Processed by
Wilma L. Gibbs and Jill Landis
13 August 1993
Reprocessed by
Wilma L. Gibbs, Susan A. Fletcher, and Carol Street Potter
1 June 2004
Manuscript and Visual Collections Department
William Henry Smith Memorial Library
Indiana Historical Society
450 West Ohio Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-3269
|
VOLUME OF |
101 manuscript boxes, 3 oversize manuscript boxes, 5 photograph boxes, 2 oversize photograph boxes, 12 bound volumes, and 2 artifacts |
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COLLECTION |
1910–1980 |
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PROVENANCE: |
Collection on deposit from Madam C. J. Walker Company and
the Trustees of the Estate of Sarah Walker, Indianapolis, Ind., |
|
RESTRICTIONS: |
None |
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COPYRIGHT: |
|
|
REPRODUCTION |
Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained from the Indiana Historical Society. |
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ALTERNATE |
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RELATED |
None |
|
ACCESSION |
1982.0809 |
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NOTES: |
Charles Latham wrote the historical sketch in the collection guide. |
Sarah Breedlove was born in Delta, Louisiana, on 23 December 1867, the daughter of Owen and Minerva Breedlove. Left an orphan at six, she moved to Vicksburg with her sister, Louvenia, when she was ten. At the age of fourteen she married Moses (Jeff) McWilliams. They had a daughter, A'Lelia, born in 1885. McWilliams died in 1887, said to have been the victim of a race riot in Greenwood, Mississippi.
Left a widow at twenty, Sarah Breedlove McWilliams moved to St. Louis. She made a living as a laundress, and improved her education by studying in public night schools. During the 1890s she seems to have become conscious of the advantages women of her race might derive from improving their personal appearance. She also suffered from having her hair fall out, especially at the temples, and noticed that other black women had the same complaint. She experimented with various mixtures to grow and to straighten hair. Sometime between 1900 and 1905, she came up with a formula to stimulate hair growth, of which the `secret' ingredient was probably sulphur. With this formula, and with the development of a steel comb which, when heated and used with a special ointment, would straighten hair, she started her own business. To begin with, she worked on a door-to-door basis in the black neighborhoods of St. Louis.
In 1905 she moved to Denver. The following year she married Charles J. Walker, a newspaper man. He apparently helped to develop publicity for her products. Perhaps to dignify her products, or to avoid being called by some condescending name like 'Aunt Sarah', she adopted the name Madam C.J. Walker. After disagreements about the size of the business and (perhaps) about other subjects, she divorced Walker in 1912. He died in 1926.
In 1908, after a year in Denver and another traveling about to publicize her products, she opened an office in Pittsburgh, where her daughter had moved in 1903. There she founded Lelia College, which gave a $25 correspondence course in her methods.
In 1910 Madam Walker moved to Indianapolis, setting up a laboratory and a beauty school. Her company was incorporated in September 1911, Madam Walker owning all the stock. At the height of her career, between 1911 and her death in 1919, she was doing a business grossing over $100,000 a year ($119,000 in 1916), had as many as fifteen employees in the factory in Indianapolis, and had several thousand agents around the country. By this time she had developed a full line of products for growing and beautifying hair. These included Hair Grower and Temple Grower, shampoo, Glossine (pressing oil), and Tetter Salve, a remedy for skin diseases. Integral to the use of her products was an emphasis on cleanliness and personal hygiene, and a stimulus to personal pride.
Personal agents, with a few wholesale distributors sold products in large cities such as Philadelphia and New York. The organization of these agents involved many original ideas. The function of the agents was not merely to sell Walker products, but to educate customers in hygiene and in the value of a good personal appearance. In 1916 the agents organized into the National Beauty Culturists and Benevolent Association of Madam C.J. Walker Agents. The name was changed to The Madam C.J. Walker Hair Culturists Union of America in 1917. Members paid dues of 25 cents a month and their beneficiaries were entitled to a $50 payment at their death. Local unions were encouraged to engage in philanthropic and educational work, and were given prizes for doing so. The benevolent association had regular regional and national conventions, which combined both business and educational purposes.
Madam Walker established beauty schools in several cities. The beauty treatments taught called for the use of her products. In 1913–1915 she purchased two houses for a beauty parlor and school in Harlem at 108–110 West 136th Street. These houses were extensively remodeled with a large bay window and a front of Indiana limestone. The upper floors served as living quarters. Madam Walker expressed the hope that the handsome parlor would serve as a monument to her and her daughter. Booker T. Washington is said to have been present at its opening.
The Walker Company was a family operation. Madam Walker's daughter A'Lelia was put in charge, first of the operation in Pittsburgh, then of the New York school and parlor. Her sister, Louvenia Powell, worked in the Indianapolis factory. Her nieces, Thirsapen Breedlove and Anjetta Breedlove, had an agency in Los Angeles. The company treated its agents in a very paternalistic way, taking infinite pains to show them how to operate efficiently.
The company did more than sell products. It provided two new ways in which black women could make a living, as beauty culturists and as sales agents. In an age when there were very few work opportunities for African American women, beyond domestic service and manual labor, this was a major accomplishment.
Madam Walker devoted her time mainly to travel and speaking. Very often she arranged to make her appearances at black churches. She served as a spokeswoman, not only for her products, but also for her race and sex. Her friends included Booker T. Washington, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Mary Talbert. Although she was well-known, the way was not always smooth. She had difficulties at times with her female competitors, and also had trouble getting recognition at a congress of black businessmen in 1912.
Day-to-day operation of the company and its finances was left to Freeman B. (F.B.) Ransom, a lawyer first associated with Madam Walker in 1911. Born 13 July 1882 at Grenada, Mississippi, Ransom studied theology at Walden University in Nashville, Tennessee, and law at Columbia University. He came to Indianapolis in 1911, had a room at Madam Walker's house, and gave her legal help both in incorporating the Walker Company and in obtaining a divorce for A'Lelia Walker from her first husband, John Robinson. He became general manager and attorney of the Walker Manufacturing Company. He remained until his death in 1947.
