. 1900]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - Rau - Transportation [P.2013.1]

Title: A tip on St. Valentine's day. Lady, I'se a good waiter, but I cain't wait foh'ever!
Description: Racist, Valentine card depicting a caricature of an African American man waiter. Shows the man, attired in a white collared shirt, a black bowtie, a black jacket with a white lapel, a white apron, black pants, yellow socks, and black shoes, looking to the right. He has a white towel draped over his right wrist, and he holds his index finger up on his left hand. He stands in front of a red heart and speaks in the vernacular that, “I’se a good waiter, but I cain’t wait foh’ever.”, Title from item., Date deduced from the visual content., Manuscript note on recto: Guess., Manuscript note on verso: G.G., Series number printed on recto: 5V12., Gift of David Doret.
Date: [ca. 1890]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Greeting Cards, etc. - Tip [P.2017.95.252]

Title: A luxury fleet featuring newest pullman refinements at low travel cost! Pennsylvania Railroad Broadway Limited (All-Room Train). The General New York-Philadelphia-Chicago. "Spirit of St. Louis" New York-Philadelphia-St. Louis. Liberty Limited Washington-Baltimore-Chicago. The Pittsburgher (All-Room Train) New York-Pittsburgh. The Golden Triangle Pittsburgh-Chicago. Many types of Pullman private accommodations, modern section sleepers on all but Broadway Limited and The Pittsburgher-all room trains
Description: Poster showing an interior view of a luxury pullman car to advertise the Pennsylvania Railroad. Shows several white men and woman passengers relaxing in the car. In the left, a Black man server, serves drinks to two women and a man seated at a booth. Across from them, in the right, an older man sits in an arm chair, and smokes a cigar, and holds a paper in his lap. An older woman sits on the arm of his chair. Behind them, two women converse, one standing. In the far background, two men stand at a bar. Image also shows a train window. The server wears a white smock shirt and black pants. The men passengers wear suits. The women passengers wear a dress or suit jacket and skirt and/or hats., Title from item., Date inferred from content., RVCDC
Date: [ca. 1945]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department miscellaneous posters [P.2284.103]

Title: Henry Miller's concert garden. Nos. 720 & 722 Vine Str. Philadelphia
Description: Sheet music cover containing an interior view of the crowded concert hall and theater operated by Henry Miller beginning circa 1854. Several men and women sit at, and converse and walk among the many tables of the seating area as a number of waiters serve the patrons. A music ensemble plays on a raised platform with guard rails in the left of the image and several people line a small stage in the center rear of the hall where a small performance appears to be happening. To the right of the performance, the stairwell to the upper balcony, lined with people, is visible. Greenery and vinery decorate the hall that includes a glass ceiling and windows, some open, across and adjacent to the balcony. After several proprietors, the theater was renamed the Lyceum in 1888., Not in Wainwright., pdcc00021, Philadelphia on Stone, Free Library of Philadelphia: Castner 2:19
Creator: Knirsch, Otto, artist
Date: [ca. 1861]
Location: Free Library of Philadelphia. | Print and Photograph Collection. FLP Castner 2:19

Title: Customer. "Rather cool weather Pete, for a close crop like that." Pete. "Can't help it Boss---the proprietor says long hairs gits in de wittles."
Description: Reproduction of a drawing of a racist, comic scene showing an African American waiter serving a bearded, white man seated at a restaurant table. The African American waiter is depicted with exaggerated features, including an oblong-shaped head. He wears a black suit, a white shirt with a high collar, and an apron around his waist. The waiter stands beside the table that is covered in a tablecloth. He rests his left hand on it and holds a bowl of soup on a saucer in his right. The customer, attired in a tuxedo, rests his left arm near a pitcher, glass, napkin and condiment display on the table. In the background, a bald man, sits and eats at a nearby table. Paneling adorns the walls of the restaurant on which the morphed shadow of the waiter is visible., Title printed on negative., Yellow mount with curved corners., Date inferred from attire of depicted figures., Gift of David Long., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Date: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - unid. photo - Portraits & Genre [P.2018.16.8]

