Bertha Blue (ca. 1877-1963) was a member of a well-known African American family in Cleveland, Ohio. She was the first cousin to Welcome T. Blue, a prominent real estate dealer in Cleveland in the early twentieth century. Bertha Blue was a teacher at the Murray Hill Elementary School from 1903-1947. Murray Hill School was located in Little Italy, an Italian immigrant neighborhood on Cleveland's east side in which it was unusual for a person of another ethnicity to work. Miss Blue, and African American, was an exception as was well received in that community. She was revered because she taught recent Italian immigrants to Cleveland, both parents and children alike, how to read and speak American English. Upon her retirement, Miss Blue was offered a position on the Board of Trustees for Alta House Settlement in Little Italy. Jane Lee Darr, Miss Blue's foster daughter, has been interested in international affairs, particularly those which promote better relations through the exchange of art and culture. Mrs. Darr has continued Bertha Blue's dreams of racial harmony with efforts to establish an art and cultural educational park in Hawaii to be named for the Blue family.
The Bertha Blue Family Photographs, ca. 1900-1970 and undated, consist of individual and group portraits of Bertha Blue, her daughter Jane Darr, Welcome T. Blue, Sr., and other family members and friends. Included in the collection are photographs of Jane Edna Hunter, Virginia Bray, and G. Howard Fields. Events depicted are the weddings of Mabelle Blue and Jane Lee Darr, the tennis group with whom Bertha Blue played, and Bertha Blue's first grade class. The collection includes approximately 50 black and white and color photographs of varying sizes.
This collection will be useful to researchers studying the history of the African American community of Cleveland, Ohio, during the twentieth century. It will also be useful to researchers studying women's history, race relations, and ethnicity in Cleveland.
The collection is arranged by portrait type.
The researcher should also consult MS 4630 Bertha Blue Family Papers; and MS 5184 Jane Lee Darr Papers.
Processed by Nicole Harris in 1995.
None.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] PG 475 Bertha Blue Family Photographs, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
These photographs were removed from MS 4630 Bertha Blue Family Papers. Gift of Jane Lee Darr in 1989.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.