» Honoring Everyday Relationships
This post is written by Nate Hubler, the Avery Research Center’s Liberatory Legacies Archival Fellow.
Dear Annie,
“Desire not to live long but well; how long we live, not years but actions, tell.”
Yours,
Florence G. Macbeth1
Anna Elizabeth Alston (1860-1944) was an African American music teacher and domestic worker who traveled with her parents, John and Julia A. Alston, and her siblings for much of her life. After being born in Ohio, she and her family spent significant amounts of time living in Charleston, South Carolina, and Chelsea, Massachusetts, and briefer periods in Florida, New York, and New Hampshire. John Alston’s work as a minister likely drove the family’s travels as they moved along the East Coast.
Thanks to census, birth, and death records, some basic biographical information about Anna and her family is known, but the day-to-day details of their lives are largely lost to time. What remains to give some substance to Anna’s life beyond the previously mentioned records are two albums, an autograph album, and a photograph album. The autograph album contains messages of friendship, spirituality, and hope written to Anna by her presumed friends and neighbors. The photo album includes 72 photographs of presumed family members and friends and souvenir carte de visite photographs.
Most photographs do not have any information written on their backs to indicate who the people photographed were. The only written description that resurfaces on some of the photos is “John Alston” which is found on the backs of some of the tintype portrait photographs of children, likely indicating that they were John’s children. However, even with so much unknown, the pictures show the time’s fashion and Anna’s rich social circle.
Despite how little is known about the photographs and the relationships of the people writing messages to Anna, her role and importance in her surrounding community are clear. Regardless of where she was living, it appears that she left an indelible impression on those she spent time with, and they impacted her. The importance of these everyday relationships to Anna lives on through the pages of her albums and gives character to the life she lived even when so little else is known.
Women’s History Month is an important time to celebrate the women trailblazers who advocated and fought for a freer and more inclusive society. It is also a moment to commemorate the women who, like Anna, almost did not make it into the pages of history and those who still have not. Our lives are filled with everyday relationships that sustain, inspire, and challenge us, much like Anna’s life was. During difficult times, it is essential to remember that our actions and their impact on those around us allow us to live well and even to continue to live beyond our time alive, much like Florence reminded Anna in her message.
The Anna E. Alston Albums are digitized and available on the Lowcountry Digital Library. Thank you to the Mellon Foundation for supporting the processing and digitization of this collection.
Footnote
- Message from Florence G. Macbeth to Anna Alston, Undated, Anna E. Alston Albums in Various Collections, Box 7, Folder 1, Avery Research Center, College of Charleston, SC, USA. ↩︎
Image Credits
- Message from Florence G. Macbeth to Anna Alston, Undated, Anna E. Alston Albums in Various Collections, Box 7, Folder 1, Avery Research Center, College of Charleston, SC, USA.
- Front cover of Anna Alston’s autograph album, Undated, Anna E. Alston Albums in Various Collections, Box 7, Folder 1, Avery Research Center, College of Charleston, SC, USA.
- Front cover of Anna Alston’s photograph album, Undated, Anna E. Alston Albums in Various Collections, Box 8, Avery Research Center, College of Charleston, SC, USA.
- Page from Anna Alston’s photograph album with four photos, three of which have John Alston written on their backs, Undated, Anna E. Alston Albums in Various Collections, Box 8, Avery Research Center, College of Charleston, SC, USA.