Browse Exhibits (4 total)

ART | library deco Presents

The Texas Black Women's Club Movement

The Priscilla Art Club was one of the most prestigious, if not elitist clubs for African American women in Dallas, and as of 1997, remains so. The club's maximum membership was set at twenty-five. Twenty-three women of "good moral character" began to build an organization, the motto of which was, "Art and Beauty, Home and Duty." The motto has lasted eighty-six years as of this writing in 1997.

The virtual exhibition will display historical content, articles, images, about African American womens clubs throughout the state of Texas' history. In like manner, information about the Texas African American Club movement will be shared in this exhibition. A curatorial paper will accompany the exhibition by the REPOSITORY staff at ART | library deco. 

Virtual Exhibition Opening: June 2022

Virtual Exhibition Closes: September 2022

ART | library deco will debut its summer digital photography exhibition featuring Jewell Rosebud Mazique on June 7, 2018 thru September 7, 2018.

Jewell R. Mazique: The African American Library Clerk will spotlight nearly 20 still-life images taken in 1942 of the activist, writer, library clerk, and mother by John Collier for the U.S. Office of the Coordinator of Information. Additionally, the digital photography exhibition will feature archival materials including scholarly articles, rare documents, and press about her life.

Jewell R. Mazique: The African American Library Clerk, digital photography exhibition stems from a government photography series conducted in 1942 while she was a clerk at the Library of Congress. The photos were taken by John Collier; he was a noted fiction writer, professor, and an American Social Reformer - commissioned to document the lives of everyday working Americans. The photography series was a part of the Office of War Administration led by Roy Emerson Stryker, his unit and the News Bureau merged in 1943 and began capturing images that told stories about World War II, America’s mobilization during the early years of the war, aircrafts, and women in the workforce. Mazique’s documentation was supposed to capture the day in the life of a library clerk, and was mildly received by critics.

Since that time, women have made a huge impact in society and how they are perceived in the workplace and home. Jewell R. Mazique: The African American Library Clerk, provides patrons an intricate look at her life in the public eye and her captivating fashion sense. Mazique was a co-founder of the Capital Transit Campaign in Washington, D.C., a columnist for the Washington D.C. and Baltimore Afro American Newspaper, a Specialist for the Elks Civil Libertie League, and an elected member of the Woman’s Auxiliary to the National Medical Association where she served as the Editor of the Mouthpiece Newsletter and she served on the National Council for the Southern Negro Congress. Mazique was also a member of Delta Sigma Theta. Jewell R. Mazique’s tireless efforts as an activist extends globally.

“In keeping with our dedication to exhibiting and researching work by and about African American librarians, writers, artists, and educators, ART | library deco is pleased to launch a digital photography exhibition featuring an African American library clerk and activist,” says kYmberly Keeton, Senior Digital Art Curator, and Chief Thought Eradicator of the digital African American art library and bookista media group. “I personally learned about Jewell R. Mazique through the ALA Feminist Task Force’ Women’s History Blog and decided that we needed to create an exhibition in her honor.”

A 6-page digital pictorial catalogue accompanies the exhibition, published by ART | library deco exhibition space. The publication includes 18 black and white images. It is available on the exhibition site for $10.

Visit Exhibition Online: https://rebrand.ly/jewellrmazique

Jewell R. Mazique: The African American Library Clerk digital photography exhibition is copyrighted under fair use terms; circulated by ART | library deco exhibition space, and available for physical use at the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. : Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection, [reproduction number, e.g., LC-USF34-9058-C].