We’re channeling Bonnie the dog’s eagerness at the start of this week! 

Marriott Canby Morris, Bonnie (dog) on front porch, [Sea Girt, NJ], 1886. Glass negative. 

Image depicts Bonnie, a small black dog, standing on a porch wearing a collar with a bell. A woman stands at the edge of the frame next to tall shuttered windows. Both the woman and the dog cast long shadows on the porch.     

There’s nothing like coming across beautiful surprises on the back of unsuspecting lithographs! 

John Collins, St. Mary’s Hall (Philadelphia: T. Sinclair, [ca. 1840]). Lithograph.

First image depicts an exterior view of St. Mary’s Hall from the Delaware River. Trees are on the lawn and the Hall at center is reflected in the river. A stone retaining wall runs along the river. Second image depicts an engraving titled The Language of Flowers which shows two women standing on a river’s edge and embracing while one collects flowers in the skirt of her dress. 

This photograph pretty much sums up our #MorrisMonday mood! 

Marriott Canby Morris, Knock em down group on Uncle Chas’ [Rhoads] porch, Haddonfield, [NJ], 1885. Glass negative. 

Image depicts three women, including Marriott C. Morris’s sister Elizabeth Canby Morris and Mrs. Woods, and a man all leaning to the left against a pillar while sitting on the porch step at Morris’s uncle Charles Rhoads’s house. The man looks outward while the women rest their heads on each other’s shoulders. The man wears a three-piece suit while the women wear dark high-necked dresses. There are vines growing up a lattice on the left. 

The Haddonfield area was originally developed by Elizabeth Haddon (1680-1762) who immigrated to the United States in 1701 to manage property her father had bought in the colonies.

Celebrate Open Access Week with us and download this chromolithgraph! The Library Company has more than 20,000 high-res images available to download and use… For. Free. #OAweek

“Autumn beauties” from Book of cabinet chromos 1881 [graphic]. Augusta, Me: Published by P.O. Vickery. 1881      

This stereograph satirizes the “New Woman” of the early 20th century by depicting a domestic scene in which the era’s stereotypical gender roles are inverted. The “New Woman” represented the burgeoning population of educated and professional women who belonged to the white middle and upper middle class in the United States and Europe. 

William Herman Rau, Have dinner at one dear, [ca. 1897]. Albumen on stereograph mount. 

Image depicts a genre scene satirizing the evolving role of women in the home. Shows the lady of the house dressed in bloomers (bicycle garb) with her back to her children who play with toys on the floor. With her bicycle by her side, she tells her husband, who is washing clothes, to have dinner ready by one. 

Stereographs are photographs which are meant to be viewed through a device called a stereoviewer in order to produce a three-dimensional effect. The medium was very popular between the 1870s and 1920s and was widely accessible to audiences of a range of class backgrounds.    

On this #MorrisMonday, we’re getting Halloween costume inspiration from these stylish young subjects! 

Marriott Canby Morris, Elliston P. Morris Jr. and Marriott C. Morris Jr. playing railroad conductor, probably W. Walnut La[ne]. G[erman]t[ow]n,“ [ca. 1906-1907], cyanotype. 

Image depicts Marriott C. Morris’s sons Elliston Perot Morris Jr. and Marriott Canby Morris Jr., probably taken at their home at 131 West Walnut Lane. Both boys pose in sailor suits. They wear conductor caps and look at the camera with a serious expression. 

Cyanotypes are photographs made from a "blueprint” process that was pioneered in the 1840s but did not gain relative popularity until the 1890s. The simple process and low cost of producing cyanotype prints caused the method to become popular among amateur photographers. 

Have you gone pumpkin picking yet? 

John H. Webster, [Bertha T. and Clement B. Wester near the smokehouse, Mount Equity, Pa.], ca. 1890, glass negative. 

Image depicts the photographer’s brother, Clement B. Webster, with his wife, Bertha T. Webster, near the smokehouse on the property of Mount Equity in Pennsdale, Pa. Bertha is attired in a striped dress, standing against the shed with a tennis racket in hand. Clement sits at her feet, resting his elbow on a pumpkin. The photographer’s aunt, Hannah Mary S. Taylor, rented Mount Equity from her son-in-law’s family during the summer months of 1889 and 1890. The property is now home to a Buddhist Monastery, Mt. Equity Zendo Jihoji. 

Today is Indigenous Peoples’ Day, a celebration of Native American history and culture. To commemorate the day, we are sharing this view by Philadelphia landscape photographer James Rich. Rich was commissioned in 1908 to accompany a Rodman Wanamaker expedition to Yellowstone to photograph the region’s landscape and Native American life. 

James Bartlett Rich, Dividing the beef, Lodge Grass, Montana, 1908. Lantern slide. 

Picture shows Native Americans and African American cowboys dividing a carcass of beef in front of tepees and a tent. This lantern slide was created for optical viewing devices known as “magic lanterns,” a technology that predates the advent of photography. Slides like this one were often meticulously hand-colored to entice viewing audiences.

Charging into Monday like… 

Elliston P. Morris Jr. and hobby horse, 6706 [Cresheim Rd., Pelham]. Morris, Marriott Canby, 1863-1948, photographer. June 1902. 1 photograph: gelatin silver print; 3 x 4 in. 

It’s October, which means it’s time for a spooky and #spinetingling #LibrariesofInstagram challenge as we count down the days to #Halloween! What better way to start than with a skeleton hanging out with a couple of snakes on a barrel of whiskey? 

Two snakes and a skeleton on a whiskey barrel envelope. King & Baird, ca. 1861-1865. 1 envelope; 8 x 14 cm. (3 x 3.5 in.)