Pawson & Nicholson Photograph Album
Title
Pawson & Nicholson Photograph Album
Description
Photograph album compiled by James B. Nicholson containing predominantly portrait photographs of prominent local and national members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and their families, including men, women, and children. Photographs depict full-length, bust-length, and vignette portraits; group portraiture; and collages. Several male sitters wear the regalia of the Odd Fellows and most sitters are fashionably attired. Group portraiture depicts employees of Pawson and Nicholson in front of the bookbinding shop (139 S. Seventh), and rosters and meetings and excursions of members of the fraternal organization (1870s-1880s), including Warrior Lodge, no. 873. Collages include portraits of the Rulafson family of San Francisco and examples of work from the respected photographic firm Bradley & Rulafson. Also includes images of the photography department and sculpture at the Centennial Exhibition (1876); photographic reproductions of a Sir Walter Scott manuscript donated to the Sanitary Fair (1864), and an Odd Fellow membership certificate and medal; and a John Sartain engraved portrait of "E. Grand Captain General of Pennsylvania" Varhan Smith.
Photograph album
Title
Photograph album
Description
Photograph album compiled by James B. Nicholson containing predominantly portrait photographs of prominent local and national members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and their families, including men, women, and children. Photographs depict full-length, bust-length, and vignette portraits; group portraiture; and collages. Several male sitters wear the regalia of the Odd Fellows and most sitters are fashionably attired. Group portraiture depicts employees of Pawson and Nicholson in front of the bookbinding shop (139 S. Seventh), and rosters and meetings and excursions of members of the fraternal organization (1870s-1880s), including Warrior Lodge, no. 873. Collages include portraits of the Rulafson family of San Francisco and examples of work from the respected photographic firm Bradley & Rulafson. Also includes images of the photography department and sculpture at the Centennial Exhibition (1876); photographic reproductions of a Sir Walter Scott manuscript donated to the Sanitary Fair (1864), and an Odd Fellow membership certificate and medal; and a John Sartain engraved portrait of "E. Grand Captain General of Pennsylvania" Varhan Smith., Sitters include James B. Nicholson (often attired in regalia), his wife Adelaide, and sons Clarence and celebrated Civil War Colonel John Page; James Alexander Bartram ("first cousin of my father");; Past Grand Master George F. Borie; orator Henry Armitt Brown; Nicholson's partner James Pawson; Pennsylvania state senator George D. Jackson; businessman and District Deputy Grand Master, Clarion County Ruloff Ruloffson; Philadelphia businessman and Grand Treasurer M. Richards Muckle; Grand Sire Samuel H. Perkins; Past Grand Master Francis M. Rea; "Grand Master" Alfred R. Potter; the family of Past Grand Master Samuel Haworth; and "Gutekunst's daughter" attired in a costume., Green morocco binding., Spine stamped: Photographs., Photographers identified by inscriptions on album page., Several sitters identified by inscriptions on album page. Many noted as "Deceased.", Multiple portraits arranged as collages on many of the album pages., Various photographers include W. H. Bennett, P. E. Chillman, Frederick Gutekunst, and David Lothrop., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Album housed in phase box with index to sitters., James Bartram Nicholson was a premier Philadelphia bookbinder in the partnership Pawson & Nicholson established in 1848. He was also a prominent member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows serving as a Grand Sire (1863-1864), grand scribe, and grand secretary (1863-1901), as well as authored "I.O.O.F.: The Story of 65 or The History of the Grand Lodge of the United States... (1896)." He married Adelaide Broadnix (b. ca. 1822) in 1841 and with her had three sons, Colonel John Page (1842-1922), Howard B. (b. ca. 1855) and bookbinder Clarence S. Nicholson (b. ca. 1858) and a daughter Eliza (b. ca. 1852).
Creator
Nicholson, James Bartram, 1820-1901
Date
ca. 1853-ca. 1880
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums [P.9080]
American Celebrities Albums
Title
American Celebrities Albums
Description
Two volume set of albums containing predominately cartes-de-visite photographic portraits of prominent American 19th-century figures in politics, education, and the arts, ca. 1870.
