Details
Creator Dickerson, Martina, 1829-1905.
Contributor Forten, James, 1766-1842.
Douglass, S. M. (Sarah Mapps), 1806-1882, artist.
Forten, James, b. 1816 or 17.
Douglass, Robert M. J., 1809-1887, artist.
Douglass, William, of Philadelphia.
Hinton, Ada Howell, 1832-1903, artist.
Bowers, John C., 1810-1873.
Douglass, Robert, 1809-1887, artist.
Douglass, S.M. 1806-1882 artist.
Title Original & selected poetry &c. [graphic] / Martina Dickerson.
Publisher PA. Philadelphia. 1840-1846
Date [ca. 1840-ca. 1846]
Physical Description 4 drawings in 1 album of 95 leaves: ink, gouache, watercolor, and graphite; album 28 x 23 cm (11 x 9 in.)
Description Album belonging to Martina Dickerson, a young middle-class African American Philadelphian, probably created as a pedagogical exercise, with twenty-two contributions dating from 1840 until around 1846. Contains original and transcribed poems, prose, and essays on topics including love, friendship, sympathy, courage, and female refinement. Also includes drawings, primarily of flowers. Identified contributors are mainly Black elite scholars active in the African American anti-slavery and cultural community of mid-19th century Philadelphia.
Contains the following contributions: calligraphed title page by abolitionist James Forten, Jr.; prose on "Literature," "The Album," and "The Year" by entrepeneur and abolitionist James Forten, Sr. or his son, James, Jr.; prose entitled "Perserverance" by tailor, abolitionist, and civil rights activist John C. Bowers; prose, sketches, and watercolors by Quaker abolitionist, educator, and artist, Sarah Mapps Douglass; watercolor and transcribed poem, "The First Steamboat on the Missouri," by Sarah's brother, artist, community activist, and abolitionist, Robert Douglass; essay entitled "Sympathy" by William Douglass, pastor and historian of the St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Philadelphia; transcription from Wordsworth's "Excursion" by educator and anti-slavery activist Charles L. Reason; gouache of a bunch of flowers by A.H.H., probably Ada Howell Hinton, an African American educator and anti-slavery activist; and prose, poems, and gouache by Mary M. MacFarland, V.E. Macarty, Y.J. Grice, Rebecca F. Peterson, H.D. Shorter, C.D.R., and J.F.V.
Notes Title from item.
Inclusive range of dates inferred from entries inscribed with dates.
Embossed and gilt morocco binding.
Lithograph title page, "Flowers," containing flower illustration hand-colored with gouache and watercolor.
Blank album published in London by Wm. & Hy. Rock.
Lib. Company. Annual Report 1993, p. 17-25.
Research file available at repository.
RVCDC
Description revised 2022.
Access points revised 2022.
Biographical / historical note Dickerson, a pupil of African American educator Sarah Mapps Douglass, was the daughter of African American activists, Martin and Adelia Dickerson, and step-father Samuel Van Brackle.
Subject African Americans -- Education -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
African Americans -- Intellectual life -- 19th century.
African American educators -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Poetry.
Love.
Friendship.
Sympathy.
Courage.
Femininity.
Flowers -- United States.
Antislavery movements -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
African American abolitionists -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
African American artists -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
African American women artists -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Genre Albums -- 1840-1850.
Gouaches -- 1840-1850.
Watercolors -- 1840-1850.
Graphite drawings -- 1840-1850.
Embossed bindings (Binding) -- 1840-1850.
Morocco bindings (Binding) -- 1840-1850.
Illustrator Douglass, Robert, 1809-1887, artist.
Douglass, S.M. (Sarah Mapps), 1806-1882 artist.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| Martina Dickerson album [13859.Q]
Accession number 13859.Q