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This collection contains two poems, one letter and various ephemera of the prominent poet and abolitionist writer Elizabeth Margaret Chandler.

This small collection holds two poems, one letter, various ephemera, and printed materials. The first, and most substantial poem is Elegy (1793): On a Negroe Woman of the name of Rose, deceased in Philadelphia, remarkable for her innocent and sincerely pious life. Wrote by a person well acquainted with her conduct and virtues. The poem, which was written before Chandler's birth, is unattributed, and apart from its abolitionist sentiment, its relation to Chandler is unclear. The second poem is a small piece of paper with three short undated stanzas, written by Chandler. The letter, dated December 20, 1830, is addressed to the "Female Antislavery Society of Philadelphia" (not the eponymous society founded by Lucretia Mott in 1833), and sent from Lucy Townshend and Mary L. Lloyd of the Female Society, for Birmingham, West-Bromwich, Wednesbury, Walsall, and Their Respective Neighborhoods, for the Relief of British Negro Slaves. The ephemera items are two small calling cards, one "Lady's Ticket" to lectures at the Franklin Institute, and 1 cut-out silhouette of a female.

Printed material includes 5 prints regarding slavery, 3 books, and a small broadside (see Separated Items for descriptions and locations of this material). The graphic materials are black and white prints depicting: an image of a kneeling slave, often captioned "Am I not a Woman and a Sister?" taken from, and popularized by, Chandler's "Female Repository" page of The Genius of Universal Emancipation (October 16, 1829); a black man being held and whipped by a party of four other black men, all watched by a white man; overhead and cross-section views of a slave ship, with a detail showing the tiny slave quarters; and a black man on one knee looking forlorn as a white master whips a four-man working party in the background; and a picture entitled "United States Slave Trade" that shows well-to-do white men, one on a horse, inspecting and choosing chained male slaves as a black female and two children watch on. Visible in the background of this last piece are the United States Capitol Building, black work parties, and a slave being whipped.

The Gerald T. and Charlotte B. Maxson printed ephemera collection contains over 5,000 pieces of assorted ephemera, the majority of which were commercially printed in the United States during the mid to late 19th-century.

The Gerald T. and Charlotte B. Maxson printed ephemera collection contains over 5,000 pieces of assorted ephemera, the majority of which were commercially printed in the United States during the mid to late 19th-century.

The Maxson collection provides a valuable resource for the study of 19th-century visual culture, commercial advertising, and humor in addition to the role of gender, ethnicity, and race in advertising. American businesses are the predominant focus of the collection, though many international businesses are also represented. While trade cards are by far the most prevalent type of ephemera found in this collection, an extensive array of genres are present including die cut scrapbook pieces, photographs, engravings, maps, serials, and manuscript materials.

The 23 binders that house the Maxson collection were arranged by the collectors themselves. Items are organized somewhat randomly in terms of topical arrangement. While pockets of related materials can be found here and there (for instance, the entirety of Volume 16 contains circus-related items while Volume 11 contains an extensive number of Shaker-related materials), for the most part any given subject may appear in any given volume. In some cases, items are clustered as a result of having been acquired together or due to a documented common provenance. Occasional typed annotations written by the Maxsons help provide additional context for certain items.

The Maxson Collection Subject Index serves as a volume-level subject index for materials found throughout the binders. The subjects indexed here are generally representative of both visual and commercial content. In addition to more general subjects, many names of specific people, places, buildings, events, and organizations that appear in the materials have also been listed. Researchers engaging with this collection should be aware that they will encounter numerous examples of racist caricatures, especially ones depicting African American, Native American, Irish, and Chinese people.

The Hair documents, ephemera, and prints collection is comprised of 103 items, mostly printed materials related to hair, shaving, and wigs. Included are ephemeral advertisements, trade cards and price lists, government acts relating to hair and wigs, manuscript letters and indentures, caricatures and cartoons, broadsides, sheet music, other miscellaneous prints, and one braided lock of hair.

