Scope and Content Note
The papers of Anna Jean Snowden (circa 1895-) span the years 1910-1949, with the bulk of material dating from 1912 to 1925. The collection documents Snowden’s education at Howard University and the early years of her teaching career at Tuskegee Institute, Alabama. It also documents the lives of Snowden’s circle of family and friends who made up an emerging African American middle and professional class during the early twentieth century.
The collection provides insight into Snowden’s life as a student at Howard University through her journals and letters. Her journals, written in 1913 and 1914, document the daily life and thoughts of a young woman away at college as well as documenting the places and people she visited, including a summer spent in New York City in 1914. While there are some letters in the collection written by Anna Snowden, the bulk of the collection consists of letters written to her by friends and family, including her mother Josephine Snowden and sister Lillian Snowden Bazley. Other correspondents include the composer, William L. Dawson, who was at the Tuskegee Institute at the same time as Snowden, and Wilberforce University history professor George F. David II. Many of Snowden’s friends were African American professionals such as teachers, pharmacists, doctors, and lawyers and their letters provide perspectives on their lives and experiences.