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Title: [Unknown group eating watermelon.]
Description: Depicts young men and women sitting in the grass eating watermelon., Title supplied by cataloguer., Gift of Albert L. Doering.
Creator: Doering, William Harvey, 1858-1924, photographer
Date: ca. 1895
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department lantern slides - Doering [P.9453.66]

Title: Midsummer dinner
Description: Racist, genre scene showing an African American boy eating watermelon for his dinner. He smiles, sits cross-legged on a wooden crate and has his right hand plunged into the flesh of one half of a watermelon. He looks slightly toward his right and wears a pork pie hat; long-sleeve, collarless shirt; and ragged pants. Seeds run along the side of his slightly outstretched right foot. The untouched second half of the watermelon rests next to him to his right. The crate contains writing that reads: #888/Stmp/Handle Carefully/Keeb Dry. A backdrop depicting panel molding along the bottom of a wall is visible in the background., Title from list of 70 titles printed on verso by printer E. Perry., Name of photographer printed on mount., Date inferred from style of mount and active dates of photographer/publisher., Printed on mount: Charleston & Vicinity., Yellow mount with rounded corners., Manuscript note written on verso, upper edge: Lukin., Gift of David Long., Frank A. Nowell began work as a photographer in Charleston in 1870. In 1880, he purchased the Charleston negatives and studio of Civil War photographer George N. Barnard. Nowell was active until 1890.
Creator: Nowell, F. A.
Date: [ca. 1870]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - misc. photo. - Nowell [P.2018.16.10]

Title: Which wi[ll let go] first, the dog or the darkey
Description: Racist, trade card specimen depicting caricatures of two African American men stealing watermelons from a farm. Shows the barefooted, African American man, attired in a long-sleeved shirt and ragged pants, carrying a watermelon under each arm as he tries to get over a wooden fence. He has a fearful expression on his face as a dog has ripped and holds the back of his pants in its mouth. Another barefooted, African American man, attired in a long-sleeved shirt and striped pants, opens his mouth in alarm as he has fallen over the fence and landed face down with his legs in the air. The pieces of a smashed watermelon lie on the ground beside him. In the right background is a house and a white man, attired in a hat and carrying a rifle, moving towards the fence., Title from item., Date deduced from the visual content., Gift of David Doret.
Date: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Misc. - Which [P.2017.95.211]

Title: [African American man smiling and carrying a watermelon]
Description: Scrap depicting a racist caricature of an African American man smiling and carrying a watermelon. Shows the full-length portrait of the man portrayed with exaggerated features and attired in a white collared shirt with blue stripes, a yellow waistcoat, a red jacket with tails, white pants with blue stripes, and yellow and blue shoes with red buttons. He smiles with his mouth opened wide and carries a watermelon in both hands that he holds in front of him., Title supplied by cataloger., Date deduced from the visual content., Duplicate copy [P.2017.95.300]., Gift of David Doret.
Date: [ca. 1890]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Scraps - Scrap 47 [P.2017.95.299]

Title: [African American man smiling and carrying a watermelon]
Description: Scrap depicting a racist caricature of an African American man smiling and carrying a watermelon. Shows the full-length portrait of the man portrayed with exaggerated features and attired in a white collared shirt with blue stripes, a yellow waistcoat, a red jacket with tails, white pants with blue stripes, and yellow and blue shoes with red buttons. He smiles with his mouth opened wide and carries a watermelon in both hands that he holds in front of him., Title supplied by cataloger., Date deduced from the visual content., Duplicate copy [P.2017.95.299]., Gift of David Doret.
Date: [ca. 1890]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Scraps - Scrap 48 [P.2017.95.300]

Title: If you want to be stylishly shod and comfortably fitted, bring your feet to Lee Reinberg, shoe man, 7 and 11 S. George St., York, PA
Description: Racist trade card illustration depicting a smiling African American boy sitting on top of a crate, eating a piece of watermelon, and holding a larger piece of watermelon in his lap. The boy is attired in a white and blue shirt, brown pants, brown suspenders, and a cap. The image of the boy is surrounded by a gilded golden frame., Title from item., Printer's imprint printed on verso: Yoe Printing Co., Yoe, PA., Text printed on recto: The real thing., Gift of David Doret.
Date: 1901
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Reinberg [P.2017.95.147]

Title: See that hump? Something inside for you
Description: Racist trade card promoting De Long Hook and Eye Company and depicting a caricature of an African American boy cutting a watermelon. Shows the barefoot boy, portrayed with exaggerated features, and holding a saber-like knife in his right hand while he cuts into a large, green watermelon. Drops of juice drip from the slice in the melon. The boy smiles at the viewer. He is attired in blue shorts with yellow suspenders and a red sleeveless shirt. Brothers Charles F. and Frank E. Delong (1864-1939) established the firm Richardson & DeLong Bros. with Thomas D. Richardson in 1891. The brothers had patented the "Delong hump" fastener in 1889, which prevented the eye of a button hole from slipping out of the hook. "See that hump" became the firm's popular advertising slogan. Scovill Manufacturing Company acquired the company in 1955., Title from item., Place of publication from place of operation of the advertised business., Date deduced from history of the advertised business., Advertising text printed on verso: The De Long Hook and Ey[e], MF'D by Richardson an[d] De Long Bros. Philadelphia U.S.A., Gift of David Doret.
Date: [ca. 1891]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - De Long [P.2017.95.42]