Title: [African American waiters in the large dining room, Great Central Fair of 1864, Philadelphia, Pa.]
Description: Depicts the African American men waiters posed amongst the dining room tables of the patriotically decorated dining room of the Fair's restaurant department. The waiters, attired in white collared shirts, bowties, white or black jackets, and pants, stand around and in between the tableclothed dining tables facing the viewer. American flags decorate the wall in the background and hang on the pillars. The Great Central or Sanitary Fair of June 1864, displayed art, craft, and historical exhibits to benefit the soldier relief organization, the U.S. Sanitary Commission., Unmounted carte-de-visite photograph., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from content., Probably by Philadelphia photographer A. Watson., Originally part of McAllister scrapbook on the Sanitary Commission. 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.
Creator: Watson, A., photographer
Date: [1864]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv - Watson - Great Central Fair [5781.F.156g]

Title: [African American waiters in the large dining room, Great Central Fair of 1864, Philadelphia, Pa.]
Description: Depicts the African American men waiters posed among and seated at the dining room tables of the patriotically decorated dining room of the Fair's restaurant department. The waiters, attired in white collared shirts, bowties, white jackets, and pants, sit at the tableclothed dining tables and look at the viewer. Nine waiters, attired in white collared shirts, black bowties, black jackets, and pants, stand in a line in the middle of the room facing the viewer. American flags decorate the wall in the background and hang on the pillars. The Great Central or Sanitary Fair of June 1864, displayed art, craft, and historical exhibits to benefit the soldier relief organization, the U.S. Sanitary Commission., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from content., Probably by Philadelphia photographer A. Watson., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook on the Sanitary Commission. 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.
Creator: Watson, A., photographer
Date: [1864]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv - Watson - Great Central Fair [5781.F.165f]

Title: Clam bake at 12 m. 4-6:30 p.m. Melville Garden, Downer Landing...Boston Harbor, Open every day except Monday. One of the finest harbor resorts in New England
Description: Racist trade card depicting a whimsical scene with a young African American man serving a tray of food to a white couple seated at a table inside of a large clam shell. In the left, the wide-eyed man holds the large tray at his hips and is attired ina coat, vest, apron, bow tie, and dark-colored pants. The man and woman hold menus in their hands and are dressed in formal wear. The scene is set near a harbor and forst on a rocky shore. Trees and a steamboat in the harbor are visible in the background. Industrialist Samuel Downer opened Melville Garden in Hingham, Massachusetts in 1871. The park was razed in 1897., Title from item., Publication information from copyright statement: Copyright 1880 by J.D. Scudder., Advertising text printed on verso: The Garden contains First-Class Restaurant, Bowling and Shooting Alleys, Billiard Tables,Patent Swings, Flying Horses, Camera Obscura, Menagerie, Bear Pit, &c. Row Boats and Yachts to let. Rhode Island Clam Bake at 12, 4 and 6.30 o'clock. Dinner Tickets, 50c. Edmands' Band, Day and Evening. The Garden will be Illuminated Every Evening with 20 Electric Lights. Grand Concert by Edmands' Band Every Sunday Afternoon and Evening. Hingham Steamers Leave Rowe's Wharf at 5.45, 9.15, 10.30, 11.30, 12.30, 2.30, 3.30, 5.30, 6.30, 7.45 and *9.30. Returning, Leave Downer Landing at 7, 7.35, 9.45, 10.35, 12.15, 1.15, 4, 5.15, 6.45, †8.30. †9.30. Cross Trips to and from Nantasket Beach. Leave Downer Landing at 11.20, 12.20, 1.20 and 4.20. Leave Nantasket Beach at 9.30, 12, 1, and 4.50. Sundays. Boston to Downer Landing at 10.15, 2.15, 4.45, and 7.15. Downer Landing to Boston at 12, 3.30, 6, 9.30. †Monday's excepted. *Saturdays excepted. Buy The Excursion Ticket at Rowe's Wharf, 60 Cents., Gift of David Doret.
Date: 1880
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Melville [P.2017.95.118]

