Art through Memory is based on the ephemeral items of middle-class 19th century free African Americans who were mostly related to the Stevens-Cogdell, Sanders-Venning family of Philadelphia. The ephemera displayed in this section are ordinary items culled from the quotidian or everyday lives of free people of color that have been transformed into artistic expressions. Art as shown through the memories of early African Americans illustrate their desire to make permanent what was once fleeting; a pose in a picture, a fan to cool an overheated body, or even a scribbled line on a page to convey an emotion. While economic stability and sometimes freedom were often fleeting for middle-class African Americans, the items these men and women collected were meant to endure over time.
 |
Francis Johnson, A Collection of Cotillions (Philadelphia, not before 1819). |
||||||||||||||||
|
Photo Illustrators, African American Toddler and Baby in a Pile of Cotton (Philadelphia, ca. 1950). Gelatin silver. Gift of Joseph Kelly. |
||||||||||||||||
 |
Hutchinson Family, The "Tribe of Asa!" First Night at Institute Hall on
Saturday, Feb. 14th (Philadelphia, 1863). |
||||||||||||||||
The Stevens-Cogdell/Sanders-Venning family papers document the development of a prominent middle-class mixed race family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The materials date from 1734 to 1982 and consist of scrapbooks, ephemera, newspaper clippings, prayer books, invitations, holiday cards, correspondence, business papers, and a variety of personal papers. The materials document the Stevens-Cogdell/Sanders-Venning family professional, family, and personal lives as well as the development of a prominent middle-class African American family. The family was active in the Philadelphia African American political, social, educational and cultural community from the 1850s to the 20th century. Materials such as pocket diaries, family Bibles, fans, marriage certificates, and sheet music are all objects that are still collected by African America families in the 21st century.
|
|||||||||||||||||