Ransom had a distinguished career in his activities outside the Walker Company. He served as a member of Indianapolis City Council under Mayor Reginald H. Sullivan, and was president of Flanner House for many years. Ransom was a member of the National Bar Association, and he served as a trustee of the state school for the blind under three governors. He worked actively for the Community Fund, Young Men's Christian Association, and the Young Women's Christian Association, and was a trustee of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
During her lifetime, Madam Walker kept a firm hand on company operations, not only by contacts made during her travels, but also by a series of letters to Ransom from wherever she happened to be. In 1917 her income from all sources was $276,000, an increase of $100,000 from the previous year. She was repeatedly referred to as a millionaire during this period. However, in a letter to F.B. Ransom of 4 March 1918, she specifically denied this. Certainly, by the end of her life, with total ownership of the company and with her holdings in real estate, her wealth could be measured in the hundreds of thousands. When federal estate tax was paid in 1922, it was based on the following values:
Stocks and bonds, including Walker Company
$212,309
Real estate (subject to mortgages of $120,000)
$247,424
Mortgages, notes, and bonds $20,062
Jewelry and household goods $30,068
Total estate $509,864
(This amount was scaled down from an original claim of $616,774.)
As her wealth grew, Madam Walker gave increasing amounts to African American charities. In Indianapolis, Flanner House, Alpha Home, the Senate Avenue YMCA, and Bethel AME Church were among her beneficiaries. Farther afield, she made donations to Tuskegee Institute, Mary McLeod Bethune's Daytona Educational and Industrial School for Negro Girls in Florida (the school later merged with Cookman Institute to become Bethune-Cookman College in l923), Palmer Memorial Institute in North Carolina, Haines Institute in Augusta, GA, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She was conscious of her position as a leader of her race, and more than once wrote to Ransom that Booker T. Washington himself could not have been received with more honor than she had been. Though most of her activities on behalf of blacks were aimed toward education and the building of personal and racial pride, she on occasion registered protest. In 1915 she began a lawsuit to protest discrimination at a theater in Indianapolis. In 1917 she urged the Benevolent Association to decry lynching in the South, and during World War I she was a member of a delegation to Washington to protest the War Department's segregationist policies to President Wilson. In late 1918 and early 1919, she considered going to the Versailles Conference as an alternate delegate of the National Equal Rights League, to ask for a provision in the treaty concerning the rights of Americans of African descent. Like other members of the delegation, she was unable to obtain a passport. Early in 1919, she was briefly involved with Adam Clayton Powell, Sr., in the formation of the International League of the Darker Peoples.
Madam Walker invested heavily in real estate. In Indianapolis, she bought up the block on Indiana Avenue where the Walker Building now stands, and also lots in the Ballard and Hilltop additions. She also bought property in Los Angeles; Chicago; Savannah; St. Louis; Idlewild, Michigan; and Gary, Indiana. In New York, in addition to the business property in Harlem, she bought an apartment house at 374 Central Park West, and a house at 1447–1449 Boston Road in the Bronx. She seriously considered purchasing for $300,000 an even larger apartment on Riverside Drive.
About 1916 Madam Walker began to live in New York, at the 136th Street house. At about the same time, having first tried to buy an estate on Long Island, she purchased a four-and-a-half-acre estate at Irvington-on-the-Hudson. Engaging Vertner W. Tandy, a black architect, she built a mansion which, with its formal Italian garden and its swimming pool, cost a total of $350,000. Construction of this mansion was intended to be an example of what someone of her race and sex could accomplish. At the suggestion of Enrico Caruso, the estate was called Villa Lewaro, an acronym based upon A'Lelia Walker Robinson. Among its accoutrements were a Weber piano covered with gold leaf, a victrola to match, and an Estey pipe organ. The project strained her resources to the limit. There was a mortgage on the house, and some of the furnishings, including the piano and pipe organ, were not paid for in full for several years.
Madam Walker had lived a strenuous life, both in her early days of hard physical labor and in her later years of constant travel and public speaking. The strain began to tell on her, especially in the form of high blood pressure and kidney failure. She was persuaded to take periods of rest at Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1916, and at the Battle Creek Sanitarium in 1917. In April 1919, she became ill while in St. Louis on a trip. She was taken home. She died on 25 May 1919, at the age of fifty-one.
In 1917 Madam Walker signed a will, which she modified by a codicil in 1919. The documents were unclear and somewhat contradictory, and their interpretation had to be straightened out in a lawsuit brought by A'Lelia Walker Robinson as executrix. Basically the bequests fell into four main categories. First, to A'Lelia she left one-third interest in the Walker Company, the house on 136th Street, the Villa Lewaro, and her personal property and household goods. Second, to a group of five trustees, including A'Lelia and F.B. Ransom, she left two-thirds of the company stock, to be used, half for the maintenance and upkeep of Villa Lewaro and half for the support of worthy charities. Third, there were specific bequests totaling over $100,000 to a number of charities. This included $10,000 for an industrial and mission school which she hoped to have founded in Africa. Finally, there were personal bequests to relatives, young friends, domestic servants, and company employees.
Division of the estate took some time, because of difficulties in construing the will, problems over back taxes, and estate tax. Division was finally completed in 1926.
After Madam Walker's death, her affairs were divided into two categories, distinct yet interrelated: first, the company; second, the estate. In the company, A'Lelia Walker Robinson (who adopted the name A'Lelia shortly before she married Wiley Wilson, whom she divorced in 1924) was president; F.B. Ransom remained manager and attorney. Actual management of the company was the responsibility of Ransom, yet the profits went entirely to A'Lelia and the estate. The company owed the federal government a large amount of back income taxes from the period of World War I. Sales reached an all-time peak of $595,000 in 1920, then slowly declined to $130,000 in 1931 ($48,000 in 1933).
