Library Company of Philadelphia
#FBF of a Manayunk man on his noble motor steed, “The Flying Merkel,” fully equipped with a passenger seat for that special person in your life. Also, take a gander at those spats.
Are you planning a getaway for the upcoming holiday? Don’t forget to pack your suitcase!
This circa 1930s cardboard suitcase, displaying several Railway Express labels, is from our Stevens-Cogdell/Sanders-Venning Collection. #FlashbackFriday
Suitcase.
ca. after 1929-1940s.
Cardboard, metal ; approx. 20 x 11 ¾ x 6 ½ inches.
We shared this sweet scaleboard binding a few weeks ago and our conservation staff were horrified by the 1960s-era repair that was visible on the front cover. So here it is again, fresh from the lab, looking so much better! #FlashbackFriday
Here’s the text from the original post:
We love the decorated paper and scaleboard binding on our copy of John Witherspoon’s A Series of Letters on Education (New York, 1797).
Witherspoon, who was the president of Princeton College in 1797, was an avowed and determined disciplinarian. In a Series of Letters, he recommends parents “begin the establishment of authority” at the age of eight or nine months, and goes on to say “Do not imagine I mean to bid you use the rod at that age; on the contrary, I mean to prevent the use of it in a great measure, and to point out a way by which children of sweet and easy tempers may be brought to such a habit of compliance, as never to need correction at all.”
We find it interesting that the work was issued in such a tiny format, as though it were meant for the children themselves and not their parents. #MiniatureMonday
#fbf to the Library Company’s Ridgway Building stacks on South Broad at Christian Street. The Library Company used this location from the 1870s to the early 1960s when it moved to its current location on Locust Street.
Note: library sweaters are timeless and will always be fierce.
Ridgway building interior. ca. 1940. Gelatin silver print. (Library Company Archives)
We’re looking at the Wissahickon on this #FlashbackFriday!
Acquired by the Fairmount Park Commission in 1868 in order to preserve the purity of the City’s water supply, Philadelphia’s Wissahickon Valley Park has inspired countless artists, poets, and visitors with its natural beauty.
In 1894, artist Augustus Kollner compiled an album of his prints and drawings, Bits of Nature and Some Art Products, in Fairmount Park, at Philadelphia, Penna, which includes this circa 1878 lithograph of the Wissahickon looking much the same as it does today.
See Kollner’s digitized Bits of Nature album here.
It is a record breaking hot day in Philadelphia, but we are still admiring this man’s cardigan, a fine specimen that any librarian would desire. The “library sweater” is a standard article of clothing because libraries tend to be cooler than most office buildings no matter the season.
Flashback to 1885 and this view of the Callowhill Street Bridge as shown on a cigarette card promoting the tobacco brand Honest Long Cut.
Also known as the Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge, the Callowhill Street Bridge was built over the Schuylkill River between 1874-1875 by the Keystone Bridge Company from designs by engineer Jacob H. Linville. The bridge was demolished in 1964. #FlashbackFriday
For round two of the #NFLdraft we flash forward in time from illustrious athletes of the 1890s to sepia toned collegiate contenders of 1914. We do not know for sure which two schools are represented in this image, but the P & H could indicate Penn vs Haverford. Most importantly, it looks like they got an upgrade on the head gear.
Frederick Douglass was the most photographed American of the 19th Century. In addition to photographic portraits, his likeness appears in print processes large and small, from broadsides and political cartoons, to frontispieces and ephemera. Here is a sampling of some of our favorite Douglass portraits from our collection.
On this #FlashbackFriday, we are reviewing the preambles of the first and second drafts of the Constitution of the United States to demonstrate how #WordsMatter. The first draft, shown on top, includes a preamble that lists each of the original thirteen states individually. The second draft, shown on bottom, features the more familiar preamble, beginning “We, the People of the United States”. This powerful and important edit increased the intended impact of the preamble by literally uniting the states in clear and concise terms.
Both drafts in our collection, dated thirty-seven days apart, were once owned by John Dickinson and feature his signature, shown here, as well as his annotations and proposed edits. Dickinson’s signature can also be found on the official draft of the Constitution, ratified June 21, 1788. #WIP