Mar 20 at 10:30 AM - Sale 2697 -

Sale 2697 - Lot 347

Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900
(RELIGION.) Papers of a Pittsburgh Jehovah's Witness and her husband, a Negro National League pitcher. Approximately 60 items; generally minor wear. Various places, 1951-1986 and undated
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Additional Details

Ethelia Pope (1918-2012) operated a Pittsburgh beauty parlor. She became a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses in 1951, shortly before her marriage to William Pope (1918-2010). William was a professional baseball player, spending 1947 as a pitcher with the Homestead Grays of the Negro National League alongside stars such as Buck Leonard and Luke Easter, and continuing in the integrated minor leagues through 1955. He was later a restaurant owner and surveyor in Pittsburgh; he was not baptized as a Jehovah's Witness until 1987. Included are:

6 personal letters from the families who hosted the Popes on a mission trip to Haiti and the Dominican Republic, 1956. A 6 February 1956 letter from the fabled baseball hotbed of San Pedro de Macoris notes that "Maybe now that the baseball has ended (the Escogidos won), maybe more people will come out this way." A 2 April 1956 letter from Haiti jokes: "How is your little puny husband? Is he still playing ball?"

Ribbon commemorating a Jehovah's Witness assembly held at Yankee Stadium in July 1953.

14 slips arranging for Kingdom Ministry School students to stay at the Pope home, 1969-1971.

5 partial leaves from Ethelia Pope's scrapbook, including programs from her first assembly meetings in 1951, a note on her marriage to William Pope, 9 photographs from their 1955-1956 Dominican Republic missionary trip, and a note on being "impressed with the way these folks received my husband also, never making any distinction because I was in the truth and he wasn't." One of the photos shows William Pope with Dominican Republic host Roy Brandt.

25 loose photos, some from the 1955-1956 Dominican Republic missionary trip.

7 mounted photos from Pope family events in 1986, including one of a baseball being passed from brother Dave Pope (also a professional ballplayer) to William.

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