Search results

Title: D. Wilmot
Description: Bust-length portrait of the young Pennsylvania legislator, best known as the author of the "Wilmot Proviso," the unpassed 1846 bill which would have prohibited the extension of slavery into the annexed territory of Mexico. Wilmot, attired in a white collared shirt, a black bowtie, and a black jacket, faces slightly left., Title from printed signature of sitter below image., Accessioned 1982., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Date: [ca. 1890]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department portrait prints - W [P.8911.1036]

Title: [La Roche & Stahl florist shop, 1237 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia]
Description: Group portrait showing a line of eight men, including an African American employee and possibly co-owner Balthazar Stahl (third from right), standing in front of the flower store with large display windows marked "LaRoche & Stahl." Bouquets of flowers, floral wreathes, and other floral arrangements are displayed. A retracted awning with the name if the business adorns the building. A large garland of flowers is weaved across the awning frame. Potted plants line the base of the building and entryway near where the men stand. In the far left, the back of a horse traveling in the street near men patronizing a vendor's stand at the side of the flower store is visible. In the far right, signage for the adjacent business is partially visible. Florist Maximilian F. La Roche partnered with his brother-in-law Batlhazar Stahl in 1878. The partnership also managed several large greenhouses in Collingdale, Pa., which specialized in chrysanthemums and roses. Previously, La Roche had operated his own floral business in Philadelphia beginning circa 1876 when he purchased Brooker & Co. at 1319 Chestnut Street. La Roche removed his store to 1237 Chestnut in 1881. Stahl, who was in charge of the retail business, left the partnership circa 1898 when he started his own business at 27 South Eleventh Street., Title supplied by cataloguer., Date inferred from the attire of the men included in image.
Date: [ca. 1890]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - unidentified - Business - L [P.2008.11.6]

Title: Mae
Description: Depicts a young girl eating with a spoon. An apple, a porcelain stein, two cups and a bread basket surround her plate of food on the covered table., Photographer's imprint from blind stamp, l.l., Title from inscription on mount., Label on mount reads: "There was a young woman and what do you think, She lived upon nothing but VICTUALS & DRINK;", Forms part of the Robert S. Redfield collection., Gift of Alfred G. Redfield.
Creator: Redfield, Robert S., 1849-1923, photographer
Date: September 3rd, 1887
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - Redfield [P.8983.6]

Title: Mae
Description: Depicts a young girl drinking from a tin cup. An apple, a porcelain stein and a bread basket surround a plate of food on the covered table., Photographer's blind stamp lower left corner., Title from inscription on mount., Label on mount reads: "VICTUALS & DRINK were the chief of her diet, And yet this young woman scarce ever was quiet.", Forms part of the Robert S. Redfield collection., Gift of Alfred G. Redfield.
Creator: Redfield, Robert S., 1849-1923, photographer
Date: September 3rd, 1887
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - Redfield [P.8983.7]

Title: [Unidentified young woman]
Description: Bust-length painted portrait of a young woman. Her curly hair is pulled back from her face. Underneath her ruffled white collar is a pink rose., Pad: Dark burgundy velvet., Mat: Oval., Case: Leather., Gold-toned pendant., Gift of Charles Lea Hudson, Ann L. Salmon, and Mathew C. Hudson.
Date: ca. 1890
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Cased photos [P.2006.32.16]

Title: Millie Christine, "the Two Headed Nightengale."
Description: Full-length portrait of the African American conjoined twins and performers posed near an arm chair. The women are attired in a long-sleeved damask dress with front ruching. Each wears a lace neckerchief, an adornment in her hair, and earrings. Millie (on the left) holds a fan in her hands. A backdrop illustrated with a changing screen is visible in the background. The twins were born in Whiteville, North Carolina on July 11, 1851, to Jacob and Monemia McKoy who were enslaved to Jabez McKay. Various enslavers and managers exhibited the twins nationally and internationally. By the end of the 1880s, the twins retired to a farm in their home state of North Carolina., Title printed on mount., Photographer's imprint printed on mount., Date inferred from address of photographer., See History and medical description of the two-headed girl:...(Buffalo, N.Y.: Warren, Johnson, & Co., 1869). (LCP Am 1869 Hist, 70318.D)., Lib. Company. Annual report, 2015, p.42-43., Purchase 2015., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., RVCDC, Horace Ollivier operated his studio from 466 5th Avenue between 1889 and 1903.
Creator: Ollivier, Horace, photographer
Date: [ca. 1889]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cabinet card - sitter - Millie [P.2015.23.2]

