Access is granted in accordance with the Protocols for the University Archives and Records Center.

 

PROVENANCE

Gift of the Alexander family, 1987.

 

INTRODUCTION

Raymond Pace Alexander (1897-1974) and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander (1898-1989) were pioneers among American blacks in the legal profession and leaders in public affairs, politics and government throughout the middle half of the Twentieth Century. Their papers constitute a highly significant resource for the social and political history of the city of Philadelphia and, in particular, or the history of the city's black professional and political elite, black civic organizations, and institutions concerned with race relations and civil rights. The Alexanders were also active at the national level as leading figures in a number of important black professional, civic, and fraternal organizations and, to a lesser extent, in government service relating to race relations and civil rights.

In addition to the great mass of material pertaining to the Alexanders' professional, civic, and overnmental activities, their papers also include a somewhat smaller but still significant quantity of correspondence, financial records, and other papers pertaining to the private sphere, including home and family, estate, social life, and international travel. Researchers interested in the black family or the social world of the black professional elite will find a rich field here for exploration. There are also a large number of photographs, slides, and reels of film.

Supplementary to the Alexanders' own papers are papers of Sadie Alexander's sister, Elizabeth Mossell Anderson (called variously "Beth," "Babs," or "Babo" in correspondence); and papers of Raymond Pace Alexander's sister, Virginia Margaret Alexander. These record groups appear to be fragmentary. The collection also contains some papers of the Alexanders' daughter, Rae Pace Alexander Minter.

In accordance with the terms of the deed of gift under which the Alexander Papers came to the University Archives, holographs of Sadie Alexander's uncle Henry O. Tanner have been removed and returned to the donor. Photocopies have been substituted for the Tanner holographs.

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SCOPE AND CONTENT: GENERAL

All told, the Alexander papers comprise approximately 223 cu. ft. of material covering virtually every aspect of their creators' lives and activities in greater or lesser detail. The bulk of the collection falls between 1935, when the Alexanders moved their offices to 1900 Chestnut Street, and Raymond Alexander's death in 1974. Although the strength of the collection as a whole diminishes after 1974, the record appears to be substantially complete for Sadie Alexander through 1982, when she retired from public life. A small number of items post-date 1982.

An unknown quantity of office files that were put in storage at the time of the move to 1900 Chestnut Street were later destroyed by water. As a result, the record of the Alexander's law practice and other professional activities before 1935 (including the first years of both Raymond's and Sadie's law practice) is fragmentary. It appears, however, that the files that were lost were primarily closed and inactive files, and that many if not most papers pertaining to the Alexanders' personal and on-going activities were preserved. This period is also covered by a number of large scrapbooks.

Prior to 1923, the strength of the collection drops off rapidly, becoming sparse before 1917, the year when Raymond and Sadie met at the University of Pennsylvania, where they were both enrolled as undergraduates. Most of the items in the collection antedating 1917 pertain to personal biography and family history. The coverage on these topics, particularly family history, is more adequate in regard to Sadie Alexander than in regard to Raymond Alexander. The oldest items in the collection pertain to Sadie's maternal grandfather, Bishop Benjamin T. Tanner (1835-1923).

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ARRANGEMENT

Record Groups

The collection is arranged in five record groups, each based insofar as possible on a different creator. The bulk of the collection is contained in two "major" record groups, one for each of the two principals. The remainder is contained in three "minor" record groups of more limited scope. One of these contains papers of Raymond and Sadie Alexander jointly, including some material for which no basis was found on which to place it in any other record group. The other two "minor" record groups contain, respectively, papers of Elizabeth Mossell Anderson and Virginia Margaret Alexander. In summary, the five record groups comprising the Alexander Papers, listed in the order of their occurrence in the inventory, are as follows:

Record Groups of the Alexander Papers

Acronym	Title
RPA	Papers of Raymond Pace Alexander	116 Cubic ft.
STMA	Papers of Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander	81 Cubic ft.
STMA-RPA	Papers of Sadie T.M. and Raymond P. Alexander (Joint)	16 Cubic ft.
EMA	Papers of Elizabeth Mossell Anderson	8 Cubic ft.
VMA	Papers of Virginia Margaret Alexander	2 Cubic ft.

The record groups and their creators are referred to by the acronyms given in the table above.

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