Advertisement, Needles in their principal stages, manufactured by Abel Morrall, prepared for the Boston Anti-Slavery Bazaar, 1855

Description

This piece of ephemera contains harmful imagery and language regarding people of African descent. It also contains harmful language regarding indigenous peoples.

Historic New England acknowledges historical records / objects may contain harmful imagery and language reflecting attitudes and biases of their creators and time in which they were made. Historic New England does not alter or edit objects and / or historical text.

Advertisement for needles manufactured by Abel Morrall of Studley (Warwickshire) and Manchester that depicts "needles in their principle stages" of creation. At the bottom of the page are examples of the needles in each stage pierced through the paper. The sample set of needles was "prepared for the Boston Anti-Slavery Bazaar, 1855". Many anti-slavery fairs, like the Bazaar, were put on as fundraisers by American abolitionists from 1830 to 1860. They often sold foreign goods to increase sales. The advertisement states that the same set of samples was presented to Queen Victoria during the Great Exhibition, which took place in London from May to October 1851.

The front of the advertisement also contains an illustration of the crest of the Worshipful Company of Needlemakers, one of the livery companies of the City of London. The crest includes depictions of Adam and Eve sewing fig leaves in the Garden of Eden alongside a racialized caricature-like image of a "Moor's Head" (a black man). The advertisement claims that the "Moor's Head" is part of the crest due to the alleged role of Afro-Spaniard craftsmen in the development of needlemaking in England. The reverse of the advertisement contains a a detailed "history" of needlemaking from ancient times to "modern"[19th century] England.