Items

• Letter, Rebecca Johnson to Miss Anderson, May 19, 1945
  This letter was sent by Miss Rebecca Mary Johnson (July 10, 1905-October 4, 1991) to Miss Marian Anderson (February 27, 1897-April 8, 1993) on May 19, 1945. This letter was sent to share details about “a project for… intercultural advancement” that will feature famous Black Americans, like Marian Anderson (p. 1). Johnson asks Anderson questions about herself to be used in the exhibit for the benefit of the Springfield, Massachusetts community and youth.
• Letter, Kathleen Brown to Miss Fisher, November 26, 1954
  A two-page, handwritten letter from music student Kathleen Brown to globally renowned contralto Marian Anderson Fisher (1897-1993). In the letter, Brown describes financial constraints in paying for her tuition at Juilliard School of Music. She asks for Marian Anderson to write a letter to the radio game show “Strike It Rich.”
• Letter, Mary Emma Jones to Miss Anderson, 1945
  This letter was sent by Mary Emma Jones (1928-) of Trappe, Collegeville, Pennsylvania to Marian Anderson (February 27, 1897-April 8, 1993) in 1945, presumably towards the end of Mary’s junior year at Collegeville Trappe High School. The purpose of this letter is to request compelling information from Anderson so that her junior year term paper would be impressive, and make her parents proud (page 2). Jones repeatedly offers compliments, gratitude, and appreciation to Anderson. She notes that she has attended Anderson’s concerts in Philadelphia, which would be about an hour (roughly 32 miles) from Collegeville, PA.
• Letter, Cheryl G. Jones to Miss Anderson, August 27, 1969
  An envelope, two-page letter, and signed photograph mailed by high school student and aspiring singer Cheryl G. Jones to globally renowned contralto Marian Anderson Fisher (1897-1993). The letter is among many letters from aspiring singers and musicians included in the Marian Anderson Papers. Anderson's life was an inspiration to them and to countless others in the United States and abroad (Kruesi 1998).
• Letter, Barlana Bates to Miss Anderson
  This letter was sent by Barlana Bates (c. 1942) to Marian Anderson (February 27, 1897-April 8, 1993) sometime after December 30th, 1957. The letter appears to have been drawn on tracing paper. The front of the card is very colorful, with an illustration drawn with crayon of two people in parkas above an American flag, and below text that reads “A Salute to Alaska!”
• Acorn Great Oaks Grown Letter
  Letter about Joseph E. Hill Public School. The letter was revised in 1950 but the original date was January 20, 1939 (Willis-Lowry, Leslie 2025), represents a short history of the founding of the Hill School.
• Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School Plaque
  The plaque hung outstide the Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School from 1895-1909.
• The Links, Incorporated. Eastern Area Conference, April 11-12, 1969. Theme: The Beauty of Blackness-- Channeling Black Hope.
  The Links, Incorporated—a national volunteer service organization of professional Black women founded by two Black Philadelphians, Madams. Sarah S. Scott and Margaret R. Hawkins in 1946. The Central New Jersey Chapter of The Links, Incorporated was organized in May 1949 in Princeton, NJ, but incorporated in New Brunswick, NJ in 1951(Chapter History 2024). By 1969, The Links had become a prominent and prestigious African American women’s organizations in the United States, known for combining community service, cultural programming, and social networking among accomplished Black women leaders.
• Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church Sunday School
  The Bethel AME Church in Pennington was built in 1816 by a small group of free African Americans who purchased the land as an empty lot, as well as nearby lots for homes (Katmann 2014, 6). This photograph of the church’s Sunday School features nineteen children, some siblings. Patricia (née True) Payne has identified all of the children in the picture. (See reverse)
• “Meet the Hinksons.”
  “Meet the Hinksons of Philadelphia, Penna.” is a six-page magazine article published in the Ladies’ Home Journal series “How America Lives” in August 1942. The article highlights the everyday life of the Hinkson family, including education, careers, fashion, travel, and home, and the impact of various wars on their lives.
• Gene's [Georgine E. Upshur [Willis]] Coming Out Party
  This photograph features Georgine “Gene” Elizabeth Upshur Willis and 15 other graduates of Philadelphia High School for Girls in June 1939. They are smiling and dressed up.
• Mary Hinkson news clipping
  News clipping about the passing of Mary Hinkson, one of two of the first Black dancers with Martha Graham Dance Company.
• National Honor Society news clippings
  A 1938 news clipping about Georgine E. Upshur being elected to the honor society and nomination as the second colored girl in history
• Pi Gamma Mu certificate issued to Georgine Elizabeth Upshur, October 31, 1942
  A certificate verifying Georgine Elizabeth Upshur’s membership in Pennsylvania University’s Delta Chapter of the National Social Science Honor Society of Pi Gamma Mu. The certificate is damaged at the top. More information is available in the annotation of the document.
• Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Public Instruction Bureau of Professional Licensing Pre-Professional Qualifying Certificate
  This certificate from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Public Instruction’s Bureau of Professional Licensing Pre-Professional Qualifying Certificate was granted to Georgine E. Upshur for completion of a four-year secondary school course in 1941. This was a modified certificate given to Black educators.
• The Philadelphia High School for Girls commencement announcement
  The 157th Graduating Class: June 16, 1939. The Girls Normal School, aka, Philadelphia High School for Girls was established in 1848 as the first publicly supported high school for girls in Pennsylvania (Wikipedia contributors, n.d.).
• Invitation to the graduation of the University of Pennsylvania classes of 1943
  This invitation card is part of a collection that also includes “Diary of the Women of the Class of 1943, University of Pennsylvania, The 1943 Almanack” containing inserts of correspondence, documents, and programs related to Georgine E. Upshur’s college education at University of Pennsylvania (Georgine E. Upshur Willis Collection n.d.).