A selection of Library of Congress primary sources exploring the Harlem Renaissance. This set also includes a Teacher's Guide with historical context and teaching suggestions.

A comic scene ridiculing the Tammany Democrats of New York City. Tammany headquarters, known as the "Wigwam," here erupts in a drunken fracas over the Democratic platform for the presidential race of 1852. The platform specifically endorsed the Compromise of 1850, which incorporated the Fugitive Slave Act, a measure highly repugnant to abolitionists and Free-Soil or Barnburner Democrats. The artist also capitalizes on current rumors of candidate Franklin Pierce's bouts of alcoholism. In the center stands a wooden platform, in the process of collapsing on one end under the riotous exertions of abolitionists. On the other end (at left) stand Pierce and his runnning mate William R. King. Pierce, visibly drunk and swooning, is supported by King. Yet he tries to speak, "Fel-er-cit-zens. I'm bliged to you. I, that is--King? did you put that "Bri" (hic) "Bri" (hic) "Brick!" (damm the word)--in my "Hat?" Fel--citizens? this is my mot (hic) mottoe! "Prin-Ci-Ples, Not, Men--Men, Not Prin-ciples" whichever is the most ex (hic) "Expedient" (damm the word). Fel-Cit-zens? hurray for the Dem (hic) Dem (hic) "Democratic Party." (damm the word) (hic) (hic) ah that last "Brandy Smash" was too Muscular for my constution. "King! King!" your drunk" King: "Come--Pierce stand up like a man, what will your friend think, if you are as limber as this after we get you in the White House, what will become of the country. Come now? stand up, or lay down, one or the other." King leads Pierce toward an Irish tough (far left), one of the party rank and file, who steps onto the platform and declares enthusiastically, "Your the boy for this crowd! slap down yer paw! . . . aint we a go in ter have a nice time when we gitm you in the white house? well we is! hoss! wont we lick Mexico again? wont we go ter Cuba and kiss the purty Spanish galls? wont we lamm the British? & Choke Louis Napoleon? well we will! . . ." The platform itself is inscribed with the warning: "In consequence of the Ricketty Construction of this Platform, all Barnburners, Free-Soilers, & Abbolitionists are requested to Tread on it as lightly as possible." The structure breaks up on the right amid a crowd of brawling Democrats, one of them carrying an "Abbolition" banner. In the left foreground, a muscular, bare-chested "Old Hunker" (conservative Democrat) sends a Free-Soiler flying with a punch, saying, "How do you like that for a Change?" To which the Free-Soiler answers, "I should like it better without the change?" In the center sits a man in athletic costume holding a bottle. He looks to the right where Whig candidate Winfield Scott enters on the back of a donkey. The athletic man says, "Hulloa? Scott! is it a fact that you brought down--twelve "Birds" at one "Shot." Scott, dressed as a hunter, with a large sack slung over his saddle, replies, "Yes Sir, brought e'm "Down," and "Bagged" e'm too." As in "Terrible Rout and Total Destruction of the Whig Party" (no. 1852-26) the comic characterization and style of draftsmanship here are unquestionably John L. Magee's, and compare closely with other, signed works by the artist.|Drawn by John L. Magee.|For sale by Nathaniel Currier at No. 2 Spruce St. N.Y.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 111.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1852-13.

Poster showing a war-ravaged landscape, and in the distance across a body of water, a city of skyscrapers with a serene man's face (Uncle Sam's?) hovering above. Title from item.

An illustrated sheet music cover for a set of "popular airs" for the piano, dedicated by the publisher to "Whigs of the United States." A Whig campaign piece, the work eulogizes the supposed humble rusticity of presidential candidate William Henry Harrison. In an oval medallion flanked by American flags is a bust portrait of Harrison. Beneath it lie crossed olive branches and above, in a burst of light, stands an eagle holding a streamer that reads "The Hero of Tippecanoe." In the background are Harrison's log cabin with smoking chimney (on the left) and the United States Capitol (on the right). The music sheet sold for fifty cents.|Entered . . . 1840 by F.C. Unger.|Gimber's Lithy. 404, Broadway New York.|New York. Published by Ferdinand C. Unger, late Saml. C. Jollie & Co. 385 Broadway.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1840-14.

An untitled woodcut, bold in design, apparently created for use on broadsides or banners during the Whigs' "log cabin" campaign of 1840. In front of a log cabin, a shirtsleeved William Henry Harrison welcomes a soldier, inviting him to rest and partake of a barrel of "Hard Cider." Nearby another soldier, already seated, drinks a glass of cider. On a staff at right is an American flag emblazoned with "Harrison & Tyler."|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1840-16.

