Keffer Collection of Sheet Music, ca. 1790-1895 Content and design by John Bewley

Philadelphia in Images: Sidewalk Scene before the Lee & Walker Store

Lithograph by James Queen for P. S. Duval's Steam Lith. Press on title page of: The New Costume Polka / composed for the piano by Matthias Keller.
Philadelphia: Lee & Walker, 1851.
At head of title: To Mrs. Lydia Bloomer.
Box 36, no. 33.

The store at 162 Chestnut St. where the music publisher Lee & Walker did business from 1849 to 1851 is visible behind a woman in the controversial costume of bloomers. This outfit, consisting of a short skirt with loose, Turkish style trousers, took its name from its chief advocate, Amelia J. Bloomer (1818-1894). Bloomer was a social reformer and feminist leader who saw the costume as a political statement for women's rights. The costume spawned a variety of piano music and songs, including The Bloomer's complaint.