Photograph portraits of Josephine Sampson

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A strip of five black-and-white photographs of Josephine Sampson in a cardboard frame. The strip depicts five bust pose shots of Sampson in various poses and with assorted props. She is wearing the same outfit in all five images: a fitted white blouse with a high, round collar, a small brooch at the center of her collar, and a collar length necklace with small metal disks dangling from the chain. Sampson’s hair is pulled back and secured with a silk bow at the nape, leaving loose curls at the top. In the image on the far left, the woman is facing the viewer, with a serious expression on her face, and wearing a mortarboard cap. She is looking into the distance to upwards and slightly to the right. In the photograph second from the left, the woman is facing the viewer, smiling broadly, and tilting her head slightly towards her proper right shoulder. She is holding a fan in front of her chin and she is wearing a frilly cartwheel hat on her head. The center photograph depicts the women are looking at the viewer, with her head and shoulders slightly tilted towards her proper right side, and with a half-smile on her face. She is wearing a small black fascinator with white feathers on her crown, and she is standing in front of an American flag. In the photograph second from the right, the woman is depicted in a relaxed pose, with her head tilted slightly towards her proper right shoulder and her hands laced behind her head. She has a playful expression with a half-smile on her face. She is wearing a black fascinator with white feathers on her crown and black kid gloves with white trim. In the photograph on the far right, the woman is depicted with her head slightly tilted towards her proper left shoulder and wearing a soft but serious expression on her face. The strip is mounted inside a black cardboard frame with a series of five tablet shaped photo windows that divide the photos on the strips into individual photos. There is a rectangular, floral, embossed band around the images and the rest of the frame has thin, embossed vertical stripes. An embossed photographer’s stamp in the bottom right corner reads [C.E. Kerfoot / 805 PENN AVE. N.W. / WASHINGTON, D.C.]. There is a large loss at the bottom left corner of the frame and a small surface loss at the top left corner. The back of the frame is gray, and a piece of cream colored paper covers the back of the photos. Handwritten in pencil on the paper is the text [[J?]essie Jessie and Katherine from your / sister Josephine [---?] Sampson]. The backing has slightly torn, and the back of the photograph strip is….

Catalog date

1910s

Recorded places

Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America

Recorded subjects

African American; Photography

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