Collections

A bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and founder of the denomination's Sunday School Union

The papers of Charles Spencer Smith measure 4 linear feet and date from ca. 1875 to 1923. The correspondence, sermons, speeches, articles, and printed material in the collection relate primarily to Smith's work in the African Methodist Episcopal Church as secretary and treasurer of the Sunday School Union, and as a bishop. Of particular value is a manuscript history of the A.M.E. Church in the 1840's and 1850's written by Bishop Daniel A. Payne, D.D., LL.D, and edited by Smith. These manuscript chapters from A History of the African Methodist Episcopal Church point out that Smith may have eliminated some of the original manuscript's detail to make Payne's work more concise. Smith himself wrote A History of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Vol. 2, which was printed by the Book Concern of the A.M.E. Church, Philadelphia, in 1922. This volume covers the history of the church during the years 1856-1922 and was intended as a sequel to Bishop Payne's work. The Bentley Library has reprints of both of these volumes.

Biographical information has been placed at the beginning of the collection. It is followed by Smith's correspondence; his speeches, articles, sermons, pamphlets, and other writings; and material pertaining to the Methodist Ecumenical Conferences he attended in London in 1901 and 1921. Then there are materials relating to the A.M.E. Church, both printed and manuscript, followed by newspaper clippings, memorabilia, and topical files. Papers of Christine Shoecraft Smith and Charles S. Smith, Jr. follow. Books (non-Smith) and photographs have been placed at the end of the collection.

The correspondence and writings of Smith pertain to the A.M.E. Church, to his visits to Africa, settlement of Liberia by American Blacks, the education of Blacks, and related topics. Minutes of annual conferences of the A.M.E. Church in districts served by Smith are included with the printed material.

In addition to Smith's papers, the collection contains papers of his wife, Christine Shoecraft Smith, and of their son, Charles Spencer Smith, Jr. Christine Smith's papers consist of condolence cards and letters upon the death of her husband, two autograph books, and copies of selected pages of a scrapbook which has been returned to the donor. The papers of C. S. Smith, Jr., consist of correspondence, notebooks, and technical material compiled by Smith while he served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army during World War I.

Due to the rare and fragile nature of many of the materials in the collection, everything has been microfilmed except for the non-Smith books. The aforementioned book by Smith, Glimpses of Africa, and scattered issues of The Child's Recorder and Our Sunday School Review for the years 1889-1891 had been microfilmed previously. The microfilm is the only copy the Bentley Library has of these publications.

The Mugshots collection consists of approximately 100 photographic portraits produced between 1892 and 1920, the vast majority of which are mugshots.

The Mugshots collection consists of approximately 100 photographic portraits produced between 1892 and 1920, the vast majority of which are mugshots. The collection includes real photographic postcards, mounted and unmounted paper prints, and one severely tarnished tintype. Also present are two fingerprint identification cards with handwritten lists containing names of numerous individuals represented in the collection. A small number of photographs appear to be standard studio portraits. Photographs range in size from 6 x 10.5 cm to 11 x 17 cm.

Many of the mugshots have printed and/or handwritten information on their versos, including names, known aliases, nationalities, birth dates/locations, occupations, arrest dates, names of arresting police officers, criminal charges, sentences, prison locations, remarks on physical appearances, and Bertillon measurements. Most of these images were produced in various places in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland, with Philadelphia being the most represented location. The mugshots are mainly of white male subjects, though there are also four mugshots of women present. Five African American individuals (four men, one women) are also pictured. A substantial number of mugshots are of individuals from immigrant backgrounds, including Italians, Irish, Austrians, Germans, Poles, Greeks, Jews, etc. Approximately 90 individuals are personally identified in total. Recorded criminal charges include shoplifting, pickpocketing, larceny, burglary, forgery, embezzlement, false pretense, flimflamming, auto theft, horse theft, conspiracy, attempted murder, and murder. Specific police departments and correctional facilities represented include the Pennsylvania Department of State Police, Harrisburg Department of Police, Philadelphia Bureau of Police, Hartford Police Department, Newark Department of Police, Auburn Prison, Sing Sing Prison, City of New York Police Department, City of Boston Police Department, Camden Bureau of Police, Baltimore Police Department, Bureau of Criminal Investigation for the New Jersey Reformatory in Rahway (now East Jersey State Prison), U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth, City of Paterson Police Department, Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary, Montgomery County Prison (Norristown), Columbus Department of Police, City of Wilkes-Barre Bureau of Police, Trenton Department of Public Safety, New York House of Refuge, and the Reading Department of Police.

