Search results

Title: Terrible conflagration and destruction of the steam-boat "New Jersey," On the River Delaware, opposite Philadelphia, on the night of Saturday, March 15th, 1856, between 8 and 9 o'clock, by which dreadful calamity sixty-one lives were lost. Names of all on board
Description: Dramatic view of the steamboat engulfed in flames and smoke, the captain still at the helm as the passengers escape into the icy river. Panicked-looking passengers jump into the water already teeming with disaster victims, including an African American man, who thrash, swim, and attempt to stay upon and assist others onto cakes of ice, debris, and a single rowboat. Rescuers from the nearby wharf, including firemen, work in a frantic manner and desperately throw a rope to a white woman standing on an ice floe. Also shows a horse on the fire engulfed deck and a white woman propelled by a flame off of the rear of the boat. A sign for "Baths" is visible on the riverbank in the background. Contains the names of the 107 white and "colored" dead, missing, and saved passengers in three columns below the image. Captained by Ebenezer Corson, the "New Jersey," on mid-voyage to Camden from Philadelphia via an alternate elongated route due to heavy ice, caught fire as a result of defective boilers, a fireplace, and brick work. With the fire spreading rapidly, Corson retreated to Arch Street Wharf in Philadelphia, and came within thirty feet of the pier when the pilot house collapsed leaving the boat unmanned and out of control. Corson survived by leaping ashore before the uncontrolled ship drifted back out on the river., Title from item., Date supplied by Wainwright., Copyrighted by A. Pharazin., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 744, Accessioned 1982., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Date: [1856]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *W478 [P.2252]

Title: Commissioners Hall, Northern Liberties, Phila
Description: Exterior winter view of the hall as it looked on February 22, 1852, with adjoining fenced property, adorned with an American flag, and containing the district's police station and Mayor's office, on the busy, snow covered Third Street between Buttonwood and Green streets. Several warmly dressed white pedestrians, hall officials, and a policeman mill about and converse on the sidewalk; white children throw snowballs and play with a sled; horse-drawn sleighs pass by; white men shovel snow off the street and hall steps; and an African American man carrying a basket of celery and a dead goose stops in the street and looks behind him and toward the passing sled. A broadside inscribed, "Washington, 22nd Feb. 1852" adorns a nearby building. Prior to the city's consolidation with bordering townships in 1854, neighborhoods maintained and housed their own police stations, mayors, and other government officials in Commissioners Halls, including Northern Liberties. Built in 1814, the Northern Liberties' hall served as the quarters of the Northern Liberty Barracks until the American Revolution, and was torn down circa 1869 for the erection of Northern Liberties Grammar School., Title from item., Date of publication supplied by Wainwright., Reproduced in Edwin Wolf's Philadelphia: Portrait of an American city (Philadelphia: Camino Books in cooperation with the Library Company of Philadelphia, 1990), p. 199. Incorrectly identified as Commissioners Hall, Spring Garden., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 151, Print described in Public Ledger, July 1, 1853., Accessioned 1982., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Kuchel, Charles Conrad, 1820-, artist
Date: [1853]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **W79 [P.2034]

Title: Ethnographic tableau Specimens of various races of mankind
Description: Chart showing racist depictions of fifty-four, bust-length, portraits of men and one woman of different "races" from eight geographic regions to emphasize contrived differences in cranial characteristics. The “Geographical Distribution” includes I. Arctic, II. Asiatic, III. European, IV. African, V. American, VI. Polynesian, VII. Malayan, and VIII. Australian. With each region, six depictions of individuals of that race are shown, some facing forward and some in profile. Many of the individuals are depicted as racist stereotypes. Many are attired in hats, turbans, or headdresses custom to their country of origin. In the left, under the caption “Cranioscopic Examples,” nine different skulls in right profile are depicted. In the right, chart sections include “Mankind, Grouped Physiologically” and “Linguistic Distinctions.”, Title from item., Folded plate removed from Josiah C. Nott and George R. Gliddon's Indigenous races of the earth (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co.; London: Trubner & Co., 1857) (LCP *Am 1857 Nott (1)2733.Q (Rush)). See "Explanations of the tableau" pages 618-638., Captions below images on recto: Artic: Eskimo, Tchucktchi, Koriak, Aleoutian, Aino, Samoyede. Asiatic: Kamtschadale, St. Laurent Islander, Tartar, Chinese, Kalmuck, Tuda. Euro[pean]: Finn, Icelander: Cuvier, Bulgarian, Greek, Caucasian. [Euro]Pean: Syrian, Arab, Fellah, Berber, Uzbek Tatar, Affghan (sic). African: Ababdee, Sahara Negro, Yeboo Negro, Mozambique Negro, Caffr, Hottentot. American: Kutchin Indian, Stone Indian, Ottoe Indian, Yucatan Indian, Boroa Indian, Fuegian. Polynesian: New Zealander, Samoa Islander, Tikopia Islander, Vanikoro Islander, Tana Islander, Viti Islander. Malayan: Malay, Javanese, Marianne Islander, Hindoo, Mintira, Negritto. Australian: North Australian, West, Australian, South Australian, Tasmanian, Tasmanians (Men, Women)., Bequest of Dr. James Rush, 1869., 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 the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Kramer, Peter, 1823-1907, artist
Date: 1857
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department ***BW-Natural history [(1)2733.Q.1]