Title: "D em brats done gone and stole dat melon."
Description: Racist, genre stereograph depicting an African American man coming upon three African American boys sitting next to each other and eating large slices of watermelon at the entrance to a stone root cellar. Shows an outdoor setting in which the man, holding a switch, peers around the stone, curved structure at the boys who sit with their legs crossed, or bent at the knees, or to the side, before the open entryway. Each holds a slice of watermelon toward their mouth. Half a watermelon with a knife in it and two other slices of the melon lie near the boys. View also show a grassy hillside in the background and a patch of greenry near the cellar. The man is attired in a soft-brimmed hat, shirtsleeves, a vest, and slacks. The children wear shirts and shorts., Title from item., Date inferred from active dates of publisher and content., Name of photographer and publisher from copyright statement: Copyright Griffith & Griffith., Curved grey mount with rounded corners., 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., RVCDC, Gift of George R. Allen, 2022.
Creator: Griffith & Griffith
Date: [ca. 1900]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - Griffith & Griffith - Portraits & Genre [P.2022.42.18]

Title: Two souls with but a single thought
Description: Lantern slide formerly owned and probably used in art lessons by Philadelphia painter, photographer, and art teacher, Xanthus Smith of a racist depiction of African Americans in caricature by comic artist, Thomas Worth. Depicts a young and dapperly-dressed African American couple eating a piece of watermelon on a porch as the parents of one of the couple watches them from a doorway. Seated on a bench, the woman, wearing her hair tied up with a pink ribbon and attired in a blue shirt with buttons down the center, a white skirt with ruffles at the bottom, red and black checked stockings, and black shoes, sits beside the man, attired in a gray bowler hat, a white shirt with stripes, a gray waistcoat, gray and black striped pants, and black shoes. They hold a large slice of watermelon up together and bite from it while looking at one another. In the left, the mother, attired in a blue and pink plaid head kerchief, a pink and black striped shirt with a white lace collar, and a pink skirt, and the father, attired in a white collared shirt, a black waistcoat, and black pants, looks on at the couple from an open doorway. A banjo hangs from the post of the porch in the right. In the background, trees and the night sky is visible., Title from label on mount on verso., Gift of Edna Andrade, 1994., RVCDC, 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.
Date: [ca. 1890]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Lantern Slides-Smith, Xanthus [P.9471]

Title: Gately & Britton, (limited,) largest installment house in Reading, no. 940 Penn Street
Description: Racist trade card promoting Gately & Britton's home furnishing store in Reading, Pa. and depicting a caricature of an African American boy sitting against a fence post eating a large slice of watermelon. Shows the boy squatting on his toes and smiling at the viewer as he holds a piece of watermelon in both hands. He has taken the melon out of a field of watermelon plants surrounded by a barbed wire fence. He is attired in a torn straw hat, blue shorts with a patch, and only the partial sleeves of a red and white striped shirt. The rest of the shirt has ripped and hangs from the barbed wire in the left. On the ground in the left is the watermelon with a slice cut from it with the handle of a knife protuding out of it. In the right is a small, white and brown dog. Edward Gately and G.M. Britton established a home furnishings store called Gately & Britton at 940 Penn Street, Reading, Pa. in 1887. The business continued operating into the 20th century., Title from item., Place of publication deduced from place of operation of advertised business., Publication information and date from copyright statement: Copyrighted 1887 by Chas. Brown., Series number on recto: C-762., Gift of David Doret.
Date: 1887
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Gately [P.2017.95.68]

Title: Sapolio
Description: Racist trade card promoting soap manufacturer Enoch Morgan's Sons Company and depicting the caricature of an African American child’s head emerging out of a watermelon. The child, portrayed with exaggerated features, smiles as their eyes look to the right. The green watermelon is ripped open revealing pink flesh and black seeds. Enoch Morgan's Sons Company began manufacturing Sapolio soap in 1869 in New York. Peruvian company Intradevco Industrial SA purchased Sapolio in 1997., Title from item., Publication information from copyright statement: Copyrighted 1882, by Donaldson Brothers., Advertising text printed on verso: One cake will do more work and will do it better than Three Cakes of any other mineral or scouring soap ever made. Enoch Morgan's Sons Sapolio. Better and cheaper than soap. For all house cleaning purposes. It will clean paint, marble, oil cloths, bath tubs, crockery, kitchen utensils, &c. It will polish tin, brass, copper and steel wares of all kinds better than Emery or Rotten Stone. Ask for it. Take no other as a substitute for it. It is the best and cheapest scouring soap. Hand Sapolio, for every day use, is the best and cheapest toilet and bath soap in the market. Removes stains of all kinds, and leaves the skin white and soft. Prevents chapping of hands. Illustration of a white man looking at the bottom of a pan that reflects his face as a mirror., Gift of David Doret.
Date: 1882
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Enoch [P.2017.95.60]

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