For a brief period before her mother's death, A'Lelia had been quite active in the operation of the New York beauty parlor, and had shown considerable interest in the general affairs of the company. In the 1920s, however, she became much less active, spending her time largely in travel, at Villa Lewaro, the townhouse at l08 West l36th Street, or at an apartment at 80 Edgecombe Avenue, in the Sugar Hill section overlooking Harlem. She became a leading hostess of the Harlem Renaissance, giving lavish parties which were attended by black intellectuals and entertainers like W.E.B. DuBois, Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Alberta Hunter, and Walter White, and by whites including Rebecca West, Osbert Sitwell, Carl Van Vechten, and various European nobility and royalty.
In 1923 she decided to make a room at the 136th Street house into a cultural gathering place, called 'The Dark Tower' after a column written by Countee Cullen. It was decorated with French gold wallpaper and red furniture, and had a grand opening in 1927. In all this entertaining, A'Lelia's part appears mainly to have been to provide the place and the food and liquor, and then to retire to a quiet place to play bridge. In 1923 she gave a 'million-dollar wedding' (actual cost about $40,000) for her adopted daughter Mae, at St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Harlem.
In her lifestyle after her mother's death, A'Lelia was lavish in her expenditures, not only using up her share of profits from the company but mortgaging the New York parlor, pawning her jewels, and running up large debts. In 1926 she married her fourth husband, Dr. James Arthur Kennedy, who had attended to her mother at her death. Almost immediately Kennedy took a position at the Veterans Hospital at Tuskegee, Alabama. They lived together only a short part of each year, and were divorced in 1931.
In 1927 the Walker Company, partly because of prevailing prosperity and partly to keep up with its competitors, built a new factory building at the corner of West Street and Indiana Avenue in Indianapolis. Designed by the well-known local firm of Rubush and Hunter, the building contained, in addition to space for the company factory and offices, a theater, casino, and coffee shop, as well as office space to rent. The cost of $350,000 was raised partly by taking out first and second mortgages.
Just two years later, however, the Depression struck, sales dwindled drastically, and the company found itself saddled, not only with the debt on the Walker Building, but also with the expenses of Villa Lewaro (at least $13,000 a year) and the needs of A'Lelia and the estate. The beauty parlor on 136th Street was running at a loss; another in Philadelphia was making no profit. Both these parlors were closed, and the Harlem building was leased to the city of New York.
Efforts were made to sell Villa Lewaro, but buyers for large estates were scarce, and the title to the property was complicated by the fact that the NAACP was a sort of residuary legatee. An auction of the furnishings was held in 1930 but raised only $1500. The building itself was finally sold for about $50,000 in 1932, but only after a lawsuit for $100,000 damages was filed by a prospective buyer, Louis Isquith, who at one point was ordered off the estate and arrested.
In the midst of all these problems, A'Lelia Walker Kennedy died in 1931 at the age of forty-six, in Long Branch, N.J. Langston Hughes, Muriel Draper, Rita Romilly, Alberta Hunter, Revella Hughes, Col. Hubert Julian, and Mrs. Roy Sheldon were among the attendees at the funeral. Mary McLeod Bethune and Rev. Adam Clayton Powell, Sr., spoke.
A'Lelia's will left her stock in the Walker Company to her adopted daughter, Mae Walker Perry, the other half to F.B. Ransom, with instruction that at his death it should go to his daughter A'Lelia. The will was contested in a suit brought by Willie Powell, son of Madam Walker's sister Louvenia, and by Anjetta Breedlove, Madam Walker's niece. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed.
Mae Walker Perry became president of the company, and Ransom continued as general manager. Actual control remained primarily in Ransom's hands, with Perry in a ceremonial role. This situation continued until her death in 1945 and his in 1947. During this period, and on into the 1960s, Violet Reynolds, secretary, and Marie Overstreet, treasurer, both of whose connection with the company had begun during Madam Walker's life continued their contributions to the Walker Company.
At Ransom's death, his share of the company stock went to his daughter, A'Lelia Ransom Nelson, who was elected vice-president in 1947 and president in 1953. A'Lelia Mae Perry Bundles, daughter of Mae Walker Perry, became president of the company after her mother's death and while still a chemistry student at Howard University. Because of a suit filed by Bundles' father, Marion Perry, she stepped down as president. She later rejoined the company after the lawsuit was settled and remained vice president and active in day-to-day company affairs until her death in l976. Robert L. Brokenburr, who had acted as Ransom's assistant, served as general manager from 1947 to 1955, and as chairman of the board until his death in 1974. Willard B. Ransom, Freeman B. Ransom's son, became general manager in 1955, serving until 1971.
Both Brokenburr and Willard Ransom were known in their own right for their activities outside the company. Brokenburr, who served twelve years as a deputy prosecuting attorney, was the first African-American admitted to membership in the Indiana Bar Association; he was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court in 1953. He won some landmark cases concerning segregation in theaters and in housing. The first African-American to serve in the Indiana Senate, he was elected as a Republican member in 1940, 1944, 1952, and 1956. He was the author of important legislation on racial matters. President Eisenhower appointed him an alternate delegate to the United Nations in 1956. He was the second president of the local branch of the NAACP, and served on the boards of Hampton Institute and the United Negro College Fund. He also worked for Flanner House and the YMCA.
Willard Ransom, a graduate of Talladega College and Harvard Law School, was state president of the NAACP, and was active in the civil rights movement in other ways. He was a director of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, and a longtime trustee of the YMCA. He supported Henry Wallace and the Progressive party in 1948 and 1952.