Title: [Older African American man seated on donkey]
Description: Depicts an older African American man, possibly a sharecropper, sitting on a donkey. The man has gray hair and stubble and is attired in a hat, and a torn and worn collared coat, pants, and shoes. He sits on a worn saddle and hold the reins to the donkey. Within the fenced in farmyard is a shed made from planks of board, a plow, and more farming equipment. Trees are visible in the background., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred by photograph medium and content., Gift of James Tanis, 2001., 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. 1890]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department portrait photographs - unidentified male [P.9978.2]

Title: Bits of color
Description: Full-length portrait of three barefooted African American children, attired in torn and worn clothing, sitting in the doorway of a clapboard house in Roanoke, Virginia., Date from manuscript note written on mount: #351 Roanoke VA May 29, 1883., Photographer's blind stamp on recto., Forms part of the Robert S. Redfield collection., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Gift of Alfred G. Redfield, 1983.
Creator: Redfield, Robert S., 1849-1923, photographer
Date: [May 29, 1883]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - Redfield [P.8983.22]

Title: [Unidentified elderly African American man]
Description: Three-quarter length portrait of an African American man seated in a wooden Windsor chair in front of the doorway of a house with walls that are cracked with exposed wood. Sitter, wearing white hair and sideburns and attired in a white shirt, a dark-colored jacket and pants, and a dark-colored coat with paint splatters on the elbow and sleeves, holds a hat in his hand as he looks directly at the viewer., Title supplied by cataloger., Originally part of a S.W. Dwayne scrapbook., 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. 1885]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department portrait photographs - unidentified male [8836.Q.1]

Title: [Portrait of Millie and Christine McCoy]
Description: Full-length portrait of the African American co-joined twins and performers. The women are attired in striped-patterned shirtwaists, a white ankle-length skirt with a black lace overlay, and black high-heeled boots with white stripes. Each wears a white neckerchief, and an adornment in her pulled back hair. Millie (on the left) holds a white fan in her hands. A backdrop and ornate, wooden pedestal with a book resting on it are visible in the background. The end of a drape partially covers the book. In the left, another wooden prop is partially visible. The twins, born enslaved, were exhibited nationally and internationally under various owners and managers. By the end of the 1880s the twins retired to a farm in their home state of North Carolina., Title supplied by cataloger., Photographer's imprint printed on mount., Date inferred from age of sitters and active dates of photographer in New York., Printed on verso: I was born in the State of North Carolina, Columbus Co., Anno Domini, 1851. And pronounced by scientists to be the 8th wonder of the world. / 'Tis not modest of one's self to speak,/ Buts, daily scanned from head to feet,/ I freely talk of everything,/ Sometimes to persons wondering./ Some people say I must be two!/The doctors say it is not true,/Some cry out humbug, till they see,/ And then exclaim, "great mystery."/ Two heads, four arms, four feet,/ All in one perfect body meet./I am most wonderfully made, /All scientific men have said./ None like me since the days of Eve,/ None such perhaps shall ever live./ If marvel to myself am I,/Why not to all pass me by?/ I am happy too, because content;/ For some wise purpose I was sent./ Our maker knows what he has done,/ Whether I'm created two or one./ Respectfully, Millie Christine. The Carolina twin, surnamed the 2-headed Nightingale., Mount trimmed., See History and Medical Description of the Two-Headed Girl:...(Buffalo, N.Y.: Warren, Johnson, & Co., 1869). (LCP Am 1869 Hist, 70318.D)., See LCP AR (Annual Report) 2015, p.42-43., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 2018, p. 61., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Horace Ollivier operated a New York studio beginning around 1881 at 779 Broadway.
Creator: Ollivier, Horace, photographer
Date: [ca. 1881]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits - sitter - Millie [P.2018.28]

