Details
Creator Dickerson, Mary Anne, 1822-1858.
Contributor Forten, Charlotte Vandine.
Nell, William C. (William Cooper), 1816-1874
Buffum, Arnold, 1782-1859
Child, Lydia Maria Francis, 1802-1880
Durand, Asher Brown, 1796-1886, engraver.
Douglass, Robert M. J., 1809-1887, artist.
Douglass, S. M. (Sarah Mapps), 1806-1882 artist.
Hinton, Ada Howell, 1832-1903, artist.
Jones, John A.
Purvis, Sarah Forten, 1811 or 12-1898?
Webb, Elizabeth Susan, 1818-1888.
Fielding, C., artist.
Bennett, W. J. (William James), 1787-1844 artist.
Childs, Cephas Grier, 1793-1871 engraver.
Weir, Robert Walter, 1803-1889 artist.
Smillie, James, 1807-1885 etcher.
Cole, Thomas, 1801-1848 artist.
Bennett, W.J. 1787-1844, artist.
Childs, Cephas Grier, 1793-1871, engraver.
Cole, Thomas, 1801-1848, artist.
Douglass, Robert, 1809-1887, artist.
Douglass, S.M. 1806-1882, artist.
Durand, Asher Brown, 1796-1886, painter.
Fielding, Copley, 1787-1855, artist.
Smillie, James, 1807-1885, etcher.
Weir, Robert Walter, 1803-1889, artist.
Title [Album] [graphic].
Publisher PA. Philadelphia. 1833
Date [ca. 1833-ca. 1882]
Physical Description 7 plates and 4 illustrations in 1 album of 81 leaves: ink, engraving, watercolor, wash drawing; album 25 x 19 cm (9.5 x 7.5 in.)
Description Album belonging to Mary Anne Dickerson, a young middle-class African American Philadelphian, possibly created as a pedagogical exercise, with contributions dating from 1833 until 1882. Contains engraved plates depicting scenic views, and original and transcribed poems, prose, essays, and drawings on topics including friendship, motherhood, mortality, youth, death, flowers, female beauty, and refinement. Also contains a one page record of family deaths, marriages, and births with entries up to the birth of Mary Anne's grandson in 1882. Identified contributors are mainly Black elite scholars active in the African American anti-slavery and cultural communities of mid-19th century Philadelphia, New York, and Boston.
Contains the following contributions: "The Mother's Joy," a poem by C.F., possibly by abolitionist and second wife of entrepreneur James Forten, Charlotte Vandine Forten; illustration after "The Boroom Slave" and the poem, "To the Album," by artist and activist Robert Douglass; prose, "To Mary Ann", about living a happy life by Philadelphian anti-slavery activist Amy Matilda Cassey; a memorial, "To My Dear Willie," by Mary Anne to her deceased son, William Jones; poem, "The Night of Death," by J.A.J., Mary Anne's husband, John A. Jones; Boston author and civil rights activist William C. Nell's transcription of the poem, "The Rights of Women"; allegorical prose on the meaning of life by New York abolitionist Harriet Forten Purvis; transcription of the poem, "The Pearl Diver," by white Philadelphian anti-slavery activist Arnold Buffum; prose to "Mary Annie" about remembrance by Ada, possibly by anti-slavery activist Sarah Forten Purvis or educator and anti-slavery activist Ada Howell Hinton; floral drawing by A.H.H., probably by Ada Howell Hinton; prose and floral watercolors by educator, abolitionist, and Quaker Sarah Mapps Douglass, the sister of Robert Douglass; "Lines Addressed to a Wreath of Flowers Designed on a Present for Mary Ann" by E.S. Webb, possibly Elizabeth Susan Webb, sister of novelist Frank J. Webb; and prose by Mary Anne about mortality. Additional entries of prose and poetry by John G. Dutton, E.S. Webb, Lydia A.B., Henrietta, W.F.P, and S.L.C., unattributed entry, "To Esther," and unattributed entry of a floral watercolor. Also contains engraved plates by A.B. Durand, C. Fielding, C.G. Childs, Robert Walter Weir, James Smillie and Thomas Cole entitled respectively, "Falls of the Sawkill"; "Italy, The Bay of Naples"; "Weehawken"; "Delaware Water Gap"; "Catskill Mountains"; "Fort Putnam"; and "Winnipiseogee Lake".
Notes Title supplied by cataloguer.
Inclusive range of dates inferred from entries inscribed with dates.
Contains engraved illustrated title page: Album. The Mother's Joy.
Blank album published in New York in 1833 by J.C. Ricker.
Embossed and gilt morocco binding.
Release of Dower document dated 1838 giving the Dickerson home to the surviving children, contemporary unidentified newspaper clippings, manuscript poetry transcriptions, contemporary greeting cards, trade card, and other miscellaneous loose items removed and housed separately.
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 -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Friendship.
Motherhood.
Mortality -- United States.
Youth -- United States.
Death -- United States.
Femininity.
Flowers -- United States.
Enslaved persons -- United States.
Antislavery movements -- United States.
African American artists -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Abolitionists -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Enslaved persons.
Genre Albums -- 1830-1860.
Engravings -- 1830-1840.
Watercolors -- 1830-1850.
Wash drawings -- 1830-1840.
Embossed bindings (Binding) -- 1830-1840.
Morocco bindings (Binding) -- 1830-1840.
Illustrator Bennett, W.J. (William James), 1787-1844, artist.
Childs, Cephas Grier, 1793-1871, engraver.
Cole, Thomas, 1801-1848, artist.
Douglass, Robert, 1809-1887, artist.
Douglass, S.M. (Sarah Mapps), 1806-1882, artist.
Durand, Asher Brown, 1796-1886, painter.
Fielding, Copley, 1787-1855, artist.
Smillie, James, 1807-1885, etcher.
Weir, Robert Walter, 1803-1889, artist.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| Mary Anne Dickerson album [13860.Q]
Accession number 13860.Q