For this week’s #MagnificentCollections we highlight Emily Phillips, a collector of some of our favorite trade cards.
Emily Phillips (1822-1909), descended from one of the first Philadelphia Jewish families, gave her collection of trade cards to the Library Company in 1882. A shareholder in the Library and a philanthropist, Phillips supported several local Jewish benevolent organizations, including the Hebrew Education Society and the Jewish Maternity Association, while collecting nearly two thousand trade cards representing all manner of Victorian Philadelphia businesses from ice to velocipedes.
Visit the trade card collection HERE.