MG-159. JOHN S. FISHER PAPERS, 1886-1940.
John Stuchell Fisher (1867-1940) served as governor of Pennsylvania from 1927 to 1931, was a Pennsylvania state senator from 1900 to 1904, and Pennsylvania commissioner of banking from 1919 to1922.
OFFICIAL PAPERS, 1907-1910, 1919-1920, 1926-1931
Governor’s Papers, 1927-1931.
Reports (Departmental), 1927-1931.
• Department of Public Instruction, 1925-1931. Arranged chronologically. Includes reports on Cheyney Training School for Teachers dated June1, 1925-May 31, 1927 and June 1, 1927-May 31, 1927. These reports contain audit and examination books and various account records pertaining to the school. The Shelter for Colored Youth is also documented.
• Department of Public Welfare, 1925-1931. Arranged chronologically. Included in these papers is a fourth biennial report of Welfare Secretary E. Grace McCauley for 1927-1928 addressing "children under supervision of child welfare, institutions and agencies" that includes a category of statistical information identified under the heading "Colored." Other reports regarding homes for the aged provide information on the Julia White Priscilla Home for Aged Colored People at LaMott and the Aged Colored Women’s Home at Williamsport founded by Mary Slaughter. The largest portion of this document is the report submitted by Maude P. Coleman, field representative of the Interracial Unit of the Department of Welfare, that provides information on the following African American agencies, institutions, organizations, and people: Association for the Protection of Colored Women, Philadelphia; Convalescent Home for Negro Women and Girls, Philadelphia; Coleman Industrial Home for Negro Boys, Pittsburgh; Davis Temporary Home for Negro Children, Pittsburgh; Downingtown Industrial School; Frederick Douglas Memorial Hospital, Philadelphia; Home for Aged and Infirm Colored Women, Pittsburgh; Home for Aged Colored Women, Williamsport; Laurelton State Village (for Negro girls), Pittsburgh; Lemington Avenue Home for Aged Colored Women, Pittsburgh; Mercy Hospital, Philadelphia; State Federation of Negro Women’s Clubs; Philadelphia Association for Colored Women; Pittsburgh Home for Colored Women; Robert Woods Industrial Home for Colored Children, Philadelphia; and Termon Avenue Home for Negro Children, Pittsburgh. The department’s general fund appropriations for 1925-1927 were disbursed to the African American and African American-supported agencies cited above as well as to the Colored Women’s Relief Association of Western Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh.
Executive Correspondence, 1926-1931.
Pre-Inauguration, 1926-1927. Arranged chronologically. Contains the following brochures and letters relating to African Americans:
• Fisher for Governor," a Colored Campaign Committee letter dated May 1, 1926 that was sent to prospective voters.
• A brochure entitled "John S. Fisher for Governor" issued by the John S. Fisher for Governor Republican Colored Citizens Campaign Committee for Delaware and Chester Counties.
• Fisher for Governor," a Colored Campaign Committee letter dated October 27, 1926 signed by Secretary George E. Jessup, Manager Samuel D. Brown, and William H. Ridley, director for Delaware and Chester Counties.
• A letter of congratulations from the Colored Citizens Political Club of Clearfield County dated November 8, 1926 and signed by John W. Nipson and William A. Pratt.
• A letter dated December 21, 1926 from Philadelphia lawyer Raymond Pace Alexander to Governor Fisher’s son, Robert Miller Fisher, asking him to "consider the trained Negro for high office in state departments."
• A letter dated December 22, 1926 from Raymond Pace Alexander to Governor Fisher asking him to give serious consideration to the letter he had written to his son. Raymond Alexander and Robert Fisher had been roommates at Harvard Law School.
• A letter from the Colored Women’s Relief Association of Western Pennsylvania dated December 31, 1926 signed by President and Secretary Addie B. Cole endorsing the work of Welfare Secretary Dr. Ellen Potter.
• A letter from the Armstrong Association of Philadelphia dated December 23, 1926 signed by Executive Secretary Forrester B. Washington and bearing the names of the officers and board members in the letterhead.
• A letter dated December 27, 1926 from Mary Owens of 124 South Penn Street, York.
• A letter from the Hallie Q. Brown Club of New Kensington (affiliated with the Pittsburgh City-County Federation of Negro Women’s Clubs) dated December 28, 1926 having a letterhead that identifies all officers and their individual addresses.
• A letter from the Colored Protective Union of McKeesport dated December 30, 1926 signed by President D. N. Nelson, Secretary John N. Walker, Executive Chairman William W. Gittins, and Executive Secretary B. J. Duncan.
• Letter dated January 1, 1927, Principal Thomas J. Anderson of the James A. Adams School in Coatesville on behalf of the Inter-Racial Committee of Coatesville.
• Letter from the Emergency Girls Club of York, Pennsylvania State Federation of Negro Women’s Clubs, dated January 1, 1927, signed by President Ida S. Grayson and having the names of federation officers throughout the state printed in the letterhead.
• Letter from President Pearl Foster, Housekeepers Federation Club of Canonsburg dated January 2, 1927 and signed by Pearl Foster, Vice President John Walls, Secretary Mrs. Nathan Clarke, Corresponding Secretary Mrs. George Betts, and Treasurer Mrs. Albert Griffin.
• Letter dated January 3, 1927 from Rev. C. F. Jenkins, pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Harrisburg.
• Letter dated January 5, 1927 from Edith H. Benn, secretary of the Inter-Racial Committee of Coatesville.
• Letter dated January 12, 1927 from President Callie L. Walker of the Semper-Fidelis Club of McKeesport.
• A letter dated May 9, 1929 from Maude Coleman to Governor Fisher inviting him to attend the twenty-sixth Annual Convention of the Pennsylvania State Federation of Negro Women’s Clubs held in Harrisburg, July 30-August 2, 1929.