Date
1869
American celebrities album
Title
American celebrities album
Description
Two volume set of albums containing predominately cartes de visite photographic portraits of prominent American 19th-century figures in politics, education, and the arts. Portraits depict actors, artists, authors, Congressmen, educators, governors, military leaders, physicians, publishers, religious leaders, social reformers, scientists, and U.S. presidents and their spouses. Includes mostly vignette and bust-length portraits and a small number of full length portraits. Also contains a small number of trimmed portrait engravings, tintypes, and a photo-collage depicting evangelist D. L. Moody with the under photograph copyrighted 1877. Small number of sitters are unidentified., Men sitters include P. T. Barnum; Henry Ward Beecher; John Brown; Ned Buntline; Samuel Clemens; Jefferson Davis; O. S. Fowler; Oliver Wendell Holmes; Abraham Lincoln; Samuel Morse; Thomas Nast; Hiram Powers; Winfield Scott; Gerrit Smith; Cornelius Vanderbilt; John Wanamaker; Brigham Young; Native American chiefs Ouray, Spotted Tail, and Sitting Bull; and African Americans Frederick Douglass and performer "Blind" Tom. Women sitters include presidential spouses Frances Cleveland and Lucretia Garfield; reformers Susan B. Anthony and Victoria Woodhull; authors Louisa May Alcott, Helen Hunt (Jackson), Harriet Beecher Stowe; sculptors Harriet Hosmer and Vinnie Ream; and performers Maria Albani, Charlotte Cushman, and Kate Field., Title from item's cover., Photographers include Mathew Brady, E. & H. T. Anthony; Jeremiah Gurney; and George Kendall Warren., Majority of sitters identified by a manuscript note on the album page or on portrait or an inscribed label., Brown leather bindings with gilt, stamped in gilt on front boards: Volume I: American Celebrities. Vol. I.; Volume II: American Celebrities. Vol. II. Stamped in gilt on spines: Album., Purchase 1985., 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., See "American Celebrities Album" item-level records for digital images of all identified individual sitters.
Date
[ca. 1870-ca. 1890]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums [P.9100.1 & 2]
[Stevens-Cogdell and Sanders-Venning and Chew families miscellaneous portraits collection]
Title
[Stevens-Cogdell and Sanders-Venning and Chew families miscellaneous portraits collection]
Description
Collection of photographs, several unidentified, of members of the African American middle-class Steven-Cogdell and Sanders-Venning and Chew family of Philadelphia, as well as their extended families and friends. Includes predominantly studio portraiture, including a portrait of William H. Chew (P.2013.14.10), in addition to two miniatures (possibly members of the Cogdell family) and a casual group photograph. Also includes a small number of photographs representing the African American expatriate entertainers' community in Paris in the 1930s; a group portrait of the “Soap Box Minstrels, Musical Fund Hall, December 7, 1909”; and a group portrait with possibly George Washington Musgrave. Minstrel show photograph depicts performers in black face and African American musicians on a stage in front of which a row of African American performers, some in costume and some in tuxedoes, is seated. George Venning and his brother-in-law William Holden were founders of the Soap Box Social in 1908. The Soap Box Social performed an annual minstrel show in the aughts as a fundraiser for the Citizens Republican Club, a social and political club of African American elite men started in 1884. The club’s mission focused on the election of African Americans into public office., Blackface minstrelsy is a popular entertainment form, originating in the United States in the mid-19th century and remaining in American life through the 20th century. The form is based around stereotypical and racist portrayals of African Americans, including mocking dialect, parodic lyrics, and the application of Black face paint; all designed to portray African Americans as othered subjects of humor and disrespect. Blackface was a dominant form for theatrical and musical performances for decades, both on stage and in private homes., Identified