© Copyright 2020 - The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1314 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. TEL (215) 546-3181 FAX (215) 546-5167
For inquiries, please contact our IT Department
- Title
- Great Central Depot, southwest corner of 7th and Market Streets
- Description
- Men looking in windows of shop with comments in speech balloons. William Brown, prop., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, with corrections.
- Date
- ca. 1850
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *Ph Pr - Business - Grand Central Depot [P.9178.16]
- Title
- American & Howe pin companies' adamantine pins
- Description
- Pin label containing pictorial details, ornate borders, and filigree. Details include urns, gargoyles, and a vase. American Pin Company established in 1846 and Howe Manufacturing Company established in 1833 operated the only pin manufactories in the United States in Connecticut by 1848., Printed on flaps: American & Howe Pin Cos' 5 Adamantine Pins., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Gift of Helen Beitler and Estate of Helen Beitler.
- Date
- [ca. 1850]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Helen Beitler Graphic Ephemera Collection - Labels [P.2011.10.100]
- Title
- "The Sabbath among slaves"
- Description
- Engraving depicts the author's experience of the Sabbath among slaves. As Bibb explained, having no moral or religious instruction, slaves generally "resort to the woods in large numbers on that day to gamble, fight, get drunk, and break the Sabbath." This behavior, Bibb noted, was encouraged by the slaveholders, who viewed the slaves' activities as a form of entertainment, and who liked to watch them fight, "dance, 'pat juber,' sing, and play the banjo." To this end, the slaves were often provided with whiskey. Accordingly, the illustration shows a slaveholder pouring a libation into a slave's glass. In the background left, a group of white men and women observe the Sabbath festivities., Illustration in Henry Bibb's Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb: an American Slave (New York: Published by the author, 5 Spruce Street, 1849), p 23., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes of Slave Life.
- Creator
- Strong, Thomas W., engraver
- Date
- [1849]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1849 Bibb 65732.D p 23, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2778
- Title
- [Election night mob]
- Description
- Scene depicts an incident that occurred in Philadelphia (the city proper and Moyamensing) on Election night, October 11, 1849. The incident began when a group of white boys and men dragged a flaming furniture car through the area around St. Mary Street, a neighborhood inhabited primarily by blacks. As the car travelled along, a shot was fired, and a cry arose that a white man had been shot. Having heard this, the mob headed toward the California house at Sixth and St. Mary, which was kept by a black man who was rumored to have a white wife. A riot ensued, and the California house was destroyed in a fire that claimed many other buildings and numerous lives., Frontispiece for Life and Adventures of Charles Anderson Chester: the notorious leader of the Philadelphia "killers." (Philadelphia: Printed for the publishers, 1850, c1849)., Accompanied by the following caption: "A cry at once arose that a white man was shot, and the attention of the mob was directed to the California House, at the corner of Sixth and St. Mary street.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Resistance.
- Date
- [1850]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1850 Lif 76423.O (Mrs SM Brenner) frontispiece, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2780
- Title
- Barbarous treatment of two unfortunate females
- Description
- Illustration accompanies Miss Harrintgon's (allegedly true) account of her capture by two blacks in the parish of Concordia, Louisiana in 1842. Miss Harrington (standing in the middle) was kidnapped by two black men, Enoch and Joseph (seen at right), who forced their way into her home and murdered her father, Noah Harrington. Thereafter, the two men entered the home of Mr. George Todd, whom they also killed, and then proceeded to take his wife and seven-month old infant into captivity. (Mother and child are seen at left). With a young mulatto girl named Nelly Predello in tow, the two men led Miss Harrington, Mrs. Eliza Todd, and her child into a swampy forest, where they were held for six weeks. As Miss Harrington's narrative emphasizes, Nelly had originally thought that she would be aiding the two men in some sort of simple escape attempt, and she was dismayed to discover the true nature of their murderous plot. In this scene, Nelly protects the two women from their captors. As Miss Harrington wrote, whenever Nelly felt their lives jeopardized, she "would drop on her knees and beg of the blacks to desist, and in the meantime assuring them, 'that if the lives of the two unfortunate captives were thus to be cowardly sacrificed, their bullets would have first to pass through her body, before she would willingly permit them to reach those of the unfortunate victims!'" Eventually, Nelly aided in the women's rescue by a group of white men., Frontispiece for Miss Harrington's Narrative of the Barbarous Treatment of Two Unfortunate Females (New York: Printed for the publishers, 1842)., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Resistance.
- Date
- [1842]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1842 Harr 78297.O frontispiece, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2776
- Title
- Amistad captives
- Description
- From top to bottom, the three profile portraits depict: Cinque, the leader of the Amistad revolt; Grabeau, second in command; and James Covey, the interpreter. The features of Cinque and Covey are rendered in some detail; Grabeau is represented by little more than a silhouette., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1841 (New York: Published by S.W. Benedict, 1841 [i.e. 1840]), p. 22-23., Title above the three portraits reads: "Description of Cinquez, Grab-Eau, and James Covey the Interpreter.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [1840]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1840 Am Ant 65752.D p 22-23, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2771
- Title
- Whipping with the paddle, as witnessed by the author
- Description
- Image shows the type of event that Watson witnessed regularly while in the custody of a slave-trader named Mr. Denton. As Watson explained, "I was not sold for several weeks, thought I wished to be the first, not wishing to witness his cruelty to his slaves any longer; for if they displeased him in the least, he would order them to be stripped, and tied hand and foot together. He would then have his paddle brought, which was a board about two feet in length and one inch in thickness, having fourteen holes bored through it, about an inch in circumference. This instrument of torture he would apply, until the slave was exhausted, on parts which the purchaser would not be likely to examine." Correspondingly, in this scene, Denton beats a man who is tied to an upright pole in such a manner that he is forced to lie on his side on the ground in a fetal position. A child cries in the background; two potential purchasers approach., Illustration in Henry Watson's Narrative of Henry Watson: a Fugitive Slave (Boston: Bela Marsh, 1850), p. 11., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Punishment Scenes.
