Elizabeth Johnson Perry papers (Ms. 89.16)

The Elizabeth Johnson Perry Papers, 1937-1967, consist of incoming letters, greeting cards, financial records, photographs, a scrapbook, and museum objects relating to her life in New York as an African-American domestic worker. Materials of interest are greeting cards and a souvenir from the New York World’s Fair, a wooden dustpan and brush. The correspondence received from her friend Mabel (Jean Clarke Madison) gives a snapshot of life as a domestic worker in Los Angeles, California. Perry also collected clippings on African-American pop icons such as: Joe Lewis, Lena Horne, Eartha Kitt, Fats Waller, and Josephine Baker.