Riché Richardson's Black Vintage Photo Collection

First of all, Happy Easter, and a blessed Holy week and season full of love and light this spring!  

I've long been deeply inspired by the vintage photos in my family history and some of them, including photos such as those of my grandparents Joe Richardson and Emma Lou Jenkins Richardson taken in Florida during the World War II era, have inspired some of my pieces as as art quilter in some cases. When I lived in Davis, California and moved on to Sacramento, I enjoyed visiting their local antique shops, along with ones in Woodland.  Several times over my years there, I came across lovely vintage photos of African American couples. They were typically in convex frames that were also beautiful, and I would purchase them whenever I came across them, while feeling deeply saddened that they were in the stores, and vowed that they'd always have a home with me as long as possible.  In recent times, it's been exciting to see the publication of Tanzy Ward's book entitled Unsung Portraits:  Anonymous Images of Black Victorians and Early 20th Century Ancestors.  I'm also a huge fan of the historian and preservationist Michael Henry Adams, who in 2021, toured the Design Justice Workshop on Black memory workers that the architect Peter Robinson and I taught at Cornell around historic apartments, houses, neighborhoods and churches in Harlem, while Michael's brilliant lectures unfolded.  His books on Harlem and interior design are outstanding works that I also cherish and purchased copies of to share with my family as well.  

At this point, I want to share images of my small Black vintage photo collection and the information that came with them, in case any of their family members can identify them, and any institutions with an interest in this kind of material and research will have the information at their disposal and be able to learn from them.  

When I shared them with Tanzy Ward last year in social media, it was heartening that she said the following:  "Riché Richardson:  awww, thank you for sharing these amazing photos! I truly appreciate the support and interest. It is such an exciting and compelling feeling when antique treasures like this are found. I truly cherish and appreciate your story and shared interest. The historic preservation and care for these precious collectibles are significant and I’m thankful others share the same values"

In all cases, these photos were purchased at antique stores in the Sacramento region during the years that I lived there, 1998-2008.  I have deciphered the writing on the back when it has been available, but have included images in case I am misreading any information, and have also included the information from the store labels.  As is the case with every purchase for home decor and in the areas of art and design, the original receipts are also all archived in my estate inventory.

Rev. and Mrs. M.H. Beal, Kansas City, Missouri, dated November 12, 1951.  So far, I've found a memorial marker for Rev. Beal on Ancestry.com, which lists his birthdate as March 28, 1878, and July 14, 1955 as the date he passed away.  It lists B.B. Taylor as his wife, and their wedding date as October 19, 1936.  It lists his birthplace as Alma, Arkansas.  It would be wonderful to be able to return this lovely and now historic photo to their family, or to any church congregations in Kansas City that they led, to help celebrate their lives and legacies, or any institutions there or in Arkansas invested in preserving such local histories.  

This photo is labeled Lawrence S. Larson in Sacramento, California (the photographer?) 

This photo is dated 1943 and features a Black couple on wartime break.  A number, 350, is also included on the back of this photo, in case that has any significance.

The best chance for making identifications in this instance may be looking at and identifying the buildings in the background.