The Hair Documents, Ephemera, and Prints collection is comprised of 103 items, mostly printed materials related to hair, shaving, and wigs. Included are ephemeral advertisements, trade cards and price lists, government acts from British monarchs George II and George III relating to hair and wigs, manuscript letters and indentures, caricatures and cartoons, broadsides, sheet music, other miscellaneous prints, and one braided lock of hair. The material spans from 1717 to the late 1980s, with the bulk of materials dating from the late eighteenth century to the end of the nineteenth century. A majority of the materials are from England, although some are from Belgium, France, Switzerland, and Scotland. Many of the items are satirical and are commentary on fashion and the idea that the local barber was the "jack of all trades." Two similar items, a comical manuscript resume of "Isaac Morgan" and a fictitious advertisement for the varied services of "Isaac Factotum" offer exaggerated illustrations of how a barber did more than cut hair. Of interest is a series of mid-nineteenth century Valentines which center around the love-lives of barbers. Also included is a letter from Alex Campbell to his relative John Campbell, the Cashier of the Royal Bank of Scotland during the Jacobite rising of 1745. There is also sheet music from the composer (Franz) Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), A Pastoral Song, better known as My Mother bids me bind my hair. Of note are prints by British satirists William Hogarth, Isaac and George Cruikshank, and Thomas Rowlandson.

The John Doggett & Co. subscription books contain the signatures of 92 subscribers to The American Kings lithograph set. Also included are several sketches produced by John Doggett Cobb circa 1906; an 1825 contract between Jonathan Cobb and John Doggett & Co. for the sale of the lithograph set; and notes and clippings from Edward Morrill, the rare book dealer who purchased the subscription books in 1944.

The John Doggett & Co. subscription books are two volumes containing the signatures of 92 subscribers to The American Kings lithograph set. A folded broadside advertisement for the print series is on the inside front cover of each volume. Also included are several sketches mainly produced by John Doggett Cobb; an 1825 contract between Jonathan Cobb and John Doggett & Co. for the sale of the lithograph set; and notes and clippings from Edward Morrill, the rare book dealer who purchased the subscription books in 1944.

The two volumes contain the signatures of 92 men mostly from eastern Massachusetts. There are a total of 174 signatures between the two volumes, 80 of these signatures appear in both volumes.

In each volume the first set of pages is divided into two columns. In volume one signatures are present in both columns, whereas in volume two the second column lists the city names where the signatories lived. For a full list of signatories, please see our Signatories index.

In addition to the subscription signatures both volumes also contain numerous sketches, including charcoal, colored pencil and watercolor illustrations. The sketches present in volume one are attributed to John Doggett Cobb circa 1906 and include charcoal drawings of medieval English abbeys such as Fountains Abby, St. Joseph’s Chapel, Glastonbury Abbey, Netly Abbey, Whitby Abbey and Lindisfarne Prior. All of these sketches appear to have been based on stereographic images. There are several more charcoal drawings that may have also been produced by Cobb of Wallingford Bridge, Roundham Bridge, the Bablock Hythe Ferry, Folly Bridge, Newbridge, Nuneham Park, Clifton Hampden and Mapledurham Woods. Most of these drawings contain notations for where to add specific colors in future depictions. Both the Wallingford Bridge and Mapledurham Woods sketches have been colored with pencil. There are also several watercolor and charcoal illustrations of unconfirmed authorship that are present in volume two, including drawings of natural scenery, a castle, a wagon train, a campfire overlooking a town, and what appears to be a busy seaport.

This collection also includes a handwritten agreement dated November 1, 1825, regarding the production of the prints arranged between John Doggett & Co. and Johnathon Holmes Cobb. The contract states that Doggett would provide Cobb with 1000 sets of The American Kings while Cobb would garner the subscriptions and gain all of the profits after paying Doggett $5,000. There is also a clause outlining what would happen if too few sets were sold.

Also contained in the collection is a note written on an envelope from the Hotel Lexington in New York City discussing the purchase price of the subscription books and the rarity of the broadsides; a description of the collection and its provenance written on the front of a mailing envelope addressed to Edward Morrill from the New York Public Library; a 1934 exhibition guide of the First National Bank of Boston highlighting The American Kings painted portrait series; a newspaper clipping ca. 1863 regarding Marquis de Lafayette’s departure from the United States in 1825; and a 1930 Boston Evening Transcript article about The American Kings portraits on view at the Old Colony Trust in Boston.