Harry Sumida, full-length portrait, seated, facing left, reading a book, next to a small table. "Oldest Neisi in Center," according to caption on the negative sleeve. Title transcribed from Ansel Adams' caption on verso of print. Original neg. no.: LC-A35-5-M-2. Gift; Ansel Adams; 1965-1968. Forms part of: Manzanar War Relocation Center photographs.

Henry Hanawa, bust portrait, facing front. Title transcribed from Ansel Adams' caption on verso of print. Original neg. no.: LC-A35-4-M-21. Gift; Ansel Adams; 1965-1968. Forms part of: Manzanar War Relocation Center photographs.

Poster showing a Red Cross nurse in a cloak, extending her hand, as soldiers march behind with an American flag. Copyright by American National Red Cross. No. 2xD-3.

Poster showing a portrait of a woman wearing a shawl drawn over her head. Title from item.

Poster showing an American flag filling the sky above soldiers in the field. Wentworth Institute poster no. 12. Probably issued by Slav Press Bureau.

Text continues: [...] Payments may be made in installments. Ask your employer or any bank how to subscribe. Poster is text only. Forms part of: Willard and Dorothy Straight Collection.

Poster showing Uncle Sam about to write with a quill pen in a book labelled "census." Forms part of: Willard and Dorothy Straight Collection.

Highlights from the past and present of Hawaii, from the rich online collections of the Library of Congress.

Poster showing a flag-draped portrait of Lord Roberts of Kandahar. (Source: L. Broer, 2009) Poster no. 20. Title from item.

U.S. Marines recruitment poster showing half-length portrait of George Dewey. Poster caption continues: "No finer military organization than the Marine Corps exists in the world" George Dewey, Admiral of the Navy ; Apply at 24 East 23rd Street, New York, N.Y.

Poster showing a grave marked by a cross and a helmet, on a hillside of red poppies.

Poster promoting food conservation by the New York State Food Supply Commission, with lists of recommended actions below American flags. Forms part of: Willard and Dorothy Straight Collection.

A pro-Jackson commentary on the confrontation between the United States and France over reparations due the U.S. under the Treaty of 1831 (See "Spirit of the Times" no. 1836-4). The situation reached crisis intensity in 1836 when France refused payment pending an apology for remarks purportedly offensive to that nation in a Jackson speech the previous December. The print was deposited for copyright on January 25, ten days after Jackson's Special Message to Congress, wherein he suggested preparation for hostilities in the event that payment was not forthcoming. The cartoon spoofs the bellicose climate generated in part by American and French presses before spoliation payments were begun in May, and to the rivalry between New York newspapers the "Morning Courier and New York Enquirer," the "Sun," and the "Herald." The print is based on a fable by Jean de la Fontaine ("Fables de la Fontaine" Livre XII, Fable 4), about two she-goats who confront each other on a plank high above a river. Each is too proud to make way for the other, and hence both end up falling into the river. Similarly, two goats with the heads of French king Louis Philippe (left) and Andrew Jackson (right) meet on a plank bridging a channel. The Jackson goat says "By the 8th of January I shall not go back." Louis Philippe responds "Nor I by the 3d day of July." (January 8 is the anniversary of Jackson's famous victory at the Battle of New Orleans.) Below them John Bull waves his hat and says, "Go it my Harties fifty to one on Brother Jonathan, Some one will profit by this. I don't say who!" On the left the Gallic cock stands on a bale with the words "La raison du plus fort est toujours la meilleure" (loosely translated: "Might makes right"). He crows that "Orleans has been his [Jackson's] rise, Orleans will be his Fall," alluding to Jackson's famous victory at the Battle of New Orleans, and the French royal family, the house of Orleans. On the right is an American eagle with thunderbolts in his talons. In the lower half of the print editors of three French journals, "La Quotidienne, Le Constitutionel" and "Les Debats," shout taunts like "Go on! Go on! Vive la gloire!!" and "Might makes Right" across a small body of water at American editor James Watson Webb, on the right. Webb sits on a bale of saltpetre cheering Jackson and waving a "Bennett Bludgeon" club. The saltpetre symbolizes Webb's aggressive stance on enforcement of the spoliation claims; the bludgeon his well-publicized beating of James Gordon Bennett, editor of the rival New York "Herald," in January 1836. From Webb's pocket a boy surreptitiously removes a copy of Jackson's "Special Message" saying "The "Sun" shines for all," perhaps a reference to the New York "Sun's "non-partisan editorial policy.|Entered . . . 1836 N.Y.; added by hand in ink: "By Jos. Mouls."|Sold at 36 Maiden Lane 3d. Story.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 42.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1836-3.