Guide to the Bernice Middleton Papers
Sean Heyliger
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 Bernice Middleton Papers
Collection number: MS 55
African American Museum & Library at Oakland
Oakland, California
- Processed by:
- Sean Heyliger
- Date Completed:
- 09/07/2013
- Encoded by:
- Sean Heyliger
© 2013 African American Museum & Library at Oakland. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Bernice Middleton papers
Dates: 1938-1994
Collection number: MS 55
Creator:
Middleton, Bernice.
Collection Size:
.5 linear feet
(1 box)
Repository:
African American Museum & Library at Oakland (Oakland, Calif.)
Abstract: The Bernice Middleton papers include certificates, correspondence, photographs, meeting minutes, funeral programs, newspaper
clippings, and a handwritten autobiography documenting the life and career of Bernice Middleton.
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 Bernice Middleton Papers must be obtained from the African American Museum & Library at Oakland.
Preferred Citation
Bernice Middleton papers, MS 55, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library. Oakland, California.
Processing Information
Processed by Sean Heyliger, 09/07/2013.
Biography / Administrative History
Bernice Middleton (1915-2002) was born in 1915 in Arkansas to Rev. T.J. and Pearline Middleton. The family moved to Idabel,
Oklahoma, where T.J. Middleton was a pastor of the A.M.E. church until 1929, when the family moved to Rosston, Arkansas to
live with members of Pearline Middleton’s family after the death of her father. Though the family was of limited means, Bernice
Middleton was able to graduate high school as class valedictorian and earned a scholarship to attend nursing school at the
University of Arkansas in Little Rock. She eventually graduated with an R.N. license from the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps
and moved to California where she worked as a nurse in the armed forces. Following the outbreak of World War II, she moved
to San Francisco to work at a veterans’ hospital in 1943.
After working as a nurse at various hospitals and private practices in San Francisco in the 1940s, she returned to school
at Wilberforce University in Ohio, graduating with a B.S. in 1952 and a B.D. in Divinity from Payne Theological Seminary.
While at Wilberforce University, she earned a certificate in teaching and after graduation took a position as Assistant Dean
of Women at Morris Brown University in Atlanta, Georgia in 1953. Returning to California, she was appointed Dean of Girls
at the California School for the Deaf in Berkeley, where she taught for the next seven years, before teaching at Ceres Unified
School District (1960-1967) and Modesto Junior College.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Bernice Middleton papers include certificates, correspondence, photographs, meeting minutes, funeral programs, newspaper
clippings, and a handwritten autobiography documenting the life and career of Bernice Middleton. The papers are organized
into six series: teaching, religious activities, civic organizations, autobiography, photographs, and assorted printed materials.
Teaching material includes Middleton’s resume, diplomas, certificates, her performance evaluation at the California Institution
for the Deaf and the Blind, and correspondence related to various teaching positions and letters of congratulations for teaching
awards received by Middleton. Religious material includes meeting minutes, programs, and certificates related to her involvement
in the African Methodist Episcopal church. The civic organizations series includes programs, membership rosters, correspondence,
and certificates related to her participation in the Over 60 Health Center, National Council of Negro Woman, Inc., and masonic
organizations.
The papers also include Bernice Middleton’s 94 pp. handwritten autobiography describing her experiences as child growing up
in Rosston, Arkansas from 1929-1937. In the autobiography, she describes her family's move from Idabel, Oklahoma to Rosston,
Arkansas following her father's stroke and subsequent death, their financial struggles in Arkansas, her intermittent schooling
and work picking cotton and as a domestic in a boardinghouse, and her later academic success in high school. Photographs
in the collection are mostly portraits of Bernice Middleton and photographs of students at the California Institution for
the Deaf and the Blind, and WAC servicemembers during World War II. Assorted printed material includes funeral programs of
Bernice Middleton’s mother and brother, 1953 college yearbook at Morris Brown College, and an eleven page essay written on
her life and career by Francine Elane Marsh.
Arrangement
Series I. Teaching
Series II. Religious activities
Series III. Civic organizations
Series IV. Autobiography
Series V. Photographs
Series VI. Printed materials
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Middleton, Bernice.
Autobiography--African American authors.
African Americans--Arkansas--History.
African Americans--Arkansas--Social conditions.
African Americans--Arkansas--History--Sources.
Teaching
Physical Description: 5 folders
Series Scope and Content Summary
Includes Bernice Middleton's diplomas, teaching resume, correspondence related to teaching positions and awards, her performance
evaluation as a teacher at the California Institution for the Deaf and the Blind, assorted teaching awards and certificates.
Arrangement
Arranged by format.
Box 1:4
Performance evaluation
1982
Religious activities
Physical Description: 4 folders
Series Scope and Content Summary
Includes programs, meeting minutes, and financial records documenting Middleton's involvement in the African Methodist Episcopal
Church and assorted church certificates.
Arrangement
Arranged by format.
African Methodist Episcopal Church
Box 1:8
Meeting minutes
1990-1991
Civic organizations
Physical Description: 4 folders
Series Scope and Content Summary
Includes Bernice Middleton's certificates and programs, meeting minutes, and membership rosters of various civic organizations.
