Collection of primarily professional portrait studio photographs depicting members of the Venning, Chew, Saunders, and Sanders lines of the African American middle-class Stevens-Cogdell and Sanders-Venning Family. Portraits show the sitters when children and/or when adults. Sitters include Sallie Venning Holden ( P.2014.51.16-17) and her nieces Lillie Venning and Mary Venning; Harriette Elizabeth Richardson Saunders and George Saunders (parents of Georgine Saunders Chew); Cordelia Sanders (Chew) and her sons Richard Sanders Chew (P.2014.51.4) and Charles Sanders Chew (“Papoo”) (P.2014.51.6); Georgine Saunders Chew (“Dama”), her daughters Cordelia Sanders Chew (Hinkson) and Agnes Saunders Chew (Upshur), and her siblings Joseph S. Saunders (dentist), Mary Saunders (Patterson) (soprano and music instructor), Charles Saunders, Susan Saunders (Williams), Agnes Saunders. Small number of portraits document school graduations, including those of Cordelia Chew (Hinkson), Agnes Chew (Upshur), and Joseph S. Saunders. Also contains an unidentified silhouette of a young man, probably a member of the Cogdell family., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from content., One paper photograph (P.2014.51.1) mounted in daguerreotype brass mat., Silhouette (P.2014.51.3) mounted in daguerreotype case., Various photographers including Herbert Bridle (Philadelphia), Broadbent and Phillips (Philadelphia), H. D. Garns & Co. (Philadelphia), William Kuebler (Philadelphia), Snellenburg & Co. (Philadelphia), William C. Withers (Philadelphia), Keet & Gemmill (Harrisburg), Le Rue Lemer (Harrisburg), Arthur W. Sheppard (Brooklyn), W. E. Perry (Cresson, Pa.), and Abraham L. Myers (Atlantic City)., Sitters identified from manuscript notes on versos and/or accompanying photographic prints., See Lib. Company Annual Report, 1991, p. 26-31., Gift of descendants Cordelia H. Brown, Lillie V. Dickerson, Mary Hinkson Jackson, and Georgine E. Willis in honor of Phil Lapsansky., See LCP exhibit catalogue: African American Miscellany p. 45., Genealogical charts available at repository., P.2014.51.1-3 housed separately in phase box., RVCDC, Description revised 2023., Access points revised 2022.
Date
[ca. 1800-ca. 1925]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Stevens-Cogdell/Sanders-Venning Collection [P.2014.51]
