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Guide to the Sylvia Anna Magruder Papers
MS 59
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Table of contents
Title: Sylvia Anna Magruder papers
Dates: 1885-1964
Collection number: MS 59
Creator:
Magruder, Sylvia Anna.
Collection Size:
.25 linear feet
(1 box)
Repository:
African American Museum & Library at Oakland (Oakland, Calif.)
Oakland, CA 94612
Abstract: Put abstract here.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
No access restrictions. Collection is open to the public.
Materials are for use in-library only, non-circulating.
Permission to publish from the Sylvia Anna Magruder Papers must be obtained from the African American Museum & Library at
Oakland.
Sylvia Anna Magruder papers, MS 59, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library. Oakland, California.
Processed by Sean Heyliger, 09/13/2013.
Biography / Administrative History
Sylvia Anna Magruder (née Duncan) was born on July 1, 1880 in New Orleans, Louisiana the youngest daughter of Rev. Stephen
Duncan and Sylvia Duncan. She graduated from New Orleans University and worked as a teacher and matron for ten years before
marrying Rev. E.J. Magruder in 1908. The couple moved to California the following year, and in 1926 E.J. Magruder was appointed
as the pastor at the First A.M.E. Church in San Francisco, California. Sylvia Anna Magruder served various civic and religious
organizations in the San Francisco area, including the Y' Women of the San Francisco Buchanan St. YWCA and Woman's Home and
Foreign Missionary Society of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. She also worked for African American civil rights
and advocated the hiring of the city’s first African American railway conductor, police officer, and social worker.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Sylvia Anna Magruder Papers include correspondence, certificates, funeral and musical programs, newspaper clippings, and
photographs documenting the life and volunteer activities of Sylvia Anna Magruder. The papers are arranged into two series:
biographical material and photographs. Biographical material include correspondence from politicians and civic organizations
thanking Magruder for her volunteer work, certificates from the Woman's Home and Foreign Missionary Society of the African
Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, funeral and musical programs, and assorted newspaper clippings. Photographs in the collection
are mostly portraits of Sylvia Anna Magruder and members of the Duncan family, photographs taken at Sylvia Anna Magruder’s
birthday celebrations, and photographs related to Magruder's participation in the YWCA and Woman's Home and Foreign Missionary
Society of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.
Series I. Biographical Series II. Photographs
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Magruder, Sylvia Anna.
Women’s Home and Foreign Mission Society.
African American--Families.