[crashryan]

What an interesting--and appalling--document of a past age. Philadelphia's Great Central Fair was one of a number of such Fairs mounted for the United States Sanitary Commission. About the USSC Wikipedia says:

"The United States Sanitary Commission (USSC) was a private relief agency created by federal legislation on June 18, 1861, to support sick and wounded soldiers of the United States Army (Federal / Northern / Union Army) during the American Civil War. It operated across the North, raised an estimated $25 million in Civil War era revenue (assuming 1865 dollars, $417.55 million in 2020) and in-kind contributions to support the cause, and enlisted thousands of volunteers. The president was Henry Whitney Bellows, and Frederick Law Olmsted acted as executive secretary. It was modeled on the British Sanitary Commission, set up during the Crimean War (1853-1856), and from the British parliamentary report published after the Indian Rebellion of 1857 ("Sepoy Rebellion").

Talk about collectors' items: the 1864 Philadelphia Fair was visited by Abraham Lincoln and his family. Lincoln donated 48 autographed copies of the Emancipation Proclamation which were sold for $10 apiece.

I wonder how well the booklets were received. Anyone who imagines Civil War racism was limited to the Confederacy needs to read these limericks. Slave jokes and racial insults abound. We also find a number of nonpartisan misogynistic rhymes about jolly subjects like wife murder. Fun for the whole family.

Link to the book: New Book of Nonsense