Arrangement
Arranged by organization.
Box 1:10
Over 60 Health Center
1983-1991
Box 1:13
National Council of Negro Woman, Inc.
1978-1991
Box 1:14
Autobiography, handwritten manuscript, 94 pp.
undated
Physical Description: 1 folder
Series Scope and Content Summary
Includes a 94 pp. handwritten manuscript describing her life in Rosston, Arkansas between 1929-1937. She describes her family's
move from Idabel, Oklahoma to Rosston, Arkansas following her father's stroke and subsequent death, their financial struggles
in Arkansas, her intermittent schooling and work picking cotton and as a domestic in a boardinghouse, and her later academic
success in high school.
Photographs
Physical Description: 36 photographs
Series Scope and Content Summary
Includes portraits of Bernice Middleton, WAC servicemembers during World War II, and photographs of students at the California
Institution for the Deaf and the Blind.
Arrangement
Arranged by photograph identification number.
Box 1:15
Bernice Middleton with students in living room [001]
circa 1960s
Box 1:15
Group photograph of Bernice Middle and students in auditorium [002]
circa 1980s
Box 1:15
David, Kathie, and Frankie Walker Christmas card with portrait of baby [003]
circa 1960s
Box 1:15
Student David Peterson on the California School for the Blind campus [004]
1980
Box 1:15
Portrait of unidentified couple [005]
circa 1980s
Box 1:15
Boy and girl wearing royalty costumes [006]
circa 1970s
Box 1:15
Boy wearing bow tie holding a cane and smoking corn pipe [007]
circa 1970s
Box 1:15
Bernice Middleton standing with group of men and women, reverse: 'Best wishes always Bernice- Christine Sipherd' [008]
1963
Box 1:15
Portrait of Bernice Middleton [009]
circa 1940s
Box 1:15
Portrait of Bernice Middleton [010]
circa 1950s
Box 1:15
Portrait of Bernice Middleton [011]
circa 1940s
Box 1:15
Portrait of Bernice Middleton [012]
circa 1970s
Box 1:15
Portrait of Bernice Middleton [013]
circa 1930s
Box 1:15
Portrait of Bernice Middleton and young woman [014]
circa 1930s
Box 1:15
Bernice Middleton and Leroy [-] in Waldo, Arkansas [015]
1937
Box 1:15
Portrait of Bernice Middleton [016]
circa 1980s
Box 1:16
Bernice Middleton standing on sidewalk in San Francisco, California [017]
1947
Box 1:16
Group photograph of men and women [018]
circa 1950s
Box 1:16
Portrait of Bernice Middleton [019]
circa 1980s
Box 1:16
Portrait of Bernice Middleton [020]
circa 1970s
Box 1:16
Portrait of Bernice Middleton and girl [021]
circa 1930s
Box 1:16
Portrait of Bernice Middleton [022]
1938
Box 1:2
Portrait of Bernice Middleton [023]
circa 1930s
Box 1:16
Portrait of Bernice Middleton [024]
1938
Box 1:16
Portrait of Bernice Middleton [025]
1942
Box 1:16
Portrait of Bernice Middleton [026]
circa 1940s
Box 1:16
Portrait of Bernice Middleton [027]
circa 1950s
Box 1:16
Portrait of Bernice Middleton [028]
circa 1970s
Box 1:16
Portrait of a woman [029]
undated
Box 1:16
Portrait of a man [030]
undated
Box 1:16
Woman working at telephone switchboard, Ft. Ord [031]
1947
Box 1:16
Group of men and women seated in mess hall during WAC visit, Ft. Huachuca [032]
1944
Box 1:2
Dental technician cleaning soldier’s teeth, Ft. Ord [033]
1947
Box 1:2
Portrait of Clara Wilson in WAC uniform [034]
1944
Box 1:2
Bombed church after D-Day Rouen, France [035]
circa 1940s
Box 1:2
Two WAC servicemembers skiing on recreational holiday at Cane Creek, Arizona [036]
1944
Assorted printed material
Physical Description: 4 folders
Series Scope and Content Summary
Includes funeral programs of Bernice Middleton's mother and brother, Pearline and William Grant Middleton, assorted newspaper
clippings documenting her career as a teacher, Morris Brown College yearbook,
The Brownite, from 1953, and an essay written on Bernice Middleton's life and career,
The life of a truly extraordinary woman: Bernice Middleton and a French postcard, The Flight Pattern newspaper, and military orders from her service in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps(WAC).
Arrangement
Arranged by format.
Box 1:17
Funeral programs
1964-1985
Box 1:18
Newspaper clippings
1970-1992
Box 1:19
Morris Brown College yearbook,
The Brownite
1953
Box 1:20
The life of a truly extraordinary woman: Bernice Middleton / Francine Elane Marsh
1993
Box 1:21
Petit-Quevilly La Foudre postcard [reverse: “Bernice Thomas stayed here, still working on mail in France 1945]
1945
Box OM 29:2
The Flight Pattern newspaper
1944-03-17
Box 1:21
Armed Services Forces Second Service Command reception station no. 2 special orders number 148
1946-05-28
