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Lot 442
[AFRICAN AMERICANA - EARLY PHOTOGRAPHY]. Album containing photographs of a multi-generational African American family in Washington, DC. Ca early-to-mid 20th Century.
Sale 2057 - American Historical Ephemera and Photography
Oct 25, 2024 10:00AM ET
Live / Cincinnati
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Estimate
$600 - 800
Lot Description
[AFRICAN AMERICANA - EARLY PHOTOGRAPHY]. Album containing photographs of a multi-generational African American family in Washington, DC. Ca early-to-mid 20th Century.
14 x 11 in. stringbound album containing over 150 photographs chronicling the life of an African American family in Washington, DC. Photographs are mounted recto/verso, ranging in size from 1 x 1 1/2 in. to 10 x 8 in., along with cards, notes, certificates, and other ephemera including a marriage certificate recording the 1910 union of Bernard Dent and Mary Delany in Prince George County, MD, and a 1948 letter from a teacher about a student named Samuel Smith. The African American teacher's photograph is pasted on the letter, and a pair photographs of an African American young man (presumably Samuel Smith) are mounted to the album page on either side of the letter. Another item featured is a 1949 invoice for dance classes for the same young man, Samuel Smith. The instructor has written a note of high praise about Smith. Interestingly, some of the photographs feature painted backgrounds with symbolic Washington DC landmarks depicted including the Capitol Building and the Washington Monument.

This lot is located in Cincinnati.
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