Button from The Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A button from The Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School fundraising events held from April 22-27, 1909. The button is oval shaped and is comprised of yellow toned, laminate covered paper on metal. The front of the button is dominated by a large, black and white illustration of the hospital; a four story brick building with eleven (11) sets of double windows. The building is depicted from the corner and one side of the building is also visible, next to grassy area with trees and plants. In the foreground is the street with people milling on the sidewalk. Printed below is black text in varying fonts and sizes that reads, [FREDERICK DOUGLASS, MEMORIAL / HOSPITAL / AND / TRAINING SCHOOL / 1895 ? 1909 / PHILA. PENNA.]. There are flourishes on either side of the word [HOSPITAL]. At the top of the button are two small photographic bust portraits of Frederick Douglass on the left and Dr. Nathan Francis Mossell on the right. The images are framed on either side with laurel wreaths. Below the portraits of both men are illustrated banners with their names, [FREDERICK DOUGLASS] and [DR. NF MOSSELL - FOUNDER], printed in black text. The back of the button is plain with a metal oval shaped disk with four (4) pointed mounting tabs at each corner.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: April 1909
• Distributed by: The Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School, American, 1895 - 1973
• Subject of: Frederick Douglass, American, 1818 - 1895
• Subject of: Dr. Nathan Francis Mossell, 1856 - 1946
• Type: buttons (information artifacts)
• Medium: ink on paper (fiber product) with metal and laminate
• Dimensions: H x W x D: 6 9/16 × 4 5/8 × 3/16 in. (16.7 × 11.7 × 0.5 cm)
• Place used: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Education
• Topic: Medicine
• Topic: Urban life
• Object number: 2019.35.1
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Ladene Miles Bourne
• 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: No Known Copyright Restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.