• a 1921 mugshot of an Italian man named Peter Erico, who was executed by electric chair on September 25 1922 along with Antonio Puntario after the pair were found guilty of murdering Detective Samuel Lucchino
• a 1909 mugshot of an eighteen year old Jewish man named Albert Steinberg, accused of pickpocketing
• two different mugshots of Irishman John Shelvin (accused of pickpocketing) taken in 1897 and 1906 following arrests in Philadelphia and Baltimore
• a 1920 mugshot of German houseworker Minnie Schissel, charged with theft
• a 1909 mugshot of accused shoplifter Marie Clark
• a 1915 mugshot of an African American man named King Brown, charged with illegal dynamite explosion, assault, and other crimes
• a ca. 1903 mugshot of larceny suspect Edward Stevenson, a "fugitive from Phil. Pa."; handwritten inscriptions on verso include note to address information to Detective E. H. Parker
• a ca. 1906 mugshot of German engineer and fireman Frank Schleiman with identifying details and a $50 reward notice for information on his whereabouts following his escape from Sing Sing Prison on December 9 1906 handwritten on the verso
• a 1908 mugshot of “dishonest servant” Blanche Grisson
• a 1919 mugshot of a Mexican man named Pedro Susman, charged with shoplifting
• two copies of a portrait or mugshot of African American man James Timberlake with identifying details handwritten on verso
• a 1908 mugshot of an Austrian butcher named Herman Haubt, convicted of 2nd degree murder
• an undated mugshot of an African American woman named Pearl Williams, charged with being a dishonest servant
• a 1906 mugshot of bartender Sam Davis (accused of pick pocketing) produced by detective Harry C. White of Harrisburg
• a ca. 1918 mugshot of Oliver Denton Bender taken in Columbus, Ohio, including an attached note that lists twelve of Bender’s known aliases
• a 1900 mugshot of Irishman John Mackey, charged with till tapping; two 1918 mugshots of Italian barbers Nicholas Shieno and Frank Rinaldo, both of whom were charged with flimflamming after being arrested in Scranton, Pennsylvania
• a 1918 mugshot of Jewish printer David Schleimer taken at the New York House of Refuge on Randall’s Island
• a 1917 mugshot of Michael J. Sullivan, charged with murder

The Weld-Grimké family album is a 12.5 x 16 cm bound cartes de visite photograph album with some tintypes and gem tintypes interspersed. The album has a brown leather cover with gilt clasps. The photographs all appear to date from the 1860s to the 1870s but there is no precise date for individual photographs listed. The album has a printed title page that reads "Photographs/Boston/Roberts Brothers." The album is 50 pages with each page containing a single slot for a photograph, though some pages have multiple photographs tucked into the same slot. The photographs are almost all studio portraiture. While some of the individuals in the album have been identified (including Theodore D. Weld) the vast majority are unidentified.

The Weld-Grimké Family Album is a 12.5 x 16 cm bound cartes de visite photograph album with some tintypes and gem tintypes interspersed. The album has a brown leather cover with gilt clasps. The photographs all appear to date from the 1860s to the 1870s but there is no precise date for individual photographs listed. The album has a printed title page that reads "Photographs/Boston/Roberts Brothers." The album is 50 pages with each page containing a single slot for a photograph, though some pages have multiple photographs tucked into the same slot. There are 52 photographs in the album, 46 of which are cartes de visite. There are also 6 tintypes, 2 of which are gem tintypes. The photographs are almost all studio portraiture of individuals ranging from infanthood to old age. One exception to this is a photograph of a satirical drawing of an unidentified individual playing some sort of instrument (loose photograph on page 49). Some of the individuals in the album have been tentatively identified with the majority unidentified. One photograph (on page 24) has been speculated to be a portrait of Charlotte Brown, an African-American servant of the Weld-Grimké family, but this has not been confirmed.

• Theodore Dwight Weld (page 1, page 20)
• William Hamilton (page 4)
• Sarah Weld Hamilton (page 5)
• Angelina G. Hamilton (page 6)
• William Hamilton Jr. (page 7)
• Llewellyn Haskell (page 9)
• Llewellyn Thomas Haskell (page 12)
• Louis Olcott Haskell (page 13)
• Elizabeth "Lizzie" Cram (page 21)
• William James Rolfe (page 22)
• Theodore Weld Parmele (page 27, page 34)
• Elizabeth Smith Miller (page 28)
• Ann Carroll Fitzhugh (page 29)
• George Walker Weld (page 30)
• Gerrit Smith Miller (page 35)
• Ruth C. Bodwell (page 36)
• Rena Louise Twiss (page 45)

• A photograph of a painting of the Empress Eugenie. (page 33)
• A portrait of Rebecca an escaped slave from New Orleans. (page 38)
• A photograph of a painting of Beatrice Cenci. (loose item on page 41)
• A portrait of actor Edwin Booth (page 40) brother of John Wilkes Booth.
• A photograph of a painting of "Little Samuel" based on the etching done by Samuel Cousins. (page 43)

In addition to this finding aid, the Clement Library has created a Photographer Index for the album, containing the names of all the photographers in the order that they appear in the album. This index also records any handwritten inscriptions that were found on the photographs.

