| Creator |
Dickerson, Martina, b. 1829? |
| 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, artist. |
|
Bowers, John C., 1810-1873. |
| Title |
Original & selected poetry &c. [graphic] / Martina Dickerson. |
| Date |
1840-1846 |
| Physical Description |
1 album (95 leaves, 4 drawings): ink, gouache, watercolor, and graphite; 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
instrument to promote cultivated expression, 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 intelligentsia active in the African
American anti-slavery and cultural community of mid-nineteenth 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 gentlewoman; 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 |
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. |
|
LCP AR (Annual Report) 1993, p. 17-25. |
| 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 |
