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  • Collection ID ARCHIVES 200709
  • Creator Names Elam, Melissa Ann, $d 1853-1953
  • Title Papers 1891-1961.
  • Physical description 3 linear feet
  • Collection arrangement Materials are arranged into six series: Correspondence, Organizational Materials, Pamphlets, Programs and Flyers, Serials and Clippings, Photographs, and Memorabilia.
  • Access and usage restrictions Available for research in the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature, Carter G. Woodson Regional Library, Chicago Public Library.
  • Collection summary The Melissia Elam-Lauretta Peyton Papers were created from materials found at 4726 South Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, the former Elam Club Home for Working Girls. The materials were found by Ms. Dolores Easter, who was working on "spring cleaning" of the house for its trustee organization. Nearly all of the organizational records of the Elam Home have been lost. What remains are some personal documents held by Melissia Elam and by her niece Lauretta Peyton, and some materials from other organizations in which Elam and Peyton participated.
  • Biographical or Historical Note Melissia Ann Elam (1853-1941), was the daughter of John and Rachel Meredith, both born into slavery. Melissia was born in Parry County, Missouri in 1853, and moved to Chicago in 1876. That same year she married her first husband, Rev. J.M. Derrick. They had two children. At the time she arrived in Chicago, she joined a tightly-knit African American community numbering no more than 5,000 people. She joined Quinn Chapel A..M.E. Church, and remained a member for the rest of her life. It is believed that she married her second husband, Reuben Elam shortly after 1900. Melissia Elam was firmly rooted in the world of Chicago's African American clubwomen. She was an active member of the Phyllis Wheatley Woman's Club, an affiliate of the Chicago and Northern District of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACW), and served several times as a delegate to the NACW's national convention. As early as 1912, she was a member of the Old Settlers Club, the YWCA, and later was active as a charter member of the Eastern Star Lodge, Electra chapter and Fidelity court. In the World War I years, she joined with Ida B. Wells Barnett in the Negro Fellowship League, an organization working for justice for African Americans in the criminal courts. In 1919 Elam opened the "Elam Club Home for Working Girls" at 4555 South Champlain Ave. Seven years later she expanded her operation, purchasing a nineteenth century mansion at 4726 South Parkway. She continued to direct work at the Home until she was 86 years old, when a lingering illness confined her to bed. Melissia Elam died in February 1941. Before her death Melissia Elam assigned her niece, Lauretta Peyton, to carry on the work at Elam Club Home. Lauretta Peytonm, born and raised in California, had often visited her aunt in Chicago. She moved to Chicago in the 1930s to serve as Elam's assistant with the work at the Home. Peyton continued to direct the Home until she died in 1953.
  • Finding Aids Note Finding aid available in the Harsh Research Collection, Carter G. Woodson Regional Library, Chicago Public Library and on the library's web site.
  • Acquisition information Donated by Dolores Easter, July 14, 2007.
  • Names
    • Elam, Melissa Ann, $d 1853-1953 Archives.
    • Peyton, Lauretta, $d -1953 Archives.
    • Quinn Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church (Chicago, Ill.)
    • Elam Club Home for Working Girls with $v Archives.
    • Peyton, Lauretta, $d -1953.
  • Subjects
    • African American women Illinois Chicago Societies and clubs.
    • African Americans Illinois Chicago Social life and customs.
  • Finding aid URL http://www.chipublib.org/fa-melissia-elam-lauertta-peyton-papers/