Title: [Young African American man, possibly Jerry Stevens an enslaved man, at Raceland Plantation, Dinwiddie, Virginia]
Description: Full-length portrait of an African American man, attired in a brimmed hat, a long-sleeved shirt, and pants with large tears and holes, holding a wooden plow over his shoulder. He stands in front of a wooden building and to the left of a wooden door. In the right is a white dog with its back to the viewer., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from photographic medium and content., Purchase 2011., 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.
Date: 1885
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department portrait photographs - miscellaneous - Stevens [P.2011.16]

Title: [Robert Purvis]
Description: Bust profile portrait of the Philadelphia African American abolitionist during his later years. Shows Purvis with white hair, wearing mutton chops, and attired in a jacket and bow tie. Purvis was a founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society and the Library Company of Colored People, as well as a president of the Pennsylvania Anti-slavery Society and a vice-president of the woman's Suffrage Society., Title supplied by cataloger., Mount trimmed with the upper edge of three letters of the name of the publisher barely visible., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund.
Date: [ca. 1890]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Cabinet Cards - Sitter - P [P.2014.31]

Title: Isaac Lea, 1792-1886
Description: Hand-tinted portrait of Isaac Lea with a full head of white hair, a wide white mustache and a full white beard. He has a steady, straight gaze., Pad: Brown silk., Mat: Ornamented square., Case: The leather case measures 4 1/2 x 5 1/4. No design., The folding leather case was designed to permit the portrait to stand up or be hung. See Research File for biographical information about Isaac Lea., Gift of Charles Lea Hudson, Ann L. Salmon, and Mathew C. Hudson.
Date: ca. 1880
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Cased photos [P.2006.32.12]

Title: [Unidentified young African American woman]
Description: Full-length portrait of a young African American woman standing and resting her left hand on the balustrade behind her. She wears her hair tied behind her head and is attired in a fur cap and a long-sleeved dress which has large, decorative buttons that are placed in the middle and run the length of the dress flanked on either side with pleated ruffles with two rows of ruffles around the base of the skirt. In the right is a table covered in a tablecloth and a drape which hangs down., Title supplied by cataloger., Photographer's imprint including vignette and business advertisement stamped on verso., Purchase 2001., 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., Parlor Galleries operated at 523 South 9th Street from 1876 to 1885.
Creator: Parlor Gallery (Firm), photographer
Date: [ca. 1881]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits – photographer – Parlor [P.9900.12]

Title: [Employees of the Philadelphia Grain Elevator Company's Twentieth Street elevator]
Description: Depicts a group portrait of nine employees of the Philadelphia Grain Elevator Company at Twentieth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in Philadelphia, Pa. posed before the grain storage facility. In the left, two white men employees stand in an open doorway underneath the sign, "The Phila. Grain Elevator Co’s. Twentieth St., Elevator." An African American man, holding his bowler hat in his hand, and another white man stand in front of the doorway. An African American man, holding his bowler hat in his hand, and two white men, stand in the center. In the right, an African American man, attired in a brimmed hat, a striped shirt, a waistcoat, torn pants, and shoes, stands with his hands at his side. A barefooted white boy, attired in a long-sleeved white shirt and pants with suspenders, looks at the viewer. Behind him is a horse-drawn cart with two horses resting under grain chutes near an open entranceway. The cloth chutes are labeled, "Philadelphia Seamless." The Philadelphia Grain Elevator Company was incorporated in 1878 and engaged in the operation of a rail terminal elevator for the exporting and importing of grain., Title supplied by cataloger., Date based on the operation of the business and the attire of the sitters., Gift of Chester County Historical Society, 1991., 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 Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [ca. 1890]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department group portrait photographs - occupations - Philadelphia Grain Elevator Co. [P.9325.1]

Title: [Unidentified African American woman]
Description: Three-quarter length portrait of a young woman wearing her hair parted in the middle and tied behind her head with long curly bangs and attired in a shirtwaist with buttons down the bodice and a long skirt. She sits facing slightly left with her left arm resting on the chair's armrest, which is decorated with a patterned fabric and fringe. Her right hand rests on her lap., Title supplied by cataloger., Photographer's imprint stamped on verso., Possibly by Philadelphia photographer Isaac G. Tyson., Slightly discolored and faded., Purchase 2000., 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. 1885]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits - photographer - Tyson [P.9853.1]

