National Bank Note Co

Description

Trade card depicting a racist, caricaturized genre scene to promote the coach varnish firm Clarence Brooks & Co. Scene shows a white photographer taking the portrait of an African American toddler in hi studio. In the right, the photographer stands next to his camera and tripod. He holds a cloth in his right hand, at his side, and a yellow-colored, monkey-like string puppet in his raised left hand. He wears a beard and is attired in a long brown jacket and blue striped pants. Between him and his young sitter is a framed advertisement above maroon paneling on an olive-colored wall. The advertisement reads: "Clarence Brooks & Co., Fine Coach Varnishes, Cor. West & West 12th Sts." In the left, the African American girl sits stiffly on a plush, green arm chair. Her eyes are opened wide in an aghast expression. She wears a sleeveless pink dress with blue bows at the shoulders. Behind her, in the doorway, are two African American women. The younger woman, likely the girl's mother, peers around from the left of the doorway. She wears a stylish hat, white blouse, and red bow at her neck. An older woman, likely the girl's grandmother, stands in the right of the doorway. She wears a brown-colored bonnet with a large bow around her chin and a brown-colored dress and shawl. Clarence Brooks established his varnish business in 1859 as Brooks and Fitzgerald, later Clarence Brooks & Co. In 1881 the firm issued a calendar illustrated with African...

Record Contributed By

The Library Company of Philadelphia

Record Harvested From

PA Digital