After 1947, the Perry family filed several legal actions to gain control of the Walker Company. These cases were finally settled in an arrangement whereby Mae Perry's daughter, A'Lelia Mae Perry Bundles, became vice-president; Mae Perry's husband, Marion R. Perry, was made a director; and her daughter's husband, S. Henry Bundles, joined the Walker staff as general sales manager.
Over the years, the company's products expanded to include cleansing cream, cold cream, vanishing cream, toothpaste, face powder, rouge, skin brightener, bath oil and powder, perfume, and deodorant. A hair conditioner called Satin Tress was introduced with considerable fanfare in 1948. Marjorie Joyner, a long-time employee of the Walker Company and supervisor of all the Walker Beauty Colleges, developed Satin Tress. Marketing continued to be done through individual agents and through the Kiefer-Stewart Company. Products were promoted by advertising in national magazines, by morale-building newsletters and conventions for agents, and by other promotions. A particular effort was made with the Sixtieth Anniversary celebration in 1960. Products were also promoted by the beauty schools, supervised by Marjorie Joyner. At various times there were beauty schools in Indianapolis, Chicago, New York, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Dallas, Washington, and Tulsa. Net sales were $205,000 in 1945, $232,000 in 1955, $176,000 in 1970, and $94,000 in 1979.
The Walker Company was an example of an early enterprise founded by blacks to serve black customers. Over the years it has given employment to thousands of blacks, particularly women. In its advertising and promotion it has emphasized racial and personal pride. In 1985, Indianapolis businessman, Ray Randolph bought the company for an undisclosed amount of money.
Bibliographical Note:
Source material on this subject should be handled with great care. Even standard sources such as the Dictionary of American Biography contain basic errors in fact, and these mistakes are often repeated from source to source. Material about A'Lelia Walker's part in the Harlem Renaissance is written impressionistically rather than historically. Therefore a special effort has been made to check all statements, where possible, with documents in the collection.
Sources:
Madam Walker
Materials in the collection.
Indiana Biography Series, Indiana State Library, Vol. 2 p. 276; Vol. 3 p. 315.
Reynolds, Violet Cornelia Davis. The Story of a Remarkable Woman. Indianapolis: Universal Printing Co., 1973. Printed Collections: E185.97 .W35 R4 1973
Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Scribner’s, 1964. Reference Room Collection: E176 .D563
Bundles, A'Lelia Perry, "Madam C.J. Walker Cosmetics, Tycoon" Ms Magazine, July 1983, pp. 91–94.
Bundles, A'Lelia Perry. On her own ground: the life and times of Madam C.J. Walker. New York: Scribner, 2001. General Collection: HD 9970.5 C672 W3533 2001
McKay, Claude. Harlem: Negro Metropolis. New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1940.
Ottley, Roi. New World A-Coming. New York: Arno Press, 1968
Schoener, Allen, ed. Harlem on my Mind; Cultural Capital of Black America, 1900–1968. New York: Random House, 1969.
A'Lelia Walker
Materials in the collection.
Indiana Biography Series, Indiana State Library, Vol. 7, pp. 89–90.
Who's Who in Colored America, 1928–1929. New York: Who’s Who in Colored America Corp., 1928–1929, Vol. 2 p. 156.
Lewis, David Levering. When Harlem was in Vogue. New York: Vintage Books, 1982.
McKay, Claude. Harlem: Negro Metropolis. New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1940.
F.B. Ransom
Material in collection.
Indiana Biography Series, Indiana State Library, Vol. 32 p. 99.
Who's Who in Colored America, 1941–1944. New York: Who’s Who in Colored America Corp., 1944.
Mae Walker Perry
Indiana Biography Series, Indiana State Library, Vol. 29, p. 114.
R.L. Brokenburr
Indiana Biography Series, Indiana State Library, Vol. 40, p. 49; Vol. 50,
p. 15; Vol. 73, p. 50; Vol. 80, p. 2, 10.
Willard B. Ransom
Walker Manufacturing Company
Indiana Biography Series, Indiana State Library, Vol. 32 p. 99.
Who's Who in Colored America, 1977–1978. New York: Who’s Who in Colored America Corp., 1978.
Who's Who among Black Americans, 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale Research, 1978.
“Willard B. Ransom.” Who's Who in the Midwest, 11th ed. Chicago: A.N. Marquis, 1970, p. 838. General Collection: E176 .W65
Greg Hassell, "Building on the Walker Legacy", Indianapolis News, Indianapolis, Indiana, 22 August 1989, p. D-1.2
The Madam C. J. Walker Collection is comprised of 104 manuscript and oversized manuscript boxes, 7 photograph and oversized photograph boxes, 12 bound volumes and 2 artifacts. The collection is divided into thirteen series and it includes the papers of the Walker Manufacturing Company principals, records of the Walker Manufacturing Company, and materials related to other companies located in the Walker Building in Indianapolis.
The first and second series include correspondence and the personal, business, and death records pertaining to Madam C.J. Walker. Series three through five include material related to individuals who also were an integral part of the Walker Manufacturing Company. Chief among these were Madam C.J. Walker’s daughter, A'Lelia. The collection contains her personal and business correspondence, and records pertaining to her estate. To a lesser extent, there are papers related to Mae Walker Perry, the adopted daughter of A'Lelia Walker. There is also business and personal correspondence pertaining to other company principals including business manager Freeman B. Ransom; general managers Robert L. Brokenburr and Willard B. Ransom; and Anjetta Breedlove, Madam Walker's niece who served as an agent of the company. Although most of their correspondence appears in box 6, much of it is subsumed within the general correspondence of the company.
