Membership certificate for the African American fraternal organization containing an allegorical view that includes Odd Fellow iconography. Shows the female figures of Justice and Truth standing on globes and flanking a framed view of an ark at sea. Justice holds a sword and scale and Truth holds a torch, serpent, and a mirror from which a light shines. Visible within and bordering the view are Odd Fellow symbols, including the sickle and hourglass, dove, skull and crossbones, the lamb, heart-in-hand, and the lion. Above the view the female figure Charity sits and holds children in her lap below the all Seeing Eye in the night sky under a rainbow marked "G.U.O. of O.F." The G.U.O.O.F was established in 1843 with a charter from the Grand Lodge in Manchester, England., Not in Wainwright., Copyrighted by D. B. Bowser, probably the artist., Issued to David B. Bowser, Unity Lodge, No. 711, G.U. O. of O.F. on July 10, 1844. Signed James Needham, N[oble] F[ather], James McCrummill, N[oble] G[rand] and Joshua Campbell, P. S[ecretary]., Philadelphia on Stone, Historical Society of Pennsylvania: Certificates - Odd Fellows, Bowser, was a prominent African American ornamental artist and social activist, who specialized in signs, banners, and paraphernalia in addition to portraiture. Major commissions included volunteer firefighter apparel and equipment, Civil War pictorial banners, and Grand United Order of Odd Fellows regalia.
Date
c1843
Location
Historical Society of Pennsylvania | Print Department | HSP at LCP HSP Certificates - Odd Fellows
