Your TR Source
A female spirit labeled “Public Spirit” warns two men cutting logs, of the consequences of deforestation.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-01-09
Supreme Court justices “Woods, Blatchford, Harlan, Gray, Miller, Field, Waite, Bradley [and] Matthews” sit around a table, struggling to keep up with an overload of cases piling up on the floor, delivered “From the Lower Courts” by mail clerks entering on the left, as well as “Cases Unadjudicated 1880-1882” and “Cases Unadjudicated 1883-,” and a cabinet labeled “1885” along the wall in the background. Caption: It is unequal to the ever-increasing labor thrust upon it. Will Congress take prompt measures for the relief of the people?
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1885-12-09
Print shows a ship labeled “Wrecked Corporation” and “Insurance Co. Bankrupt” that has wrecked on rocks with a darkened lighthouse labeled “Trust” and “Justice” nearby. The light has been snuffed by “Judge” and “Corruption.” Victims of the wreck, some clinging to the ship, others in the water, are labeled “Policy Holder” and “Pillaged Policy Holder.” A rope from the ship to shore is held by a “Receiver,” a “Lawyer,” and a “Shore Shark,” and is coiled around a money bag labeled “Fee.” Another “Lawyer,” using a gaff, reaches for a barrel labeled “Fees” that bobs in the water near the ship. Standing near the lighthouse is a man labeled “Referee” who is holding a pan labeled “False Beacon” that spews illuminated smoke labeled “By Order of the Court.” The man burns papers labeled “Waste, Outrageous Extravagance, Extortion, [and] Cost.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1882-03-15
James Russell Lowell, minister to England, turns his back on an Irishman who is dressed like Uncle Sam and is in the custody of the British military for anarchistic activities. Lowell holds a paper that states, “All such persons should be made to understand distinctly that they cannot be Irishmen and Americans at the same time! J. R. Lowell.” Caption: Minister Lowell–“No, sir, you are not the kind of American citizen I am sent here to protect!”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1882-03-22
In the interior of the “Political Hot House,” many plants with the heads of politicians are potted and labeled with botanical names, for example “Butleria Cockeya,” “McVeaghia No Chancea,” “Tildenus Fossilis,” “Blainea Sunstrokea,” “Hewittia Tariffia,” “Shermania Honestia,” and “Thurmania Ragbabia.” At center is a figure fashioned from quill pens, a drum labeled “Press,” and newspapers labeled “Louisville Courier Journal, N. Y. Sun, Tribune, Herald, Advertiser, Times, [and] Cincinnati C[…],” holding a potted plant labeled “Arthuria Accidentalia.” A politician holding a spade labeled “Out of a Job” gestures toward the door of the greenhouse. In the background is the “White House.” Among the plants are Rutherford B. Hayes, Thomas F. Bayard, Winfield Scott Hancock, George B. McClellan, Roscoe Conkling, Cyrus W. Field, Samuel J. Tilden, Allen G. Thurman, John Sherman, Ulysses S. Grant, Wayne MacVeagh, George F. Edmunds, William M. Evarts, Benjamin F. Butler, Abram S. Hewitt, Chester A. Arthur, James G. Blaine, David Davis, and a plant identified as “Adams Icebergea.” Caption: Unoccupied Politician “Oh, I assure you, my dear Mr. Press, it’s none too early to begin to set out the Presidential Plants!”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1882-04-05
Members of the clergy sign a document labeled “Declaration of Dependence” and are joined together by long strings of beads that are held by Pope Leo XIII sitting on a chair in the left foreground. Cardinal John McCloskey is sitting at the table where the document is being signed, glaring at the Pope. The American Declaration of Independence, torn and crumpled, lies at his feet. Caption: Made at Cincinnati, on the 19th of March, in the year of the Republic 106, by the Fourth Provincial Council of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1882-04-12
