1859 Women Workers Skirt Factory, Black Cubans, Popes Railway Car — Jan 29 For Sale

🗞️ HARPERS WEEKLY · January 29, 1859
Complete Issue · New historically varied Antebellum issue — illustrated documentary of women working in a New York skirt manufactory, Black figures in Cuba, the Popes personal railway car, and a Catholic priest on the front page. Strong content for womens labor history collectors, Black Americana enthusiasts, and Victorian Catholic history WOMEN IN THE WORKFORCE — FACTORY ARTICLE & MANY SMALL ILLUSTRATIONS — "EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN" — DOUGLAS & SHERWOODS SKIRT MANUFACTORY
An article and many small illustrations documenting women at work in Douglas & Sherwoods Skirt Manufactory in New York — a significant and rare primary document of womens industrial labor in the Antebellum era. In 1859 the question of womens employment was one of the most debated social issues in America — feminists, reformers, and traditionalists argued fiercely about whether and how women should work for wages outside the home. The illustrations of women at their sewing machines and cutting tables in a New York skirt manufactory are among the earliest documentary illustrations of female factory labor in American illustrated media, capturing working women at the dawn of the garment industry that would transform New York Citys economy for the next century. A significant piece of womens labor history, womens rights history, and American garment industry history — a primary document that pre-dates the Triangle Shirtwaist fire by fifty-two BLACK FIGURES IN TWO ONE-THIRD PAGE PRINTS — "NEGRO SCENES" IN "NOTES ON CUBA"
Two one-third page illustrations of Black figures in Cuba — published seven weeks after the Wanderers illegal slave cargo was landed on Jekyll Island, Georgia, at a moment of intense national debate about slavery, the slave trade, and Cubas future. Cuba in 1859 was still a Spanish colony where slavery was legal and a massive enslaved population worked the sugar plantations — and American expansionists in the South were actively seeking to annex Cuba precisely to extend slavery. These Cuban Black-figure illustrations are a significant piece of Antebellum race politics, Cuban history, and the broader Caribbean slavery system that intersected directly with the American slavery crisis. A significant piece of Black Americana and Cuban THE POPES RAILWAY THREE ILLUSTRATIONS & ARTICLE — "THE POPES RAILWAY CAR"
Three illustrations of Pope Pius IXs personal railway car — a fascinating piece of Victorian transportation and Catholic Church history, capturing the most powerful religious figure in the world embracing the technology of the industrial age. The Papal States had built their own railway system under Pius IX, and his personal railway car — lavishly appointed and carefully designed for papal dignity — was a symbol of the Churchs complex relationship with modernity. A vivid and unusual piece of Victorian Catholic INSIDE THE HALF FRONT PAGE — "REV. J.W. CUMMINGS, D.D." — WITH ARTICLE
A half front-page portrait and article on Reverend J.W. Cummings — a prominent Catholic priest and a significant piece of Antebellum American Catholic religious history, at a moment when the Catholic Church in America was growing rapidly through Irish and German photograph every page of every issue so you can inspect the condition closely before purchasing. Please review all images carefully and dont hesitate to ask any questions — Im happy to provide additional detail or close-up shots of any page, illustration, or area of concern before you ········ Harpers Weekly
Date ··············· January 29, 1859
City ··············· New York
Format ············· Illustrated newspaper, complete in 16 SHIPPING & Stored in an acid-free protective bag and flat-shipped in a padded envelope with heavy cardboard reinforcement
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