Name/Title
Pye, RachelEntry/Object ID
1941.049.032Description
Print, photographic. Image of Aunt Rachel Pye by unknown photographer - possibly amateur snapshot. Undated. Mounted on cardboard. Handwritten on reverse side "Aunt Rachel Pye, No. 9." Also handwritten by Paul Reese "Life long devoted friend of M. B. S. and faithful servant of the Maulsby family and Mrs. Maulsby’s sister, Mrs. Grant (or Grout), P.R." Full-length picture of older, rotund African-American woman seated outside in a ladder-back chair. She wears a long dress with a starched apron and holds a basket on her lap. Location unidentified. Overall size 6.5" x 5.5"; image size 4.75" x 3.75".Context
This photo is of Rachel Pye, the servant of a neighboring family. On the back, Paul Reese, who grew up in the Shellman household, wrote, “lifelong friend of MBS (Mary Bostwick Shellman). The words “Auntie Rachel Pye” also appear, possibly written by Mary herself. This relationship illustrates the complexities of race relations in post-Civil War Maryland.Acquisition
Accession
1941.049Source or Donor
Reese, PaulAcquisition Method
Gift
