Collections

Includes the wills of A. P. Howard, Corry, Pennsylvania; 1897, and Sarah H. Howard, Wellsville, N. Y., correspondence, reports, leases, tax receipts, and mortgage. Information on J. W. Howard and Hugh H. McCullough estates. Copy of Bradstreet's report on the University Company of Olympia, Washington and J. R. Chaplin, manager of the Company. Also, report on various business enterprises and financial standing of A. P. Howard. Some correspondence of Edward Spencer and tax receipts for land in Kansas. One copy of "The Practical Engineer," John Wallace, Pittsburgh, Penna., 1865, and one copy of "The Popular Educator," Vols. III and IV, London, N. C.

Three caricature postcards depicting African Americans with stereotypical features and promoting racist views of African Americans, copyrighted 1913 and published by S. Bergman, New York. One postcard depicting a group of African American singers with one elderly gentleman shown sleeping in the front row, copyrighted 1897 and published by Knaffl and Brothers, Knoxville, Tennessee. And a postcard of soldiers lined up for dress parade at the Normal Institute in Hampton, Virginia, published by Louis Kaufmann and sons, Baltimore, Maryland.

Photographs of an African-American family, circa 1880-1960, most likely of Richmond, Virgina. Included are snapshots, studio portraits and photo postcards of family members and also a postcard of the "Barracks of Colored Recruits, Camp Lee, Petersburg, Va." (addressed to Eliza Chatman, Richmond, Va.). Some photos are identified by first names or location. Names include Pearl, Russell, Constance, Berkley, Allen, Beverley Boxyem, Samuel, Mary, James, Horace, Sarah, Mother Booker, Julie, Lester Hall, Joe Bill Williams and Mildred. Locations in addition to Richmond, are Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Tappahannock, Va., Detroit, Michigan, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Pennyslvania. Subjects of photos include visiting relatives, returning from church, several people in military uniform, children playing, post cards, pictures of individuals, studio portraits and family photos.

This collection features one 2.25 X4" tintype photograph of an unidentified African American man dressed in a three-piece suit with a bowtie, pocket square, and derby hat with a sash perched at a stylish angle on his head. The man leans against a marble column against a plain background in a studio.

Three postcards circa 1900 depicting African Americans. One postcard shows workers in a peanut field, another features a child on a pile of picked cotton. The third is a picture of James Smith, posed seated with a cane in one hand and a hat in another. It states that he was age 93, born in 1813 and the oldest living man in Hampton, Virginia.

This collection contains numerous stereograms taken throughout the Jim Crow Era. The stereograms portray the racist attitudes of the time period. Stereograms are an early form of photography which was often used for educational purposes. When a view finder is used to look at the stereograms, the images appear to be three dimensional.

This collection contains images of both African and African American individuals. The subjects photographed include military personnel, men, women, and children. Some individuals were photographed inside of a photographer's studio. The images vary in size and format and range in date from circa 1850s-1945. Each item has a description at the file level.