Title: [The tavern]
Description: Plate probably from a children's moral instruction picture book showing two white boys walking past a town saloon. One boy, attired in a wide-brimmed yellow hat, blue jacket, and tan britches, holds something in his left hand and uses his right hand to pat the back of the other boy beside him. The other boy, attired in a blue cap, red jacket, and yellow britches holds a thin rod and looks toward his companion. Behind the boys stands the saloon with a porch and open entryway and window. Six men, including an African America man, attired in top hats, vests, and jackets relax on the porch. The men smoke, read, lean back in their chairs, and watch the passing boys. A tan dog sleeps under the porch and near the dangling foot of the African American man who sits on the edge of the porch. Men drinking at the bar are seen through the open entryway and a man reading a newspaper is seen through the open window. In the center foreground, a tree and square-shaped rock are visible., Title from Christopher Lane & Donald Cresswell, Prints of Philadelphia at The Philadelphia Print Shop, featuring the Wohl Collection (Philadelphia, 1990)., Date inferred from Kollner's period of work with the American Sunday-School Union as A. Kollner's Lithy., Gift of David Maxey, 2015., Lane & Creswell suggest the plate is related to the American Sunday-School Union picture book "Common Sights in Town & Country" (Philadelphia, 1850)., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Kollner, Augustus, 1813-1906, artist
Date: [ca. 1852]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department GC - Genre [P.2015.52.5]

Title: [Country place of worship]
Description: Genre scene from a children's moral instruction book showing a man, children, and horses at leisure outside of a small church building within a grove of trees. In the right foreground, an African American man lies against a log, arms crossed, head down, and dozes near three, saddled horses bridled to a tree. Behind him, two white boys sit in the grass beside a dog and look over a book. In the right background, two, saddled horses are bridled to a tree near two white boys and a girl in conversation. In the left background, three, saddled horses are bridled within a cluster of trees. Scene also includes a small turtle passing the horses in the foreground. One appears to watch it. A white man stands near the church in the center background. Pastureland is visible in the distant, right background. All the male figures are attired in hats, jackets, and pants. The girl wears a bonnet and dress., Title from manuscript note on recto., Date from date of publication in which print is included., Published in Common sights on land and water (Philadelphia: American Sunday-School Union, 1852)., Gift of David Doret., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator: Kollner, Augustus, 1813-1906
Date: [1852]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Doret and Mitchell Collection - Prints [P.2018.63.4]

Title: First meeting of Uncle Tom and Eva
Description: Print of a scene from Stowe's popular, anti-slavery novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," originally published in 1851. Depicts "Uncle Tom," an enslaved African American man, and Evangeline St. Claire, the white daughter of a Louisiana enslaver, meeting on the steamship that is taking him to auction. On the deck, Tom, barefoot and attired in a red shirt, blue pants, and with shackles on his wrists, sits on a crate with a Bible in his lap. He talks to an attentive Eva, with her brown hair in ringlets and attired in a pink dress and black shoes, who is seated on a bundle of goods. Three bare-chested, enslaved African American men stand in the background behind a bundle and look on., Title from item., Purchase 1970., 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 the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Strong, Thomas W., lithographer
Date: [ca. 1853]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *GC - Fictional characters [7869.F]

Title: Perilous escape of Eliza and child
Description: Print of a scene from Stowe's popular, anti-slavery novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," originally published in 1851. Depicts the character Eliza, an African American woman freedom seeker, escaping from Kentucky to Ohio across the icy Ohio River. Eliza, depicted barefoot and with a light skin tone, clutches her son Harry to her breast and straddles two blocks of ice as she looks behind her at the irate white man enslaver on the shore near the tavern from which she has fled., Title from item., Purchase 1997., 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., Stong was a prolific New York mid 19th-century lithographer, wood engraver, and publisher who mainly published stock prints.
Creator: Strong, Thomas W., lithographer
Date: [ca. 1853]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *GC - Fictional Characters [P.9524.2]

Title: Uncle Tom and Little Eva
Description: Print of a scene from Stowe's popular, anti-slavery novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," originally published in 1851. Depicts Little Eva, the "angelic" young, white daughter of a Louisiana enslaver informing "Uncle Tom," the African American man enslaved by her father, of her impending death. Eva, with her blonde hair in ringlets and attired in a white dress, white stockings, and black shoes, points to heaven with her right hand and to the Bible in her lap with her left. She sits next to a barefooted, slightly hunched over Tom, attired in a red shirt with an open neck and blue pants, on a grassy mound in the woods. Also includes a cabin visible in the left background., Title from item., The Kellogg's firm, brothers Edmund Burke and Elijah Chapman, was a prolific New England lithographic firm that nearly rivaled Currier & Ives in the production of popular prints., Reaccessioned as P.9179.10., Purchase 1969., 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.
Date: [ca. 1853]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *GC-Fictional Characters [7807.F]

Title: Mount Vernon--Washington's Residence
Description: Puzzle showing the eastern facade of the mansion and grounds overlooking the Potomac River in Fairfax County, Virginia owned by George Washington. White men and women promenade, white children play with a dog, cattle graze, and a white man handler walks a horse on the landscaped grounds in the foreground. George Washington, Martha Washington, and a white woman sit on the porch. An enslaved African American man servant, attired in a white collared shirt, a black jacket with tails, and black pants, stands to the left of them. The estate, originally granted to Washington's great-grandfather John Washington in 1674, was inherited by George in 1761 and purchased by the Mount Vernon Ladies Association in 1858., One of four puzzles, stored in two pieces, housed in clamshell box., Purchase 1978., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
Date: [ca. 1858]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *albums (flat) - Four Lithographic Puzzles [8418.F.2]

Main menu