McAllister Autograph Collection, 19th century (bulk).
Title
McAllister Autograph Collection, 19th century (bulk)
Description
A collection of approximately four hundred autographs clipped from letters and documents that contains signatures of most of the prominent men (and six women) in eighteenth and nineteenth-century American history. There is also a specific group of Civil War-era autographs collected from servicemen during the war., John A. McAllister was an antiquarian collector living in Philadelphia.
Creator
McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896
Date
1800
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | MSS McA MSS 022, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A64293#page/1/mode/1up
Library Company of Philadelphia scrapbook
Title
Library Company of Philadelphia scrapbook
Description
Scrapbook predominantly containing photographs of the interiors and exteriors of the buildings of the Library Company of Philadelphia at Fifth and Library streets (1792-1878) and Juniper and Locust streets (1880-1940). Interior views show the main reading room, the women's reading room, and the Henry C. Lea Annex (member's reading room) at the Juniper Street building. The images include shelves of books; reading tables and chairs; magazine racks; card catalogs; and paintings, photographs, manuscripts and busts and object d'arts on display. Also contains photographs and photomechanical reproductions of portraiture of early noted figures and donors to the Library Company and art and artifacts held by or associated with the repository. Additional content includes reference correspondence (1920 and 1924) between librarian George Abbot and overseas researchers studying Peter Collinson and an April 8, 1834 newspaper clipping reporting the Library Company's receipt of the book collection of the late James Cox "Artist and Bibliomaniac" accompanied by his autograph (John McAllister label pasted on verso)., Portraits depict Rev. Samuel Preston (1756-1834); optician Joseph Fisher (d. 1864); library director Dr. Thomas Parke (1749-1835); "library director 1825-1840" Benjamin R. Morgan (1765-1840); and Library Company purchasing agent Peter Collinson (1694-1768). Artifacts include the "Lion's Mouth" tin suggestion box (ca. 1850); the candle lantern from the entrance of the original library building (pre-1791); "old playing cards used as washers for Franklin's electrical machine" (1740s); William Penn's secretary desk (ca. 1680); John Penn's air pump case for electrical instruments (1738-1739); and the anti-slavery painting "Liberty Displaying the Arts and Sciences" given to the library by its artist Samuel Jennings in 1792., Title supplied by cataloger., Bookplate of the Library Company dated October 9, 1934 pasted on inside front cover., Some contents identified from manuscript notes on rectos and versos of scrapbook pages., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Housed in phase box., Select link above to access the website "Art & Artifacts. Discover the Library Company’s Art and Artifact Collection.", The Library Company of Philadelphia, America’s first successful lending library and oldest cultural institution, was founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin as a subscription library supported by its shareholders. Until the 1850s it was the largest public library in America. It was transformed into a research library in the 1950s.
Creator
Library Company of Philadelphia
Date
1818-ca. 1934, bulk 1920-1930
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums - Library [Uy8 7065.Q], http://www.librarycompany.org/artifacts/
Civil War scrapbook of envelopes and portraits [graphic].
Title
Civil War scrapbook of envelopes and portraits
Description
Scrapbook containing portraiture, predominately patriotic envelopes, of Civil War military and political figures. Majority of the envelopes issued by prolific New York publisher Charles Magnus, with several from his series "Generals of the Potomac Army" and "Heroes of Successful Expeditions." Also contains portrait prints, stationery, and non-portrait and ephemera materials, including newspaper clippings, manuscript letters, autographs, playbills, an illustrated songsheet, and a performance program. Several of the portrait prints were originally published in the 1861-1863 volumes of "The Rebellion Record" edited by Frank Moore., Majority of clippings detail the controversial death and funeral of Col. Edward D. Baker. Manuscript letters include correspondence from 28th PA Regt. Beck Band musician, Samuel A. Murray to John McAllister, Jr. about collecting Southern Civil War relics and letters. Also includes W.S. Hancock correspondence denying a citizen's pass to cross military lines. Songsheet, performance program, and majority of playbills relate to special performances, including an 1862 Washington birthday commemorative program, at the 28th Pennsylvania Regiment military camp. Ephemera materials include a facsimile of the correspondence from General Grant to General Buckner for unconditional surrender following the Battle of Fort Donelson, February 16, 1862 and plain envelope covers inscribed by Col. Frank P. Blair and General Henry Halleck (General-in-Chief). Other materials include a print and newspaper clipping showing the Merrimac and Monitor; a cartoon satirizing supporters of defeated 1860 Constitutional Unionist presidential nominee John Bell; a Ulysses S. Grant family portrait photomechanical reproduction from the Photo History of the Civil War (1910); and the autographs of generals John W. Geary, Samuel P. Heintzelman, and William S. Rosencrans. Also contains a small number of non-Civil War era items, including an A. & J.B. Bartholomew trade card promoting Grant for president and an invitation to an 1879 Philadelphia City Council reception for former President Grant., Portraiture predominately depicts Edward Dickinson Baker; Nathaniel Prentiss Banks; John Bell; Louis Blenker, John C. Breckinridge; Ambrose Everett Burnside; Michael Corcoran; Samuel Ryan Curtis; Stephen Douglas; Samuel Du Pont; David Glasgow Farragut; Andrew H. Foote; John Geary; Ulysses S. Grant; Henry W. Halleck; Winfield Scott Hancock; Samuel P. Heintzelman; David Hunter; Nathaniel Lyon; Peter Lyle, Irvin McDowell; James A. Mulligan; Joshua Thomas Owen; Robert Patterson; John Pope; Benjamin M. Prentiss; Jesse Lee Reno; William S. Rosecrans; Richard Rush; Thomas W. Sherman; William T. Sherman; James Shields; Silas H. Stringham; Edwin V. Sumner; and James S. Wadsworth., Various artists and photographers including Edward Anthony, Mathew Brady, John Henry Bufford, John Chester Buttre, Alonzo Chappel, Washington Lafayette Germon, Herline & Hensel, James Magee, Charles Magnus, and George E. Perine., Various publishers and distributors including John Dainty, James Gates, Harbach & Brother, Oscar H. Harpel, Franklin Hedge, Johnson & Fry, and Wm. S. & A. Martien., Disbound and trimmed scrapbook pages re-housed in folders., Oversize 1893 color lithograph "General Grant's Farewell Address to the Union Army in the Field 1865" removed to flat storage, see *GC-Grant [5758.F.69a]., Select link below for complete inventory of sitters., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War.
Date
ca. 1860-1910
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Print Room Annex - McAllister [(7)5785.F], http://www.librarycompany.org/FindingAids/McAllister(7)5785.F.pdf