Library Company of Philadelphia
Kangaroo or dog with an elongated torso? You take your pick!
The Victory Liberty Loan was issued in 1919 after the end of World War I to pay off the U.S.’s war debts. Ordinary citizens were encouraged to purchase the bonds through an elaborate advertising campaign that included posters like these that made viewers believe that purchasing bonds was a display of patriotism.
Happy Superb Owl Sunday!
Here are some excellent owls for your viewing pleasure, very superb indeed.
It’s been a snowy, slushy week here in Philadelphia, so here are some bright #endoftheweekendpapers to usher in the weekend. Huzzah!
These vivid marbled endpapers are from Diego de Cordova y Pacheco. Relacion de las Obras que se han executado en los Caminos que desde la Ciudad de Malaga se han abierto hasta las de Antequera, y Velez. Madrid: The Widow Marin, 1789.
![How are your houseplants holding up these days?
Have you added any to your collection lately?
Johnson, Edwin A. Winter greeneries at home. New York: Orange Judd Company, [1878]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/86a4032c1ea64fdb67db665b302a9fc7/ceaf11925df0e2c5-00/s250x400/bb9f27e2e589b6d3e8801567c370119be73c54cb.jpg)
How are your houseplants holding up these days?
Have you added any to your collection lately?
Johnson, Edwin A. Winter greeneries at home. New York: Orange Judd Company, [1878]
In 1926, Carter G. Woodson established “Negro History Week” as a celebration of African American history. Each year there was a theme that explored historical issues, bringing the Black experience to the public eye. Continuing this tradition, every year the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) creates a Black History Month theme that “explores historical issues of importance to people of African descent and race relations in America.”
This year the theme is “The Black Family: Representation, Identity, and Diversity.” “Its representation, identity, and diversity have been reverenced, stereotyped, and vilified from the days of slavery to our own time.” Each Wednesday this month, the Program in African American History (PAAH) will share an image of a Black family from our collections, recognizing their struggles in keeping their families together, their passion in keeping traditions & the love they had for one another.
-Jasmine Smith, African American History Subject Specialist and Reference Librarian
On June 7th, 1869, Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Livingston Bishop had their portrait taken at Horse Shoe Falls at Niagara Falls. Doesn’t a summer trip to Niagara sound nice right about now?
Beware the hazards of Rabbit Transit this winter!
Partridge & Richardson trade card, ca. 1880. Chromolithograph.
You can’t spell TGIF without F!
Or Friday, or Forget-me-not, or Flowers…
Frances Sargent Locke Osgood. The flower alphabet, in gold and colors. Boston: S. Colman, 1846?
The Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries (PACSCL) has declared a #HashtagParty, and we’re never one to miss a good party. This month’s theme is #PacsclWeird, a challenge to post the “weirdest thing” in our collection. Does this qualify?
When Dr. James Rush (son of Benjamin Rush) died in 1869 he left a large bequest to the Library Company, stipulating that it be used to build a new library building at the corner of Broad and Christian.
What’s more, Dr. Rush also left the following instructions: “…I should be glad that the remains of the late Jacob Ridgway, of his daughter, my late wife, and of myself, should be removed to the new library building…I desire that my wife and myself may be placed in the new library building…The library will then be her monument, and I desire to lie by her side."
When LCP relocated to our current purpose-built building on Locust Street we culled our collections, but made sure to keep our promise. The remains of James and Phoebe Ann Rush were relocated from a crypt at the Ridgway Library to a crypt beneath the Locust Street building, and their tombstone ensconced in the wall of our lobby.