Racist trade card promoting Warner’s Safe Yeast and depicting a white mother with a sick infant and an African American woman nanny who suggests using Warner’s yeast. Shows the mother with her brown hair tied up in a bun and attired in a long-sleeved, striped pink dress with yellow pleats at the bottom and white lace at the collar and cuffs of the sleeves. She cradles in her arms an infant wrapped in a white blanket with two yellow stripes. She looks down at her son standing in the right. He is attired in an orange, long-sleeved shirt with a white collar, a yellow skirt and leggings, and black shoes. He asks, “Mamma, what’s the matter with baby?” She replies that, “Baby’s very sick.” The boy holds up a cannister labeled “Safe Yeast” and states, “Dinah says Warner’s Safe Yeast is the best thing she knows of, to raise him.” In the right, Dinah stands looking on, attired in a yellow bonnet, red earrings, a yellow, short-sleeved dress with a white collar and red tie, and a white apron. In the bottom right is a large cannister of Warner’s Safe Yeast. Image also includes a blue and green rug, fireplace andirons, and in the background a windowpane with a blue vase with yellow flowers. Outside the window the sun comes up and reads, “up with the sun.” Hulbert Harrington Warner (1842-1923) founded a patent medicine business in Rochester, N.Y. in 1878. He created Warner’s Safe Yeast in 1885. In the Panic of 1893, he was unable to cover the company's debts, and the business failed., Title from item., Date deduced from the history of the advertised business., Text printed on recto: Precocious Youngster: Mamma, what’s the matter with the baby? Mamma: Ah, Darling, Baby’s very sick, I’m afraid we won’t be able to raise him. Precocious Youngster: Try this Mamma, Dinah says Warner’s Safe Yeast is the best thing she knows of, to raise him., Gift of David Doret.
Date
[ca. 1885]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Warner [P.2017.95.187]