The “Althea Hurst Scrapbook”. Discovering the Photographic Memories of Four African American Teachers’ European Tour in 1938

In the summer of 1938, four African American teachers from Cincinnati decided to tour Europe, on their own, by steamship and train. Back home in Avondale, Cincinnati, Althea Hurst created a scrapbook from the snapshot photographs she took, but also from the many postcards, tourist brochures, guidebo...

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Main Author: Chiara Salari
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès 2022-04-01
Series:Miranda: Revue Pluridisciplinaire du Monde Anglophone
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journals.openedition.org/miranda/44374
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author Chiara Salari
author_facet Chiara Salari
author_sort Chiara Salari
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description In the summer of 1938, four African American teachers from Cincinnati decided to tour Europe, on their own, by steamship and train. Back home in Avondale, Cincinnati, Althea Hurst created a scrapbook from the snapshot photographs she took, but also from the many postcards, tourist brochures, guidebooks, menus, transport timetables, maps, commercial and artistic illustrations she collected, all accompanied by itinerary and correspondence, precise legends, detailed captions and personal annotations. Some pages of the “Althea Hurst Scrapbook” were on display at the Public Library of Cincinnati in 2016, and the album, entirely digitalized, can be viewed online. This scrapbook is a typical example of a practice of collecting pictures linked to travel. It is at the same time exceptional because it was intended, from the beginning, not only to document a personal journey, but also to compare historical descriptions to actual places, and to encourage African American students to travel. The “Althea Hurst Scrapbook” will be put in relation to the broader practice of travel photo albums and described as a hybrid object combining images, written annotations, and other materials, thus merging personal photographic memories and educational documentation.
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spelling doaj.art-db991468ab1145fb8329635a893f6c702022-12-22T03:27:18ZengUniversité Toulouse - Jean JaurèsMiranda: Revue Pluridisciplinaire du Monde Anglophone2108-65592022-04-012510.4000/miranda.44374The “Althea Hurst Scrapbook”. Discovering the Photographic Memories of Four African American Teachers’ European Tour in 1938Chiara SalariIn the summer of 1938, four African American teachers from Cincinnati decided to tour Europe, on their own, by steamship and train. Back home in Avondale, Cincinnati, Althea Hurst created a scrapbook from the snapshot photographs she took, but also from the many postcards, tourist brochures, guidebooks, menus, transport timetables, maps, commercial and artistic illustrations she collected, all accompanied by itinerary and correspondence, precise legends, detailed captions and personal annotations. Some pages of the “Althea Hurst Scrapbook” were on display at the Public Library of Cincinnati in 2016, and the album, entirely digitalized, can be viewed online. This scrapbook is a typical example of a practice of collecting pictures linked to travel. It is at the same time exceptional because it was intended, from the beginning, not only to document a personal journey, but also to compare historical descriptions to actual places, and to encourage African American students to travel. The “Althea Hurst Scrapbook” will be put in relation to the broader practice of travel photo albums and described as a hybrid object combining images, written annotations, and other materials, thus merging personal photographic memories and educational documentation.http://journals.openedition.org/miranda/44374scrapbooktravel albumAfrican American teachersphotographic memoriesphoto-history
spellingShingle Chiara Salari
The “Althea Hurst Scrapbook”. Discovering the Photographic Memories of Four African American Teachers’ European Tour in 1938
Miranda: Revue Pluridisciplinaire du Monde Anglophone
scrapbook
travel album
African American teachers
photographic memories
photo-history
title The “Althea Hurst Scrapbook”. Discovering the Photographic Memories of Four African American Teachers’ European Tour in 1938
title_full The “Althea Hurst Scrapbook”. Discovering the Photographic Memories of Four African American Teachers’ European Tour in 1938
title_fullStr The “Althea Hurst Scrapbook”. Discovering the Photographic Memories of Four African American Teachers’ European Tour in 1938
title_full_unstemmed The “Althea Hurst Scrapbook”. Discovering the Photographic Memories of Four African American Teachers’ European Tour in 1938
title_short The “Althea Hurst Scrapbook”. Discovering the Photographic Memories of Four African American Teachers’ European Tour in 1938
title_sort althea hurst scrapbook discovering the photographic memories of four african american teachers european tour in 1938
topic scrapbook
travel album
African American teachers
photographic memories
photo-history
url http://journals.openedition.org/miranda/44374
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