sitters include Ivan H. Browning, Edward W. Venning, Sallie Venning (Holden), Turner Layton, Clarence Johnstone, Thomas "Fats" Waller, and Ada "Bricktop" Smith., Title supplied by cataloger., Date from content., Various photographers, including L. Blaul, African American photographer G. W. Cheston, Flett, J. E. Forbert, O. B. De Morat, S. Georges Ltd, Studio di Art, Sol Young Studios, and Suddards & Fennemore., P.2013.14.12 contains manuscript note on verso: My Honey, My Wife, My All., P.2013.14.15 contains manuscript note on recto: To two regular fellows “Bill & Agnes” Ivan Browning, Paris, France, 1932., P.2013.14.16 contains manuscript note on recto: To The Agnes, Bill, Gene Upshur, With Warmest Wishes, Turner Layton. C.T. Johnstone., P.2013.14.17 contains manuscript note on recto: To Mr. & Mrs. Chew. With Tons of Good Wishes for Every Joy & Oceans of Happiness. Layton & Johnstone., P.2013.14.19 contains manuscript note on recto identifying the sitters: Unknown; [Us.?] Browning; Snow; Unknown; Fats Waller; Unknown; Bricktop., P.2013.14.20 contains manuscript note in ink on recto identifying the sitters: Unknown; Fats; [Mau?]; [Mask?]; Bricktop; Uncle John; Unknown; Ms. Chew; Susan Williams; Unknown; Maureen Browning; Mr. Anson; Ms. Hinkson; Dr. Hinkson; Mr. Chew; Mr. Browning; Unknown. Also contains manuscript note on recto: To Uncle John-Don’t get your derby knocked off. Thomas “Fats” Waller; Uncle John, I think your great & how. Bricktop., See Lib. Company Annual Report, 1991, p. 26-31., Gift of descendants Cordelia H. Brown, Lillie V. Dickerson, Mary Hinkson Jackson, and Georgine E. Willis in honor of Phil Lapsansky., See LCP exhibit catalogue: African American Miscellany p. 45., Genealogical charts available at repository., Description of blackface mintrelsy from Dorothy Berry, Descriptive Equity and Clarity around Blackface Minstrelsy in H(arvard) T(heater) C(ollection) Collections, 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., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Date
[ca. 1800-1932]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Stevens-Cogdell/Sanders-Venning Collection [P.2013.14]
Portrait photograph album of Mary McPhilomy
Title
Portrait photograph album of Mary McPhilomy
Description
Photographs predominantly depict the acquaintances and relatives of the McPhilomy family of Philadelphia, including men, women, and children. Most are bust-length portraits, with a number of full-length portraits, including a couple in bathing wear, children in sailor suits, and women fashionably attired and holding fans and purses. Many of the women and girls wear jewelry. Also includes images of a priest, a nun, a display of religious floral decorations; a sepulchral monument; a religious allegorical scene; a reproduction of a framed testimonial with portrait photograph vignettes; and a photo-collage portrait showing a man driving a horse-drawn wagon., Sitters include Mary, John and Frank McPhilomy; Rev. Mother Louis Gonzaga of the Sisters of Notre Dame (Boston); members of the Logue family, including Charles Logue; David Mulcahy (died March 31, 1876); Al. Schaff; members of the Bradford family, including John Bradford; John Keenan; members of the Sacriste family, including Mr. and Mrs. Sacriste and Hortense Sacriste White., Chromolithographed title page: The Photographic Album. Philadelphia. J.B. Lippincott & Co., [ca. 1875]., Embossed leather binding with gold stamping., Spine embossed and stamped: Photographs., Inscribed: To Miss Mamie McPhilomy with compliments of the season, Dec 25 1875. D.P.M. E.S.C., Various photographers, including A. P. Beecher of Wilmington, De.; L. S. Griffin of Jersey City, N.J. and B. Frank Saylor & Co. of Lancaster, Pa. and Philadelphia photographers, including George W. Evans, Gilbert & Bacon, and O. B. De Morat., Several sitters identified by inscriptions on mount or album page. Some misidentified due to the relocation and removal of photographs., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Binding in poor condition. Album housed in phase box.
Creator
McPhilomy, Mary
Date
ca. 1865-ca. 1920, bulk ca. 1865-ca. 1875
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums [P.2007.17]