Philadelphia History Meetup

At the next monthly meeting for the Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides (APT), on February 11 at 7 pm, Faye Anderson will make a presentation, “Meet Moses Williams.” Born into slavery in the household of painter Charles Willson Peale, Moses Williams was the first Black museum professional and master silhouette artist whose story is buried in the archives. To raise awareness of Williams and his contribution to 19th century visual culture, Faye nominated Williams for a Pennsylvania historical marker. Williams’ marker will be dedicated in 2026, the 250th anniversary of his birth.

Faye will also provide an overview of the historical marker nomination process.

Faye Anderson is the director of All That Philly Jazz, a place-based public history project that is mapping Philadelphia’s lost jazz venues and landmarks and documenting the social history of jazz. Drawing on archival materials and oral histories, she uncovers hidden and forgotten stories. Faye leads walking tours about Billie Holiday, Green Book sites, and jazz history in Center City, North Philly, and West Philly.

Faye recently curated an exhibit on Black music from the 1770s to the 1970s for the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. She also nominated jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan for a Pennsylvania historical marker. The marker was dedicated on International Jazz Day 2024. She successfully nominated Morgan’s masterpiece, The Sidewinder, for listing in the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.

Faye is a graduate of Stanford University. She earned a Certificate in French Proficiency from Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, Sénégal.

The meeting will be in-person at Philly’s Gourmet Steaks, 114 Market Street, upstairs, and livestreamed on Zoom. The Zoom link will be available in the APT Tour Talk newsletter the week of the meeting; non-members should contact Marianne Ruane president@phillyguides.org no later than 5 pm the day of the meeting to receive the link.
Credit: Silhouette of Moses Williams/The Library Company of Philadelphia

The Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides (APT) will hold its next book club meeting on Tuesday, March 17 at 7 pm on Zoom. There is no fee to attend and everyone is welcome. Participants should come ready to discuss the book. The selection is The Power to Deny by APT’s own Wendy Long Stanley.

It is not uncommon for people to live in Horsham or some place very near Horsham for years and years before they somehow happen to discover Graeme Park. But when Wendy Stanley moved here from Canada almost 20 years go, it took her only a few weeks to find it and only minutes to become excited about it. She learned a bit about Elizabeth Graeme’s life as a privileged but restricted woman of the eighteenth century and started to write a novel about her. Wendy describes her book, The Power to Deny, as historical fiction. But it is hardly fiction at all. There is very little in it that is not documented or did not actually happen.

That is because Wendy did such extensive, detailed research about her subject. She visited Elizabeth-related sites in Philadelphia – her burial site at Christ Church, the graveyard at Old Swedes Church where Graeme and Henry Fergusson were married, the house where her sister Jane lived, as well as lots of libraries and, of course, Graeme Park. While poring through an original journal at the Pennsylvania Historical Society library, written in solitude with a quill pen by Elizabeth’s own hand, a pressed flower fell out of the pages. It had been there nearly three centuries!

Elizabeth’s life story seems a natural for a novel, considering her struggles in romance, as a writer, as a property owner during the Revolutionary War, and generally as a female during that turbulent era. Wendy put it all together in this book, which took her eight years of working in solitude at her computer, when time away from juggling all of the obligations of life as a 21st century wife, mother, and employee would allow, to write.

The Zoom link will be sent out the week of the meeting in the APT Tour Talk email. Non-members who wish to attend should contact APT Secretary Pam Covey phillyguides@gmail.com by 5 pm the day of the meeting to get the Zoom link.