Georgine E. Upshur Willis collection
Title
[Georgine E. Upshur Willis collection]
Description
Collection of primarily 20th-century photographs, ephemera, manuscript and textual materials related to trained undertaker Georgine Upshur Willis and her extended family, including descendants of the African American middle-class Stevens-Cogdell and Sanders-Venning families. Majority of collection is photographs, studio and professional portraits, as well as snapshots of Georgine E. Upshur Willis and her parents Agnes S. Upshur, a teacher, and William A. Upshur, an undertaker and Pennsylvania State representative, at various ages and dating between the 1920s and early 1970s. Includes images of Georgine as a baby, with her parents and grandparents (Charles Sanders Chew and Georgine Saunders Chew), at her coming out party, in her University of Pennsylvania college yearbook and graduation photograph, and several group portrait photographs, predominately dating to the late 1940s and early 1950s. Group portrait photographs include views of Georgine in costume in a 1934 Book Week Play, at her 1949 engagement party and wedding to anthropologist and ethnohistorian William Willis, Jr., recreating in Atlantic City, at holiday events, and at other friends and family gatherings. William A. Upshur portraits include a photograph of his meeting with Richard Nixon at the 1960 GOP Convention. Several of the professional photographs were taken by African American photographers, including John Gaston Devigne, Frank W. Harris, Jr., and John W. Mosley. Photographs also depict an 1890 group portrait, including Rennie and Sallie Venning (Holden) (P.2022.16.41), at an outside location; a modern reproduction of a portrait of Charles S. Chew (Georgine Upshur’s grandfather); a circa 1920s portrait of an unidentified woman and her baby; and two circa 1950 color photographs of landscape views of Fisher’s Island, N.Y., Ephemera materials are comprised of postcards, invitations and announcements, certificates, programs, and scraps dated predominately between the 1920s and 1950. The materials include a circa 1930 Gorges Du Loup postcard booklet; postcards addressed to Mrs. Julia Venning or Mr. and Mrs. George Venning containing views of Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Wildwood, N.J.; invitations/announcements to the 1921 Henpeck’s Annual Ball (William B. Holden, Committee President), Georgine E. Upshurs high school and college graduations, and the 1921 wedding of Cordelia Sanders and Dr. Dehaven Hinkson; University of Pennsylvania Bachelor of Arts diploma issued to Georgine Elizabeth Upshur, 1943; ca. 1939 program for Georgine E. Upshur’s induction into the Sophrosyne Chapter of The National Honor Society; and the 1950 program for Dr. Eric Reiss presents for The Blockley Medical Society Philadelphia General Hospital “Osler Slept Here.”, Manuscript and related materials primarily contain correspondence and newspaper clippings dated between the 1920s and 1950s. Correspondence includes a 1928 letter to William B. Holden about the “charges of the moral character of your Rector” of the Church of the Crucifixion; a 1938 and 1942 letter about Georgine E. Upshur, respectively, being elected to the honor society and nomination for membership in the University of Pennsylvania Delta Chapter of the National Social Science Honor Society, Pi Gamma Mu; and a 1942 letter from the City of Philadelphia Department of Public Welfare, Bureau of Recreation about swimming training. Newspaper clippings relate to the 1921 engagement and wedding of Cordelia Sanders Chew and Dr. Dehaven Hinkson; Georgine Upshur and a Y.W.C.A. baby contest, her Philadelphia High School for Girls graduation and coming out parties, and passing of the state mortician’s exam circa 1949; the 1930 musical recital of Georgine E. Upshur’s maternal aunt Mary Saunders Patterson; the 1954 death of Charles S. Chew accompanied by mourning cards and a pressed flower; and the death of the Hinkson’s dog Patchy accompanied by a plot receipt and business card for the Cheltenham Pet Cemetery. A 1932 "My Trip Abroad" day journal of Agnes C. Upshur, including an insert of her passport with a passport photograph of her and young daughter Georgine E. Upshur also comprises the manuscript material. The trip to Europe, included visits to Paris, Genoa, Florence, Venice, and Geneva., Collection also includes “Diary of the Women of the Class of 1943, University of Pennsylvania, The 1943 Almanack” containing inserts of correspondence, documents, and programs related to Georgine E. Upshur’s college education at University of Pennsylvania; The Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday Magazine, Civil War Issue, April 9, 1961; and The Saturday Evening Post, November 10, 1962 issue with mailing label for Dr. DeHaven Hinkson., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from content., Photographers include Gaston Devigne, Harper, Frank W. Harris, Jr., John W. Mosley, Dan E. Paul, and Albert Sexton., RVCDC, See Lib. Company. Annual Report, 1991, p. 26-31., Gift of descendant Cordelia H. Brown in honor of Phil Lapsansky., See LCP exhibit catalogue: African American Miscellany p. 45., Genealogical charts available at repository., Descriptive inventory, including with names of portrait sitters, available at repository., Reference copies and miscellaneous related materials located with collection., Digital catalog record includes select images from the collection.
