Items

• A Souvenir of Germantown Issued during the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation At Philadelphia, Pa., September, 1913
  The Souvenir is a historically significant photo booklet created and produced by J. Gordon Baugh Jr., a Black printer and civic leader based in Germantown, Philadelphia, PA.
• Lancaster Productions International press release for Byard Lancaster
  This press release invites the public to gather in support of and celebrate the birthday of Mrs. Mattie Humphrey, also known as “Sister Majida,” at Morgan’s Jazz Club located at 17 East Price Street in Germantown, Philadelphia.
• Correspondence for James E. Adams
  This letter was sent to the Meet The Composter/New Residencies group at 2112 Broadway, Suite 505 in New York City, NY by Artistic Manager and President of The Philadelphia Clef Club of the Performing Arts, Inc. James E. Adams on October 15, 1992.
• 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.
• 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.”
• 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.).
• [Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Chicken Bone Beach]
  Civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Russell A. Roberts posed for a snapshot while relaxing on segregated Chicken Bone Beach in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
• A Survey of Witherspoon YMCA of Princeton N.J. May and June 1930
  This 104-page report entitled “A Survey of Witherspoon Young Men’s Christian Association of Princeton, N.J.” was produced in May and June of 1930 by Director Joseph Van Vleck, Jr of Montclair, NJ.
• 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."
• Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church Sunday School
  This photograph of the Bethel African Methodist Episopal Church Sunday School of Pennington, NJ features nineteen children, some siblings. All of the children in the photograph have been identified by Patricia (née True) Payne (see reverse).
• [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.
• 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.
• Letter to Georgine Upshur informing her of her nomination for membership in the University of Pennsylvania Delta Chapter of the National Social Science Honor Society – Pi Gamma Mu, October 23, 1942
  This letter was sent to Miss Georgine “Gene” Elizabeth Upshur on October 23, 1942 from Pi Gamma Mu, the National Social Science Honor Society’s Delta Chapter at the University of Pennsylvania notifying her of her nomination for membership. The daughter of a prominent, affluent Philadelphia African American family, Gene became an undertaker like her father (The Library Company of Philadelphia 2025).
• 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.