Leon and Beatrice M. Gardiner collection


Collection 0008B

1822-1979
(1.5 Linear feet ; 4 boxes, 1 volume)

Summary Information

Repository
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Creator
Gardiner, Beatrice M.
Creator
Gardiner, Leon, 1892-1945.
Title
Leon and Beatrice M. Gardiner collection
ID
0008B
Date [inclusive]
1822-1979
Extent
1.5 Linear feet ; 4 boxes, 1 volume
Author
Finding aid prepared by Cary Majewicz
Sponsor
Processing made possible by a generous donation from Randall M. Miller.
Language
English
Mixed materials [Box]
1-4
Graphic materials [Volume]
1
Abstract
The Leon and Beatrice M. Gardiner collection, though small in size, spans over one hundred and fifty years of African American history. Gardiner, a historian and postal worker, was from Atlantic City, New Jersey, but lived most of his life in Philadelphia. He was an avid collector of African American ephemera, clippings, and other memorabilia. He died in 1945 at the age of 47 and his wife Beatrice M. Gardiner continued his collection. In addition to a few folders of personal papers and correspondence, the collection contains ephemera, essays, and an 1881 notebook from one Julia Buchanan. There are also several folders of newspaper clippings that focus on African American people, institutions, events, and achievements, and many photographs.

Preferred Citation note

Cite as: [Indicate cited item or series here], Leon and Beatrice M. Gardiner collection (Collection 0008B), The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Return to Table of Contents »


Biographical/Historical note

Leon Gardiner was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1892. At the age of ten, his family moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where Gardiner worked and resided the rest of his life. He developed many interests, such as photography and music, and had a keen interest in preserving African American history. As a teenager, he began collecting materials documenting race relations and the institutions and achievements of African Americans.

During these formative years, Gardiner started attending meetings of the American Negro Historical Society (then called the Philadelphia Afro-American Historical Society), which had been founded in 1897 by a group of local individuals, including Robert Adger, W. M. Dorsey and Jacob C. White, Jr., who wished to study and preserve materials documenting the African American experience. His fellow members drove further Gardiner's passion for collecting; and his night time work at one of the Philadelphia branches of the U. S. Post Office allowed him to freely collect and research during the day. During the 1920s and 1930s, Gardiner's collection became well-known throughout local African American research circles and he worked with other groups, including the Philadelphia Society for Negro Records and Research.

In the years before World War II, Gardiner wrote articles for the Philadelphia Tribune and the  Philadelphia Independent, while maintaining his job at the post office. His schedule of work, collecting, research, and writing kept Gardiner quite busy but negatively affected his health. He died suddenly of a heart attack in Philadelphia in March 1945.

In 1923, Gardiner married Bernice E. Modeste, a South Philadelphia typist and stenographer. She and Gardiner had three children, but the couple later divorced. Bernice worked for the IRS and served during World War II with the Women's Army Corps. She retired from the IRS in 1955 and pursued mostly volunteer work with her church. She died in Philadelphia in 2002 at the age of 100.

Gardiner married again in 1940 to a woman named Beatrice and they had no children. Beatrice Gardiner helped maintain and add to Gardiner's collection of research materials and memorabilia. She died in Philadelphia in 1981.

Return to Table of Contents »


Scope and Contents note

The Leon and Beatrice M. Gardiner collection is housed in three document boxes, one archival album, and one photograph album. The papers and photographs span from the 1820s to the 1970s. The collection covers many topics dealing with African Americans, but has scant personal materials from either Gardiner or his wife. Gardiner's own papers comprise six folders in Box 1. Among them is a small amount of personal correspondence regarding family matters, gifts to HSP, Black history, and social and political activities promoting equality for blacks; materials dealing with the John Brown Memorial Association and correspondence with Charles H. Wesley at Howard University; and papers concerning postal employees' associations and beneficial activities. There are also papers of the Mutual Alliance Service Corporation, a beneficial society which loaned money to needy members for immediate necessities; miscellaneous bills and receipts, a power of attorney and court papers, essays and other information on African American history, including two essays by Alberta S. Norwood, whom Gardiner assisted; and an address book and miscellaneous notes and songs.

Beatrice M. Gardiner's papers, taking up the remaining five folders in Box 1, include correspondence from family members and concerning the Women's League, Inc., and materials related to Father Divine's Peace Mission Free School, and the Gardiner, Newlin, Richardson Family Association. Two personal files of inspirational material are included, labeled "Poems and Picker-Upper Readings" (Box 1, Folder 10) and "When I feel down and need a lift" (Box 1, Folder 9). This latter file primarily contains pamphlets and form letters on retirement.

Box 2 of the collection contains an assortment of items, from correspondence of Mr. and Mrs. George Gardiner to an 1881 notebook of one Julia Buchanan at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, in which she mentioned upstate New York and Montreal and wrote about women's issues, suffrage, and smoking. There is also a group of political material and printed ephemera from the National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing, Omega Psi Phi, and Young Women's Christian Association. Additional ephemera is grouped by category: churches; schools; concerts and plays; monuments, associations, and social occasions; and advertisements, business cards, and printed ephemera. Box 2, Folder 12 contains photocopies of the title pages of published works which were transferred to the library.

The Gardiners also collected newspaper clippings related to many areas of African American history, including education, church and religious activities, musicians and actors, writers and artists, athletes and military heroes, urban affairs, national and international affairs, and individuals. A small number of clippings on other subjects are also included. All clippings are housed in Box 3.