A beauty contest is underway where “First Prize” is the “Presidency.” The presidential candidates, all dressed as women, are sitting on raised platforms around which men have gathered to admire their beauty. Two men in the lower left appear to be voting for number “1. The Empire State Enslaver.” Among those in the running are “2. The same Old Widow from Beanville, 3. The Mulligan Masher from Maine [holding fan labeled] J. Blaine, 4. The Delaware Darling, 5. The Indiana Dumpling [holding fan labeled] J. E. MDonald, 6. The Homespun Houri of Ohio, 7. The Illinois Pet, 10. Utica Immortelle, 11. The Buffalo Girl, 12. The Indiana ‘Sun-Flower’ [with ribbon labeled] W. S. Holman, 13. The Nation’s Ex-Favorite [holding fan labeled] U.S.G., 14. The Pension Ring Pocahontas [with fan labeled] Logan, 15. The Centennial Spinster Ex-Champion de jure, 16. The Free Trade Fairy [with fan labeled] Hewitt, 17. The Ohio Water Lily Ex-Champion de facto, 18. The Pearl of Protection [with fan labeled] Randall, The Sherman Sisters 19. The Tecumseh Twin, 20. The Treasury Twin, 21. The Virtuous Vermonter [with fan labeled] Edmund, [and] 22. The Fat Fairy.” Among those depicted are Chester A. Arthur, Benjamin F. Butler, James G. Blaine, Thomas Bayard, Joseph E. McDonald, Allen G. Thurman, Robert Todd Lincoln, Roscoe Conkling, Grover Cleveland, William Steele Holman, Ulysses S. Grant, John Logan, Samuel J. Tilden, Abram S. Hewitt, Rutherford B. Hayes, Samuel J. Randall, William T. Sherman, John Sherman, George F. Edmunds, and David Davis.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-01-23
John Kelly, wearing a tuxedo and winking, stands next to a large safe labeled “N.Y. City Treasury,” turning the combination labeled “Bargain Offices Spoils Steal” (BOSS). A notice at the bottom of the safe states, “$35,000,000 in here to be distributed this year.” Caption: John Kelly “I hold the combination – and what are you going to do about it?”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-01-30
A woman labeled “Democracy,” wearing a blindfold labeled “Stupidity,” is being pushed by Samuel J. Randall toward a “Presidenti[al] Chair.” Several eggs lie in the way on the ground, labeled “Honest Naval Appropriation, Civil Service Reform, Honest River-Harbor Appropriation, Economy, Anti-Silver Coinage, National Banking System, Tariff Reform, [and] Prompt Legislation.” Two of the eggs are broken. Among a group of men laughing, in the background on the right, are John Logan, John Sherman, and William D. Kelley.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-04-09
Print shows Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing left, on oval frame, with two female figures offering crowns of laurel labeled “Europe” and “America.” Above is an angel spreading her wings above figures from Longfellow’s poems. At bottom left is a poem in tribute to Longfellow.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1882-05-03
An explosion has occurred at the “Claim Agency, Formerly Republican Head Quarters” with William M. Evarts peeking through the opening in the tent to survey the damage. Several small kiosks labeled “Machine Republicans Meet Here, County Democracy Blaine Exchange, Tribune Blaine Organ, [and] Friends of Tammany Meet Here” have been blown over and damaged. Also knocked to the ground by the blast were “Keifer, [Blaine holding a paper that states “I Claim Everything”], Logan, W. Reid, Butler, Dana, Burchard [labeled “R.R.R.”], Robeson, Elkins, Dorsey,” and an unidentified man lying on the ground next to bags of “Soap.” On horseback, in the upper left corner, is Grover Cleveland holding a scroll labeled “Reform,” and a Puck character carrying a standard labeled “Independents.” Among the ranks are Carl Schurz, George W. Curtis, and Henry Ward Beecher. Strewn on the ground are papers that state “I.O.U. If we win. J. G., I.O.U. Conditional on Success, C.W.F., [and] I.O.U. If you get there, J. Roach”; and several of the downed “Mulligan Guard” hold papers that state “We Still Claim,” whereas Dana’s paper states “I Give Up.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-11-19
Puck stands next to the symbolic figure labeled “Independent” who is undergoing a blood transfusion with an old man labeled “Democracy” sitting in a chair. Among the men depicted observing the operation are Carl Schurz, Henry Ward Beecher, and Henry Watterson.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-12-03
