Library Company of Philadelphia
These embossed letter specimens are examples of Boston Line Type. Boston Line Type was developed in 1835 by Samuel Gridley Howe as a raised letter system of printing for the blind. Reading it tactilely, however, was difficult and the embossed alphabet was eventually abandoned for a simpler dot system.
commontouch.librarycompany.org
[Collection of samples of raised-letter line types for printing for the blind]
This carte-de-visite depicts a bust-length portrait of Robert Smalls, who achieved national fame after steering himself and fifteen other enslaved people to freedom aboard a Confederate ship, the Planter, in 1862. Small lobbied the Lincoln Administration to recruit African American men to fight for the Union during the Civil War. Small was also elected to the House of Representatives several years after his escape.
This lithograph, which was done after a painting by renowned artist Lilly Martin Spencer, depicts her family enjoying a Fourth of July picnic on the banks of the Passaic River in Newark, New Jersey. While the scene is meant to depict the jubilant celebrations typically associated with the holiday, the presence of two Black figures in positions of servitude is an important reminder of the inherent contradictions of a holiday meant to celebrate freedom and independence.
In his 1852 speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July,” Frederick Douglass famously addressed this issue:
“What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?”
This stereograph view shows the crowds visiting the Centennial International Exposition on July 4, 1876. Stagecoaches, horses, and pedestrians make their way down Elm Avenue (now Parkside Ave), with the Main Exhibition Building stretching along the entire length of the background. At the time, the Main Exhibition Building was the largest building in the world.
Of the 200 structures that were built in Fairmount Park for the Centennial Exhibition, only four remain, including Memorial Hall (the Art Gallery), now home to the Please Touch Museum. The Main Building was demolished in 1881.
In antebellum Philadelphia riots were endemic, sometimes connected to protest, but mostly they were simply riots. The rioters were all white, and their victims were mostly free Blacks, making these riots a significant expansion of the systemic violence against Black people in America that has continued almost without a break for hundreds of years.
The most famous riot of the period was the burning of Pennsylvania Hall on May 17, 1838. The hall had just been built by the Pennsylvania Abolition Society as a venue for their public meetings, a “temple of free discussion” of antislavery, women’s rights, temperance, and other reforms. Four days after it opened it was torched by a mob, said to have been organized by a group of “gentlemen from a certain section of the country.” What angered the rioters was not only what the speakers said but also the fact that so many of them were women and African Americans, and that Blacks and whites sat together in the audience without separation. The police made no effort to intervene, and the several fire companies that converged on the site refused to fight the fire, instead pointing their hoses at the houses around the hall. In the days that followed rioters also torched the Friends Shelter for Colored Children and damaged the AME Mother Bethel Church.
More about protest, riots, Robert Purvis, California House, Frank Webb’s “The Garies,” and more on the latest Pandemic Reading from Librarian Jim Green. Now up on the blog at www.librarycompany.org/news
Image 1: J.C. Wild, Pennsylvania Hall, hand-colored lithograph (Philadelphia, 1838).
Image 2: J.C. Wild, Destruction by Fire of Pennsylvania Hall, hand-colored lithograph (Philadelphia, 1838).
We’re 289 years young today!
In 1731, Benjamin Franklin convinced members of the Junto, his “society of mutual improvement,” to pool their resources and purchase a collection of books none could have afforded individually. The Articles of Agreement pictured here were drafted on July 1, 1731, and the Library Company of Philadelphia was established when 50 founding shareholders signed on, each contributing 40 shillings.
Articles of Association. (Philadelphia, July 1, 1731). Manuscript on vellum.
In honor of the last day of Pride Month, we’re sharing this photographic postcard by John Frank Keith from our 2014 exhibition, “That’s So Gay: Outing Early America.” Below is the accompanying label:
“It is tempting to suggest that the women in the first photograph are a couple. After all, the woman who is wearing the necktie has her arm around the other woman. Could she be the more man-identified if they are a couple? Or is she simply a woman wearing a necktie with panache? The exact nature of the relationships of the people in these photographs probably will remain forever unknown and unknowable."
Olaudah Equiano, also known as Gustavus Vassa, was a formerly enslaved man from present-day Benin. After gaining his freedom in 1766, Equiano became active in the abolitionist movement and authored his influential memoir, “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African.”
This engraving was published as the frontispiece for Equiano’s autobiography. Equiano is depicted in this portrait holding a Bible in his right hand. It was common for authors of slave narratives to proclaim their Christian faith and tell tales of their conversion.
Cornelius Tiebout, Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa the African (New York: W. Durrell), 1791.
Almost exactly 372 years ago, a stray question mark became a type ornament?
A rainbow of publishers bindings from our cloth bindings database to cap off Pride Month.