Indiana Historical Society - Manuscripts & Archives
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Historical Sketch
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Box and Folder Listing
Cataloging Information
Processed by:
Wilma L. Gibbs
29 April 1994
VOLUME OF COLLECTION: 1 manuscript box
COLLECTION DATES: 1918-1984
PROVENANCE: Mary D. Yore, Indianapolis, Indiana, 10 April 1981.
RESTRICTIONS: None
REPRODUCTION RIGHTS: Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained in writing from the Indiana Historical Society.
ALTERNATE FORMATS: None
RELATED HOLDINGS: None
ACCESSION NUMBER: 81.0411
NOTES: Much of the material in the Mary D. Yore Collection was donated during the Black Women in the Middle West Project.
The Black Women in the Middle West Project was a collecting effort to gather primary source materials of African-American women in Illinois and Indiana. The project, spearheaded by Darlene Clark Hine and Patrick Bidelman at Purdue University, was conducted in three phases from 1977-1985. Project records are located at five repositories within the two states including the Indiana Historical Society (IHS) [houses the project's administrative records], Calumet Regional Archives, and the Northern Indiana Historical Society in Indiana and the Chicago Historical Society and the Illinois State Historical Society in Illinois. (Although the implementation phase of the project was from 1984-1985, several of the collections were donated to IHS in 1986).
Additional information about the project is contained in The Black Women in the Middle West Project: A Comprehensive Resource Guide, Illinois and Indiana (E185.6 .B 53 1986), edited by Hine and Bidelman, et. al. and Wilma L. Gibbs's article "In Retrospect: The Black Women in the Middle West Project at the Indiana Historical Society," in Indiana's African-American Heritage: Essays from Black History News & Notes (E185.93 .I4 B52 1993).
Mary Donna Baker Blake Yore (1931- ) was born at Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie, Indiana. The daughter of Franklin L. Baker, Sr. (1891-1973) and Nellie Cook Baker (ca. 1900-1934), she grew up in Muncie. Her grandfather, Reverend Franklin Pierce Baker (1860-1928), moved to Evansville, Indiana in 1880. Rev. Baker pastored numerous AME churches in Illinois and Indiana, including the Bethel AME Church in Muncie.
Yore has been active in gathering her family's history, having served as editor of the Baker-Cook families' newsletter, Family Lines. In 1984, she participated as a speaker in the Black Family History Symposium sponsored by the Indiana Historical Society at the St. Peter Claver Center in Indianapolis. She was also a collector in the Black Women in the Middle West (BWMW) Project, donating materials related to the Cook and Baker families. (For a description of the BWMW Project, see page 1.)
Source: Materials in the collection.
The Mary Yore Collection consists of one manuscript box; most of the collection relates to the Franklin L. Baker, Sr. family. Many of the materials were collected during the Black Women in the Middle West Project. Materials pertaining to the family's history including correspondence, documents, compiled genealogies and newsletters, and photographs are in folders 1-7. Especially prevalent are pictures of Mary (Donna Baker Blake) Yore, Franklin L. Baker, Sr.'s daughter. Photographs of her date from 1931-1984. The collection has an interesting 1934 image of Yore on a tricycle. There are several photographs of individuals and groups, both identified and unidentified in folders 8 and 9. Also contained within the collection is a 1931 photograph of the Muncie Central High School state championship basketball team.
The Baker family had an affiliation with several institutions in Muncie, Indiana including the Young Men's Christian Association and Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. (According to Hurley Goodall's The History of Negroes in Muncie, Franklin L. Baker, Sr. and his father, Rev. Franklin Pierce Baker were active participants in the local YMCA.) Correspondence, minutes, reports, and programs pertaining to the Willard Street YMCA, later known as the Madison Street YMCA that served black Muncie residents are contained in folders 10-13. Franklin L. Baker, Sr. served as president of the YMCA Board and chairman of the Boys' Department. Folder 13 contains numerous images of recreational scenes, mostly of boys swimming, camping, playing basketball, and canoeing. Collection materials suggest that the photographs were taken during 1926-1927 at a YMCA camp in Eaton, Indiana. Bethel AME correspondence and a few newsletters, along with a photograph of a group standing in front of the church, are in folders 15-17. In folder 18, there are materials pertaining to the Society of Military Widows, mostly correspondence that relate to Mary Baker Blake's (Yore) participation in the organization from 1969-1972.
There are numerous program booklets in the collection, contained in folders 20 and 21. Dating from 1926-1984, they are mostly programs for annual meetings of various organizations including the Indiana Association of Negro Musicians (1926), Southernaires (1946-47), Grand United Order of Odd Fellows (1967 and 1983), District Grand Household of Ruth, No. 9 (1967 and 1983), National Council of Negro Women (1971), Indiana State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs (1971 and 1977), and New Calvary Baptist Church (1975).
Although the extent of the Bakers' family ties to New Albany, Indiana is not clear from the collection, it is stated in a biography of Franklin Baker, Sr. (folder 3) that he once pastored a church in the city. The last folder in the collection contains newsclippings dated 1951-1978 that pertain to the history of African-Americans in New Albany. Most of the clippings appear to be from New Albany and Louisville, Kentucky newspapers. The newsclippings, as well as the copies of other materials are possibly duplicated from the vertical files of the New Albany-Floyd County Public Library.
Box 1: Family correspondence and histories, Organizations, Programs, and Clippings
FOLDER CONTENTS
1 Family Correspondence
2 Family Documents
3 Baker and Cook family histories
4 (VC) Baker Family
5 (VC) Mary D. Yore
6 (VC) Mary D. Yore, et. al.
7 (VC) Mary D. Yore, et. al. (Color Storage)
8 (VC) Groups and Individuals, Identified
9 (VC) Groups and Individuals, Unidentified
10 YMCA Correspondence, 1928-1949
11 YMCA Minutes and Reports
12 YMCA Programs, 1946, 1949, n.d.
13 (VC) YMCA [3 folders: 13a (Negatives #1-13), 13b, and 13c]
14 (VC) Muncie Central High School State Basketball Champions, 1931
15 Bethel AME Church Correspondence
16 Bethel AME Church Publications
17 (VC) Bethel AME Church Group
18 Society of Military Widows
19 Phillis Wheatley Association
20 Programs, 1926-1975
21 Programs, 1977-1984
22 Clippings, 1951-1978
MAIN ENTRY: Yore, Mary D., 1931-
SUBJECT ENTRIES: Yore, Mary D., 1931-
Baker, Franklin L., 1891-1973
Black Women in the Middle West Project
Baker family
Cook family
Phyllis Wheatley Association (Cleveland, Ohio)
Society of Military Widows (Indianapolis, Ind.)
Muncie Central High School
Bethel A.M.E. Church (Muncie, Ind.)
Young Men's Christian Association (Muncie, Ind.)
Afro-American families--Indiana--Muncie
Afro-Americans--Indiana--Muncie
Afro-Americans--Indiana--New Albany
Afro-American churches--Indiana--Muncie
Camps--Indiana--Eaton
Afro-Americans--Indiana--Muncie--Societies, etc.
Afro-Americans--Ohio--Cleveland--Societies, etc.
Afro-Americans--Indiana--Indianapolis--Societies, etc.
Muncie (Ind.)
New Albany (Ind.)
END