Nina Gomer Du Bois as a child?, circa 1873

Containers:

Box 1, Image RL.11953-P-0003

Scope and content:

Formal studio portrait said to be of Nina Gomer, W.E.B.'s first wife, as a toddler, seated on chair, with long white dress. Date of photograph estimated by library staff is based on Nina Gomer Du Bois's biographical data. However, the dates for E. F. Canby's photograph studio (late 19th-early 20th century) and the thickness of the card stock suggest a later date than the 1870s, when Nina Gomer would have been a toddler. Albumen process, oval print mounted on thick card stock. Debossed logo on front, bottom left edge: Canby / Xenia, Ohio [E. F. Canby, photographer]. No other markings.

Biographical / historical:

Nina Gomer was born either in 1870 or 1871 in Quincy, Illinois. She grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. While a student at Wilberforce University in Ohio, she met W.E.B. Du Bois, and they married in 1896. She had two children with him, one of whom, Burghardt, died at the age ot two of typhoid. Her daughter Yolande "Nina" Du Bois lived to adulthood. Nina Gomer Du Bois died in June 1950 and is buried in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

Dimensions:

Image/sheet: 3 x 4 1/8 inches; mount: 7 1/8 x 5 1/8 inches

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