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Record Group Number: 900000
Series/Collection Number: M97- 11
Creator:
Title, Dates: Reminiscences about Aunt Memory, n.d.
Amount: 2.00 item
Medium Included:
Organization/Arrangement:
Restrictions:
Terms Governing Use: Until preservation activities have been completed this collection may not be photocopied.
Biographical/Historical:     Memory was born in Virginia in 1822 to enslaved parents. In her early 20s, Memory and several other enslaved persons were forced to walk from Virginia to Florida where her enslaver planned to auction them off. At about 24 years of age, Memory was sold to John Argyle, a Virginia native working as a merchant in Tallahassee. Memory's enslavement by the Argyle family consisted largely of serving as nursemaid to the children, during which time she learned to read and write from helping them with their lessons.

    After the Civil War ended and Memory was emancipated, she married John Adams and worked as a house and office cleaner. Her clients were largely prominent white Tallahassee families and her renown among the city elite allowed her some opportunities not granted to the majority of the newly-freed Black Tallahassee community, such as attending and having her funeral service at the white Trinity Methodist church and traveling to the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. At the fair, Memory charged attendees to take photographs of her and earned enough money to cover her expenses for the trip. Afterward, she returned to her life in Tallahassee until her death a few years later.
Summary:     This collection consists of handwritten anecdotes concerning Aunt Memory in Tallahassee.
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Additional Physical Form:
Reproduction Note:
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Publication Note:
General Note: The provenance of this collection is unknown. It is possible that these two items are the missing contents of M88-72, Box 1, Folder 1 - Adams, Aunt Memory, Reminiscences.
Electronic Records Access:
Subject Access Fields: Adams, Memory, Aunt fl. 1893.
African American women.
African Americans Florida.
Slavery Florida
Tallahassee (Fla.)
Added Entries