Mar 20 at 10:30 AM - Sale 2697 -
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Sale 2697 - Lot 170

Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
(EDUCATION.) Album kept by a Black student at an integrated Pittsburgh high school. 30 photographs, 61 pieces of printed ephemera, and numerous clippings mounted on [93] printed album leaves. Large octavo, 8½ x 6 inches, original cloth-bound commercially produced "School Friendship Book," boards warped from over-stuffing but otherwise minor wear; a few leaves worn but contents generally well-preserved, at least two album leaves torn out. Pittsburgh, PA, 1924-1928
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Additional Details

The compiler Marguerite Combs (1910-2000) was the daughter of a Pittsburgh chauffeur. She was one of the few Black students at Pittsburgh's prestigious flagship Schenley High School. She created this album of her high school experiences and family life, filled with her wry commentary on her classmates and teachers.

Much of the high school section appears to be clipped from a published high school yearbook or class magazine. The five class officers (all white) have all signed with brief inscriptions. A section on "proms, dances & hops" includes 10 programs and invitations, all with commentary. The sports section includes 4 of her Field Day ribbons, one of them dated 1924: "Well do I remember this, a meek little freshman was awarded this ribbon." A clipping of the all-white boy's baseball team is captioned "Try to find some color on it, you'll be a better guy than I"; the barely integrated football team is captioned "Here's a spot of color--Monie King, lucky thing."

The last half of the album includes some personal and family material interspersed with Schenley memorabilia, such as a playbill for a performance by Ethel Waters in the revue Africa ("Talk about tight and right, Miss Waters was that"), and 30 photographs of friends and family, some taken at graduation. An invitation to a Halloween dance sponsored by the "Phantoms of Pgh" expressed their goal of "a New Pittsburgh Colored Society based on Culture and Refinement." Ms. Combs notes below: "The outstanding club of Pgh. society . . . of course (patting myself on the back) means that I was there."

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