- Date
- [1850]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1850 Wat 71223.O p 11, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2781
- Title
- Tread-wheel
- Description
- Under the overseer's whip, a group of Jamaican slaves power a large tread-wheel that is presumably used in sugar manufacturing. In the foreground, two slaves have collapsed from heat and exhaustion; they are tended to by others. To the left, another overseer flogs a slave while two white men look on. As Phillippo explained, the slave's labor, "under the fervent heat of a tropical sun, was indeed excessive, sufficient, during a comparatively short period of time, to expend the vigour and exhaust the spirits of the strongest and most energetic frame, inasmuch as they had to perform by manual operation those processes, which, in every other country, are performed by horses, oxen, and machinery." (p. 159-60), Illustration in James Phillippo's Jamaica: its Past and Present State (London: John Snow, Paternoster Row, MDCCCXLIII [1843]), p. 172, Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Work Scenes.
- Date
- [1843]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1843 Phill 7675.D p 172, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2777
- Title
- High Street Prison and Market Shambles
- Description
- View looking east from above Third and High (Market) streets showing the High Street Prison built circa 1723 and the nearby old market stalls during the colonial era. Shows men in colonial attire walking on the sidewalks and street and two African American men in a stockade and attached to a whipping post near the jail. The prison operated until the early 1770s when replaced by the Walnut Street Prison. The market shambles were replaced by the permanent Jersey Market circa 1765., Title from item., Published in John F. Watson's Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, in the olden time:....Embellished with engravings, by T.H. Mumford (Philadelphia, 1844), vol. 1 and later editions., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of views of Philadelphia. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., 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
- Mumford, Thomas Howland, -1816, engraver
- Date
- [ca. 1844]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Pr Pr - 8x10 - Prisons - H [(7)1322.F.231]
- Title
- The London Coffee House
- Description
- Exterior view showing the coffee house and merchants' exchange during the colonial era at the southwest corner of Front and Market streets in Philadelphia. An auction of enslaved people occurs outside the coffee house and pedestrians traverse the sidewalks. Partial view of the adjacent printing house of "Pennsylvania Journal" publisher, William Bradford, is visible. Erected in 1702 and established as a coffee house in 1754 by Bradford, the site was a public center for social and economic activities during the later 18th century, including auctions of enslaved people. The building was razed in 1883., Title from item., Published in John F. Watson's Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, in the olden time:....Embellished with engravings, by T.H. Mumford (Philadelphia, 1844), vol.1 and later editions., After wash study by Edward Mumford., Originally part of McAllister scrapbook of engravings relating to Philadelphia. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., 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
- Mumford, Thomas Howland, 1816-, engraver
- Date
- [ca. 1844]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Ph Pr - 8x10 - Hotels, Inns, Taverns [(6)1322.F.47a]
- Title
- [Slave and bald eagle in front of Capitol]
- Description
- Lying on the ground, a female slave holds and protects her small child. A large bald eagle is perched on the mother's back, and she turns to look at it. In the background, the U.S. Capitol is visible with a flag flying at full-mast., Front cover of the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1843 (New York: Published by the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1842)., Accompanied by the following verse: "Oh, hail Columbia! Happy Land! / The cradle land of Liberty! / Where none but negroes bear the brand, / Or feel the lash of slavery. / Then let the glorious anthem peal! / And drown, 'Britannia rules the waves' -- / Strike up the song that men can feel -- / 'Columbia rules three million slaves!'", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [1842]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1842 Ame Ant 72750.O front cover, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2773
- Title
- [Slave and flag with black and white stars]
- Description
- Bound at the wrists and ankles, a male slave is tied -- with his arms over his head -- to a long flagpole. At the top of the pole is an American flag. The stars in the top three rows are white, while those in the bottom three are black., Back cover of the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1843 (New York: Published by the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1842)., Accompanied by the following verse: "United States! Your banner wears /Two emblems -- one of fame; / Alas, the other that it bears / Reminds us of your shame. / The white man's liberty in types / Stands blazoned by your stars; / But what's the meaning of your stripes? / They mean you negro's scars.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
- Date
- [1842]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1842 Ame Ant 72750.O back cover, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2772
- Title
- Here is a picture of some slaves at work Reward of merit. This may certify that [Mr. George Snow] by diligence and attention to study, merits the approbation of [his] friends and teacher
- Description
- School token illustrated with a scene showing enslaved men and women working in a tobacco field near a shack. In the right, three younger enslaved men hoe and gather a bundle of tobacco. In the left, an enslaved man stands and converses with an enslaved woman, seated on a bale. They each hold the handles of farming implements. A large sack and crate rest to the left of the bale. In the left background, an enslaved woman stands in the doorway of the shack. Wooden buildings and harvested fields are visible in the right background. The young men wear short sleeves and shorts. The women wear dresses and the man wears short sleeves and pants. Rewards of merit were popular with teachers during the 19th century and were given to reward students who had excelled in their school work. The addition of pictures made a reward of merit card a more special acknowledgement of a pupil’s success., Title from illustration caption and text printed on verso., Date inferred from content of image and graphic medium., Verso contains decorative border surrounding the text., Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund., Illustrated in Patricia Fenn and Alfred Malpa, Rewards of merit (Charlottesville, Va.: Ephemera Society of America, 1994), 118., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., RVCDC
- Date
- [ca. 1830- ca. 1850]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Rewards of Merit - Slaves [118555.D]