Scope and Content Note
The papers of Harry S. Cummings (1866-1917) span the years 1890 to 1986, with the bulk of the material dating from 1890 to 1917. The papers primarily consist of correspondence and four scrapbooks relating to Cummings’s political activities in the Republican party and his service on the city council in Baltimore, Maryland. The papers document his efforts to fight racial segregation legislation in Baltimore and his work in support of education for African Americans.
Cummings was born in 1866 in Baltimore. He graduated from Lincoln University in 1886 and was the first African American to be admitted to and graduated from the Maryland School of Law. Cummings was also the first African American elected to the Baltimore city council. He was first elected in 1890 and continued to serve for most years until his death. Cummings delivered the seconding speech for Theodore Roosevelt’s nomination at the 1904 Republican National Convention.
Most of the correspondence among the unbound papers is congratulatory upon the occasion of various elections or political activities. The scrapbooks mostly contained newspaper clippings which were crumbling and extremely fragile. These clippings have been replaced by preservation photocopies of the originals. Other items in the scrapbooks, such as postcards and pamphlets, which have been removed from the volumes, are filed with the photocopies, maintaining the original order of each scrapbook so far as possible.