Title: Muzzy's corn starch
Description: Trade card promoting Elkhart Starch Company and depicting a racist genre scene of an African American waiter serving a white couple in a restaurant. Shows in the center of the image the couple seated at a table. In the left, the brown-haired woman, attired in a gray hat decorated with flowers and a red dress with white ruffles at the neck, sleeves, and at the bottom rests her left elbow on the table and holds a white fan. In the right, a man with brown hair and a mustache and attired in a brown jacket; a white collared shirt with a black bowtie; a cream-colored waistcoat; white pants with blue stripes; and black shoes, holds a paper labeled "Bill of Fare" in his right hand. He points his index finger at the woman with his left hand. The African American waiter, attired in a black jacket; a white collared shirt with a white bowtie; and white pants with a gold pocket watch chain stands behind the table. He carries a silver tray with two dishes, each with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. In the left background is an entryway with a red curtain. To the right of the doorway is a sideboard and a framed painting hangs above it. Image also includes, in the right, a hurricane chandelier and checkered flooring. A.L. Muzzy built the Muzzy & Sage Mill in Elkhart, Indiana in 1870. Albert R. Beardsley (1847-1924) purchased the mill in 1878 and founded the Elkhart Starch Company. The Company was bought by the National Starch in 1893., Title from item., Date deduced from history of advertised business., Advertising text printed on verso: "Elkhart Starch Co. Elkhart, Ind. Manufacture Muzzy’s Sun Gloss refined & corn starch. Of superior quality, by a new process. A thorough test makes it a household necessity. Muzzys corn starch is the purest & best made. Capacity ten tons of starch per day." Includes an illustration depicting a train running past the Elkhart starch works manufactory., Gift of David Doret.
Date: [ca. 1890]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Elkhart [P.2017.95.57]

Title: A scene in the Golden Dragon, 1526 Market Street, Philadelphia's most beautiful restaurant
Description: Interior view of the Golden Dragon restaurant located at 1526 Market Street, Philadelphia and depicting the dining room crowded with patrons. Shows the large room filled with diners sitting at white table-clothed tables and standing in a row. The men and women, finely attired in suits, dresses, hats, and jewelry, look at the viewer. Plates of food and cups and glasses are visible on the tables. In the left, a Chinese man waiter, attired in a tuxedo, stands with probably menus under his arm. In the background, musicians, attired in tuxedos, are seated with musical instruments in front of a backdrop of peacock feathers. The dining room ceiling is decorated with multiple-colored fabrics. Charlie Kerr (1890-1976) was a jazz drummer and orchestra leader in the 1920s to the late 1940s., Title from item., Date inferred from medium and content., Text printed on verso: Philadelphia, Pa., 19[blank], Dear [blank], Greetings from the beautiful Golden Dragon, where I dined today. "Charlie" Kerr's Orchestra is great., Series no. on verso: 2690 N., See related: Brightbill postcards [Hotels and Restaurants - Bingham through Green's - 112] - sheet number 112B04., Sheet number: 112A05., Divided backs.
Creator: Brightbill, George M., collector
Date: [ca. 1925]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Brightbill postcards [Hotels and Restaurants - Bingham through Green's - 112]

Title: [Scraps for the year 1830]
Description: Plate three from the 1830 edition of "Scraps," Johnston's popular satirical series of societal caricatures published between 1828 and 1840, and in 1849. Depicts a montage of nine scenes lampooning contemporary society titled: Practitioners of the Bar Lamenting the Failure of the United States Mint; Putting the Best Leg Foremost; Fixed Air; Erudition; A Discharge of Filth; Improvement in Bathing; Conjugal Affection; Making Up a Party of Pleasure; and Hot Corn. Scenes depict: white men commodities brokers bemoaning the "winter" market at a tavern; white women shoppers lamenting a lost butter firkin and questioning the quality of a leg of meat including an African American man carrying a basket of food; two white men in a bed chamber with a closed window discussing the unhealthiness of "fixed air"; a white man quibbling over the omission of the word "physician" in the dictionary; the chastisement of a Boston drunkard near his overturned cart pulled by his drunk "haus"; a white man shower-bathing with an umbrella; the fattening of a dying white man to be purchased as a cadaver ; a working class, white Boston family reminding a destitute woman of the pleasure in witnessing a hanging; and a discussion of the processing of "hot corn" between a African American waiter and two white men patrons. Includes two African American characters, a servant and a waiter, portrayed in racist caricature and speaking in the vernacular., Title supplied by cataloger., Inscribed upper right corner: Pl 3., Published in D. C. Johnston's Scraps for the year 1830 (Boston: D.C. Johnston, 1830), pl. 3. (LCP Am 1830 Joh, 7021.F.3)., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Accessioned 1979., 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: Johnston, David Claypoole, 1799-1865
Date: [1830]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - [1830]-Scr [P.2275.25]