Title: [Three-quarter length portrait of an unidentified African American man]
Description: Three-quarter length portrait of an African American man standing with his hands behind his back facing slightly left. He is attired in a white collared shirt, a bowtie, a waistcoat, a jacket, and pants. His jacket is adorned with a ribbon on his lapel, and there is a watch chain on his waistcoat, both decorated with metal stars, possibly signifying his membership within a fraternal lodge., Title supplied by cataloger., Mount contains gold border., Gift of Mrs. Barbara Jacobsen, 1988., Image slightly out of focus., 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 Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Graeff, photographer
Date: [ca. 1890]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cabinet card portraits - photographer - Graeff [P.9216]

Title: [Henry Ward Beecher]
Description: Bust-length portrait of the prominent Brooklyn preacher and abolitionist. Beecher, wearing his hair slightly over his collar and attired in a white collared shirt, a black tie, a jacket, and a coat with velvet lapels, faces slightly right., Title from manuscript note on verso., Date inferred from presented age of the sitter., Mount contains red border., Gift of Richard P. Morgan, 1996., 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., Sarony, the leading photographer of celebrity portrait cabinet cards in the 1870s and 1880s, paid the highest sitter fees of the time and often acted as artistic designer rather than technician of the portraits.
Creator: Sarony, Napoleon, 1821-1896, photographer
Date: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cabinet card portraits - sitter - Beecher [P.9516.1]

Title: [Henry Ward Beecher]
Description: Bust-length portrait of the prominent Brooklyn preacher and abolitionist. Beecher, wearing his hair slightly over his collar and attired in a white collared shirt, a black tie, a jacket, and a coat with velvet lapels, faces slightly right., Title from manuscript note on verso., Mount contains red border., Image slightly faded., Gift of Dr. Milton and Joan Wohl, 1991., 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., Sarony, the leading photographer of celebrity portrait cabinet cards in the 1870s and 1880s, paid the highest sitter fees of the time and often acted as artistic designer rather than technician of the portraits.
Creator: Sarony, Napoleon, 1821-1896, photographer
Date: [ca. 1880]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cabinet card portraits - sitter - Beecher [P.9363.41]

Title: [Full-length portrait of an unidentified young African American man]
Description: Full-length portrait of an African American man, attired in a white collared shirt, a pin-striped waistcoat with a watch chain and jacket, lighter-colored pin-striped pants, and shoes. He stands and holds a bowler hat in his right hand and rests his left hand on a chair draped with an animal fur. He is posed in front of a painted backdrop and looks at the viewer., Title supplied by cataloger., Manuscript note on verso: 6420., Purchase 2001., 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 Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Grier, Andrew A., photographer
Date: [ca. 1890]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cabinet card portraits - photographer - Grier [P.9930.4]

Title: [ Edward Evertt Hale]
Description: Half-length portrait of the abolitionist, reformer, Unitarian minister, and author. Hale, wearing a white beard and attired in a white collared shirt, a bowtie, a waistcoat, and a jacket, faces slightly left. Hale authored abolitionist tracts about the admission of western territories as free states., Title supplied by cataloger., Photographer's imprint with insignia stamped on recto and verso., Gift of Dr. Milton and Joan Wohl, 1991., 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: Gutekunst, Frederick, 1831-1917, photographer
Date: [ca. 1885]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cabinet card portraits - sitter - Hale [P.9363.33]

Title: A pot hunter
Description: Portrait depicting an African American man, with his back to the viewer, as he climbs over a fence on a snow-covered landscape. The man, attired in a brimmed hat, a coat, pants, and boots, holds a rifle in his right hand and a dead possum by its tail in the left hand., Title from lantern slide at Staten Island New York Historical Society., Gift of Elsie Wood Harmon, 1982., 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 Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Wood, a Philadelphia artist and traveler, turned to photography in the 1880s, exhibiting his work, including genre studies of African Americans, at several national and international photography exhibitions. His photographs often won prizes.
Creator: Wood, George Bacon, 1832-1909, photographer
Date: [ca. 1888]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - Wood [P.8743.182]