The Starbird family papers contain the incoming and outgoing correspondence of three of the Starbird siblings: Solomon and George, who served in the Civil War in the 127th New York Infantry and 1st New York Mounted Rifles respectively, and Marianne, who operated a struggling art school in New York City.

The Starbird family papers contain approximately 345 items, spanning ca. 1845 to 1864. The Correspondence series contains approximately 331 letters, arranged chronologically, with undated items at the end; the letters cover 1848 to 1864. Thirty letters in the collection predate the Civil War; these primarily concern the schooling and careers of the Starbird siblings, Marianne Starbird's health, social visits, religious observations, and various family matters. The bulk of the collection centers on the years 1862 to 1864, when Solomon and George served with the 127th New York Infantry and the 1st New York Mounted Rifles, respectively. George wrote to Marianne quite frequently during his service, at which time he was mainly stationed in Virginia and North Carolina. He participated in a number of skirmishes in southern Virginia, as well as the Siege of Suffolk, but otherwise did not see much heavy fighting. His outgoing letters, as well as those he received from fellow soldiers, are notable for their frankness about camp life and the war experience, as well as for their content regarding African Americans. Solomon Starbird wrote less frequently to his siblings, but produced very lengthy letters, which cover numerous topics, including the war camp activities, and duties.

The war-era letters open with a discussion of George's enlistment in the 1st New York Mounted Rifles, including his own rationale for enlisting (July 30, 1862). George's early letters primarily document his daily activities at Camp Dodge in Suffolk, Virginia, and a few skirmishes nearby. He frequently gave accounts of his participation in scouting parties and pickets, as well as his pastimes during quiet periods. Among the skirmishes in which he participated are one near Blackwater, Virginia (October 5, 1862); an attack by "bushwhackers" (December 28, 1862); and a skirmish at Providence Church (December 29, 1862) near Windsor, Virginia. He also gave a lengthy description of being fired on during a picket, when, at the same time, a sergeant was mortally wounded (January 15, 1863). In a letter of September 2, 1862, he described the capture of 112 Confederate prisoners on their way to Richmond, and noted that they were given coffee and generally treated well by their Union captors. He also mentioned the explosion of ordnance stored at Yorktown, Virginia, (December 17, 1863) and the search for a Confederate spy near Williamsburg (January 16, 1864).

George's letters are especially significant for the attention that they give to African Americans. He found himself in frequent proximity to slaves near Suffolk, Virginia, where he recorded their stories and noted the assistance that they provided to his company. On October 10, 1862, he recounted a conversation with the slave whom he paid to wash his clothes and cook sweet potatoes for him. The "old negro" told Starbird about his master, Nathaniel Redden, a member of the Congress of the Confederate States. Redden had left Suffolk, but tried to persuade his slaves to stay on his plantation by telling them that northerners would work them three times as hard as southerners and deny them food. According to the unnamed slave, Redden also told him, "Lincoln is going to take you to Cuba and sell you off to pay off his soldiers." In another letter, dated October 25, 1862, Starbird told his sister about a slave Tom, who "lays awake nights heaps worrying for fear the rebels have carried off his wife he left down in Carolina." Starbird also noted the work performed by contraband, such as building stables (January 15, 1863), and the assistance given to Union troops by African Americans, which included giving them corn and making them coffee (October 14, 1862).

George provided descriptions of camp life, including the soldiers' enjoyment of the barracks at Camp Suffolk, their roughhousing, and their heavy drinking. In a letter of January 1, 1863, he noted that the officers got "beastly drunk" and could barely stay on their horses; indeed, several had fallen and could not perform their duties later in the day. He also described a soldier who was nearly 60 years old and had dyed his hair and beard to appear young enough to enlist (February 9, 1863). Other topics covered in his letters include the lack of pay to the soldiers (January 18, 1863), his duties (which included compiling the monthly returns, November 5, 1863), and the hiring of substitutes (August 18, 1863). He also called his fellow soldiers a "Hard Crowd" and described their vicious brawls with one another (August 9, 1862).

