"The Unwritten History": Alexander Gumby's African America

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Scrapbook 145:
"Odd, Strange and Curious,"
p. [19]

As has been noted earlier, it is more accurate to say that Gumby was interested in preserving a past that he felt was in danger of being lost than he was in documenting a specifically African-American history. That these goals happened to overlap significantly is evident throughout the collection, but volumes such as "Odd, Strange and Curious" (in which the page at right appears) betray the fact that Gumby would pursue his interests even if they did not fit into the more narrow category. A catch-all volume that included sections devoted to the sociology of bachelorhood and Boston's history, it is hardly surprising that Gumby's interest would also draw him to the story of the city in which he made his home for six decades--an interest given tangible form on this page.