This image of Jane Rhoads Morris reading to her young children is making us feel ready for summer! Now we just need to find a seat under a shady tree…

#MorrisMonday

Morris, Marriott Canby, 1863-1948, photographer. J[ane] R[hoads] M[orris] reading to her kids. 131 W. Walnut La[ne], [Philadelphia] [graphic]. July 4, 1908.  1 photograph: film negative; 3 x 4.5 in.
    

Marriott C. Morris avidly documented his family throughout his lifetime and often captured scenes from the turn of the 20th century that we can relate to today. A beautiful day by the sea picking wildflowers is no exception, and with Spring around the corner we are impatient to be right there with them.

Morris, Marriott Canby, 1863-1948, photographer. Gathering “Centaury” Sea Girt, N.J., ca. 1890-ca. 1900. 1 photograph: glass transparency; 3 x 4 in.

Have a hankering for pie today? It’s easy, just come on down to Horn and Hardart. We recommend the cherry!

Photo Illustrators (Firm). [Slice of pie]. Philadelphia: 20th century. 1 photographic print:  gelatin silver;  8 x10 in.

Martha Maxwell opened her Rocky Mountain Museum in 1874 in Boulder, Colorado, and moved it to Denver in 1876. She hoped her museum would advance scientific education, but also display curiosities and other amusements to attract the general public.

This stereograph, taken at the Centennial Exhibition, shows Martha Maxwell surrounded by some of her curiosities. 

Centennial Photographic Co. [Martha Maxwell and her exhibit of “Woman’s Work”, Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition]. Philadelphia : Centennial Photographic Co, c1876.

Marriott C. Morris captured this image of his wife, Jane, and two young children, Marriott Jr. and Janet, in March, 1908 at the Morris family home on Walnut Lane in Philadelphia #MorrisMonday 

Morris, Marriott Canby, 1863-1948, photographer. M[arriott] C[anby] M[orris] Jr. pushing J[anet] M[orris] in baby buggy toward J[ane] R[hoads] M[orris], 131 W. Walnut La[ne], [Philadelphia] [graphic]. March 15, 1908

George Albert Lewis, The Old Houses and Stores With Memorabilia Relating to Them and My Father and Grandfather (Philadelphia, 1900). Gift of Oliver E. Allen.

G. Albert Lewis (1829-1915) compiled his family history into an album, illustrating it with magnificent watercolors, photographs, and ephemera. Depicted here is the parlor of his parents’ home on South 2nd Street, where they lived from 1824 to 1840. He wrote that “the parlors of this house were very handsome– the front being in red and yellow–with white and gold paint except the doors, while the ceiling was light blue.” Notice the Empire-style chairs, sofa, and the pier table with lion’s paw feet.

See this and more in our current exhibition: Stylish Books: Designing Philadelphia Furniture on display through April 26, 2019.

This comic valentine is anything but a sweet token of affection, but we at the Library Company love its rhyming barbs, especially since they aren’t directed at us. 

Man Crossed in Love. [S.l. : s.n.] [between 1840 and 1880?]

Black Migrations, a mini exhibition curated by our African American History Subject Specialist and Reference Librarian, Jasmine Smith, showcases the impact of World War I and the Great Migration and how it transformed black identity and black entrepreneurship. See these images and more on display now through March 29, 2019. 

Pancoast, Charles R., b. 1858 photographer. [Canning and preserving at demonstration center at Little Wakefield, Germantown] C.R. Pancoast, Philadelphia, ca. 1918.

True blue. Chicago: E. G. Renesch, 1919.

Wilson, G. Mark (George Mark), d. 1925, photographer. 2nd and Brown St. A stevedore, a family. ca. 1923.

[African American worker at a work site near the Trenton Elevated Railroad Bridge in Philadelphia.] ca. 1918.

We’re gonna need a bigger broom….  The Library Company is CLOSED today due to snowy conditions!

This circa 1897 lantern slide shows the sons of the photographer, William Harvey Doering, bundled up and hard at work outside the family residence. 

Doering, William Harvey.  [Albert Lindsay and Karl Doering shoveling snow near 1837 N. Bouvier Street, Philadelphia.] ca. 1897. 1 slide: lantern; 8 x 11 cm.(3 x 4 in.)     

Dreaming that today’s snow was actually sand on a warm day by the sea…

This glass negative taken by Marriott C. Morris reminds us of our fondness for the changing seasons. 

Morris, Marriott Canby, 1863-1948, photographer. Father and Sam taking up boardwalk on beach, [Sea Girt, NJ] September 11, 1885.  1 photograph: glass negative; 4 x 5 in.