George received correspondence from friends in other regiments. One man in particular, Jesse Kimball, who called himself "Barnes," wrote very frankly about the sex available to soldiers from white and black women. He mentioned rampant venereal disease (March 3, 1863), whores in Virginia (November 17, 1863), and sex with girls in his hometown (March 11, 1864).

Solomon Starbird wrote less frequently, but his letters tended to be long, rambling, and filled with details of camp life. On January 23, 1863, he wrote to Marianne concerning the lack of pay to soldiers and the slovenliness of the privates. In his letter of August 21, 1863, he described a military gathering on Folly Island and Union positions in South Carolina. In other letters he gave accounts of being fired on during picket duty (September 30, 1863) and Christmas celebrations in camp (December 22, 1863). A talented sketcher, he included in a letter of October 8, 1863, a penciled map of Cole's Island, South Carolina, labeled with the "old fort;" the 127th Regiment's camp; and the surrounding marshes.

Marianne's letters to her brothers are notable for their accounts of the administration of a struggling art school in New York City during the period. On March 8, 1863, she described her studio and enclosed a flier for the school. In another letter, she shared the necessity of supporting herself by painting portraits, though her greater talent lay in other areas (March 29, 1863). Her later letters reveal increasing health problems, and the difficulty of attracting pupils (February 22, 1864), as well as her attendance at a Sanitary Commission Fair in Brooklyn (February 7, 1864).

The Essays and Poetry series contains 14 essays and poems covering 92 pages. Marianne wrote many of these items, and submitted them in the 1840s to a Norridgewock, Maine, journal called the Social Repository. Of particular interest is an essay, likely written by Marianne, entitled "My School Days," which describes the small schoolhouse that she had attended as a girl. Also included are poems on the topics of love, autumn, the death of a mother, and friendship, and a piece by "C.B.E." entitled "The Mission of Woman." The latter defends the education and ambitions of women and notes that their rightful place in life is as "the equal, not the toy of men," but urges them to dismiss "the sneers, the prejudice, the conventionalities of the world."

The Hampton, Virginia, photograph album contains approximately 120 photographs, mainly panoramic images, showing waterfront views of the Hampton Roads region of Virginia as well as images of a rural farm or estate.

The Hampton, Virginia, photograph album contains approximately 120 photographs, mainly panoramic images, showing waterfront views of the Hampton Roads region of Virginia as well as images of a rural farm or estate. The album (28 x 38 cm) is half bound in brown leather. Images of interest include several exterior and interior views of a beach cottage; men, women, and children in swimming apparel, bobbing in the surf, strolling the beach and the boardwalk, and posing on the cottage porch swing and lawn; two photographs of a family group dining on the cottage veranda while an African American servant holds a fan; and a well-dressed African American couple on the porch steps.

Other photographs include views of the Chamberlain and Buckroe Beach hotels; the Cape Henry lighthouse; the Hampton Institute from across the water; the Ocean View Resort in Norfolk; the electric railway bridge over the water; and the Hampton soldier's home. Marine subjects include views of numerous small boats manned by sailors; possibly engaged in a rowing exercise; a naval station and battleship in the background; a Navy monitor under steam; and sailing boats moored in a harbor. An additional series of photographs show exterior views of a large country house in a landscaped setting, with elegant horse-drawn carriages, a farmyard with livestock, an African American man plowing a field, workers harvesting fruit in an orchard, and two African American men tending a steaming vat over an open fire.

This nineteenth-century album contains 46 once-bound pen-and-ink caricatures on heavy card stock, each card with or formerly with metal eyelets on one short edge. A pencil inscription at the back of the volume reads, "Mr. Albert L. Briggs, Providence, RI," and internal references to Providence, Rhode Island, further suggests that either Briggs or another local resident may have produced the artwork. The figures represented in the volume vary widely and some are more sympathetic or more disparaging than others. The illustrator relied heavily on exaggerated features, stereotypes, and jokes directed at people's physical appearance to provide social commentary especially on race, ethnicity, gender, and class.

This nineteenth-century album contains 46 once-bound pen-and-ink caricatures on heavy card stock, each card with or formerly with metal eyelets on one short edge. A pencil inscription at the back of the volume reads, "Mr. Albert L. Briggs, Providence, RI," and internal references to Providence, Rhode Island, further suggests that either Briggs or another local resident may have produced the artwork. The figures represented in the volume vary widely and some are more sympathetic or more disparaging than others. The illustrator relied heavily on exaggerated features, stereotypes, and jokes directed at people's physical appearance to provide especially social commentary on race, ethnicity, gender, and class.

