We are excited to present a new Interactive Chart, the newest addition to our Portraits of American Women project. #WomensHistoryWednesday

This circa 1882 #TradeCard for Wm. F. Simes & Son proves there are never too many #HatsintheLibrary, soggy or otherwise.

[Wm. F. Simes & Son trade cards] [graphic]. [Philadelphia?] [ca. 1882] 

A rare sighting! Just beyond a few trees we catch a glimpse of men lined up to use an outhouse.

Morris, Marriott Canby, 1863-1948, photographer. [Waiting in line for the outhouse] [graphic]. May 21, 1927. 1 photograph: gelatin silver print; 4 x 5 in.

Getting One’s Due: An Episode in the 19th-Century Book Industry

In honor of #WomensEqualityDay today, we take a look at Reading Room Intern Lydia Shaw’s research into 19th-century author Mary Abigail Dodge. Check out Lydia’s blog post to learn how Dodge called out her publisher, Ticknor & Fields, for pay inequality in the 1860s.

A proud pelican’s prey by the bay, near the end of a sweet summer day. 

Thomas Liggins, ornamental confectioner & fine cake baker … [graphic]. [Philadelphia] [ca. 1880]. Chromolithograph; 16.5 x 7 cm. (5.5 x 2.75 in.)

This week’s #MusicintheLibrary feature is a circa 1907 glass negative from our Frank Berry Photographic Negative Collection that shows a street band of young boys, including Berry’s sons, marching in the Manayunk neighborhood of Philadelphia. We love the makeshift instruments!

Berry, Frank, b. 1863, photographer. [Street band of young boys marching down the 200 block of Kalos Street, Manayunk] [graphic]. ca. 1907. 1 negative: glass; 4 x 5 in.

Registration is open for William Birch and the Complexities of American Visual Culture: A Symposium Celebrating the Tenth Anniversary of the Visual Culture Program, taking place Friday, October 5, 2018 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM EDT at the Library Company of Philadelphia.

This free symposium will explore the visual, cultural, and social themes elicited from the work of Philadelphia artist William Birch (1755-1834). The one-day symposium in collaboration with our current exhibition, William Birch, Ingenious Artist: His Life, His Philadelphia Views, and His Legacy aims to promote broad discussions on the continual resonance in American visual culture of the work of this premier enamel miniaturist, aspiring gentleman, and artist of the first American viewbooks.

Register here.

It was bound to happen: we have fallen in love with a paper binding <3

This pocket almanac for 1755 was printed and sold by Benjamin Franklin in 1754 and is bound in embossed and colored paper wrappers. #MiniatureMonday

A Pocket almanack for the year 1755 : Fitted to the use of Pennsylvania, and the neighbouring provinces. With several useful additions / By R. Saunders, phil. Philadelphia : Printed and sold by B. Franklin, and D. Hall, [1754]

You asked and we answered!

This book, originally posted earlier in the week, received comments requesting a look inside at the different trades. Although described as “some plain things”, these trades are not plain to us.

The Little book of trades.  New Haven. Published by S. Babcock, [ca. 1840]

Erika Piola, Associate Curator of Prints & Photographs, introduces William Sesler, a Philadelphia-born bee keeper based in Jenkintown, Pa. and a little summertime nostalgia in a letter he wrote requesting housing for a lakeside retreat (ca. 1900). Read more on our blog: https://librarycompany.org/2018/08/15/a-bee-farmers-ode-to-summer/

Wm. A. Selser, Bee Farmer and Breeder of Italian Bees & Queens. Blossom Nectar and Beeswax. Jenkintown, Pa. (Philadelphia: Craig, Finley & Co., ca. 1900).