Tag: family history
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Memories of Childhood and My Father | Geraldine Wilson
Memories of Childhood and My Father Hand-in-hand we walked two-and-a-half childhood steps to one Daddy stride my braids bowed pinafore plaid up curb down curb spring water days were fine fun smoothing diamond edge of his anger mean the wide-brimmed gray Stetson snapped over Black Bottom of his white Post Office pain. Growing up under…
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Chef Vincent A. Flowers & Pinemere Camp
A few weeks ago I received the following comment on Roots of a Hidden Legacy: Not a descendent of the Flowers family, but went to Pinemere camp in Stroudsburg, PA in the 1970’s for 8 years. Vincent Flowers was the head chef at camp, and was the most beloved person at Pinemere. I remember we…
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Protected: Researching & Writing Difficult Family Histories
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
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To My Nana, The First Archivist I Knew
For Frances Louise McLean Graham (October 12, 1946 – December 13, 2019) “My first introduction to this field began not in the classroom but in my Nana’s kitchen cutting collards and seasoning catfish. She carried lessons of Black history through food, gossip (her form of historical fact), and stories of her upbringing in rural North…
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In Search of a Black Woman’s Archives
It was my third time viewing Geraldine Wilson’s Papers at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Crumbled in the bottom of box 3, belonging to no folder, I found this small piece of paper, a medical record. The diagnosis”breast ca.” Breast Cancer. I wonder what that day meant to Geraldine, what came to…
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1922: Chicken and Waffle Dinner
Under the “Personal and Social News Items” section in the Harrisburg Telegraph August 11, 1922 Miss Rachel Flowers Hostess at Summer Home Miss Rachel H. Flowers, of Brandtsville, entertained at a chicken and waffle dinner at her country home. The guest included: Mrs. Lucie Arrington, Mrs. Smith, Miss. Rebecca Scott, Miss Gladyce Flowers, Mrs. Hilda Flowers…
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“Susan and Gordy Adopt a Baby!”: Geraldine Wilson and The Children’s Television Workshop
Over winter break, I spent time with my one year old nephew. We spent most of our morning eating cereal, dancing, and watching my childhood favorite show–Sesame Street. We bonded over our love of Elmer and Big Bird and wept over the absence of Ernie and Bert. A few weeks later, I traveled to New…
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“Greenview Dwelling”: Finding the Flowers Family’s Home
In the early twentieth-century, Rachel Flowers was a Black socialite in the Harrisburg and Philadelphia region. Her parties attracted members of the Black middle class and due to her educational activism, also educators from New Jersey, New York, Maryland, and even Bermuda. When her events were hosted in Harrisburg, news articles referred to her country…
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(Updated) Chauncey Sawyer Flowers
In 1895, Harry and Nancy (Sawyer) Flowers gave birth to their first child, Chauncey Flowers in the city of Jacksonville, Florida. He is Rachel Flowers’ eldest brother. One of the first items I look for in my research is a photo. I discovered a number of primary sources detailing his life, yet currently no photo…
Diary of a Historian 