Text: During a time when many African Americans lived their lives without electricity, indoor bathrooms and running water, Bertha Mae Winborne, an honor graduate of I.C. Norcom High School, was enrolled as a student at Hampton Institute. Winborne must have known of her exceptional fortune. She seemed to treasure the activities that surrounded her and that she was privileged to attend. Snippets of her experiences found their way into this scrapbook which is now considered one of ten of the Commonwealth of Virginia's Endangered Artifacts for 2013. Included in the scrapbook are clues to what the college student's life entailed: programs from musical programs and concerts, rules for how to behave in her dormitory, and a receipt from her YWCA membership with the African American Hampton branch. This scrapbook will be restored and preserved. Courtesy of the Estate of Bertha Edwards.
Bertha Edwards included this photo of Marian Anderson in her scrapbook, and added the following note: "I spent a quiet evening with Miss Anderson".
Program from a 1940 performance of Marian Anderson at Ogden Hall, located on the campus of Hampton Institute (now Hampton University). The program is contained in the scrapbook of Bertha Edwards.
Text: How were the black and white public libraries different? Portsmouth Community Library (Open to blacks) Portsmouth Public Library (Open to whites) Staff: 2 people/7 people Collection: 9,500 volumes/22,00 volumes Budget: $14,000/$24,000 City Contribution: $4,000/$22,000
Text: Portsmouth black and white library staffs worked together to satisfy the reading needs of black readers. Mrs. Bertha Edwards would take requests for books that were not in the Community Library's collection. She would then send a young man to the Public Library with the list of requested volumes. The courier would ride a bicycle such as the one here. At the Public Library, the request would be filled from their much larger collection and the courier would return to the Community Library.