The bulk and core of the collection are the records of the Walker Manufacturing Company that comprise series six through ten, and twelve. Included are the articles of incorporation, procedures, contracts, minutes, and real estate concerns (boxes 7 and 8), external and internal correspondence (boxes 9 and 10); marketing materials and advertisements (boxes 10 and 11); and press releases, clippings and company publications (boxes 12 and 16). Several publications depicting cosmetology techniques are included in the collection. They are The Madam C.J. Walker Beauty Manual (TT 972 .M32 1940); Modern Textbook of Cosmetology (TT 971 M6 1956); The Successful Hairdresser (TT 957 .W55 1950); Rohrer's Hair Dyeing (TT 972 .R65 1924); and Rohrer's Artistic Marcel Waving (TT 972 .R6 1924).
Also contained in the collection is information about the Walker Beauty Colleges (box 13) and the National Beauty Culturists and Benevolent Association of Madam C. J. Walker Agents (boxes 14 and 15). Series 12, the financial records of the Walker Manufacturing Company are found in boxes 27–101. The variety of material including payroll sheets, audits, Dunn & Bradstreet and in-house financial reports, orders, journals and ledgers, statement of accounts, check records and invoices give a financial picture of the company spanning over a 60-year period. Due to the gaps in years for many types of records, the view is not complete.
Several companies developed after the Walker Building opened in Indianapolis in 1927. Though separate entities, many of the companies were linked to the Walker Manufacturing Company by name. The materials within the collection pertaining to these companies are primarily financial records and make up series 11. They include ledgers of the Walker Casino (box 16), Walker Coffee Pot and Walker Drug Store (boxes 17–22) and the Walker Theatre (boxes 23–26).
The visual materials in the Madam C. J. Walker collection (series 13) are contained in five boxes and two oversized boxes. The collection includes images of individuals and groups, both identified and unidentified; properties; and company advertisements. In box 1, there are several folders containing visuals of individuals, many of whom were affiliated with the Walker Manufacturing Company including Madam C. J. and A'Lelia Walker, Mae Walker Perry, A'Lelia Perry Bundles, S. Henry Bundles, F. B. Ransom, Robert L. Brokenburr, Marion R. Perry, Marjorie Joyner, W. B. Ransom, and Violet Reynolds.
Also included are photographs of prominent individuals including James Weldon Johnson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Booker T. Washington. Several oversized and circuit photographs of groups, mostly the annual national convention of Madam C. J. Walker agents, complete the box. The two artifacts within the collection are ornate badges from the various Walker conventions.
Madam Walker and the Walker Manufacturing Company owned many properties. Box 2 contains photographs of well-known buildings including Madam Walker's house in Indianapolis (640 N. West Street); the Walker Building in Indianapolis; and Villa Lewaro, her home on the Hudson River in New York. Also contained within this box are photographs pertaining to beauty schools: classes, classrooms, graduates, hairstyle shows, and interiors of various buildings.
The Walker Manufacturing Company did massive advertising and marketing. Photographs of models, hairstyles, hair treatments and styling, and product advertisement are contained in boxes 3, 4, and 5.
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CONTENTS |
CONTAINER |
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Correspondence of Madam Walker, March 1912–December 1913 |
Box 1, Folder 1 |
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Correspondence of Madam Walker, February 1914–October 1915 |
Box 1, Folder 2 |
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Correspondence of Madam Walker, November 1915–March 1916 |
Box 1, Folder 3 |
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Correspondence of Madam Walker, April 1916–June 1916 |
Box 1, Folder 4 |
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Correspondence of Madam Walker, April 1916–June 1916 |
Box 1, Folder 5 |
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Correspondence of Madam Walker, November 1916–December 1916 |
Box 1, Folder 6 |
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Correspondence of Madam Walker, January–December 1917 |
Box 1, Folder 7 |
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Correspondence of Madam Walker, January–February 1918 |
Box 1, Folder 8 |
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Correspondence of Madam Walker, March 1918 |
Box 1, Folder 9 |
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Correspondence of Madam Walker, April 1918 |
Box 1, Folder 10 |
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Correspondence of Madam Walker, May–June 1918 |
Box 1, Folder 11 |
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Correspondence of Madam Walker, July–September 1918 |
Box 1, Folder 12 |
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Correspondence of Madam Walker, October 1918 |
Box 1, Folder 13 |
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Correspondence of Madam Walker, November 1918–February 1919 |