Date
[1890-ca. 1990, bulk ca. 1921-ca. 1950]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Stevens-Cogdell/Sanders Venning Collection - Upshur Willis Collection [P.2022.16]
Stevens-Cogdell/Sanders-Venning Hinkson Portrait Collection
Title
[Steven-Cogdell/Sanders-Venning Hinkson family group portrait collection]
Description
Collection of group portrait photographs, including members of the Hinkson line of the African American middle-class Stevens-Cogdell and Sanders-Venning family. Portraits depict a 1929 group portrait photograph of the Christian Street Y.M.C.A. volleyball team, including Dehaven Hinkson; a 1932 portrait photograph of a “Bon Voyage” children’s party for sisters Cordelia Hinkson (Brown) and Mary Hinkson (daughters of Dehaven and Cordelia Chew Hinkson)(P.2015.46.1); a ca. 1950 photograph of a group of several woman, during a dinner party, posed around a large formally-set dining table, including Dorothy Abele Gatling, Mary Venning, Martha Venning Bowie, Agnes Chew Upshur, Cordelia Chew Hinkson, Julia Capps Venning, and Georgine Saunders Chew; ca. 1950 group portraits of members of the men’ organization the Boulé, including Dehaven Hinkson, Richard J. Warwick, and Eugene T. Hinson; and a 1950 Theresa Studio photograph of the men's social club Commissioners of Philadelphia annual June dinner and dance at the Theresa Hotel (Harlem, N.Y.C.) (P.2015.46.7), including William Warrick, Mabel Lawson Warrick, Dehaven Hinkson, Cordelia Chew Hinkson, William G. Upshur, and Agnes Chew Upshur; and a ca. 1955 group portrait of the women’s social group the Geace (P.2015.46.2), possibly during their golden anniversary, including Mary Venning, Martha Venning Bowie, Agnes Chew Upshur, Dorothy Abele Gatling, Mabel Lawson Warrick, and Cordelia Chew Hinkson., The "Bon Voyage" party was a farewell party before Dehaven Hinkson and his family relocated to Europe for his post-graduate studies. The Geace Club evolved from the women meeting as adolescents as members of the Sunshine Club. The Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, also known as the Boulé, is the first Greek-letter fraternity founded by African Americans in 1904. Members have already received their college and professional degrees at the time of inclusion. Richard J. Warwick and Eugene T. Hinson were founding members. The Commissioners was founded in 1933 by prominent African American Philadelphians as a men's social club "to promote social involvement among members of the community.", Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from content., Photographers include Frank W. Harris, G. Marshall Wilson, and the Theresa Studio., 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., Several of the sitters of the photographs were identified by the donor. Photocopies with the identified sitters housed at the repository., Housed with Stevens-Cogdell and Sanders-Venning and Chew Families Miscellaneous Portraits Collection [P.2013.14]., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Date
[1929-ca. 1950]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Stevens-Cogdell/Sanders Venning Collection [P.2015.46]