Alice Royal Collection, 1913-2011

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Summary

Creators:: Royal, Alice. Harris, Dorothy Hickerson. Hickerson, Joseph William. Calbert, William E.
Abstract:: Alice Calbert Fauntleroy Royal (1923-2014) was born Alice Lucinda Calbert on January 15, 1923, in her grandparents’ home in Allensworth, California to William Riley Calbert and Sadie Hickerson Hackett Calbert. The Alice Royal Collection includes material assembled and donated to the African American Museum & Library at Oakland by Royal on the activities of family members Joseph W. Hickerson (1883-1971), Dorothy Hickerson Harris (1916-1989), and William E. Calbert (b. 1918).
Extent:: 1 linear foot (2 boxes + 1 oversize box)
Language:: Languages represented in the collection: English
Preferred citation:: Alice Royal Collection, MS 140, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library. Oakland, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The Alice Royal Collection includes material assembled and donated to the African American Museum & Library at Oakland by Royal on the activities of family members Joseph W. Hickerson (1883-1971), Dorothy Hickerson Harris (1916-1989), and William E. Calbert (b. 1918). The collection includes service bulletins, events programs, ledgers, newsletters, printed material, brochures, ephemera, correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, and a scrapbook. The bulk of material relates to First African Methodist Episcopal (First AME) Church activities and its members, as collected by Hickerson Harris, and U.S. Army chaplain William E. Calbert service and chaplaincy career. The collection is arranged in five series: Series I. Dorothy Hickerson Harris Series II. Joseph W. Hickerson Series III. William E. Calbert Series IV. Allensworth calendar of events Series V. Photographs

Biographical / historical:

Alice Calbert Fauntleroy Royal (1923-2014) was born Alice Lucinda Calbert on January 15, 1923, in her grandparents’ home in Allensworth, California to William Riley Calbert (1879-1932) and Sadie Hickerson Hackett Calbert (1885-1987). The family farmed the San Joaquin valley outside Lemoore, California, while Royal attended primary education in the Allensworth school. In 1933 the family moved to Alameda, California, where her mother worked as a governess. Royal graduated from Haight School in 1936, and completed Alameda High School in 1940.

From 1940 to 1943, Royal attended San Francisco Junior College and San Francisco State, completing a program in pre-nursing. She did her nursing training at Highland Hospital in Oakland, California, and became licensed in 1946. From there Royal sought a career as a public health nurse and administrator, working with the Oakland Health Department, as an Oakland Public Schools nurse, and as nursing advisor to the Oakland Board of Education under Superintendent Wilson Riles. In 1950, Royal married African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Reverend G. Fauntleroy. Reverend Fauntleroy died in 1958, though Royal maintained a lifelong membership in A.M.E. Zion. She remarried in 1960 to Cornelius C. Royal, a dedicated member of the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco, California.

Royal formally retired in 1978 to care for her mother, moving to Visalia, California, where she took up the project of acting to preserve and educate about the Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park, California’s first state historical park designated to African-American pioneers. With assistance from her brothers, James W. Calbert, and William E. Calbert, Royal worked to restore the township’s historic structures, produce staffing reports and resource management plans and promote the Allensworth townspeople as beneficiaries of the park under the Allensworth Citizens Council. She chaired the Colonel Allensworth State Park Advisory Committee from 1985 to 1989, served on the Allensworth planning task force for 2008, and was a member of the Friends of Allensworth. In 2008 Royal published the book Allensworth, the Freedom Colony: A California African American Township. Alice Royal died December 9th, 2014.

In addition to her work with Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park, Royal spent much of her middle and late years collecting Hickerson and Calbert family histories. As legal executor of Dorothy Hickerson Harris (1916-1989), Royal assembled material related to Hickerson Harris’ active participation in the First A.M.E. Church, Oakland, California, as well as material related to Hickerson Harris’ father, Joseph W. Hickerson (1883-1971). Royal also documented the service and chaplaincy career of her brother, U.S. Army chaplain William E. Calbert (b. 1918).

Processing information:

Processed by Sean Dickerson.

Arrangement:

Series I. Dorothy Hickerson Harris Series II. Joseph W. Hickerson Series III. William E. Calbert Series IV. Allensworth calendar of events Series V. Photographs

Rules or conventions: