African American Fraternal History Prince Hall Freemasonry 1940s to 1990s Photographs Yearbook and Funeral Programs

Prince Hall Freemasons Archive

Archive

Prince Hall Freemasonry materials, 1940s to 1990s, document the institutional life, leadership structures, and community functions of one of the most significant African American fraternal organizations in the United States and provide direct evidence of how lodges operated as centers of social, civic, and religious life across multiple decades. Founded in 1784 in response to racial exclusion from mainstream Masonic bodies, Prince Hall lodges sustained networks of mutual aid, education, and leadership within Black communities. This archive records both formal lodge activity and personal commemorative practices, supporting research into African American history, fraternal organizations, and the continuity of Black institutional life from the mid twentieth century through the post civil rights era.

Seven items including three silver gelatin press photographs, one yearbook, two funeral programs, and one membership roster, originating from Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and Illinois. The photographs, measuring approximately 8.5 x 11 inches and dating from the 1940s to 1960s, depict lodge events and gatherings, including a 1946 banquet of Golden Shield Lodge No. 69 in Pittsburgh with members and guests seated beneath a lodge banner, and a 1969 image from the annual workshop of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Louisiana in New Orleans, identifying members W. S. Finister Jr., Rufus Mayfield, and Richard Turnley. The Golden Star Lodge No. 143 Yearbook. Pittsburgh, 1969, includes membership rosters, meeting schedules, and lodge principles, with cover imagery of the Masonic square and compass and printed meeting location at 143 Orr Street. Two funeral programs dated 1993 document services for Sister Mattie White at Central Baptist Church in Pittsburgh and John Columbus Coger at New Hope Temple Baptist Church in Philadelphia, reflecting ceremonial practices and affiliations, including possible connections to auxiliary organizations such as the Order of the Eastern Star. An additional birthday roster lists members’ names and contact information, indicating active social networks within the lodge.

Produced across a period encompassing the Civil Rights Movement and its aftermath, these materials demonstrate the sustained role of Prince Hall Freemasonry as a stabilizing institution within African American communities, providing spaces for leadership development, social organization, and collective memory. The combination of formal lodge documentation, photographic evidence of gatherings, and funerary materials illustrates how fraternal structures extended into religious and familial life, reinforcing continuity across generations. As a grouped archive, these items preserve the operational, ceremonial, and personal dimensions of Black fraternal culture, offering a layered record of community organization and identity. Minor edge wear and light handling marks, with occasional annotations to photographs; overall condition very good.

Item #21494

Price: $850.00