Title: Tallahasse, Florida
Description: Portrait of an African American man and woman seated in the doorway of a wooden cabin made of boards. In the left, the woman, attired in a head kerchief, a long-sleeved quilted shirt, a torn and worn skirt, an apron, and shoes, sits and looks at the viewer. In the right, the older man, attired in a head kerchief, a torn and worn long-sleeved shirt, a vest, pants, and open-toed shoes, sits with his right leg propped on a log., Title from manuscript note by photographer on verso., Gift of Elsie Wood Harmon, 1982., 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., Wood, a Philadelphia artist, turned to photography in the 1880s exhibiting his work, including genre studies of African Americans, at national and international photography exhibitions. His photographs won several prizes.
Creator: Wood, George Bacon, 1832-1909, photographer
Date: [ca. 1885]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Photographs-Wood [P.8743.183]

Title: We uses pears soap fo' de complexun
Description: Racist scene depicting three young African American girls in summer dresses sitting on a fence inscribed with chalk in the vernacular, "We Uses Pears Soap fo' de Complexun." The girl in the left, attired in a long-sleeved, cotton dress and shoes, sits with her left hand on her knee and her right hand on her lap. In the middle, the barefooted girl, attired in a striped, long-sleeved cotton dress, smiles with her feet crossed and resting her hands on her lap. In the right, the girl, wearing long, curly hair and attired in a long-sleeved cotton dress with fraying at the bottom, striped stockings, and shoes, rests her hands on her lap and looks at the viewer. Andrew Pears first produced and sold Pears soap in 1807. In 1835, his grandson Francis Pears joined the business, and the firm was renamed A. & F. Pears. Lever Brothers purchased the firm in 1920., Title from item., Gift Elsie Wood Harmon, 1982., 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 Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Wood, a Philadelphia artist, turned to photography in the 1880s exhibiting his work, including genre studies of African Americans, at national and international photography exhibitions. His photographs won several prizes.
Creator: Wood, George Bacon, 1832-1909, photographer
Date: [ca. 1886]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - Wood [P.8743.186]

Title: [Portrait of five African American men attired in uniforms, probably band uniforms]
Description: Full-length portrait depicting the five young African American men, standing in a row, in a studio setting. The men on either end are slightly angled toward the man in the middle. The men have short-cropped hair, some with it parted in the middle. One man also has a mustache. The men are attired in white high collar shirts; bow ties; three-buttoned, dark jackets with flourishes across the chest and on the arms; and dark pants. One man (second from right) wears a black bow tie, while the others wear white ones. The man in the middle wears his jacket unbuttoned, while the others have theirs buttoned. Setting includes a palatial backdrop, a balustrade covered in drapery (in left), the edge of a platform (in right), and a fur rug on which the men stand., Title supplied by cataloger., Photographer's imprint with insignia printed on mount. Insignia composed of H.W. monogram with flourishes., Date inferred from years (1888-1892) photographer operated at address listed in imprint., Printed on verso: Harry A. Webb, art photographer, 112 and 114 N. 9th St., Philadelphia. Instantaneous process used exclusively. All negatives preserved. Duplicates, enlargements, or lockets. Can be furnished without resitting. Text surrounded by and within pictorial details. Details resemble pine needles, banners, and a circular ornament. The text and pictorial elements are within an ornamented border composed with bark-like details and ornate cornices adorned with floral twigs., Description reviewed 2022., Access points revised 2022., Harry A. Webb, born in England, worked in Philadelphia as a photographer by 1880. He continued in the profession through 1900. By the time of his death in 1927, he worked as a clerk for William H. Horstmann, a dress trimmings, military and regalia manufactory.
Creator: Webb, Harry A., 1847-1927, photographer
Date: [ca. 1890]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cabinet card portraits - photographer - Webb [P.2017.40]

