"…that on October 1st, 1861, Confederate President Jefferson Davis rejected his generals’ request for 20,000 additional troops to invade Maryland?"
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Paul Henderson Photograph Collection (BCLM, HEN) - More Information
PAUL HENDERSON PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION
ca. 1940-1960
(BCLM, HEN)
Special Collections Department, Maryland Historical Society
201 West Monument Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21201
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The original negatives within this collection are restricted from public use. Reference photographs are available in the Special Collections Department.
More Information about the Paul Henderson Photograph Collection.
Go back to the Henderson Photograph Collection Overview to view all inventory lists from this collection.
History
One of eight children, Paul Henderson (1899—1988) was born in Springfield, Tenneessee and trained as a photographer in Gary, Indiana at the School for Professional Photography. Henderson moved to Baltimore in 1929 and married Elizabeth Johnson in 1930. The couple took an apartment on McCulloh Street, Baltimore, within walking distance of Pennsylvania Avenue, the African American entertainment and shopping district.
Residents considered the area a safe haven for the black community during an era of widespread racial segregation even though Pennsylvania Avenue faced it’s own Civil Rights challenges. Some businesses hired African Americans but did not allow them as customers, a practice found throughout the city.
As activists staged boycotts and protests in their quest for equal rights, Henderson made his way around the city photographing those events as well as clubs, restaurants, political and religious meetings, and entertainment venues already desegregated. His legacy is an unparalleled photographic record of African American city life in the mid-twentieth century.
Collection Origin
Acquired from the Baltimore City Life Museum Collection, 1998-1999
Scope and Contents
The collection consists of over 6,000 four-inch by five-inch acetate negatives (Part I) and approximately 427 photographic prints (Part II). The negatives consist of portraits of African Americans, organizations and clubs, Civil Rights-related protests, entertainers, politicians, Pennsylvania Avenue, Morgan State College (now University), Negro League Baseball team Elite Giants, and the African American community of Baltimore circa 1940-1960.
The photographic prints are copy photographs from the acetate negatives, original photographic prints of Henderson or Johnson family members, and other photographs not taken by Henderson, including one album given to Mrs. Henderson as a gift from the Faculty of School 163, 1967.
Arrangement of Negatives (Part I)
The negatives are arranged in boxes within eight crates. Each crate contains roughly 20 individual boxes. Crate eight is restricted from public use due to severe deterioration. The original arrangement of the negatives as they arrived from the Baltimore City Life Museum to MdHS remains in tact.
Cornish-Henderson Prints (1991.44) and Copy Photographs
The Cornish-Henderson gift consists of Henderson family portraits, ephemera, and vintage prints produced by Henderson.
The Copy Photographs portion of this collection are modern prints made from Henderson's negatives found in Part I. They are for reference only.
Go back to the Henderson Photograph Collection Overview
Henderson's Popular Photographs
There are many photographs in the Paul Henderson Collection that are of unidentified people, places, and events. MdHS is working hard to gather as much information as possible about the subjects of Henderson's photographs. Here is a list of subjects that are of special importance or are the most popular subjects requested:
Boxes HEN.00.A1 - HEN.00.A2
Arrow Beer advertisements
Club 909 - Calhoun Street
Doug's Blue Note Band
Club Casino
Pennsylvania Avenue
William "Willie" Adams
Negro League Baseball team Elite Giants
Cortez W. Peters business school
Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr.
W. Emerson Brown, Jr.
Offices of the Afro-American Newspaper
World War II defense workers
Druid Hill Avenue and Druid Hill Park
Civil Rights demonstrations
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) meetings and events
Thurgood Marshall
Baltimore Urban League
Planned Parenthood clinic
Marse S. Callaway
Clean Block Campaign
Mayor and Governor Theodore McKeldin
Mordecia Johnson
Frontiers of America
Brotherhood convergence of Christians and Jews
Pearl Bailey
Mahalia Jackson
Marian Anderson
Harlem Globetrotters
Boxes HEN.00.B1 - HEN.00.B2
Royal Theatre
Pennsylvania Avenue
Regent Theatre
Movie theaters (unidentified)
Carver Playhouse
Apex Movie Theatre
Hendins
Dr. Lillian "Lillie" May Carroll Jackson
Juanita Jackson Mitchell
National Association for the Advacement of Colored People (NAACP) meetings and events
Keiffer Jackson
Marion Jackson Downs
Maryland State Senator Verda Freeman Welcome
Mayor and Governor Theodore McKeldin
Mayor Thomas D'Alesandro, Jr.
Dr. Bernard Harris
Victorine Adams
William "Willie" Adams
Martin Jenkins
Marse Callaway
Josiah Henry
Judge Morris Soper
Morgan State Board of Trustees
Carl Murphy
Richard Emory
Sphinx Club
Hub Furniture Company
Louise Robin's Creative Hats
Charm Centre clothing store
Samuel L. Hendin
Lafayette Market (after fire)
Druid Hill Avenue YMCA
Maryland Normal and Industrial School at Bowie (now Bowie State University)
Morgan State College (now Morgan State University)
Tommy Tuckers
Go to Henderson Photograph Collection Overview to view all inventory lists.
Click here and scroll down for Henderson photographs in Collections Online.