Title: A scene in the Golden Dragon, 1526 Market Street, Philadelphia's most beautiful restaurant
Description: Interior view of the Golden Dragon restaurant located at 1526 Market Street, Philadelphia and depicting the dining room crowded with patrons. Shows the large room filled with diners sitting at white table-clothed tables and standing in a row. The men and women, finely attired in suits, dresses, hats, and jewelry, look at the viewer. Plates of food and cups and glasses are visible on the tables. In the left, a Chinese man waiter, attired in a tuxedo, stands with probably menus under his arm. In the background, musicians, attired in tuxedos, are seated with musical instruments in front of a backdrop of peacock feathers. The dining room ceiling is decorated with fabrics. Charlie Kerr (1890-1976) was a jazz drummer and orchestra leader in the 1920s to the late 1940s., Title from item., Date inferred from medium and content., Text printed on verso: Philadelphia, Pa., 19[blank], Dear [blank], Greetings from the beautiful Golden Dragon, where I dined today. "Charlie" Kerr's Orchestra is great., See related: Brightbill postcards [Hotels and Restaurants - Bingham through Green's - 112] - sheet number 112A05., Sheet number: 112B04., Divided backs.
Creator: Brightbill, George M., collector
Date: [ca. 1925]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Brightbill postcards [Hotels and Restaurants - Bingham through Green's - 112]

Title: John Weik's (Philadelphia) kochbuecher (cookbooks)
Description: Whimsical publisher's advertisement containing four vignettes in a fanciful border of food imagery surrounding a list of cookbook titles in German and English authored by Marianne Struf and the steward of the Union League, William Vollmer. Vignettes depict three quirky scenes representing agricultural work, hunting, fishing, and fine dining. Also contains a scene depicting four women peeling apples, mincing meat, and baking in a kitchen. Vignettes include an African American man waiter and an African American woman cook. Fanciful border contains stone pedestals adorned with seals comprised of cooking implements, as well as a basket of bread, bottles of wine, a crab holding oranges, a tureen of soup, dead game, ears of corn, plates, a pitcher, a coffee grinder, and mischievous monkeys., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1856 by J. Weik in the Eastern District Court of Pa., Printed above image: Life Preserver., Printed under title in German: All five books can be had here., Not in Wainwright., Philadelphia on Stone, POSP 126, LCP exhibition catalogue: The Larder invaded, aft. p. 9., LCP exhibition catalogue: Philadelphia revisions #32., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1973, p. 44., Top corner and center edge mended., Purchase 1973., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Nissle, J., artist
Date: 1856
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **BW - Advertisements [8074.F.1]

Title: [Entry of Washington into New York, after the city was evacuated by the British in 1783, Nov. 20th]
Description: Print after the painting displayed at the National Academy of Design in New York by native Philadelphian and prolific 19th-century book illustrator, Felix Octavius Carr Daley. Depicts the historic scene at the close of the American Revolution showing General Washington, his hand on his hip and his face turned to the left, on horseback and triumphantly parading his troops through a crowded New York City street on November 25, 1783. Exuberant spectators, some running and some held back by uniformed guards, line both sides of the thoroughfare and cheer from balconies, roofs, and windows. Spectators include many parents with children. In the left foreground, an African American man servant or waiter, attired in hoop earrings, a white collared shirt, a bow tie, a jacket, breeches with white stockings, and buckled shoes, carries a serving tray under his arm and stands and peers into the street to watch Washington. Three dogs run in the foreground., Title from: Illustrated by Darley: an exhibition of original drawings..., May 4- June 18, 1978 (Delaware Art Museum. Wilmington: The Museum, 1978). (LCP Print Room Yb A2696.O)., Alternate title from 1863 artist's proof at the Museum of the City of New York., Manuscript signature of engraver in lower right corner., Gift of Dr. Anthony N.B. Garvan, 1981., 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 at least three engravings after the works of F.O.C. Darley.
Creator: Ritchie, Alexander Hay, 1822-1895, engraver
Date: c1858
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC - American Revolution [P.8646.3]

