Main content
James Samuel Stemons papers
Notifications
Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]1300 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19107
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
The collection was acquired through purchases in 1973 and 1974.
This collection was processed by Monique Bourque in August 1990 and both the biographical note and the scope and contents note in this finding aid are hers. The box and folder inventory was created in March, 2012.
Subject
- African American civic leaders--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia
- African American inventors--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia
- African American novelists--Pennsylania--Philadelphia
- African American women journalists--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia
- African Americans--Civil rights--History
- African Americans--Employment
- Discrimination in employment
- Joint Organization of the Association for Equalizing Industrial Opportunities and the League of Civic and Political Reform
- United States Postal Service--Officials and employees
- Publisher
- Historical Society of Pennsylvania
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Monique Bourque and Sarah Newhouse
- Finding Aid Date
- 2012 March 13
- Sponsor
- This collection was processed during the Digital Center for Americana Project Phase II, which was funded by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Richard Lounsbery Foundation.
- Access Restrictions
-
This collection is open for research.
Collection Inventory
SERIES I. PERSONAL CORRESPONDENCE, 1894-1922 and n.d., (.75 ft.). This series is arranged chronologically.
The series consists of letters between Stemons and his sister, Mary Stemons Johnson, and letters to Stemons from friends and business associates. In some cases Stemons's initial letters or replies are included.
SERIES II. FAMILY CORRESPONDENCE, 1901-1912 and n.d. (.25 ft.). This series is arranged alphabetically by correspondent.
The bulk of this series is composed of letters to and from Mary Stemons Johnson. Other correspondents include her husband, John T. Johnson, James Samuel Stemons's wife Mary (Mamie) Whaley Stemons, and other friends and family members.
SERIES III. MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS, 1903-1920 and n.d. (.25 ft.).
The series contains correspondence fragments, personal documents relating to Stemons and to other family members such as a photocopy of the application for a marriage license filed by James S. Stemons and his second wife, Arizona L. Cleaver. Miscellaneous personal documents include notes taken by an unknown person from a 1979 interview with Cleaver, and materials relating to Stemons being charged in 1912 with assault and battery. Also present are miscellaneous business cards, notes, an incomplete application for the United States Civil Service Examination in the name of Ailenwill S. Jackson, and flyers and leaflets from organizations such as the Association for Equalizing Industrial Opportunities and the League of Civic Reform, the Socialist Literary Society, and the Southern League Beneficial Association.
SERIES IV. WRITINGS AND SPEECHES, 1900-1922 and n.d. (.5 ft.).
This series is arranged by record type. Writings are arranged alphabetically by subject or organization for which they were produced. Speeches are arranged alphabetically by the organization or occasion for which they were intended. Writings and publications not by Stemons have been placed at the end of the writings, as has a folder of newspaper clippings which includes articles about African Americans by a number of authors and letters by Stemons to the Philadelphia American, with the editor's replies. Writings include a manuscript of Stemons's semi-autobiographical novel, "Jay Ess," of which much of chapters one through four are missing.