Photograph of Pearl Bailey: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A black and white photographic portrait of Pearl Bailey. In the top left-hand corner of the photo is a cursive inscription handwritten in pencil, signed by the actress. Below and to the right of the writing is a woman. She is looking over her right shoulder and is wearing a black, patterned top with earrings and a necklace. On the back of the photo it says, "Photo by M. Smith/ 243-251 W. 125th Street/ MO. 2-3168 New York, N.Y. / Credit line must be observed/ Must not be syndicated, loaned, or used for advertising purposes without permission."

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca. 1960
• Photograph by: Marvin Smith, American, 1910 - 2003
• Subject of: Pearl Bailey, American, 1918 - 1990
• Type: gelatin silver prints
• Type: portraits
• Medium: silver and photographic gelatin on photographic paper
• Dimensions: H x W (Image): 9 11/16 × 7 11/16 in. (24.6 × 19.5 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (Sheet): 9 15/16 × 7 15/16 in. (25.2 × 20.2 cm)
• Place used: United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Broadway Theatre
• Topic: Entertainers
• Topic: Singers (Musicians)
• Object number: 2013.118.182.3
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: Public domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.