Items

• Dedication Service of Communion Drapes, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church
  This ceremony documented a church dedication service at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) on January 6, 1952. Located on Rittenhouse Street in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, the program celebrated the consecration of new communion drapes. The service blended liturgy with community devotion, invoked the Trinity and called all generations to gather in unity.
• Flyer for Vacation Bible School
  This is a flyer for a daily Vacation Bible School held in the Sunday School Auditorium at the Mother Bethel AME Church from July 20-31st, 1959.
• 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.
• [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.
• 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).
• Organ at Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church
  Pump organ, pre-1917. Made by the Cornish Company in Washington, NJ, which ceased organ production around 1922. The organ was played at the First Baptist Church in Pennington..
• Wooden collection boxes (two)
  Original to Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. A booklet printed in 1966 in honor of the church’s 150th anniversary says: “Two of the original collection boxes are prize possessions of the church and are still used on special occasions.” On loan to the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum (SSAAM) from the members of Bethel AME Church in Pennington, NJ
• Paper and rattan church hand fans, 6 fans, 11 sides (Front View)
  A sampling of paper and rattan hand fans, mid-20th century. The fans have religious imagery on the front and advertisements for funeral home services on the reverse. Church fans used at Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church.
• Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church (structure)
  Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church, built in 1899