Uncle Sam and Liberty welcome a group of women labeled “Mexico, Brazil, Cuba, Peru, La Plata, Chili, Hayti, [and] Ecuador” to the World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition in New Orleans, Louisiana. Excerpts from the “Republican National Platform” and the “Democratic National Platform” that warn against “entangling alliances” while promoting trade, particularly in the “Western Hemisphere,” frame the tableau.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-12-10
Newspaper editors present their candidates for government appointments. James Gordon “Bennett” holds up a bust of Roscoe Conkling labeled “Sect. Interior,” with a tray labeled “Bennett’s Beauties” at his feet. Whitelaw “Reid” holds a tray labeled “Please choose these and suit us, Blaine & Reid,” on which are busts labeled “KKK” for “Sec’y Interior, Sec’y of War, [and] Treasury.” Joseph “Pulitzer” holds up a tray labeled “The World for Pulitzer” on which are busts of himself. Charles A. Dana carries a tray labeled “Dana’s Darlings” with busts of John “Kelly,” Thomas F. “Grady,” George M. “Robeson,” Samuel Sullivan “Cox,” and Benjamin F. Butler. There is also a man carrying a basket labeled “Hens’ Rights Heroines” with busts of “Lockwood, E.C. Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Phoebe Cozzens [sic], [and] Lucy Stone.” President Cleveland is visible through a window on the right, conducting interviews for cabinet positions. Caption: Chorus of Journalistic Candidate-Peddlers – “Here y’are now! – I’ve got the only genuine article! – Don’t mind that other fellow!”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-12-17
A female figure labeled “Charity” holds a bouquet of flowers and stands next to a young boy with crutches and a bandaged foot. Puck, holding a lithographic pen, gestures toward viewers to donate to a worthy cause.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-12-24
Puck stands with lithographic pen and a long banner with scenes from cartoons that appeared in Puck Magazine during 1884, including the British Lion and “El Mahdi” in Egypt and Sudan, James G. Blaine’s presidential hopes, the rise of Chester A. Arthur, a downtrodden Tammany tiger, John Kelly and Benjamin Butler as entertainers, the French and the Chinese in “Tonquin,” the figure for the Independent Vote and Grover Cleveland joining forces, and millionaires Jay Gould and William H. Vanderbilt.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-12-31
A man labeled “Doctor” and a man labeled “Sexton” stand in the street outside a “Confectionery,” with a large colorful candy stick between them, labeled “Chrome Green, Chalk, Red Lead, Arsenic, Chrome Yellow, Vermillion, Verdigris, [and] Glucose.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1885-01-07
Puck holds a shotgun over one shoulder and a dead owl in his raised right hand. With him are two hunting dogs labeled “Wit” and “Satire.” He is surrounded by dead animals that have the faces of politicians, including James G. Blaine, Roscoe Conkling, George M. Robeson, and William E. Chandler. A frog probably represents Benjamin F. Butler, an unidentified man is lying in the marsh grass, and a bird of prey, with the face of Jay Gould, carries off a sheep with “Wit” in pursuit.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1885-01-14
Puck peers behind a curtain to witness Joseph Ferdinand Keppler staging a puppet show labeled “U. S. Senate” showing a confrontation between Jefferson Davis, dressed as a woman, and General Sherman. Another puppet labeled “Vance” sits behind the curtain with an unidentified puppet, possibly William Mahone. Caption: Grand reproduction of the Rebellion, and terrific combat between General Sherman and Jeff Davis!! Joe Hawley, manager.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1885-01-21
At a costume ball, a band of newspaper editors labeled “Herald, Sun, Staats-Zeitung, World, Times, [and] Evening Post” is conducted by Puck. Among those present at the ball are James Gillespie Blaine, Whitelaw Reid, William Maxwell Evarts, Roscoe Conkling, Ulysses S. Grant, Grover Cleveland, and John Kelly.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1885-01-28