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Photo, Print, Drawing Road to Philadelphy.

About this Item

Title

  • Road to Philadelphy.

Summary

  • This circa 1830 print by Edward Williams Clay (1799--1857) caricatures the pretentiousness and prejudice of early 19th-century Philadelphia Quakers toward people they regarded as their social inferiors, but it also mocks those seeking to imitate the Quaker elite. On a Philadelphia road in front of a small house with an open picket fence and a visitor arriving on horseback, a raggedly dressed, dark-skinned traveler with buck teeth, possibly an Irishman or African American, asks a rotund Quaker man and his daughter, "I say, this isn't the road to Philadelphy, honey, is it?" The father responds indignantly to the "Friend," using the Quaker form of address, stating that of course it is the road and accusing the man of lying. Clay, a Philadelphia native, was the most prolific caricaturist of the Jacksonian era (about 1835--54). He was well known for his popular racist series, "Life in Philadelphia," published from 1828 until around 1830, which satirized upwardly mobile African Americans in Philadelphia for, as he saw it, ineptly attempting to imitate the white middle class.

Names

  • Childs, Cephas Grier, 1793-1871 Printer.
  • Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857 Artist.

Created / Published

  • Philadelphia : Childs or Childs & Inman, [1830 to 1831]

Headings

  • -  United States of America--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia
  • -  1830 to 1831
  • -  African Americans
  • -  Caricatures and cartoons
  • -  Ethnic groups
  • -  Irish Americans
  • -  Lithographs
  • -  Society of Friends

Notes

  • -  Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
  • -  "Digital catalog number: POS 652"--Note extracted from World Digital Library.
  • -  Original resource extent: 1 print : lithograph ; 20 x 23 centimeters.
  • -  Original resource at: The Library Company of Philadelphia.
  • -  Content in English.
  • -  Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.

Medium

  • 1 online resource.

Source Collection

  • Philadelphia on Stone

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2021670186

Online Format

  • compressed data
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

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The Library asks that researchers approach the materials in this collection with respect for the culture and sensibilities of the people whose lives, ideas, and creativity are documented here.

Credit Line: [Original Source citation], World Digital Library

More about Copyright and other Restrictions

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For guidance about compiling full citations consult Citing Primary Sources.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Childs, Cephas Grier, Printer, and Edward Williams Clay. Road to Philadelphy. Pennsylvania United States of America Philadelphia, 1830. [Philadelphia: Childs or Childs & Inman, to 1831] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021670186/.

APA citation style:

Childs, C. G. & Clay, E. W. (1830) Road to Philadelphy. Pennsylvania United States of America Philadelphia, 1830. [Philadelphia: Childs or Childs & Inman, to 1831] [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021670186/.

MLA citation style:

Childs, Cephas Grier, Printer, and Edward Williams Clay. Road to Philadelphy. [Philadelphia: Childs or Childs & Inman, to 1831] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021670186/>.