Title: [Portrait album of well-known 19th-century African American men of Philadelphia]
Description: Photograph album containing identified portrait photographs, bust-length, half-length, and full-length, of twenty-one prominent Philadelphia African American men. Named sitters in order of inclusion in album include veteran Harmon Richardson attired in a military uniform; educator and activist Octavius Catto; civil rights activist Edwin Chew (son of John and Charlotte Henson Chew); janitor and later undertaker Guy M. Burton with musician Ed[ward] H. Johnson and Terry V. Hall; musician Joseph G. Anderson; Civil War veteran and waiter Taylor Aldridge; Johnson al-Jube holding a basket; laborer Parker T. Smith; Jeremiah V. Hall; George Hall; waiter William I. Lancaster; barber James Keith; caterer Henry Tobias; Cheslea Bass, barber and partner to James Keith, with caterer Andrew F. Stevens; Edwin Lewis; Jas. H. Williams ae.[sic] Rush; Thomas Proctor; and restauranteur/caterer Ja[me]s B. Page. Musicians Edward Johnson and Joseph G. Anderson were members of Francis Johnson's band in the 1830s and 40s., Title supplied by cataloger from label on spine., Date from content and medium of photographs., Cardboard binding with torn spine label inscribed: Portraits of Well Know[n]. Insides of binding covers include scribbles and a pasted partial scrap of a flower., Photographs are loose or attached to album pages within binding., Sitters, and occasionally their profession, identified by manuscript notes on verso of photograph or album page. Some notes include statement "deceased," including for sitters Harmon Richardson, Edwin Chew, Octavius Catto, Edward H. Johnson, Terry V. Hall, Joseph G. Anderson, Johnson al-Jube, George Hall, James H. Williams, and James Page., Mostly unidentified photographers with identified Philadelphia photographers John L. Gihon and Parlor Gallery., Portrait photograph of Octavius Catto reproduced after a circa 1871 portrait photograph taken by African American Philadelphia photographer Gallo W. Cheston and/or Philadelphia photographers Broadbent & Phillips. See "Amy Cohen's Catto the Forgotten Hero" at catto.ushistory.org/. See also Harper's Weekly 15 (October 28, 1871), p. 1005 and a copy of the original portrait at https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.2006.8. Photograph stamped on verso: Kean Archives, Phila., Portrait photograph of Taylor Aldridge inscribed on verso: Nov. 27 '83., Verso of album page with portrait photograph of Edwin Lewis inscribed: July '83., Verso of album page with portrait photograph of James Page printed: Sharpless Bros. Dry Goods, Chestnut and Eighth Sts. Philadelphia., Purchase 1990., Description revised 2023., Access points revised 2023., 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. 1865-ca. 1885]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums [P.9304]

Title: [Portrait album of well-known 19th-century African American men of Philadelphia]
Description: Photograph album containing identified portrait photographs, bust-length, half-length, and full-length, of twenty-one prominent Philadelphia African American men. Named sitters in order of inclusion in album include veteran Harmon Richardson attired in a military uniform; educator and activist Octavius Catto; civil rights activist Edwin Chew (son of John and Charlotte Henson Chew); janitor and later undertaker Guy M. Burton with musician Ed[ward] H. Johnson and Terry V. Hall; musician Joseph G. Anderson; Civil War veteran and waiter Taylor Aldridge; Johnson al-Jube holding a basket; laborer Parker T. Smith; Jeremiah V. Hall; George Hall; waiter William I. Lancaster; barber James Keith; caterer Henry Tobias; Cheslea Bass, barber and partner to James Keith, with caterer Andrew F. Stevens; Edwin Lewis; Jas. H. Williams ae.[sic] Rush; Thomas Proctor; and restauranteur/caterer Ja[me]s B. Page. Musicians Edward Johnson and Joseph G. Anderson were members of Francis Johnson's band in the 1830s and 40s., Title supplied by cataloger from label on spine., Date from content and medium of photographs., Cardboard binding with torn spine label inscribed: Portraits of Well Know[n]. Insides of binding covers include scribbles and a pasted partial scrap of a flower., Photographs are loose or attached to album pages within binding., Sitters, and occasionally their profession, identified by manuscript notes on verso of photograph or album page. Some notes include statement "deceased," including for sitters Harmon Richardson, Edwin Chew, Octavius Catto, Edward H. Johnson, Terry V. Hall, Joseph G. Anderson, Johnson al-Jube, George Hall, James H. Williams, and James Page., Mostly unidentified photographers with identified Philadelphia photographers John L. Gihon and Parlor Gallery., Portrait photograph of Octavius Catto reproduced after a circa 1871 portrait photograph taken by African American Philadelphia photographer Gallo W. Cheston and/or Philadelphia photographers Broadbent & Phillips. See "Amy Cohen's Catto the Forgotten Hero" at catto.ushistory.org/. See also Harper's Weekly 15 (October 28, 1871), p. 1005 and a copy of the original portrait at https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.2006.8. Photograph stamped on verso: Kean Archives, Phila., Portrait photograph of Taylor Aldridge inscribed on verso: Nov. 27 '83., Verso of album page with portrait photograph of Edwin Lewis inscribed: July '83., Verso of album page with portrait photograph of James Page printed: Sharpless Bros. Dry Goods, Chestnut and Eighth Sts. Philadelphia., Purchase 1990., Description revised 2023., Access points revised 2023., 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. 1865-ca. 1885]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums [P.9304]

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