Title: "Dat corn takes a might site a hoe'in"
Description: Depicts an older African American man, attired in torn and worn clothing, exiting through the doorway of his wooden house carrying a hoe. The man, wearing white hair and a white beard and attired in a top hat, a white shirt, a waistcoat, a torn coat, torn pants with patches, and shoes, steps down his front stairs of the dilapidated house. In front of the house is a stool with a basket on top, a broom, a small table with a wooden bushel and a bowl, and a cup rests on the windowsill., Title from manuscript note on verso., Variant of prize winner at the Philadelphia Photographic Society Exhibition 1886., Gift of Elsie Wood Harmon, 1982., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Frances Orlando's "George Bacon Wood, photographer of the 1880's: an introduction to the Wood Collection in the Library Company of Philadelphia." (Master's thesis, Philadelphia College of Art, 1985), p. 41., 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., Wood, a Philadelphia artist, turned to photography in the 1880s exhibiting his work, including genre studies of African Americans, at national and international photography exhibition. His photographs won prizes.
Creator: Wood, George Bacon, 1832-1909, photographer
Date: [ca. 1888]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - Wood [P.8743.181]

Title: Pundita Ramabai and her little girl
Description: Full-length portrait of Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati, the Indian social reformer, educator, and Bible translator, with her daughter Manorama Medhavi. Ramabai wears her dark hair parted in the middle and tied back and is attired in a light-colored dress and a long shawl draped over her shoulder and lap. Her daughter Manorama wears her dark hair parted in the middle and curled with a headband and is attired in a long-sleeved dress with embroidered leaves decorating the collar, chest, cuffs, waist, and hem; dark-colored stockings; and button-up boots. Ramabai is seated, and Manorama stands in the left and leans and places her hands on her mother's lap. Ramabai's left hand holds Manorama's left wrist. Both look slightly to the left. Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati was born into a Brahmin family in India. She became a Sanskrit scholar, and in 1878, Calcutta University conferred on her the titles of Pandita and Sarasvati in recognition of her knowledge of various Sanskrit works. She married Bipin Behari Medhvi, a Bengali lawyer, who died in 1882. She traveled to Britain and converted to Christianity. She toured and lectured in the United States and Canada raising money for destitute Indian women. She advocated for women's rights and opened Mukti Mission, a school for child-widows. Manorama Medhavi was educated at the Community of St. Mary the Virgin, Chesbrough Seminary, and earned a degree from Bombay University. She assisted her mother at the Mukti Mission until her death in 1921., Title and date from manuscript note written on verso., Photographer's imprint printed on mount under the image and on verso., Printed label on verso: Ramabai's Daughter. Manorama, the daughter of Pundita Ramabai, who returned to India last fall, has become her mother's prime minister. Manorama has graduated in June 1900, at the A.M. Chessborough Seminary, North Chili, N.Y. She was at the head of her class, received honors, and was awarded the prize by the board of regents of New York University. Professor and Mrs. Roberts, principals of the seminary, speak with unqualified praise of her ability, strength of character, good judgment, and devotion to her chosen work. Her self-poise and yet utter unconsciousness of self charmed all who met her. She has joined in her mother's work for child-widows with a spirit of consecration and a degree of energy remarkable in a girl not yet out of her teens. -- Woman's Journal.
Creator: Gutekunst, Frederick, 1831-1917, photographer
Date: [ca. 1887]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cabinet card portraits - sitter - Ramabai [P.8654.4]

