Items

• Membership Letter, F. Bleax, Pastor
  Recommendation Letter for Deacon Ebenezer Williams. The Deacon's pastor, Pastor Bleax, writes a letter of support summarizing his character, service and contribution to Westbury African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church of Westbury, Long Island, NY. Though not specifically stated, it is believed that the intended recipient of the letter would have been in church leadership at Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, PA.
• Keep Us Flying poster
  Poster created by the U.S. Treasury Department during World War II to encourage war bond purchase.
• American Federation of Musicians application
  This application for the American Federation of Musicians Local No. 274 was submitted by Byard Lancaster on March 5, 1966 and signed by secretary Frank T. Fairfax.
• Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School charter and certificate of incorporation
  This charter and certificate of incorporation legitimized the Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School in Philadelphia on April 10, 1896. The charter includes the hospital and school’s purpose, leadership, and articles and conditions. The Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School was a Black owned and operated institution existing to serve the Black community (National Library of Medicine, n.d.).
• Laura and Frank Brashsears, stereoscopic photo
  This glossy black and white photo reveals Laura and Frank Brashears with a caption: "under the shade of the old apple tree.” The photo was taken August 12, 1906 likely in or around Doylestown, PA.
• The A.M.E Minister's Wives Alliance of Philadelphia and Vicinity Fellowship Christmas Dinner
  This program is for The A.M.E. Ministers’ Wives Alliance of Philadelphia and Vicinity Fellowship Christmas Dinner held on Thursday, December 28, 1950 at 6:30pm. The event “To Us A Child Of Hope Is Born” was held at the Pyramid Club Dining Room at 1517 Girard Avenue, Philadelphia.
• Transfer of Church Membership
  This “Notice of Enrollment” certification authorizes the transfer of membership of Sister Sarah Loapman from the Macedonia African Methodist Episcopal Church in Camden, NJ to the Bethel African Methodist Church in Philadelphia, PA on March 19, 1917.
• [Woman wearing large straw hat poses on the beach]
  This photo features a smiling, glowing woman in a one-piece strapless bathing suit and a large straw hat posing in the sand in the sunshine at Chicken Bone Beach.
• Helen Curry (right) poses for a photograph.
  Helen Curry (right) poses for a photograph with a man and a woman on Chicken Bone Beach in Atlantic City, NJ sometime in or around 1950.
• Joseph E. Hill Public School
  This is a photograph of an entrance to the Joseph E. Hill Public School, located in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, PA taken by the Germantown Courier Tuesday September 8th, 1950 at 8am. The size of the photo is 2x5 inches.
• Land Deed, Matthias Ranck seller to George Dyer; Lancaster, PA
  This land deed explains the details and debts owed by Matthias Ranck that led to the sale of his property in Marietta, PA to purchaser George Dyer around 1816-1817.
• Letter, Addie MacLeod to the President, Officers, and members of the Friendship Club, January 3, 1951
  This letter was sent by Addie McLeod of 288 Spring Street Trenton, New Jersey to the President, Officers, and Members of the Friendship Club on January 3rd, 1959.
• Letter from Anita Cornwell to Audre Lorde
  An impassioned letter between women who had a deep friendship. Audre Lorde (1934 - 1992) was an American poet, novelist, memoirist, essayist (Poetry Foundation 2025). She received a master’s degree in Library Science and worked as a young adult librarian and school librarian in the 1960’s (Cerro Cosco Community College 2025). Lorde also published poetry influenced by her reactions to racism, sexism, and homophobia. She married and had two children. Her first major book of poetry, Coal, was published in 1976. Lorde continued to publish until her death from liver cancer in 1992.
• The Griot Press, premiere issue (May 1992)
  The Griot Press was a minority owned and published lesbian and gay magazine.
• Philadelphia Police Department Certificate of Appreciation presented to Jaci Adams
  This recognition was posthumously awarded to Jaci Adams for her service on the LGBT Police Liaison Committee of which Adams was the longest serving member. Jaci (pronounced "Jackie") Adams was born in 1957/1958 in Beckley, West Virginia. She died on February 16, 2014. Adams was a transgender woman active in LGBT and AIDS programs. Diagnosed with AIDS in 1983, Adams worked to promote AIDS testing and treatment, and worked to help people harmed by discrimination, homelessness, incarceration, poverty, prostitution, and drug addictions. Adams obituary in the Philadelphia Daily News on February 17, 2014 stated the following: "...Jaci was able to shed light into the darkness that often shrouds the frequently misunderstood and abused dwellers of the LGBT world."
• Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church (structure)
  Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church, built in 1899
• [African American basketball team]
  This photograph is a group portrait depicting members of an African American basketball team with their coach, likely in Philadelphia, taken in or around 1920.