Unidentified Black Women
Date1905-1906
MediumPhotography; nitrate negatives
DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (overall height x width): 3 7/8 × 4 3/4in. (9.9 × 12cm)
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineBequest from the Estate of Elizabeth Beattie
DescriptionBlack and white photographic negative of two Black women who worked for Robert Beattie’s mother and Trudy Harrison on Narrows Island, 1905-1906. Two unidentified women of color stand in a grassy field with a tree and view of the ocean in the background. They are posed standing next to each other, the woman on the right stands slightly behind the woman on the left with her hand on her shoulder. They are both dressed in dark colored floor-length skirts and white shirtwaists with dark ties at the neck. The woman on the left wears a straw hat with a veil on the brim, she is posed with her left hand on her hip, in her right hand she holds a white handkerchief or other material. The women migrated from Union County, Virginia.
Object number2023.17.77
CopyrightPublic Domain
Inscribed(.77-79) Typed on envelope: “NARROWS ISLAND / PERSONNEL / Harold, Phillip Malcolm, Robert, Mildred”Handwritten on envelope beneath typed description: “2 Black girls– 1 worked for mother / + 1 for Trudy Harrison / They came from Union County / Virginia + worked for / 18.00 + board + room / month / 1905–‘06
NotesSubject Note: John Beattie's granite quarry, situated in Guilford on the Long Island Sound, was well-positioned to distribute granite via a fleet of schooners to locations in Connecticut and New York. Notably, granite from Beattie's quarry was used in the pedestal at the base of the Statue of Liberty.
The quarry operated from 1869, when Scottish immigrant Beattie purchased 400 acres of land on Leetes Island, until about 1918, when Beattie's sons closed up shop 20 years after his death. At its height, the quarry employed 700 people, many of them immigrants from Scotland, Ireland, England, Finland, Sweden, and Italy.
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