1955 Media Photo Dora Lee Martin wears the “Queen of Queens” crown. This is an original media photo. Dora Lee Martin, University of Iowa, wears the “Queen of Queens” crown after her coronation. The 17 year old Negro student was...
Postcard photo of black man with chef’s hat leaning out of window with shutter like a place of business. Back: handwritten: “Clinton, Iowa”
Cabinet card photograph featuring Black and White schoolchildren outside a school. One boy holds a handmade wooden toy sword. The right edge of the photo side of card states: “G. E. Fahr, Photographer, Burlington, Ia.”
Image shows a class photo with women in white blouses or dresses and men in suits and ties. Many of the students are White. There is one Black student in the far right of the second row. The caption in...
front: cdv, studio photograph of Black man, standing near brocaded furniture in studio, holding his hat. At the bottom front, someone has written in pen “Aaron Cook” Ornate back of cdv advertises “Park’s Ground Floor Gallery, Opposite Page County Bank,...
Studio portrait of a Black man, soft focus. back: “from E. Cutter’s Art Gallery, corner Main and Fourth Streets. Dubuque, Iowa. Copying and Enlarging Small Pictures a Speciality.
Photo shows an elementary school classroom sitting with their teacher outside, One Black student. The hand written note below the photo says “Dear Ones, we all wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year” Back: The card is...
A photograph of a White girl and boy standing by a sign. The words that are visible advertise “Terry’s Big Uncle Tom’s Cabin” Back: the black backing where the card was ripped out of an album adheres to the back...
This 1880’s cabinet photograph shows the Shepard Family Band, a White family of musicians, with their brass instruments, posing for the photographer. The drum has a sign saying “Shepard Family.” Originally from Lawrenceville, New York, the Shepard Family Band toured...
5 original photos, early 1900s, by the same photographer, 2 stamped on reverse, “POWELL YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER ALBIA, IOWA.” These black and white photographs Black Americans in their daily life: hoeing, pumping well water into a bucket for cows, doing laundry,...
From NPR: “The cakewalk was a pre-Civil War dance originally performed by slaves on plantation grounds. The uniquely American dance was first known as the “prize walk”; the prize was an elaborately decorated cake. Hence, “prize walk” is the original source...
front: young Black woman posing in a studio, wearing a plaid dress, full length portrait. Bottom of photo says “O.H. Park Clarinda, Iowa” Back is blank.
Tiny horizontal oval format of a young Black couple. Lower left corner is sligthly cut down but the words are legible “200 East Locust Street, Des Moines, Iowa”. The word above has been partially cut-off: “__ODGE”s. On back, pencil writing...
Photo shows a studio shot of a Black woman wearing a jaunty white hat and white dress. She stands behind a wooden stile of tree branches and in front of a backdrop of a water scene with sailboats.
Tintype shows a dapper Black man on a bench posing for his photograph. The background is a dropcloth with a picture of a scene with a ticket booth and the words “NY State Fair 1903”. Whether the grass below his...
Photo shows Black soldiers at drill practice. Caption under photo reads: “Colored Infantry, Camp Dodge, Iowa” Back has message to “Sis” and is addressed to “Miss Esther Bains, Rock Island, Illinois” Cancel mark is “Des Moines, Iowa, Dodge Branch” Left...
Scene on a porch of two Black women styling a patient young girl’s hair, light streaming in. The photo appears to have been trimmed on the left side.
Group of school children posing outside of a wooden schoolhouse. The back of the postcard says, in pencil, “Near Swisher” It is possible that two of the children are Black young boys. All the boys wear caps.
Not a member? Create your account.