Top of page

Photo, Print, Drawing Robert Shoemaker's Wholesale and Retail Drugstore, Southwest Corner of Second and Green Streets, Philadelphia.

About this Item

Title

  • Robert Shoemaker's Wholesale and Retail Drugstore, Southwest Corner of Second and Green Streets, Philadelphia.

Summary

  • William H. Rease, born in Pennsylvania circa 1818, was the most prolific lithographer of advertising prints in Philadelphia during the 1840s and 1850s. Shown here is Shoemaker's drugstore on the 200 block of Green Street. Signs advertise Wetherill's white lead, drugs, medicines, paints, oils, glass, dyestuffs, "window glass of all sizes," picture glass, "cheap glass for hot beds," "white lead warranted pure by the ton or pound," ready-mixed paints, linseed oil, plasters, potash, and soda. A patron enters past barrels and sacks. Two clerks stand at the long counter before shelves of pharmaceuticals. Canisters and apothecary jars fill the main windows. At the street corner, crates and boxes of pharmaceuticals, including indigo and oil of vitriol (sulfuric acid), line the sidewalk and some are loaded on a horse-drawn dray. Shoemaker operated the drugstore under this name and at this location in 1837-56, having apprenticed at the store in the 1830s when it was operated by William Scattergood. Shoemaker developed an alternative to homemade plasters and was possibly the first U.S. manufacturer of glycerin. He removed to Fourth and Race Streets in 1856 when he established Robert Shoemaker & Company. Rease became active in his trade around 1844, and through the 1850s he mainly worked with printers Frederick Kuhl and Wagner & McGuigan in the production of advertising prints known for their portrayals of human details. Although Rease often collaborated with other lithographers, by 1850 he promoted in O'Brien's Business Directory his own establishment at 17 South Fifth Street, above Chestnut Street. In 1855 he relocated his establishment to the northeast corner of Fourth and Chestnut Streets (after a circa 1853-55 partnership with Francis Schell), where in addition to advertising prints he produced certificates, views, maps, and maritime prints.

Names

  • Rease, William H., circa 1818-1893 Artist.

Created / Published

  • Philadelphia : Printed by Wagner & McGuigan, 1846-12.

Headings

  • -  United States of America--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia
  • -  1846-12
  • -  Barrels
  • -  Carriages and carts
  • -  Drugstores
  • -  Glass industry
  • -  Horse-drawn vehicles
  • -  Lead industry
  • -  Lithographs
  • -  Merchants
  • -  Oils and fats
  • -  Paint industry and trade
  • -  Storefronts
  • -  Street scenes

Notes

  • -  Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
  • -  "Digital catalog number: POS 654"--Note extracted from World Digital Library.
  • -  Original resource extent: 1 print : lithograph ; 34 x 32 centimeters.
  • -  Reference extracted from World Digital Library: Rease, William H., Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary, Library Company of Philadelphia, http://www.lcpdigital.org. External
  • -  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

  • 2021670253

Online Format

  • compressed data
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection. Absent any such restrictions, these materials are free to use and reuse. Researchers are encouraged to review the source information attached to each item. For information on contacting WDL partner organizations, see this archived list of partners

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

For additional information and contact information for many of the partner organizations, see this archived capture of the World Digital Library site from 2021.

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:

Rease, William H., Circa Artist. Robert Shoemaker's Wholesale and Retail Drugstore, Southwest Corner of Second and Green Streets, Philadelphia. Pennsylvania United States of America Philadelphia, 1846. Philadelphia: Printed by Wagner & McGuigan, -12. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021670253/.

APA citation style:

Rease, W. H. (1846) Robert Shoemaker's Wholesale and Retail Drugstore, Southwest Corner of Second and Green Streets, Philadelphia. Pennsylvania United States of America Philadelphia, 1846. Philadelphia: Printed by Wagner & McGuigan, -12. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021670253/.

MLA citation style:

Rease, William H., Circa Artist. Robert Shoemaker's Wholesale and Retail Drugstore, Southwest Corner of Second and Green Streets, Philadelphia. Philadelphia: Printed by Wagner & McGuigan, -12. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021670253/>.