Alger Leroy Adams and Jessie M. Wells Adams papers
Collection
Call Number: WA MSS S-4335
Scope and Contents
Photographs and photograph albums, scrapbooks, personal papers, and other materials relating to Reverend Alger Leroy Adams, Jessie M. Wells Adams, and the Daniels family, circa 1860s-1997.
Materials relating to Alger Adams include a caricature of Adams, scrapbook of Adams’s columns for the Amsterdam News, a photograph of Adams’s colleague and society editor for Ebony magazine Gerri Major, and a letter of congratulations upon Adams’s receiving of an honorary degree.
Materials relating to Jessie Adams include a certificate of attainment for Houston public schools; a diploma from Phillis Wheatley School in Houston, Texas; an autograph and photograph album documenting her time at the school; a scrapbook documenting her time at Howard University; a letter of recommendation; and a photographic portrait of Wells.
Materials relating to the Daniels family include the marriage certificate of grandparents Eugene P. Daniels and Rebecca Jeff Daniels; marriage certificate of parents Arthur Simon and Eva Daniels Wells; the Daniels's family Bible; 2 photograph albums and 12 loose photographs (including 4 tinypes); and other papers.
Materials relating to Alger Adams include a caricature of Adams, scrapbook of Adams’s columns for the Amsterdam News, a photograph of Adams’s colleague and society editor for Ebony magazine Gerri Major, and a letter of congratulations upon Adams’s receiving of an honorary degree.
Materials relating to Jessie Adams include a certificate of attainment for Houston public schools; a diploma from Phillis Wheatley School in Houston, Texas; an autograph and photograph album documenting her time at the school; a scrapbook documenting her time at Howard University; a letter of recommendation; and a photographic portrait of Wells.
Materials relating to the Daniels family include the marriage certificate of grandparents Eugene P. Daniels and Rebecca Jeff Daniels; marriage certificate of parents Arthur Simon and Eva Daniels Wells; the Daniels's family Bible; 2 photograph albums and 12 loose photographs (including 4 tinypes); and other papers.
Dates
- circa 1860s-1997
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Alger Leroy Adams and Jessie M. Wells Adams Papers is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from William Reese Co. (Swann Galleries sale, 2019 March 28, lot 200 and lot 253) on the Frederick W. and Carrie S. Beinecke Fund for Western Americana, 2019.
Arrangement
Organized into three series: I. Alger Leroy Adams Papers, 1946-1983. II. Jessie M. Wells Adams Papers, 1926-circa 1940s. III. Daniels Family Papers, circa 1860s-1997.
Extent
5 Linear Feet (4 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Overview
Photographs and photograph albums, scrapbooks, personal papers, and other materials relating to Reverend Alger Leroy Adams, Jessie M. Wells Adams, and the Daniels family, circa 1860s-1997.
Materials relating to Alger Adams include a caricature of Adams, scrapbook of Adams’s columns for the Amsterdam News, a photograph of Adams’s colleague and society editor for Ebony magazine Gerri Major, and a letter of congratulations upon Adams’s receiving of an honorary degree.
Materials relating to Jessie Adams include a certificate of attainment for Houston public schools; a diploma from Phillis Wheatley School in Houston, Texas; an autograph and photograph album documenting her time at the school; a scrapbook documenting her time at Howard University; a letter of recommendation; and a photographic portrait of Wells.
Materials relating to the Daniels family include the marriage certificate of grandparents Eugene P. Daniels and Rebecca Jeff Daniels; marriage certificate of parents Arthur Simon and Eva Daniels Wells; the Daniels's family Bible; 2 photograph albums and 12 loose photographs (including 4 tinypes); and other papers.
Materials relating to Alger Adams include a caricature of Adams, scrapbook of Adams’s columns for the Amsterdam News, a photograph of Adams’s colleague and society editor for Ebony magazine Gerri Major, and a letter of congratulations upon Adams’s receiving of an honorary degree.
Materials relating to Jessie Adams include a certificate of attainment for Houston public schools; a diploma from Phillis Wheatley School in Houston, Texas; an autograph and photograph album documenting her time at the school; a scrapbook documenting her time at Howard University; a letter of recommendation; and a photographic portrait of Wells.
Materials relating to the Daniels family include the marriage certificate of grandparents Eugene P. Daniels and Rebecca Jeff Daniels; marriage certificate of parents Arthur Simon and Eva Daniels Wells; the Daniels's family Bible; 2 photograph albums and 12 loose photographs (including 4 tinypes); and other papers.
Alger Leroy Adams (1910-1992)
Reverend Alger Leroy Adams (1910-1992) of Omaha, Nebraska, became the first Black student to receive a degree from Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York, in 1932. Adams later studied at the General Theological Seminary in Manhattan, helping build churches in New York between 1947 and 1955. In 1950, he and his wife Jessie M. Wells Adams purchased The Westchester County Press, a weekly paper, seeking to give the Black community a cohesive voice. In 1962, the couple developed The Creative Printery, specializing in the publication of high school and college newspapers.
Jessie M. Wells Adams (1917-1997)
Jessie M. Wells Adams (1917-1997) was the daughter of Arthur Simon and Eva B. Daniels Wells Simon (1894-1953) and granddaughter of Eugene P. Daniels (1861-1931) and Rebecca Jeff Daniels (1866-1919), pecan farmers in Concordia Parish, Louisiana. Jessie attended Howard University circa 1931 to 1934.
Processing Information
Collections are processed to a variety of levels, depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived research value, the availability of staff, competing priorities, and whether or not further accruals are expected. The library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards.
For more information, please refer to the Beinecke Manuscript Unit Processing Manual.
For more information, please refer to the Beinecke Manuscript Unit Processing Manual.
- African American high school students -- Texas -- Pictorial works
- African American journalists -- New York (State)
- African American women -- Texas
- African Americans -- Louisiana -- Pictorial works
- African Americans -- New York (State)
- African Americans -- Portraits
- African Americans -- Texas -- Pictorial works
- Amsterdam news
- Caricatures
- Daniels family
- High school students -- Texas
- Howard University -- Students
- Journalists -- New York (State) -- 20th century
- Louisiana -- Pictorial works
- Major, Gerri, 1894-1984 -- Portraits
- Marriage certificates
- Photograph albums
- Photographic prints
- Photographs
- Scrapbooks
- Texas -- Pictorial works
- Tintypes (prints)
- Women -- West (U.S.)
- Title
- Guide to the Alger Leroy Adams and Jessie M. Wells Adams papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Sarah Lerner
- Date
- October 2020
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
Location
121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Opening Hours
Access Information
The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.