Details
Creator Keith, John Frank, 1883-1947, photographer.
Title [Group portrait of members of the First Association of Spiritualists, Philadelphia] [graphic].
Publisher [Philadelphia]
Publisher PA. Philadelphia. 1917
Date [ca. 1917]
Physical Description 1 photograph : gelatin silver on card mount ; mount 9 x 14 cm (3.5 x 5.5 in.) (postcard format)
Description Depicts the members, including two African American women, on the steps of their temple completed in 1901 at 12th and Thompson Streets. Shows the men and women standing on the sidewalk, on the steps, and in front of the open door before the entrance. Mounted on the brick wall is a plaque that reads, Temple First Association of Spiritualists. Rev. Will. J. Erwood…” The First Association of Spiritualists was a religious group that began as a benevolent society in 1852 in search of spiritual truth through spirit guides, seances, and science.
Notes Title supplied by cataloger.
Date inferred from postcard type and attire of the sitters.
Azo postcard.
See Robert Bogdan and Todd Weseloh’s “Real Photo Postcard Guide: The People’s Photography,” (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2006), p. 223.
Gift of Chris Boas, 1990.
Description revised 2022.
Access points revised 2022.
Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Biographical / historical note Keith was a Philadelphia photographer who specialized in portraiture, mainly of working-class Philadelphians in South Philadelphia and Kensington from the late 1910s to the 1940s.
Subject Philadelphia (Pa.). First Association of Spiritualists.
African American women -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Spiritualism -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Temples -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Geographic subject Thompson Street (Philadelphia, Pa.) -- corner of 12th Street.
Genre Gelatin silver prints -- 1910-1920.
Group portraits -- 1910-1920.
Photographic postcards -- 1910-1920.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| photographs - Keith [P.9295]
Accession number P.9295