[AFRICAN AMERICAN] A lot of correspondence and ephemera from the band leader of an important Hamilton-based African American Travelling vocal group, 1907-1916 including:

27 letters, 7 postcards, 4 hand bills, and 7 pieces of related ephemera that form a rare record from the leader of one of the few Canadian-based travelling African American minstrel and spiritual bands in the pre-war and early war years. The correspondence are primarily authored by N. O Patterson, and are addressed to his brother, a Hamilton resident: W. R Patterson, during the time N. O Patterson was on the road as a baritone soloist in the Chicago-based Old Southland Quartet, and later as the band leader of the Hamilton-based Patterson's Jubilee Quartet and Concert Company, and Patterson's Jubilee Singers.

The content of the letters, authored from cities across the United States and Ontario between 1907 and 1916, include discussion of family and financial matters, mentions of war, easy and hard times on the road and at home in Hamilton, and include references to Patterson’s popular contemporary, The Canadian Jubilee Singers (1878-c. 1907). The ephemera and handbills include setlists and band rosters, as well as an invitation to the wedding of an important advocate for African American emancipation, and author of The Negro Element in American Life (1900) Rev. Abraham Lincoln DeMond (1867-1963). [Sold with]: March, J. B. T. THE STORY OF THE JUBILEE SINGERS; WITH THEIR SONGS. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, n.d. Revised Edition. 8vo, brown cloth with gilt cover and spine. Includes a portrait plate of the Jubilee singers. Cover page loose, otherwise in good condition. [And]: CANADIAN HYMNAL. Toronto; William Briggs. 8vo, red cloth wrapper.

Condition report available upon request.