This carte-de-visite of three Civil War-era soldiers shows three men posed closely together. Given how common all-male organizations and activities were at the time, such displays of intimacy would rarely elicit comment. 

Three unidentified men in Civil War uniforms. Albumen carte-de-visite photograph, ca. 1865. Gift of S. Marguerite Brenner.

From our 2014 exhibition That’s So Gay: Outing Early America. To see more of the exhibition, visit www.librarycompany.org/gayatlcp

This watercolor is from a friendship album owned by Amy Mathilda Cassey who was a middle-class African American woman active in the anti-slavery movement and African American cultural community.

In addition to containing watercolors likely created by Cassey herself, the album features entries by other prominent abolitionists such as Sarah Mapps Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, and Frederick Douglass.

View more of the album here

It’s the first day of June so you know what that means! 

Photo Illustrators Firm, [Children posed on lawn chairs], ca. 1950. Gelatin silver print.

Image depicts a row of eight children waving as they lie on cushioned lawn chairs in a park.

Special delivery! It’s a new blog post by Senior Curator of Graphic Arts Sarah Weatherwax! Learn more about some of the items in the Graphic Arts collection which illustrate the history of horse-drawn delivery services in the nineteenth century: https://librarycompany.org/2020/05/21/special-delivery/

Philadelphia on a Busy Day. Photomechanical postcard, ca. 1915.

Happy Memorial Day! If you’re out and about, we hope you’re being safe and maintaining proper distance like these two!

[D.S. Ewing trade cards] (Philadelphia, ca. 1885). Chromolithograph.

Image depicts a beach scene showing siblings (brother and sister) on the beach, a boat with a sail labeled “new home”, and a sewing machine in the sky. The boy has a patch with the initials “N.H.” sewn onto the back of his pants and a caption under their feet reads: Sister.–What are the wild waves saying? Brother.–This patch was put on by the light running new home sewing machine.

Tuesday? More like…MOOsday! (We’ll escort ourselves out for that one) 

Peter Moran, [Sketcbook during New England summer excursion, July-August 1882]. Graphite. 

#OnThisDay in 1917, Congress passed the Selective Service Act, which gave U.S. government the power to draft soldiers. Posters like this one played an integral role in persuading men to register for military service. 

James Montgomery Flagg, First in the Fight, Always Faithful, Be a U.S. Marine, ca. 1922. Poster print. 

It’s never too late to celebrate Mother’s Day!

John Frank Keith, Mother holding infant, ca. 1931. Gelatin silver on postcard mount.

Image depicts a mother holding her baby in front of a brick house in Philadelphia. She smiles with pride. There is another child in the opened window behind her. The window’s awning is not extended. Part of a baby carriage is visible next to the woman.

What do these six images have in common? Check out Curator of Graphic Arts Erika Piola’s latest blog post to find out! And if you’re feeling inspired, check out our Digital Catalog (http://ow.ly/6dKt50zyOaD) to play along and find six objects with six degrees of separation. Share your results with #LCPonline and #sixdegreesofseparation 

Read Erika’s post here: https://librarycompany.org/2020/05/04/six-degrees-of-separation-of-the-edward-shippen-burd-mansion/

#OnThisDay in 1877, Hunkpapa Lakota chief Tatanka-Iyotanka, or Sitting Bull, led his troops to Canada after the Battle of Little Bighorn. After staying there for four years, Sitting Bull returned to the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota. He later went on to join Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. 

Sitting Bull, Sioux Chief, ca. 1870. Albumen on carte-de-visite mount. From American Celebrities Album.