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"The energy needs of the Industrial Era fueled the search for underground coal. Coal was mapped and surveyed so that it could be located, dug up, and consumed. Lacking advanced “seeing” technology such as GPS mapping and LiDAR, 19th- and 20th-century surveyors’ work is based on direct but coarse-grained observational data. Lack of specificity invites us to imagine underground coal as something else: a co-habitant of Earth, whose material and location are primarily unseen."

The final day to view #SeeingCoal is this Friday! Stop by this week, or visit seeingcoal.librarycompany.org

"The rocks are, indeed, full of the monuments of time, but we have not yet learned to fully decipher them." - J. Donaldson.

This item, and more, on display in our exhibition #SeeingCoal

seeingcoal.librarycompany.org

"Coal is still a primary source of energy across the globe, but now it stands for the opposite of modernity. Aware, as we are, of the disastrous effects that extracting and burning coal has on the environment, coal has been practically banished from the visual/cultural landscape. Out of sight and out of mind?  But coal is full of portent. It is a bellwether material of the Human/Nature/Time relationship which deserves our attention." 

 In advance of the exhibition 'Seeing Coal - Time, Material and Scale,' LCP Conservator and exhibition curator Andrea Krupp wrote about her research. Read the full essay here

Can you imagine dancing the Bloomer Polka? In 1851, Amelia Bloomer introduced the readers of her Lily periodical to this style of dress, which quickly garnered both attention and controversy. This illustration, titled “The Bloomer Polka & Schottisch,” shows that bloomers made such an impact that they were featured in their own sheet music. Sheet music often reflected events in American popular culture, and bloomers were no exception. The woman in this illustration looks quite content to be wearing her bloomers, which would have allowed more freedom of motion for vigorous dancing than a full-length skirt.

-Lydia Shaw, Franklin & Marshall Class of 2022

This item and more will be featured in the exhibition Women Get Things Done, opening soon at the Library Company of Philadelphia!

This cabinet card (1880s) depicts a nurse who likely grew up post-Civil War, in an American culture that newly allowed women to participate in the professional field of nursing. This nurse is pictured in a photo studio with props rather than in the workplace, surrounded by the domesticity of the parlor. She is immaculately dressed and delicately holding un-intimidating medicines. The clearly staged nature of the photograph suggests that while women existed in the professional sphere of healthcare, they were still presented as distinctly feminine and adhering to gender norms. 

-Lydia Shaw, Franklin & Marshall Class of 2022

Can you picture yourself here? Women workers in 19th-century bookbinding as portrayed in The Great Industries of the United States (1872). The women wear identical clothing, their hair in identical buns, sitting in rows with robotic posture. One wonders at the uniformity of these women. Was the artist trying to depict the inhumane treatment of factory workers? Or did the artist merely wish to illustrate the growing role of women in the industrial workplace? Women often worked in bookbinding or shoemaking, industries involving sewing, a traditional domestic task.

-Lydia Shaw, Franklin & Marshall Class of 2022

This summer, Franklin & Marshall intern Lydia Shaw has been working on women’s history projects at the Library Company. In preparation for Women’s Equality Day (today!), Lydia read Frances Willard’s 1895 book on her personal experience learning to ride the bicycle. Willard became enthralled with bicycling at a time when bicycling was a new pastime, and one associated with male athleticism. Lydia writes: 

"In the second half of the 19th century, a new, healthy, and excitingly challenging means of transportation appeared in American popular culture: the bicycle. The first bicycle (known as the “Ordinary”), the amusing-looking 19th-century bicycle of collective popular memory, had a giant front wheel and a small back wheel and was exclusive to young men who possessed the funds to purchase it. These same young men made yet more exclusive biking clubs, to which they could bring their female romantic partners as guests... Throughout the 1870s and 1880s, women were discouraged from riding a bicycle whatsoever."

To read Lydia's full post, click here.

Frances Willard, the author of Wheel within a Wheel, will be featured in the exhibition Women Get Things Done, opening soon at the Library Company of Philadelphia!

This early biography of Harriet Tubman emphasizes her role as a Civil War spy. The image of Tubman holding a rifle with tents in the background clearly indicates her militancy and active role in the Civil War. This biography is particularly remarkable because women’s efforts, and more especially black women’s efforts, often go unrecognized in accounts of the Civil War. Even the inscription on the title page emphasizes Tubman’s importance in the war as being “commended by eminent officers for her services as a spy during the late rebellion.” 

-Lydia Shaw, Franklin & Marshall Class of 2022

This item and more will be featured in the exhibition Women Get Things Done, opening soon at the Library Company of Philadelphia!