Box 1, Folder 14 |
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Correspondence of Madam Walker, January–March 1919 |
Box 1, Folder 15 |
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Correspondence of Madam Walker, February 1919 |
Box 1, Folder 16 |
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Correspondence of Madam Walker, March 1919–May 1919 |
Box 1, Folder 17 |
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Correspondence of Madam Walker, n.d. |
Box 1, Folder 18 |
|
CONTENTS |
CONTAINER |
|
Certificate of Order of Calanthe, 1910 |
OMB 0022 |
|
C.J. Walker, Purchase of Stevens Duryea Car, 1911 |
Box 2, Folder 1 |
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Divorce from C.J. Walker, 1912 |
Box 2, Folder 2 |
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C. J. Walker correspondence, 1912–23, n.d. |
Box 2, Folder 3 |
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Affidavits re: C.J. Walker, 1913, 1918 |
Box 2, Folder 4 |
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Affidavits by C.J. Walker, 1922, 1926 |
Box 2, Folder 5 |
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Madam Walker, receipts, 1913, 1916 |
Box 2, Folder 6 |
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Resolution from Indianapolis YMCA requesting that Madam Walker retain residence in Indianapolis, 1915 |
Box 2, Folder 7 |
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Civil rights complaint, Isis Theater, 1915 |
Box 2, Folder 8 |
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Agreement of A.E. Grace to serve as Madam Walker's companion, 1917 |
Box 2, Folder 9 |
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Fragment of press release re: Madam Walker and charity, ca. 1918 |
Box 2, Folder 10 |
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Poem "Inspired Motherhood" by Alice H. Howard, dedicated to Madam Walker |
Box 2, Folder 11 |
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Certificate of Membership-National Negro Educational Congress, n.d. |
Box 2, Folder 12 |
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Stock certificates, 1918–19 |
Box 2, Folder 13 |
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Automobile registration, 1914, 1915, 1916 |
Box 2, Folder 14 |
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Withdrawal from Order of Calanthe, 1917 |
Box 2, Folder 15 |
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War savings stamps, 1918 |
Box 2, Folder 16 |
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Insurance on jewelry, 1919–20 |
Box 2, Folder 17 |
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Passport application, 1919 |
Box 2, Folder 18 |
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Bills, 1915–16 |
Box 2, Folder 19 |
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Cancelled checks signed by Madam Walker as "Treasurer of Colored Branch YWCA", 1915 |
Box 2, Folder 20 |
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Correspondence to Madam Walker during final illness, May 1919 |
Box 2, Folder 21 |
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Condolence letters and telegrams sent following Madam Walker's death, May–June 1919, A–B |
Box 2, Folder 22 |
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Condolence letters and telegrams sent following Madam Walker's death, May–June 1919, C–D |
Box 2, Folder 23 |
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Condolence letters and telegrams sent following Madam Walker's death, May–June 1919, E–H |
Box 2, Folder 24 |
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Condolence letters and telegrams sent following Madam Walker's death, May–June 1919, J–L |
Box 2, Folder 25 |
|
Condolence letters and telegrams sent following Madam Walker's death, May–June 1919, M |
Box 2, Folder 26 |
|
Condolence letters and telegrams sent following Madam Walker's death, May–June 1919, N–R |
Box 2, Folder 27 |
|
Condolence letters and telegrams sent following Madam Walker's death, May–June 1919, S–U |
Box 2, Folder 28 |
|
Condolence letters and telegrams sent following Madam Walker's death, May–June 1919, V–Z |
Box 2, Folder 29 |
|
Condolence letters and telegrams sent following Madam Walker’s death, May–June 1919, partially signed |
Box 2, Folder 30 |
|
Condolence letters and telegrams sent following Madam Walker's death, May–Jun 1919, from groups |
Box 2, Folder 31 |
|
Condolence cards sent following Madam Walker's death, May–June 1919 |
Box 2, Folder 32 |
|
Medical bills for last illness, 1919 |
Box 2, Folder 33 |
|
Funeral arrangements, eulogies, 1919 |
Box 2, Folder 34 |
|
Contract for cemetery plot and tombstone, St. Louis, 1914 |
Box 2, Folder 35 |
|
Article on Madam Walker, 1919 |
Box 3, Folder 1 |
|
News release at Madam Walker's death, 1919 |
Box 3, Folder 2 |
|
Resolution of Walker employees at Madam Walker's death, 1919 |
Box 3, Folder 3 |
|
Last will and testament of Madam Walker, 1917, codicil to will, 1919 |
Box 3, Folder 4 |
|
Opening of probate, 1919 |
Box 3, Folder 5 |
|
Notice of appraiser's report, 1919 |
Box 3, Folder 6 |
|
Miscellaneous papers re: probate, 1919–50 |
Box 3, Folder 7 |
|
re: taxes on estate, 1920–23 |
Box 3, Folder 8 |
|
Federal taxes on Sarah Walker estate, 1922 |
Box 3, Folder 9 |
|
Memorandum on construction of will, n.d. |
Box 3, Folder 10 |