Title: Eminent women Mary A. Livermore. Sara Jewett. Grace A. Oliver. Helen Hunt. Nora Perry. Lucy Larcom. Frances Hodgson Burnett. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps. Louise Chandler Moulton. Louisa M. Alcott. Julia Ward Howe. Harriet Beecher Stowe
Description: Composite photograph created through the "paste-up" technique of cut-up negatives that are arranged, pasted together, and then rephotographed to present a realistic scene. Depicts a group of eminent Victorian women, including authors, writers, and women's rights, temperance, and abolitionist movements advocates, "posed" in the Montreal residence of railway financier George Stephens. Sitters (left to right), in the background, and standing, include: Mary A. Livermore; Sara Jewett; Grace A. Oliver; Helen Hunt; Nora Perry; Lucy Larcom; and Frances Hodgson Burnett. Sitters (left to right), in the foreground, and seated, include: Elizabeth Stuart Phelps; Louise Chandler Moulton; Louisa M. Alcott; Julia Ward Howe; and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Backdrop interior imagery shows parts of the reception hall, drawing room, stairwell, and conservatory of the Stephens' residence. Vases, a mantel, light fixtures, drapery, and a fountain are included in the backdrop. Pictorial details of foliage and a pond surround the portrait within a circular frame. Canadian photographer William Notman created the original portrait negatives used in the composite created by L'Africain. Notman was known for his innovative photography and his studio specialized in composite photographs by the 1870s. This image was also distributed "compliments" of the Travelers Insurance Company of Hartford, CT., Title from item., Date in negative in lower right corner., Name of photographer and publisher from imprint in negative and printed on mount and verso., Name of artist in negative in right corner., Sitter's names in title depicted with a single dot between first, middle, and last names and with double dots between full names., Copyrighted., Photographer and publisher's illustrated imprint printed on verso: W. Notman. The Notman Photographic Co. Limited. 3 Park Street, Boston, Mass. Also at 48 North Pearl St. Albany, N. Y. Saratoga, N. Y. Newport, R. I. Illustration depicts an objet d'art composed of a crown, foliage, banners, scrolls, coat of arms, and exhibition medals, including from the Centennial Exhibition of 1876. Image also contains text, including: "Honi Soit Qui Mal [Y Pens]e. Photographer to Her Majesty. Montreal." Imprint surrounded by ornately-designed border including lavishly-ornamented cornices., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch Women’s History Fund., Lib. Company. Annual report, 2016, p. 64-66., Description reviewed 2022., Access points reviewed 2022.
Creator: Notman Photo Co. (Boston, Mass.)
Date: 1884
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cabinet card portraits - photo - Notman [P.2016.73]

Title: Franklin W. Kohler bicycling events 1884
Description: Scrapbook of local newspaper and sports periodical clippings compiled by competitive Philadelphia bicyclist Frank W. Kohler, predominantly about his cycling pursuits and achievements, and involvement with the Pennsylvania Bicycle Club. Clippings describe local and regional bicycle tournaments and meets, including the exhibition at Jumbo Park in South Philadelphia and the second annual meet of the Pennsylvania Division League of American Wheelmen (1884); time records broken by Kohler and his peers, including the "Lancaster Pike" (1886); Pennsylvania Bicycle Club cycling tours, including to Baltimore (1884), Niagara (1885), and upstate New York (1888); and the history of the Pennsylvania Bicycle Club. Also contains various bicycle club event and race programs (some annotated with times), including for the West Philadelphia Athletic Association and Buffalo Bicycle Club; prize ribbons; a sign up sheet for a two week tour to Dingman’s Ferry organized by Kohler in August 1888; a pencil sketch titled “The Way the Victors get There Moral. Buy a____?" showing a bicyclist and his bicycle in a horse-drawn wagon; an invitation to the 1888 opening of the new building of the Pennsylvania Bicycle Club (3940-42 Girard Avenue); menus for club banquets; and two inscribed photographs. Photographs show a group portrait of the club in front of the "Penna. Bicycle Club House Philada Pa. 1884 [sic]" at Girard Avenue and racers lined up to start the "2 mile race won by F.W. Kohler" in Fairmount Park on September 14, 1884., Other ephemera includes tickets to the Columbian Exposition (1893); golf score cards for Griffith Park, Los Angeles (1918); and an 1893 "Street Railway Review" article about Kohler and his brother G. A. (possibly the Albert Kohler cited in some clippings) managing the Eddy Electric Manufacturing Company. Articles clipped from the "L.A.W (League of American Wheelman) Bulletin"; "The Philadelphia Press"; and "The American Athlete." Authors include Ninon Neckar., Title from plate on front cover., Brown morocco binding., Front free end paper inscribed: Bicycling., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., LCP AR [Annual Report], p. 55-56., Binding in poor condition. Album housed in phase box., Frank W. Kohler (b. 1861), son of prominent Philadelphia bookbinder Ignatius Kohler (1817-1901), worked in his father's trade, was a premier amateur bicyclist, and member of the Pennsylvania Bicycle Club. Kohler served as First Lieutenant of the club founded in 1882 in West Philadelphia; held club speed records; and organized cycling tours of its members. By 1893, Kohler had relocated to Chicago and operated the Eddy Electric Manufacturing Company with his brother G. A. Kohler.
Creator: Kohler, Frank W., b. 1861
Date: 1884-1926, bulk 1884-1888
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums - Kohler [P.9414]

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