Invitation for commencement at Fisk University: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

The booklet (2014.213.1.1) is bound with a thin string of leather threaded through three holes located at the center-left edge of the booklet. The images and text visible on the cover are created with embossed sections of the paper. An image dominates the top left quadrant of the cover; it is an embossed impression of a university building with a tall tower standing in front of a square of gold sky. In the center of the cover is large embossed text which reads [FISK]. To the bottom right of the letters is a circular symbol with trapezoidal panels attached to the left and right of the circle. In the circle is a depiction of a group of people; four men stand in a row while five women sit in a row in front of the standing men. Below this group are the words [JUBILEE SINGERS]. In the circle, following the curve of the top and bottom arcs are two groupings of text. The top arc reads [FISK UNIVERSITY NASHVILLE TENN]; the bottom arc reads [INCORPORATED AUG.24, 1867]. The left trapezoidal panel reads [19]; the right trapezoidal panel reads [48]. There are 15 pages in the booklet, the first and last pages are translucent and patterned. There is a plain envelope paired with this commencement invitation (2014.213.1.2).

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1948
• Printed by: Hemphill Press, American
• Subject of: Fisk University, American, founded 1866
• Type: invitations
• Medium: ink on paper and imitation leather
• Dimensions: H x W (closed): 6 × 4 1/4 × 1/8 in. (15.2 × 10.8 × 0.3 cm)
• Place depicted: Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: American South
• Topic: Education
• Topic: HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities)
• Topic: Social life and customs
• Topic: U.S. History, 1945-1953
• Object number: 2014.213.1.1-2
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Gates Moresi family
• 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.