Full calf, “sunk panel” on The Iris: An Illuminated Souvenir for 1851. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1851.

Rare Books CSI

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Dealing with rare books, our job can seem a little bit like that of a detective and a little bit like a scientist. We have to track down clues and then piece together what information we can, while maintaining objectivity and without embellishing…
Full calf, “sunk panel” on The Iris: An Illuminated Souvenir for 1851. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1851.

Songs of the 19th Century

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As a Library Company intern, I am used to going into the stacks and seeing books such as copies of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and Dr. Benjamin Rush’s copy of the account of the 1793 yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia. I am also used…
Full calf, “sunk panel” on The Iris: An Illuminated Souvenir for 1851. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1851.

Reuse

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A big trend in the art world is found-object art, as is using trash to create new things. I find that because my upbringing involved shopping at thrift stores and reusing everything and anything, this is a natural way for me…
Full calf, “sunk panel” on The Iris: An Illuminated Souvenir for 1851. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1851.

21st Century Maps Inspired by Library Company Collections

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We were recently visited by Mark Adams and Jason Killinger of Eyes Habit, who were interested in viewing our map collections to gather inspirations for a map they were creating focusing on Philadelphia’s river wards.  In their words,…
Full calf, “sunk panel” on The Iris: An Illuminated Souvenir for 1851. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1851.

PEAES Conference on International Investment

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Join us for the twelfth annual PEAES conference conference, Foreign Confidence: International Investment in North America, 1700 to 1860.  During the colonial and early republic years in North America, various foreign networks of individuals…
Full calf, “sunk panel” on The Iris: An Illuminated Souvenir for 1851. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1851.

NEH Summer Seminar for School Teachers

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Thanks to generous funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) the Library Company is again the site of a Summer Seminar for School Teachers.  Sixteen teachers from around the country, chosen from a record number of applications,…
Full calf, “sunk panel” on The Iris: An Illuminated Souvenir for 1851. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1851.

Tin Toys and Pulley Animals: My First Month as a VCP Intern

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Toys inspire me. They always have, even back when I thought all their creators were probably dead. I like things that move and things that you can interact with as a viewer, whether they are in the fine art world or in a toy store. When…
Full calf, “sunk panel” on The Iris: An Illuminated Souvenir for 1851. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1851.

The Stuff of Everyday Life at the Library Company

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  After two years of dedicated work, the Library Company has completed an extensive National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)-funded project to catalog, conserve, and selectively digitize our uncataloged collections of 18th-…
Full calf, “sunk panel” on The Iris: An Illuminated Souvenir for 1851. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1851.

African Americana and Frank H. Taylor Collections Now on ImPAC

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Three of the rarest and most popular resources for African American research in the Print and Photograph Department are now accessible in our digital collections catalog.  The 19th-cenutry African American women's friendship albums by Amy…
Full calf, “sunk panel” on The Iris: An Illuminated Souvenir for 1851. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1851.

Welcome Krystal Appiah

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We are very pleased to announce that Krystal Appiah started as the Library Company's African Americana Specialist and Reference Librarian on June 11.  She comes to the Library Company from the Maryland State Archives, where she improved access…
Full calf, “sunk panel” on The Iris: An Illuminated Souvenir for 1851. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1851.

“Old Ironsides” in 2012

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During my recent trip to Boston to attend the Digital Directions conference, I was fortunate to visit the USS Constitution docked at the nearby Charleston Navy Yard after the closing session.  Knowing that we had various USS Constitution…
Full calf, “sunk panel” on The Iris: An Illuminated Souvenir for 1851. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1851.

What’s Your Type?

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Recently the Print Department acquired three Centennial Cabinets, sets of quirky souvenir cards printed in color on site at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876. Manufacturers Empire Press Co., Degener & Weiller, and Greenwood & Batley…
Full calf, “sunk panel” on The Iris: An Illuminated Souvenir for 1851. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1851.

Binding Books with Ingenuity and Efficiency

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Lippincott, Grambo & Co. offered The Iris, An Illuminated Annual for 1851 in six different binding styles, two of which are shown above. At the top is what they advertised as “Turkey Morocco beveled, inlaid with Papier Maché”…
Full calf, “sunk panel” on The Iris: An Illuminated Souvenir for 1851. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1851.

LCP Acquires a History of London Belonging to Peter Collinson

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At the recent New York Book Fair we were fortunate to be able to acquire an important copy of William Maitland’s gorgeous folio History of London belonging to the Library Company’s original purchasing agent Peter Collinson (1694-1768)…
Full calf, “sunk panel” on The Iris: An Illuminated Souvenir for 1851. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1851.

Introducing Artist-in-Residence Jessica Lentz

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This summer, the Library Company will host Moore College of Art student Jessica Lentz as the Visual Culture Program’s artist-in-residence intern. A junior majoring in 3D Fine Arts with experience in sculpture, Ms. Lentz will design…
Full calf, “sunk panel” on The Iris: An Illuminated Souvenir for 1851. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1851.

Capitalism by Gaslight Conference June 6-7

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Inspired by the Library Company's current "Capitalism by Gaslight” exhibition, this conference will showcase innovative research being done by historians of capitalism and its culture. The 15 papers presented by scholars from around the country…
Full calf, “sunk panel” on The Iris: An Illuminated Souvenir for 1851. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1851.

May Events

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Members-Only Annual Meeting & Public Lecture Tuesday, May 15, 5:00 p.m. and 5:45 p.m. Join us for our Annual Meeting (5:00) followed by a talk by Wendy Woloson, guest curator of “Capitalism by Gaslight” (5:45). Dr. Woloson will discuss…
Full calf, “sunk panel” on The Iris: An Illuminated Souvenir for 1851. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1851.

How to See a Story: Representations for Children in Nineteenth-Century American Visual Culture

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(April 12, 2012)   Visual Culture Program Fellow Catherine Walsh discussed the ways in which children learned to construct visual narratives by thinking about a variety of sources, including textbooks, primers and readers, illustrated…
Full calf, “sunk panel” on The Iris: An Illuminated Souvenir for 1851. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1851.

Upcoming Events

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Members-Only Annual Meeting & Public Lecture Tuesday, May 15, 5:00 p.m. and 5:45 p.m. Join us for our Annual Meeting (5:00) followed by a talk by Wendy Woloson, guest curator of “Capitalism by Gaslight” (5:45). Dr. Woloson will discuss…