Item #5111 [Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title]. Eolyn Carolyn Klugh Guy, David S. Klugh Sr., Harry Maurice Guy.
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].
[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].

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Eolyn Carolyn Klugh Guy; David S. Klugh, Sr.; Harry Maurice Guy, et al.

[Early Twentieth Century Photo Albums of African-American Woman Social Worker.] Photographs [cover-title].

Boston, New England, Georgia, North Carolina, Germany, Palestine, Detroit, Egypt, etc., ca. 1910–1933. 2 oblong 4to photo albums, 544 photographs (1” x 1” to 5.5” x 3.5”) mounted on black boards. Larger album (9.5” x 12”), with black covers, 375 photos; the majority of photos captioned in white ink, a few pen inscriptions, some missing photos, 16 blank leaves. Smaller album (7” x 11”), 169 photos; lacking front-cover, rear-cover detached, some missing photos, photos not captioned, 17 blank leaves. 43 loose photographs formerly mounted in albums; 2 photos, 6.25” x 10.25”; 1 photo, 6.5” x 8.5”. 2 certificates (approx. 8” x 11”); 2 newspapers, The Guardian and Boston Chronicle.

A rich archive of photos documenting the life of an African-American social worker from a prominent, upper-middle class Boston family who was educated at Radcliffe and Simmons College; was active in the YWCA, and engaged in public service in Detroit, Boston, Arizona and elsewhere.

Comprising nearly 600 photographs, these albums center on Eolyn Carolyn Klugh Guy (ca. 1901–1963) and intimately document her family, work, education, social life, travels, marriage, and motherhood. Photos in the larger and more extensive album are captioned, identifying the family members and locations pictured; the smaller album features no captions but captures many of the same subjects shown in the larger album.

The daughter of Rev. Dr. David S. Klugh, Sr.—a noted black Baptist pastor in New Haven and Boston—Eolyn Guy was raised in New Haven, Connecticut and later in Boston. She appears to have attended Spelman Seminary (now College) in Atlanta, an historically African-American school, before earning her bachelor’s degree from Radcliffe College in 1922. Spelman Seminary, a women’s college in Atlanta, is associated with her father’s alma mater, Morehouse College. Several photos show Guy at Spelman in 1918 among her classmates on campus. Guy’s mother was an alumni of Spelman and was active in churchwomen’s organizations. Rev. Klugh earned graduate degrees from Virginia Seminary and College, and Eckstein-Norton University. In his obituary, Klugh is described as “one of the leading Negro ministers of [Boston] and New England and ranked high as a pulpit orator.” He served as pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in New Haven until he was appointed pastor in 1918 of the First African Baptist Church in Boston, where he would serve until his death in 1934. The larger photo album appears to have been compiled by Guy following her father’s death. One shot here shows Rev. Klugh standing with his congregation in front of Immanuel Baptist Church, which includes scores of black youth. Thirty-eight photos document Rev. Klugh’s 1923 trip to Europe, Egypt, and Palestine, and are accompanied by detailed captions.

In 1924, Guy attended the national meeting of the YWCA as a Girl Reserve and Industrial Secretary of the St. Aubin Branch of the YWCA in Detroit. A handful of shots taken in 1925 show Guy at a “Y” Camp in Detroit; one shot picturing her in front of a large tent. Two years later, she served as a bridesmaid at the wedding of Harlem Renaissance poet and social worker Clarissa Scott Delany (1901–1927), and attended Delany’s funeral the next year. After graduating from college, Guy appears to have kept in close contact with faculty from various historically African-American colleges. Photos from 1926 document her visit to Livingstone College in Salisbury, North Carolina where several black faculty members are pictured. Guy returned to Salisbury in 1927 and there met teachers from Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina. An image dated 1928 shows Guy in an academic gown when she was awarded a Masters degree from Simmons College in Boston. In 1928 she authored the article “Colored Girls at Work in Boston” in Opportunity (Oct. 1928; p. 295-299), the magazine of the National Urban League. In this paper, she surveyed

young Boston colored women who possessed some high school education and discovered that 40 percent were elevator operators. Of the remaining women, most worked as clerks, stenographers, or typists in the civil service or at black-owned businesses because whites refused to hire African Americans. Only sixteen women taught in the public schools (Schneider, “The Boston NAACP and the Decline of the Abolitionist Impulse”).

