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Historical records that include, programs, letters, newspaper articles, booklets, papers and photos. Community representing African Americans.

This selection of digitized diaries by David Evans dates from 1835 to 1879. In these diaries, Evans notes his early studies in school; his experiences as more a teacher, farmer, and surveyor; his interests in geology, botany, and history; his attendance at Quaker and Anti-Slavery Society meetings; and the daily lives of his family and friends. From the late 1830s to the early 1850s, many of Evans’ entries provide names and details of aid he provided as a member of the Underground Railroad. There is also one volume by David’s brother, Josiah Evans, dating from March to December 1838, which documents Josiah’s time in Ohio. Early entries describe the passing environs en route to Ohio, and, once there, focus on daily life, visits with family and friends, and his attendance at Quaker and Anti-Slavery Society meetings. David Evans was born in 1818, the son of Nathan and Zillah Maule Evans of Willistown Township, Pennsylvania and died, age 80, on July 4, 1898. He had one brother and four sisters: Josiah, Catharine, Anne, Elizabeth, and Mary. Evans married Eliza W. House on March 21, 1861. Eliza died, most likely of breast cancer, in 1875, age 45; David did not remarry. Although young family members resided with David and Eliza, the couple was childless. In addition to living in Willistown, Evans resided in Malvern, Pennsylvania, a town he helped develop from the 1860s into the 1890s. Primarily an off-and-on school teacher and a farmer, Evans followed many interests, including his Quaker faith, the abolition of slavery, reading, farming, surveying, temperance, architecture, traveling, and rock formations. He was a member of the Willistown Library and the Willistown Literary Society. In March 1853, Evans was elected to a three year term as a Willistown Township school director. Six years later he was appointed township auditor. As a businessman, Evans operated a lumber yard. He wrote in his diary that he had “commenced business in the line of lumber coal feed flour etc. at the W. Chester Intersection R.R. January 1, 1866.” In Willistown, David Evans, with his father, Nathan, was part of a network of sympathizers who organized stations in the Underground Railroad. Additionally, he was involved in the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, serving as a delegate after the organization had been re-established in 1837. Even though Evans was a staunch abolitionist, he refused to serve in the Union army, instead registering as a conscientious objector. less

This digitized volume contains the meeting minutes of the Liberty Cornet Band dating from 1920-1932 and 1937, and includes the names of appointed officers and members more of the band. The Liberty Cornet Band was an African-American musical group established in 1867 in West Chester, Pa. The band enjoyed a lofty profile in Chester County and the surrounding counties where they headlined concerts, performed at parades and sporting events, serenaded residents in surrounding communities, and played at Republican Party rallies and other political gatherings. Three prominent restaurateurs, Moses Hepburn, 1832-1897 (Magnolia House), Charles Burns, 1855/56-1917 (Burns’ Great Oyster House), and James Spence, 1843?-1925 (Spence’s Restaurant), were early band leaders. At its high point in January 1912, the band counted 50 members. In addition, the band performed farther afield, including Virginia, Massachusetts, New York, and the Mid-Atlantic states. In 1897, the band was invited to take part in William McKinley’s presidential inauguration ceremony, and in 1901, it played at Theodore Roosevelt’s inauguration. The band also gave benefit concerts, such as one in 1880 for the widow Abbey Smith of Media, Pa. In 1901, showing its patriotism, the band played at two events celebrating the return of American soldiers, including three African-Americans, from the Philippines and Cuba following the Spanish-American War. Not unexpectedly, the band enjoyed a banner reputation among West Chester’s African-American community. In an 1888 newspaper article, a reporter wrote, “West Chester yesterday belonged to the colored people, it being the date of the Liberty Band’s picnic.” The Liberty Cornet Band was active from its founding in 1867 to at least 1931. As with many organizations, the band had its ups and downs, adding members in good years and losing members in challenging times. For example, in August 1889, a significant number of members left to follow a religious revival; the band subsequently had to reorganize. In the 1920s, membership dropped from fifty to number in the thirties. The organization’s records reveal that there were no concerts or other activities, except practice sessions, after 1931. Undoubtedly, the depression of the 1930s contributed to the band’s collapse, as one member noted in 1931 that “we need to do something worthwhile immediately because of the critical condition of the band.” By 1937, the band in all likelihood folded. In February of that year, due to lack of funds, its officers authorized the disposal of its property at West Chester’s Masonic Hall. In addition to documenting specific motions and actions taken by band members, the volume records paid membership dues/fees, voting results, plans for future performances, mention of committee reports, personnel issues (i.e. fines to band members), administrative costs, performance venues, and concert ticket sales/costs. An index to the band’s cash accounts is listed on the verso of the front cover, and these cash account inventories include the band’s monthly receipts and expenses. Noted band members in this volume include the following three Presidents: Alfred Bowman (1923), Jacob Milby (1924-1930), and Herman Ray (1930-1932). William H. Burton, a teacher at West Chester’s Gay Street School and later a professor at Cheney University, served as the band’s Secretary from 1927 to 1932. less

The collection includes various annual reports, programs, letters, financial information, newspaper clippings, and ephemera documenting the history of the African American community in Philadelphia's Germantown neighborhood more and vicinity, from circa 1868-1939, and the roles of women in the following organizations. Includes materials associated with the Union Mission for Colored People, the Industrial School for Colored Women, and the Colored Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans Home. less

This collection contains photographs relating to African American history in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Included are topics such as: Abolition Hall, Camp William Penn, Woodmont, individuals, and more cemeteries. One of the photographs is a close up of an oil portrait of the county's first African American doctor, Dr. Daniel A. Wilson. The portrait and all of the photographs are maintained at the Historical Society of Montgomery County, PA. less

As part of a larger statewide effort, in 2018 the Meyersdale Public Library undertook a project to document and compile a list of known African American more burials in Somerset County. Staff and volunteers in the library's Pennsylvania Room combed state death certificates, online gravestone memorials, newspaper obituaries/articles, and additional local publications to determine as many African Americans laid to rest within this rural county as possible. The number ultimately reached nearly 350, though library researchers theorize it is substantially higher. In subsequent years the Pennsylvania Room has gained access to over 900 county death records kept from 1893 through 1905. Staff and volunteers plan to also review these records for documentation of additional African American burials. Thus this collection remains a work in progress, with updated information to be made available over time. less

These 18 photographs are part of a larger Meyersdale Public Library – Photograph Collection. The photographs selected for display as part of that larger PA Photos more and Documents collection are significant because they provide a broad overview of life immediately before, during and after the Progressive Era in the Allegheny Mountains region (mostly Somerset County, Pennsylvania, and northern Maryland). These 18 photographs in particular - part of a larger glass negative collection housed within the library's archives - portray African American families and individuals in portraits, natural and workplace settings, and also within the town of Meyersdale itself. A significant African American community lived, worked and worshiped in Meyersdale during the late 1800s and through the first several decades of the 20th century. less

This collection focuses on the heritage of African Americans in the Johnstown region.

A newspaper of the Pennsylvania and New York Colonization societies, covering immigrant issues, African American affairs, religious tracts and tract societies, and various other issues, such more as the Apprentices’ Library company of Philadelphia.  Contains advice and informational columns on household affairs and farming.  Also reports on the Back to Africa movement and African affairs in other countries, such as Haiti.  Published fortnightly at first, then weekly, in 1838, then published monthly in at least January-June 1839, beginning with the New Series, which restarted numbering.  Issues from March 14, 1838 to December 26, 1838. less