|
Complaint to construe will, 1920 |
Box 3, Folder 11 |
|
Exhibit A of complaint to construe will, 1919 |
Box 3, Folder 12 |
|
Exhibit B of complaint to construe will, waiver of Walker Co. |
Box 3, Folder 13 |
|
Exhibit D of complaint to construe will |
Box 3, Folder 14 |
|
Financial transactions between Sarah Walker estate and Walker Co., 1919–37 |
Box 3, Folder 15 |
|
Notes on A'Lelia Walker's balance as trustee of Sarah Walker estate |
Box 3, Folder 16 |
|
Claim by John Wanamaker against estate, 1919 |
Box 3, Folder 17 |
|
Insurance on 374 Central Park West, 1920–22; work done, n.d. |
Box 3, Folder 18 |
|
Insurance on 1447–1779 Boston Rd., 1920–21 |
Box 3, Folder 19 |
|
Sale of 1447–1449 Boston Rd. to H.J. Schum, 1925 |
Box 3, Folder 20 |
|
Decrees to allow sale of Boston Rd. and Central Park West properties, 1926 |
Box 3, Folder 21 |
|
Final report of executrix and receipts for transfer of property, 1926 |
Box 3, Folder 22 |
|
Insurance receipts, New York property, 1931 |
Box 3, Folder 23 |
|
Promissory notes, Walker Estate mortgage, 1920–27 |
Box 3, Folder 24 |
|
Sale agreement for Villa Lewaro, 1931 |
Box 3, Folder 25 |
|
Sarah Walker estate, rentals, 1934–35 |
Box 3, Folder 26 |
|
Sarah Walker estate, 1938–39 |
Box 3, Folder 27 |
|
Sarah Walker estate, rentals, 1940–41 |
Box 4, Folder 1 |
|
Sarah Walker estate, rentals, 1942 |
Box 4, Folder 2 |
|
Correspondence re: Sarah Walker estate, 1950 |
Box 4, Folder 3 |
|
Sarah Walker estate, legal proceedings, 1945–66 |
Box 4, Folder 4 |
|
Sarah Walker Estate, AFNB stock, 1968 |
Box 4, Folder 5 |
|
CONTENTS |
CONTAINER |
|
Correspondence of A'Lelia Walker, December 1911–December 1914 |
Box 4, Folder 6 |
|
Correspondence of A'Lelia Walker, July–December 1915 |
Box 4, Folder 7 |
|
Correspondence of A'Lelia Walker, May–December 1916 |
Box 4, Folder 8 |
|
Correspondence of A'Lelia Walker, February–December 1917 |
Box 4, Folder 9 |
|
Correspondence of A'Lelia Walker, February–May 1918 |
Box 4, Folder 10 |
|
Correspondence of A'Lelia Walker, July–December 1918 |
Box 4, Folder 11 |
|
Correspondence of A'Lelia Walker, July 1923, January–July 1924 |
Box 4, Folder 12 |
|
Correspondence of A'Lelia Walker, August 1924–December 1925 |
Box 4, Folder 13 |
|
Correspondence of A'Lelia Walker, January–April 1926 |
Box 4, Folder 14 |
|
Correspondence of A'Lelia Walker, May–September 1926 |
Box 4, Folder 15 |
|
Correspondence of A'Lelia Walker, October–December 1926 |
Box 4, Folder 16 |
|
Correspondence of A'Lelia Walker, January–April 1927 |
Box 4, Folder 17 |
|
Correspondence of A'Lelia Walker, May–August 1927 |
Box 4, Folder 18 |
|
Correspondence of A'Lelia Walker, September–December 1927 |
Box 4, Folder 19 |
|
Correspondence of A'Lelia Walker, January–April 1928 |
Box 4, Folder 20 |
|
Correspondence of A'Lelia Walker, May–September 1928 |
Box 4, Folder 21 |
|
Correspondence of A'Lelia Walker, October 1928–December 1929 |
Box 4, Folder 22 |
|
Correspondence of A'Lelia Walker, January 1930–April 1931 |
Box 4, Folder 23 |
|
Correspondence of A'Lelia Walker, n.d. (before 1924) |
Box 4, Folder 24 |
|
Correspondence of A'Lelia Walker, n.d. (after 1924) |
Box 4, Folder 25 |
|
Correspondence of A'Lelia Walker, undated fragments |
Box 4, Folder 26 |
|
Notes on letters, A'Lelia Walker–F. B. Ransom, no source or date |
Box 4, Folder 27 |
|
Miscellaneous correspondence of A'Lelia Walker, May 1913–Nov 1930, n.d. |
Box 4, Folder 28 |
|
Suit against Wiley Wilson, 1922 |
Box 4, Folder 29 |
|
A'Lelia Walker, bond to Alice Schimmer for $8,000, 1930 |
Box 4, Folder 30 |
|
A'Lelia Walker, purchase of 108 W 136 St., 1913 |
Box 4, Folder 31 |
|
Insurance on W 136 St., 1920–38 |
Box 5, Folder 1 |
|
Mortgages on 136 St. property, 1922–28 |
Box 5, Folder 2 |
|
Deed to lot, Homestead Orchard, Michigan, 1921 |
Box 5, Folder 3 |
|
Deeds to property in Los Angeles, 1919–23 |
Box 5, Folder 4 |
|
Title insurance, Los Angeles property, 1919 |
Box 5, Folder 5 |
|
Insurance, Los Angeles property, 1924 |
Box 5, Folder 6 |
|
Lease, 2352 Seventh Ave., 1930 |
Box 5, Folder 7 |
|
Deed, property in Idlewild, Michigan, 1928 |
Box 5, Folder 8 |
|
Auto insurance, 1920 |
Box 5, Folder 9 |
|
Health insurance, 1922 |
Box 5, Folder 10 |
|
Savings accounts |
Box 5, Folder 11 |
|
Accounts with Walker Co., 1919–31 |
Box 5, Folder 12 |
|
Promissory notes to Walker Co., 1920–31 |
Box 5, Folder 13 |
|
Statements for A'Lelia Walker's account, 1926 |
Box 5, Folder 14 |
|
Miscellaneous legal papers, 1925, 1927, 1928, n.d. |
Box 5, Folder 15 |
|
Certification as successor to Madam Walker, 1925 |
Box 5, Folder 16 |
|
Condolence letters and telegram sent following A'Lelia Walker's death, August–September 1931, A–C |
Box 5, Folder 17 |
|
Condolence letters and telegrams sent following A'Lelia Walker's death, August–September 1931, D–K |
Box 5, Folder 18 |
|
Condolence letters and telegrams sent following A'Lelia Walker's death, August–September 1931, L–R |
Box 5, Folder 19 |
|
Condolence letters and telegrams sent following A'Lelia Walker's death, August–September 1931, S–Z |
Box 5, Folder 20 |
|
Condolence letters and telegrams sent following A'Lelia Walker's death, August–September 1931, from groups |
Box 5, Folder 21 |
|
Condolence cards sent following A'Lelia Walker's death, August–September 1931 |
Box 5, Folder 22 |
|
Resolution by Walker Company Employees at A'Lelia Walker's death, 1931 |
