Guide to the Mayme C. Netherland Collection

Processed Mia Jaeggli, Volunteer, October, 2013.
African American Museum & Library at Oakland
659 14th Street
Oakland, California 94612
Phone: (510) 637-0198
Fax: (510) 637-0204
Email: aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org
URL: http://www.oaklandlibrary.org/locations/african-american-museum-library-oakland
© 2013
African American Museum & Library at Oakland. All rights reserved.

Guide to the Mayme C. Netherland Collection

Collection number: MS 41

African American Museum & Library at Oakland

Oakland, California
Processed by:
Processed Mia Jaeggli, Volunteer, October, 2013.
Date Completed:
October 2013
Encoded by:
Mia Jaeggli
© 2013 African American Museum & Library at Oakland. All rights reserved.

Descriptive Summary

Title: Netherland (Mayme C.) collection
Dates: circa 1870s-1912
Collection number: MS 41
Creator: Netherland, Mayme C.
Collection Size: 1.25 linear feet (2 boxes + 1 oversize)
Repository: African American Museum & Library at Oakland (Oakland, Calif.)
Oakland, CA 94612
Abstract: The Mayme C. Netherland Photograph Collection includes 41 photographs of friends and family of Mayme C. Netherland. Included in the collection are circa 1880s-1900s tin-type portraits and cabinet card portraits of African American women and men, as well as photographs of Netherland’s grandfather, father and husbands.
Languages: Languages represented in the collection: English

Access

No access restrictions. Collection is open to the public.

Access Restrictions

Materials are for use in-library only, non-circulating.

Publication Rights

Permission to publish from the Mayme C. Netherland Collection must be obtained from the African American Museum and Library at Oakland.

Preferred Citation

Netherland (Mayme C.) collection, MS 41, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library. Oakland, California.

Processing Information

Processed Mia Jaeggli, Volunteer, October, 2013.

Biography / Administrative History

Mayme (Mary) C. Netherland (1877-1973) was born to Oscar Thomas Jackson and Mary Ellen Jackson (née Scott) in Oakland, California. Her maternal grandfather, John Scott (1815-1916), was born a slave in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. At the age of 23, he escaped and joined a band of Cherokee Indians. During this time, he helped other slaves escape along the Underground Railroad. After two years of freedom, Scott was caught and sold to Lieutenant Hoskins of the U.S. Army. Scott served alongside Hoskins in the Mexican-American War and was a member of John C. Fremont’s 1844 expedition to California. At the end of the expedition, Scott escaped again and found a rich gold mine in Calaveras County. However, Scott as an African American could not hold the property under existing laws in the 1850s. Two gamblers fought Scott for the property, during which he killed one of them. He fled to Oregon and Utah with a reward on his head, finally returning to California in 1859 to establish a home in Tehama County. There he married and had three children, one of whom was Netherland’s mother, Mary Ellen Jackson. Scott successfully advocated that African American children be allowed to attend public schools in Tehama County. He died in 1916 just before turning 101.
Netherland’s father, Oscar Thomas Jackson (1846-1909), trained and worked as a barber in San Francisco on Montgomery Street before establishing his own shop in Watsonville, California. After marrying Mary Ellen Jackson in 1871, the couple moved to Oakland, California where they had three children. Mayme C. Netherland was the only surviving child. Soon after, Jackson left to tour as a lead tenor with the Hicks Sawyer Minstrels and later with other minstrel groups. He resettled back in Oakland in 1898 and returned to barbering. He died in 1909 at the age of 63.
Mayme C. Netherland married her first husband Tom Grischott in 1896 at the age of 19. In 1910 Grischott died leaving Netherland a widow. Netherland married her second husband John Divine Netherland in 1909 at the age of 32. The Netherland’s established a home in Oakland, California near Grove St. now named Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, which at that time was the dividing line between where African Americans and whites could buy property.
As one of California’s prominent first African American families, Netherland was a member of the California Native Daughters and was an active member of multiple clubs under the auspices of the Colored Women’s Clubs Association, as well as an officer of CWCA. In 1971, the Oakland Tribune recognized her as one of Oakland’s oldest native daughters. She died in 1973 at the age of 96.

Scope and Content of Collection

The collection contains 41 photographs, primarily portraits, with some in the form of cabinet cards or tin types. A few photographs are of family members, but most are of unidentified persons. The photographs are arranged by identification number, with the exception of a few contained within the album.

