Library Company of Philadelphia
Can you imagine dancing the Bloomer Polka? In 1851, Amelia Bloomer introduced the readers of her Lily periodical to this style of dress, which quickly garnered both attention and controversy. This illustration, titled “The Bloomer Polka & Schottisch,” shows that bloomers made such an impact that they were featured in their own sheet music. Sheet music often reflected events in American popular culture, and bloomers were no exception. The woman in this illustration looks quite content to be wearing her bloomers, which would have allowed more freedom of motion for vigorous dancing than a full-length skirt.
-Lydia Shaw, Franklin & Marshall Class of 2022
This item and more will be featured in the exhibition Women Get Things Done, opening soon at the Library Company of Philadelphia!
The Bloomer Polka & Schottisch (Baltimore: F.D. Benteen, 1851).
Arthur Showell was born in Philadelphia in 1894 and worked as a laborer with the Adams Express Co. He was drafted into the military in 1917 at the age of 23 and served in the 368th Infantry, which was part of the African American 92nd Infantry Division known as the Buffalo Soldiers.
African American soldiers during the First World War helped to lay the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement by raising awareness of systemic discrimination in the military and organizing against segregation at home.
We hope you had as relaxing a weekend as the figures in these wholesome silhouettes!
Here’s a lovely little 17th century tailpiece to #finis off the week.
This FinisFriday brought to you by:Thomas Hobbes. The History of the Civil VVars of England. (London, 1679).
We’ve got a serious soft spot for ribbon embossed cloth.
Ribbon embossed cloth can be found on publishers’s bindings starting around the mid-1830s. It was produced by passing the cloth through a hot rolling machine which impressed the design into the cloth. It was a more expensive, and harder to produce and work with, so wasn’t used much after the early 1840s.
The multi-volume set pictured here is The Family Library, published by Harper & Brothers ca. 1839.
This summer, Franklin & Marshall intern Lydia Shaw has been working on women’s history projects at the Library Company. In preparation for Women’s Equality Day (today!), Lydia read Frances Willard’s 1895 book on her personal experience learning to ride the bicycle. Willard became enthralled with bicycling at a time when bicycling was a new pastime, and one associated with male athleticism. Lydia writes:
“In the second half of the 19th century, a new, healthy, and excitingly challenging means of transportation appeared in American popular culture: the bicycle. The first bicycle (known as the “Ordinary”), the amusing-looking 19th-century bicycle of collective popular memory, had a giant front wheel and a small back wheel and was exclusive to young men who possessed the funds to purchase it. These same young men made yet more exclusive biking clubs, to which they could bring their female romantic partners as guests… Throughout the 1870s and 1880s, women were discouraged from riding a bicycle whatsoever.”
To read Lydia’s full post, click here.
Frances Willard, the author of Wheel within a Wheel, will be featured in the exhibition Women Get Things Done, opening soon at the Library Company of Philadelphia!
Frances Willard. Wheel within a Wheel (1895).
In the latest Imperfect History blog post, Graphic Arts Curatorial Fellow Kinaya Hassane discusses the multiple interpretations of “The Irrepressible Conflict,” an 1860 political cartoon which satirizes Republican Party politics while also making subtle commentaries on race. Read more here: https://librarycompany.org/2020/08/24/one-lithograph-two-readings/
Miss standing in the crowd? Grab your stereoscope and look at this photograph!
Chestnut Street crowded (United States: ca. 1900). Gelatin silver on stereograph mount.
Image depicts view looking along Chestnut Street showing a crowd of spectators packing the street and sidewalks for an unidentified event. A large clock is visible across the street on the sidewalk.
This summer, our Program in African American History Mellon Scholars Internship Program, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, went virtual. Working largely with the collection at the Library Company, the five student-curators put together an online exhibition on the history of medical racism from Yellow Fever to Covid-19.
Click here to view “Déjà Vu, We’ve Been Here Before: Race, Health, and Epidemics."
To learn more about our Program in African American History visit https://librarycompany.org/academic-programs/paah/.
This #publishersbindingThursday we are admiring this wonderfully textured cloth grain and the very fitting gilt title decoration on the spine. It also has us wondering, when was the last time you sent someone a letter? Send us one! We’ll write you back!
James Rees. Foot-prints of a letter-carrier; or, A history of the world’s correspondence. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1866.