Box 5, Folder 23 |
|
List found among condolences of A'Lelia Walker |
Box 5, Folder 24 |
|
A'Lelia Walker's Will, entry into probate |
Box 5, Folder 25 |
|
Renunciation of ten executorships by R.L. Brokenburr, 1931 |
Box 5, Folder 26 |
|
A'Lelia Walker Estate, financial records, 1931–32 |
Box 5, Folder 27 |
|
A'Lelia Walker Estate, expenses, 1931–36 |
Box 5, Folder 28 |
|
Condemnation proceedings, 108–110 W 136 St., 1938 |
Box 5, Folder 29 |
|
A'Lelia Walker Estate,
correspondence, 1934, |
Box 5, Folder 30 |
|
A'Lelia Walker Estate, transfer of stock following Mae Perry's death, 1945; closing of estate, 1954 |
Box 5, Folder 31 |
|
A'Lelia Walker estate, part of agreement settling Perry's trustee dispute, 1953 |
Box 5, Folder 32 |
|
A'Lelia Walker estate, final report of estate, 1956 |
Box 5, Folder 33 |
|
Letter from R.L. Brokenburr, 1950 re: action of Marion R. Perry at Villa Lewaro in 1932 |
Box 5, Folder 34 |
|
Correspondence re: Mae Perry's history, 1947–50 |
Box 5, Folder 35 |
|
CONTENTS |
CONTAINER |
|
Mae Walker Perry to F.B. Ransom, May 1924–March 1929 |
Box 5, Folder 36 |
|
Mae Walker Perry to F.B. Ransom, May 1929–April 1931 |
Box 5, Folder 37 |
|
Mae Walker Perry to F.B. Ransom, September 1931–August 1932 |
Box 5, Folder 38 |
|
Statement of account of Mae Walker Perry, 1929 |
Box 5, Folder 39 |
|
Mae Walker Perry to Lucille, 1931 |
Box 5, Folder 40 |
|
CONTENTS |
CONTAINER |
|
Personal correspondence of F.B. Ransom, March 1915–January 1944, n.d. |
Box 6, Folder 1 |
|
F.B. Ransom press release re: candidacy for state representative, 1916 |
Box 6, Folder 2 |
|
F.B. Ransom, bill and receipts |
Box 6, Folder 3 |
|
F.B. Ransom, miscellaneous note containing figures, 1927–36 |
Box 6, Folder 4 |
|
YMCA manuscript re: 'Monster Meetings' |
Box 6, Folder 5 |
|
F.B. Ransom memorial service and obituary, 1947 |
Box 6, Folder 6 |
|
Condolence letters and telegrams sent following F.B. Ransom's death, August–September 1947 |
Box 6, Folder 7 |
|
Condolence cards sent following F.B. Ransom's death, August–September 1947 |
Box 6, Folder 8 |
|
Correspondence to senders of condolences after F.B. Ransom's death, October 1947 |
Box 6, Folder 9 |
|
Estate of A'Lelia Walker, complaint and fragment, Case of Powell v. Anjetta Breedlove, 1932 |
Box 6, Folder 10 |
|
Correspondence of Anjetta Breedlove, December 1929–September 1935 |
Box 6, Folder 11 |
|
R.L. Brokenburr, testimonial dinner, 1964 |
Box 6, Folder 12 |
|
R.L. Brokenburr, funeral, 1974 |
Box 6, Folder 13 |
|
Correspondence of W.B. Ransom, 1947–March 1971, n.d. |
Box 6, Folder 14 |
|
W.B. Ransom, certificate as lobbyist for NAACP, 1949 |
Box 6, Folder 15 |
|
W.B. Ransom, bill to abolish
segregated schools, |
Box 6, Folder 16 |
|
NAACP embossments |
Box 6, Folder 17 |
|
NAACP embossments |
Box 6, Folder 18 |
|
NAACP embossments |
OMB 22 |
|
NAACP embossments |
OMB 22 |
|
NAACP embossments |
OMB 22 |
|
W.B. Ransom, material re: Progressive Party, 1948–53 |
Box 6, Folder 19 |
|
CONTENTS |
CONTAINER |
|
Walker Co. Articles of Incorporation, 1911 |
Box 7, Folder 1 |
|
Certificate by Sec. of State verifying Walker Co. articles of incorporation, 1946 |
Box 7, Folder 2 |
|
Organization of Walker agents, 1917 |
Box 7, Folder 3 |
|
Hints to agents, ca. 1915 |
Box 7, Folder 4 |
|
Instructions to agents before 1919 |
Box 7, Folder 5 |
|
Formation of National Negro Cosmetics Manufacturing Association, 1917 |
Box 7, Folder 6 |
|
Notice of meeting to increase stock in company, 1919 |
Box 7, Folder 7 |
|
Transfer of patent to company by Marjorie Joyner, 1928 |
Box 7, Folder 8 |
|
Founding of Alumni Association, 1964 |
Box 7, Folder 9 |
|
Policy statements re: vacation, sick leave, time off for convention, subletting of beauty parlor booths, 1962, 1969 |
Box 7, Folder 10 |
|
Special agent's contract, 1916 |
Box 7, Folder 11 |
|
"Honor Card," ca. 1950s |
Box 7, Folder 12 |
|
Forms, expense account, daily work record, orders, stationery, ca. 1950–70, n.d. |
Box 7, Folder 13 |
|
Forms for beauty suppliers to establish business with Walker Co. |
Box 7, Folder 14 |
|
Form, Report of Demonstration, ca. 1970 |
Box 7, Folder 15 |
|
Blank certificate for Satin Tress proficiency, ca. 1950 |
Box 7, Folder 16 |
|
Certificates of registration awarded to Co., 1950, n.d. |
Box 7, Folder 17 |
|
Contracts with special representatives, 1917–19 |
Box 7, Folder 18 |
|
Contracts with F.P. Davila and John F. Johnson, 1920 |
Box 7, Folder 19 |
|
Contract with Louisa Cason for combs, 1924 |
Box 7, Folder 20 |
|
Report of general manager to directors, 1968; minutes of directors meeting, January 1968 |
Box 7, Folder 21 |
|
Minutes, directors meeting, March 1970 |
Box 7, Folder 22 |
|
Agenda, directors meeting, April 1970 |
Box 7, Folder 23 |
|
Board correspondence, 1970s |
Box 7, Folder 24 |
|
Promissory notes, 1910–14 |
Box 7, Folder 25 |
|
CONTENTS |
CONTAINER |
|
Miscellaneous real estate, 1911, 1913, 1914, 1926 |
Box 7, Folder 26 |
|
Deed, Lot #6 Wiley Subdivision, Indianapolis and mortgages #7 Wiley Subdivision, 1914 |
Box 7, Folder 27 |
|
Title insurance, property in Los Angeles, 1912 |
Box 7, Folder 28 |
|
Deed, Ballard's Subdivision, Indianapolis, 1912, n.d. |
Box 7, Folder 29 |
|
Deed, Hilltop Addition, Indianapolis, 1912, 1914 |
Box 7, Folder 30 |
|
Business Correspondence from F.B. Ransom concer |