Guy would also pen a paper entitled, “Extra-Curricular Activities for the Negro” which she delivered at Wellesley College in 1932. One image dated 1929 shows Guy, her brother, and her father standing in front of the Boston Urban League, and other shots from this year show her father receiving an honorary degree. Guy’s brother Pritchett Klugh—who is frequently pictured in this archive—is known to have participated in the desegregation of the dormitories at Harvard in 1921. Two group shots dated 1930 capture the all-women Northeastern students Conference at Camp Magua in Poland, Maine, Guy likely having served as a facilitator for the conference. This same year Guy also attended the National Conference of Social Work, held in Boston. She and her family evidently vacationed quite frequently, traveling to such places as Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard; Niagara Falls; Saratoga Springs; Saybrook, Connecticut; the White Mountains of New Hampshire; Canada; Lake Cobbosseecontee, Maine, etc. Included are numerous photos of Eolyn and her siblings as young children and adolescents, as well as some images of their extended family.

After marrying Maurice H. Guy (b. 1899) in 1932, Eolyn Guy appears to have lived in Detroit until around 1946. Maurice H. Guy was an African-American chemical engineer from Detroit who worked as a sewer inspector and later a safety engineer for the city and was the son of pianist and composer Harry P. Guy (1870–1950), regarded as one of Detroit’s important contributors to ragtime music. An issue of The Guardian (a Boston African-American newspaper) is included here and indicates that at the time of her marriage Guy was working at the Robert Gould Shaw House in Boston. One of their publications from the mid-40s lists Guy as an Early Resident Worker. A handful of photos from the smaller album appear to document Maurice’s family in and around Detroit. Some shots show Maurice working as an engineer in the field; hunting; on outdoor trips; at the Detroit Idlewild Club on Lake Michigan, and so forth. At least three images picture Harry P. Guy in his adult years; one shot shows him seated and working at a desk with a portrait of himself hanging nearby. Another shot shows a young Maurice standing in front of his father with a trumpet in hand. Harry Guy lived with his son and Eolyn in Detroit after they married. After falling into obscurity during the last decades of his life with the waning of ragtime, he would die in poverty in 1950.

Photos of Guy’s son, Maurice Jr. (ca. 1933–1963) are some of the latest dated images in these albums. In 1946, Eolyn Guy was appointed program director of the 12th Avenue Center YWCA in Tucson, Arizona and would also serve on Tucson’s YWCA board. The two newspapers included here, The Guardian (9 Jan. 1932) and Boston Chronicle (17 April 1943), report Eolyn’s marriage and feature Rev. Klugh’s obituary, respectively.

A substantive photo archive of a well-connected African-American social worker and her family in early twentieth century.

REFERENCES: Brawley, Benjamin. History of Morehouse College (Atlanta, 1917); Schneider, Mark. “The Boston NAACP and the Decline of the Abolitionist Impulse.” Massachusetts Historical Review Vol. 1 (1999), pp. 95-113; Eolyn C. Guy family papers : Boston, Mass., circa 1930–1948 at oac.cdlib.org; Harry P. Guy at ragpiano.com; The Index-Journal (Greenwood, South Carolina, 20 Jan. 1935) at newspapers.com; Robert Gould Shaw House, Inc., Fortieth Anniversary, 1908–1948 at repository.library.northeastern.edu

CONDITION: Overall good to very good, some snapshots blurry and a few faded as is common with snapshots.

Item #5111

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