About this Item
Scrapbook binding measuring 13.5 x 10", green wrappers, with 16 leaves containing approximately 32 ephemeral items, mostly pasted in, with some laid in loose, together with numerous newspaper clippings. A scrapbook compiled by Walter L. Hutcherson (1891 to 1931), an African American from Amherst, Virginia who graduated from the Tuskegee Institute in 1914. After graduation, he worked in Iowa as the Midwestern field agent for the Tuskegee Institute, and as YMCA secretary in Buston, Iowa, before enlisting in the military and serving as a Captain in World War I. After the war, Hutcherson worked at YMCA centers in Wichita, and in the historic Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa (The W.L. Hutcherson YMCA Center in Tulsa bears his name). He died of pneumonia in 1931, and his obituary calls him "one of the best known and most influential men of his race in the Middle West.Hutcherson was most successful as a promoter of inter-racial friendship and for years was considered here as a king of unofficial spokesman for his people." The scrapbook documents Hutcherson's time at Tuskegee, especially his role as official song writer for the class of 1914. Included are eleven typed or mimeographed song sheets, including a four page typescript, with manuscript corrections, for "The Onyx Farewell to Tuskegee," the 1914 class song written by Hutcherson. Also present is a two page mimeographed copy of "When Booker Came to Town," a Tuskegee class song from a couple of years prior, three songs gifted by Hutcherson to his mother, a song titled "Boy Hood Days", apparently by Hutcherson himself ("Sisters call me Hutcherson/But, the fellows call me 'Hutch'), as well as several other known (though generally rather obscure) songs of the era. Other compositions in the scrapbook include a broadside printing of "Alabama" the official state song, printed by students at Tuskegee; a small leaflet containing the Tuskegee "Trustee Song"; and a broadside printing a sketch titled "Up From Slavery Or Fifty Years of Freedom", a performance in song and tableau given by students at Tuskegee in 1913; and many newspaper and magazine clippings containing songs and poems. Another interesting item pasted into the scrapbook is a 12 pp pamphlet, dated 1914, titled "An Address Delivered by Ernest T. Attwell President of the Alabama State Negro Business League at the Sixth Annual Meeting Held in Montgomery Alabama." The address is not located in OCLC, and discusses the importance of the league, while advocating for a "Clean Up Day" for the African American population of the state to take part in. Also present is a one page typed essay titled "Just Between Ourselves", by C.B. Hosmer, field representative for Tuskegee, on the institute's letterhead. The essay discusses "two points of view from which a collector may regard his work"--as a "mere cog in a great machine," or "a great factor in a great social and economic enterprise in behalf of a backward race." Other ephemeral items in the scrapbook include: two small invitations to "Hear Captain Hutcherson Speak" at the YMCA in Wichita, Hutcherson's delegate ticket to the 1914 session of the Negro Christian Student Convention, a one page typed message of appreciation to Hutcherson, from the public schools of Buxton, Iowa (and containing an acrostic poem using Hucherson's name written by eighth graders), a 1902 report card from the Tuskegee Institute, and the 1914 commencement issue of the Tuskegee newspaper. Finally, these ephemeral items are accompanied by numerous newspaper clippings documenting Hutcherson's career in Iowa and Kansas with Tuskegee and with the YWCA, as well as clippings related to African American military service and life. Some of the clippings have been annotated by Hucherson. A carefully compiled scrapbook elucidating one prominent African American's close ties with Tuskegee and the Midwest. In very good condition with wear and tearing to covers, toning to clippings, creasing and tearing to some contents.
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