Unrecorded Catalogue for an Important African-American School in Savannah

[African Americana]: [Georgia]:

Catalogue of Beach Institute. 320 Price Street, Savannah, Ga. 1899-1900 [wrapper title].

Savannah, GA: M. S. & D. A. Byck, Power Printers, 1900. 18pp., plus photographic frontispiece. Original red printed wrappers, stapled. Uneven fading, minor edge wear and soiling to wrappers. Contents toned but overall clean. Very good. Item #13233

An unrecorded annual catalogue for the legendary Beach Institute in Savannah, Georgia. The Beach Institute was founded in 1865 by the Colored Education Committee at the dawn of the Reconstruction Era, as the first school built specifically for the education of emancipated African Americans in Savannah. The institute has been transformed for modern visitors into "Savannah's flagship museum for African-American arts, history & cultural preservation." The present catalogue pertains to the 1899-1900 school year, and prints the instructors, general calendar, graduates since 1880, current students in the Normal Department from first through ninth grades, a detailed breakdown of the Course of Study, general information about the school, and a page-long history of the institute. The general information covers aspects of the school such as admission, religious instruction, school costs, "pecuniary aid," and so forth. The history of the school provides vital background on the school's founding, development, growth, and more.

A previous owner has tipped-in a four-page promotional pamphlet for the Mountain View School in Hudson, Caldwell County, North Carolina, as well as a few newspaper clippings, two of which picture the Boylan Industrial School and Home for Negro Girls in Jacksonville, Florida. The former contains a few manuscript notes indicating the owner was probably a teacher at one or all of these schools. Regarding the Beach Institute catalogue, OCLC reports a single holding for a catalogue for the 1887-88 school year, but nothing for the present work.

Price: $1,500