At least seven of the illustrations relate to women, including drawings referring to women's rights and various women's roles as mothers, performers, physicians, and cooks. One, labelled "What is home without a mother," may be a reference to a song by the same name published in 1854, and it features a woman with a monstrous face. Another titled "HANNAH LONG" depicts a woman peddling "Quaker Bitters" (probably the Providence, Rhode Island, patent medicine by that name) and may be referring to Hannah Longshore (1819-1901), who graduated from the first class of the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1851.

Many of the caricatures focus on impoverished or working class people, showing individuals in tattered clothing or in lower-paying professions such as a farmer, a shoeshine, and a seeming gravedigger. A number of illustrations depict men in various stages of intoxication or alcoholism. Forms of social disorder are highlighted in caricatures of a convict and of a knife-wielding murderer labelled "THE MAN THAT KILLED JOHN GILPIN." Commentary on physical and mental disability are also represented, in drawings of a mentally ill man labelled "Luny" and a man with unaligned eyes and feet labelled "On exhibition."

Other caricatures reflect racial, ethnic, and religious stereotypes. Two racist caricatures depict African Americans, including one of a Black Congressman and one of an Uncle Remus character. Another caricature depicts a recent immigrant, while two are anti-Semitic (those labeled "The Torturer" and "NAME IT"). Two figures depict high religious figures, from Catholic or Orthodox Christian churches; one wears a robe, a fur-brimmed mitre, and snowshoes. The word "KAMSCHASA" is written near the bottom of the robe, likely referring to the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia.

Other caricatures highlight people based on their height, weight, profession (such as a king, a knight, an editor, a lecturer), or social posturing. For example, attitudes like dignity, contentment, nosiness, and bashfulness are spotlighted. Others appear more innocuous, such as illustrations of someone reading the morning newspaper and another of someone taking "Rush's Pills," but underlying subtexts for many of the images likely have additional meaning.

Attorney and businessman, associate counsel to President Lyndon Johnson, later director of the Export-Import Bank; correspondence, speeches, and oral history interviews; files relating to his work with Plans for Progress, a voluntary association of business and industry working to promote equal employment opportunities; his work on the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunities, the NAACP, the Commandant of the Marine Corps' Advisory Committee for Minority Affairs; topical files relating to Democratic politics in the 1960s, and his work with Johnson and Vice-President Hubert Humphrey; and photographs.

The Hobart Taylor, Jr. papers document his work in various staff positions in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, Democratic Party activities and his service on several government committees and work with business and civic organizations relating to civil rights, equal employment opportunities and economic development. The papers have been organized into the following ten series: Personal, Correspondence, President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunities, Plans for Progress, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Commandant of the Marine Corps' Advisory Committee on Minority Affairs, Export-Import Bank, Topical files, Awards, and Photographs.

Regent of the University of Michigan; public figure concerned with national and international women's rights issues. Files relating to her public life, especially her interest in the University of Michigan, notably during the presidency of Harold T. Shapiro, the work of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, and state and local Democratic Party matters.

The papers of Sarah Goddard Power are arranged into twelve series: Personal/Biographical, Writings, Speeches, Contributions, Trips, Political Activities, Conferences, Philip H. Power, Board of Regents, Photographs, Engagements, and U.S. National Commission for UNESCO. These series cover the period 1953-1987.

Ann Arbor, Michigan, poet and journal writer. Journals, manuscripts of poetry and short stories, photographs, scrapbooks and other materials documenting her struggles as a polio survivor to cope with her disability and to lead an independent life; papers concern in part her association with the youth culture of the 1960s and 1970s.

The Andrea Cappaert papers date from 1952 to 1980 and measure 3 linear feet. The papers document Andy's involvement in the youth culture of the late 1960s and 1970s, and reflect her struggles as a handicapped woman to be an active participant in the world she lived in.

Papers include correspondence, diary, clippings, and photographs relating to his experience as a prisoner; correspondence relating to his Purple Heart award and the Prisoner of War medal. Also included a memoir by Sidney Esensten about his experience as an American P.O.W. during the Korean War.

Visual materials include photos relating to his experience as a prisoner; videotape entitled "P.O.W.--Americans in Enemy Hands" (1986), which includes interview with Fletcher; videotape of 1990 presentation by Fletcher and three Tuskegee Airmen, African American World War II aviators, describing their military experiences, and an undated videotape "Priority: P.O.W."