Arrangement

Series I. Photographs Series II. Marriage certificates

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
African Americans--California--History.
African Americans--California—East Bay--History.
African Americans—Families.
Photographs

“Most Unique Man of Tehama County Is Dead at Age of 101.” Red Bluff Daily News 20 May 1916 : n. pag.
Reader, Phil. “Oscar Thomas ‘O.T.’ Jackson.” Santa Cruz Public Library. 1996.

Other Finding Aids

Colored Women's Clubs Associations collection, MS 1, African American Museum and Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library. Oakland, California.

Related Material

This collection was originally part of the California Native Daughters Club Collection at the African American Museum and Library at Oakland. The items were separated into individual collections in October 2013.

 

Photographs

Physical Description: 41 photographs

Series Scope and Content Summary

Includes 41 photographs and photograph album, primarily cabinet cards or tin types portraits. A few photographs are of family members, but most are of unidentified persons. Includes photograph of John Wiley-Scott, Mayme C. Netherland's grandfather.

Arrangement

Arranged by identification number, with the exception of a few contained within the album.
Box 1:1

Mayme C. Netherland and her grandfather John Scott [001] circa 1900

Box 1:1

Portrait of Millard Pratt, inscribed "half brother of Mayme (Mary) C. Netherland. Buried in Stockton." [002] circa 1898

Box 2:1

Portrait of Mayme C. Netherland [003] circa 1895

Box 1:1

Portrait of Oscar Thomas Jackson [004] 1905

Box 2:1

Portrait of unidentified child [005] circa 1880s-1890s

Box 2:1

Portrait of a woman posed with a book [006] circa 1880s

Box 1:1

Portrait of two men in front of backdrop of the San Francisco's Cliff House Inn [007] circa 1900s

Box 1:1

Portrait of man sitting on chair [008] circa 1890s

Box 2:1

Portrait of Mayme C. Netherland as a child [009] circa 1887

Box 2:1

Portrait of Millard Pratt, Mayme C. Netherland, and unidentified man [010] circa 1890s

Box 2:1

Baby portrait of Mayme C. Netherland [011] circa 1870s

Box 2:1

Baby portrait of Mayme C. Netherland [012] circa 1870s

Box 1:2

Cabinet card portrait of infant in dress [013] circa 1890s

Box 2:1

Portrait of Tom Grischott, caption: "1st husband of Mayme C. Jackson Netherland" [014] 1903

Box 1:2

Portrait of Mayme Mary C. Netherland [015] 1912

Box 1:2

Portrait of Mayme Mary C. Netherland holding an umbrella with letter on reverse [016] 1912

Box 1:2

Portrait of unidentified woman [017] circa 1880s

Box 1:2

Portrait of unidentified man [018] circa 1890s

Box 2:1

Portrait of woman and child [019] circa 1890s

Box 1:2

Portrait of man in overcoat [020] circa 1890s

Box 1:2

Portrait of woman in straw hat [021] undated

Box 1:2

Portrait of woman [022] undated

Box 1:2

Portrait of man [023] circa 1900s

Box 1:2

Portrait of Mamie Axtell [025] circa 1893

Box 1:3

Portrait of man [026] circa 1880s

Box 1:3

Portrait of woman [027] circa 1880s

Box 1:3

Portrait of infant in dress [028] circa 1870s

Box 1:3

Portrait of woman [030] circa 1890s

Box 1:3

Portrait of woman [031] undated

Box 1:3

Portrait of man [032] undated

Box 1:3

Portrait of Amanda Evans [033] undated

Box 1:3

Portrait of man holding umbrella [034] circa 1890s

Box 1:3

Portrait of Amanda Evans and unidentified man [035] undated

Box 1:3

Portrait of woman posed with a book [036] circa 1880s

Box 2:1

Portrait of Mayme C. Netherland (right) and unidentified woman [037] 1890s

Box 2:1

Portrait of woman and young boy [038] 1890s

Box 2:1

Portrait of woman [039] undated

Box 2:1

Portrait of Mrs. T.A. Rinngston [?][040] undated

Box 1:3

Portrait of man in military uniform [041] undated

 

Marriage Certificates

Physical Description: Two marriage certificates

Series Scope and Content Summary

Two marriage certificates for Mayme C. Netherland.

Arrangement

Arranged by date.
Box OM11

Marriage Certificate for Mayme C. Netherland and Tom Grischott 1896

Box OM11

Marriage Certificate for Mayme C. Netherland and John Divine Netherland 1909