In addition to papers, the collection contains a siginificant group of photographs which have been housed in one archival album (Box 4) and one volume (Volume 1). Though the vast majority of photographs are unlabeled, it is clear that most document a family (probably the Gardiners) or families, as many of the same people appear throughout the pictures. They range from formal portraits to candid snapshots and include interior and exterior scenes. The now-sleeved photographs in the archival album have been numbered according to their microfilm placement, "1" being the first photograph filmed and so on. This number order was not maintained in the album due to the many shapes and sizes of the photographs. The pictures in Volume 1 have also been microfilmed in the order in which they appear. Most of these images date from 1939 and further document many of the faces and places seen among the loose photographs.

Return to Table of Contents »


Administrative Information

Publication Information

 The Historical Society of Pennsylvania ; 2012

1300 Locust Street
Philadelphia, PA, 19107
215-732-6200

Conditions Governing Access note

The collection is open for research.

Immediate Source of Acquisition note

Gift of The Estate of Beatrice M. Gardiner, 1981.

Accession number 1981.20.

Processing Information note

Box 2, Folder 12 contains photocopies of the title pages of published works that were transferred to the library. Some of these items have been cataloged, but some have not. Call numbers of those that are cataloged have been written on the papers. For information on the uncataloged items, please contact the library.

Some of the materails in this collection may have been catalogued in the PC-6 section of HSP's card catalog, as well as in the guide Afro-Americana, 1553-1906: author catalog of the Library Company of Philadelphia and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (call number INDEX Z 1361.N39 P48 1973), copies of which are available in HSP's library.

Alternative format

This collection is available on microfilm, XR 901, Mfilm Z1361.N39 A54 1998. (This microfilm series also includes the records of the American Negro Historical Society, Collection 0008.)

Return to Table of Contents »


Collection Inventory

Box Folder

Leon Gardiner: Correspondence (1932-1935, 1942, 1944, undated) 

1 1

Return to Table of Contents »


Leon Gardiner: United National Association of Postal Clerks papers (1932-1934, undated) 

1 2

Return to Table of Contents »


Leon Gardiner: Mutual Alliance Service Corporation papers (1933-1936, undated) 

1 3

Return to Table of Contents »


Leon Gardiner: Bills and receipts, power of attorney (1931-1934, undated) 

1 4

Return to Table of Contents »


Leon Gardiner: Essays and other information on Black history; Two essays by Alberta Norwood (1933-1934, undated) 

1 5

Return to Table of Contents »


Leon Gardiner: Address book and miscellaneous notes and songs (undated) 

1 6

Return to Table of Contents »


Beatrice Gardiner: Correspondence (1946-1975, undated) 

1 7

Return to Table of Contents »


Beatrice Gardiner: Father Divine's Peace Mission Free School (1966) 

1 8

Return to Table of Contents »


Beatrice Gardiner: "When I feel down and need a lift" - prayer cards; letters and cards; retirement forms and brochures; miscellaneous printed matter (1887, 1949-circa 1963, undated) 

1 9

Return to Table of Contents »


Beatrice Gardiner: "Poems and picker-upper readings" (1962-1966, undated) 

1 10

Return to Table of Contents »


Beatrice Gardiner: Gardiner-Newlin-Richardson Family Association (1973-1976, undated) 

1 11

Return to Table of Contents »


Ninteenth century Black history (1822-1828, undated) 

2 1

Return to Table of Contents »


Third person correspondence (1918, 1922, 1933-1934, undated) 

2 2

Return to Table of Contents »


Julia Buchanan notebook (1881) 

2 3

Return to Table of Contents »


National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing (1958-1959) 

2 4

Return to Table of Contents »


Printed ephemera: Omega Psi Phi fraternity (1950, 1952) 

2 5

Return to Table of Contents »


Printed ephemera: Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) (1970) 

2 6

Return to Table of Contents »


Printed ephemera: Churches (1939-1979, undated) 

2 7

Return to Table of Contents »


Printed ephemera: Schools (1961, 1965, 1968-1969) 

2 8

Return to Table of Contents »


Printed ephemera: Concerts and plays (1912-1979, undated) 

2 9

Return to Table of Contents »


Printed ephemera: Monuments, associations, and social occasions (1933-1968, undated) 

2 10

Return to Table of Contents »


Advertisements, business cards, and miscellaneous ephemera (undated) 

2 11

Return to Table of Contents »


Title pages of published works transferred to library (undated) 

2 11

Return to Table of Contents »


Newspaper clippings: Black history - education (1862, 1900, 1934, 1940, 1960-1970) 

3 1

Return to Table of Contents »


Newspaper clippings: Black history - church and religion (1891-1962, 1969-1970) 

3 2

Return to Table of Contents »


Newspaper clippings: Black history - musicians and actors (1892, 1939-1975) 

3 3

Return to Table of Contents »


Newspaper clippings: Black history - writers and artists (1885, 1891, 1892, 1894, 1934, 1940-1970) 

3 4

Return to Table of Contents »


Newspaper clippings: Athletes and military heroes (1934, 1942, 1957-1974) 

3 5

Return to Table of Contents »


Newspaper clippings: Urban affairs (1869-1901, 1934-1979) 

3 6

Return to Table of Contents »


Newspaper clippings: National and international affairs (1887-1901, 1941-1973) 

3 7

Return to Table of Contents »


Newspaper clippings: Individuals and miscellaneous (1948-1970) 

3 8

Return to Table of Contents »


Newspaper clippings: Other subjects (1933-1963, undated) 

3 9

Return to Table of Contents »


Loose papers removed from photographs (1950, undated) 

3 10

Return to Table of Contents »


Negatives (undated) 

3 11

Return to Table of Contents »


Postcards (undated) 

3 12

Return to Table of Contents »


Box

Rolled, panoramic photograph of dinner for Dr. (J?) Max Barber (20 October 1938) 

3

Return to Table of Contents »


Album of previously loose photographs (circa 1880-circa 1975) 

4

Return to Table of Contents »


Volume

Photograph album (1939, undated) 

1

Return to Table of Contents »