African Americana

Photography comprises the following: 2 cabinet photographs on cardstock mounts, ca 1893-1894, both with handstamp for photographer O.B. Garren, Saluda, N.C. and featuring Fannie Sims with identified young members of the William H. Rosborough family; a group of 7 snapshots of Fannie Sims, each 2 7/8 x 4 5/8 in. or smaller, including captions "Cook with a belt buckle which was 'in the Southern War,'" "Cook with her two boys John and Wm.," and "Cook, her house in Granny's backyard"; a group of 2 silver gelatin portraits of Fannie Sims, ca 1943, both measuring 5 x 7 in., showing Fannie in her last year of life; and an 8 1/2 x 11 in. modern reprint of the William H. Rosborough residence in Chester, South Carolina, ca 1884. Consignor relates that the ca 1943 photographs of Fannie were most likely taken by Katherine Rosborough at the home of Fannie's nieces in Spartanburg, South Carolina. 

Together, 12 photographs.  

[With:] "The Pure in Heart" 20 pp, 8 x 10 1/2 in. (light creasing on some pages, scattered dampstaining, two-hole punches on left side of some pages, heavily edited with erasures and cross-outs). A draft recollection describing the life of Fannie Sims, accomplished in pencil, and authored by Helen Carter Rosborough (1891-1979), ca 1940.  Helen married William McClure Rosborough in 1923 and was a regular visitor to the Rosborough family home on Saluda Street in Chester, South Carolina, where "Cook" had worked as a domestic laborer since approximately the early 1880s. Helen writes of "Cook's" time as an enslaved person on the plantation of "Major Sims," her African ancestry, her duties serving multiple generations of the Rosborough family, the small cabin in which she lived behind the Rosborough home, and relays her own feelings towards her "Black Mammy-in-law."

[With:] A 2pp letter written on behalf of Fannie Sims by her niece Emma Littlejohn, 30 June 1943. Addressed to "Mr. William" [William M. Rosborough] and written six months before Fannie's death. Sims describes her current health and family situation, and closes with warm sentiments for William and his family: "Remember my love to John and Miss Helen and Miss Katherine. I hope to see you all soon. I dreamed about my house, I hope to go back to see the old home. With love, Fannie Sims c/o Emma Littlejohn." -- A group of 2 telegrams relating to the death of Fannie Sims: one from Fannie Littlejohn notifying William M. Rosborough of the death of her "Aunt Fannie," 22 December 1943, and the other a reply sent from Rosborough the following day, in which he writes that he is "deeply sorry," and will help pay for the funeral though he cannot attend in person. -- A 4pp letter from Fannie and Emma Littlejohn to Mr. William M. Rosborough, 28 December 1943, in which they describe their aunt's last days, as well as her funeral and burial.

[Also with:] Print donation appeal letter from the Reverend Edmund N. Joyner (1847-1939) who had recently been appointed by the Bishop of South Carolina to lead missionary work amongst the freedmen of Columbia and surrounding communities. 1p, 4 7/8 x 7 7/8 in. (toning, creasing at folds, small losses and tears). Columbia, South Carolina, March 1889. Joyner asks his "Southern brethren and friends for pledges and donations for the work described by [the] accompanying paper." Accompanied by a pamphlet describing the missionary and educational work of the "Associate Mission of the Protestant Episcopal Church for Colored People, Columbia, South Carolina."  3pp, 5 1/8 x 7 in. Though the Reverend Edmund Noah Joyner was raised on a plantation and was himself a Confederate veteran, he spent the decades immediately following the Civil War as a teacher, missionary, and advocate for the formerly enslaved people of the Carolinas. Appeal was enclosed in envelope addressed to "Mrs. W. H. Roseborough [sic] / Chester / S.C." Mrs. William Henry Rosborough was Mary McClure Rosborough (1853-1937), mother to William McClure Rosborough (1886-1975) and mother-in-law of Helen Carter Rosborough.

Fannie Sims, known as "Cook" by the family for whom she worked for nearly five decades after emancipation, was born into slavery, likely on the plantation of Major Joseph Stark Sims (1801-1875) in Union County, South Carolina. Her parents are believed to have been Isaac (Isom) Sims (1803-1870), an enslaved overseer on the plantation of Major Sims, and Hanah McClure (ca 1817-?), who may have been an enslaved woman on the nearby Union County plantation of John William McClure. Helen Rosborough's recollections indicate that Fannie was a young child during the Civil War who was "taken as a maid into the Big House [Major Sims's plantation home]" and later "somewhere near her 20th year" arrived at the Rosborough home. Oral history descended in the family of Fannie Sims indicates that Fannie was sent as an enslaved child to the John William McClure plantation to serve as a maid to the still young McClure daughters, Mary and Eliza. This scenario complements Rosborough family oral history which indicates that Fannie accompanied Mary McClure (1853-1916) to the Chester County, South Carolina, home of William Henry Rosborough (1854-1905) upon McClure's 1881 marriage to Rosborough. By the early 1890s, "Cook" had become a central figure in the Rosborough family and a caregiver to the couple's three young children. She resided in the main residence until a two-room cabin was built for her behind the main house at an unknown later date. "Cook" remained with the family in Chester County until approximately the late 1930s. She spent her last days in nearby Spartanburg County, South Carolina, in the home and care of her nieces.

Provenance: Archive descended directly through the Rosborough family to current consignor. 

See also Lot 147 for related material descended through the Wilson/Rosborough family.