{"product_id":"1881-nast-clean-sweep-nyc-hunters-point-sick-room-negro-laborers-hudson-aug-20","title":"1881 Nast \"Clean Sweep NYC,\" Hunter's Point Sick Room, Negro Laborers Hudson — Aug 20","description":"1881 Nast \"Clean Sweep NYC,\" Hunter's Point Sick Room, Negro Laborers Hudson — Aug 20\n\n📜 ABOUT THIS PIECE OF HISTORY 📜\nThis August 20, 1881 issue of Harper's Weekly is a socially rich and historically significant summer number — Thomas Nast's battle cry for civic reform, the ongoing Hunter's Point pollution crisis devastating the sick and vulnerable, a vivid document of Black labor on the Hudson River, a dramatic trotting race, and the Girondists' centerfold. For collectors of Thomas Nast, New York City reform history, African American labor history, industrial pollution history, and Gilded Age Americana, this is an exceptional primary source issue.\n\n🎨 FULL FRONT PAGE — THOMAS NAST: \"LET US HAVE A CLEAN SWEEP ALL AROUND NEW YORK\"\nThe full front page delivers one of Thomas Nast's most forceful civic reform cartoons: \"Let Us Have a Clean Sweep All Around New York\" — a sweeping call for the comprehensive cleansing of New York City's political corruption, municipal mismanagement, and environmental disaster, at a moment when the city was simultaneously reeling from the Tammany Hall legacy, the Albany patronage crisis, and the industrial pollution catastrophe at Hunter's Point and Newtown Creek. Nast's broom is raised against all of it — a fully displayable and historically resonant Nast original of great appeal to collectors of American political cartooning, New York City reform history, and Gilded Age civic history.\n\n🏇 \"A HORSE TROT\"\nA full-page illustration of a horse trotting race — the most popular spectator sport in Gilded Age America, combining the drama of competition with the elegance of fine horseflesh and the social pleasures of the race ground. A beautifully rendered and displayable piece of American sporting history and Victorian equestrian illustration.\n\n🏭 \"THE VICTIMS OF HUNTER'S POINT — HOW THE FOUL ODORS AGGRAVATE THE MISERIES OF THE SICK ROOM\"\nA full-page illustration continuing the devastating multi-week Harper's Weekly exposé of the Hunter's Point industrial pollution crisis — this installment focusing on the human cost to the sick and vulnerable living near the factories and refineries of Newtown Creek, whose toxic fumes invaded sickrooms and made recovery impossible for the ill and dying. A deeply moving and historically significant piece of New York City environmental history and Victorian social reform journalism — one of the earliest sustained illustrated press campaigns against industrial pollution in American history. A primary source document of exceptional importance for collectors of New York City history, environmental history, and the history of public health reform.\n\n⚫ \"NEGRO LABORERS AT WORK UNDER THE STORM KING, HUDSON RIVER\"\nA full-page illustration of Black laborers working along the Hudson River beneath the dramatic highlands of Storm King Mountain — one of the most historically significant African American labor history images in the Harper's Weekly run. Storm King and the surrounding Hudson highlands were sites of extensive quarrying, construction, and industrial labor in the 1880s, much of it performed by Black workers whose presence and contribution to the building of Gilded Age New York is rarely documented in the illustrated press. This engraving is a primary source document of African American labor history, Hudson River history, and the post-Reconstruction economic experience of Black Americans in the North — of exceptional interest to collectors of African American history, labor history, and Hudson River history.\n\n🗡️ DOUBLE-PAGE CENTERFOLD — \"THE GIRONDISTS\"\nThe double-page centerfold presents \"The Girondists\" — a dramatic historical illustration depicting the doomed moderate republicans of the French Revolution, whose tragic fate at the hands of Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety made them enduring symbols of principled resistance to tyranny and mob rule. A richly composed and fully displayable historical centerfold of great appeal to collectors of French Revolutionary history and Victorian historical illustration.\n\n🖼️ PORTRAITS\nThree quarter-page portraits document notable figures:\n\n\"The Late Ex-Governor John J. Bagley\" — the prominent Michigan governor, tobacco manufacturer, and Republican statesman whose death in 1881 marked the end of a significant Gilded Age political career\n\"The Late General Patterson\" — a memorial portrait of a notable military figure\n\"Spotted Tail\" — a portrait of the celebrated Brulé Lakota chief, one of the most important and complex Native American leaders of the post-Civil War era, whose assassination by Crow Dog in August 1881 had just shocked the nation and whose death would lead directly to the landmark Supreme Court case Ex parte Crow Dog\n\n\n🔍 CONDITION \u0026amp; TRANSPARENCY 🔍\nCompleteness: Complete 16-page issue.\nAuthenticity: Guaranteed original woodblock printing from August 20, 1881 — not a reproduction.\nCondition Report: Presents well for its 144-year age. Natural toning to the newsprint consistent with age. The Nast front page, the Hunter's Point sick room illustration, the Negro Laborers Hudson River full page, the Girondists centerfold, and the Spotted Tail portrait are all clear and displayable.\nI photograph every page of every issue so you can inspect the condition closely before purchasing. Please review all images carefully and don't hesitate to ask any questions — I'm happy to provide additional detail or close-up shots of any page, illustration, or area of concern before you buy.\n\n📦 SHIPPING \u0026amp; PRESERVATION 📦\n\nHoused in an acid-free archival folder with Mylar overlay to protect the 144-year-old newsprint\nFlat-shipped with heavy-duty reinforcement to ensure safe arrival of the centerfold\nFully tracked for your peace of mind\n\n\n🏷️ TAGS\n1881 Harpers Weekly, Thomas Nast Clean Sweep New York, Hunter's Point Sick Room Pollution, Negro Laborers Hudson River Storm King, Spotted Tail Lakota Chief Portrait, Girondists French Revolution, Horse Trot Racing 1881, African American Labor History, New York Environmental Reform 1881, Spotted Tail Assassination 1881, Ex parte Crow Dog History, Thomas Nast Political Cartoon, Antique Newspaper 1881, 19th Century Americana, Gilded Age Environmental History","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52264013168860,"sku":null,"price":38.88,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0849\/4759\/9580\/files\/5639022b-il_fullxfull.7875915540_khxv.jpg?v=1786496623","url":"https:\/\/thekeenantiquarian.com\/products\/1881-nast-clean-sweep-nyc-hunters-point-sick-room-negro-laborers-hudson-aug-20","provider":"My Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}