urn:taro:houpub.00187 Eliza Johnson Home for Aged Negroes Collection: An Inventory of Records at the Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library
500 McKinney St. Julia Ideson Building, 2nd Floor Houston, Tx 77002 832-393-1665
Encoded in EAD Version 2002 and edited according to instructions in TARO 2 EAD 2002 Editing Instructions by Amber Seely inMarch 2008 Finding aid written in English. Descriptive Summary Eliza Johnson Home for Aged Negroes Eliza Johnson Home for Aged Negroes Collection 1949-1983 Materials are in English. RG E 47 4 boxes Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library Historical Note

The Eliza Johnson Home for Aged Negroes began as a dream of Anna Dupree. Dupree moved to Houston from Galveston in 1916. She supported herself as a maid and housekeeper for white families while taking instruction at Ethel Baird's Beauty Shop. She subsequently amassed a considerable fortune as a beautician and entrepreneur. When the Eliza Johnson Home opened in June of 1952, it was largely due to her determination and resources, as well as the support and encouragement of her husband, C.A., and others in the black community.

The need for such a facility in Houston was palpable. Five such homes already operated in the metropolitan area, one funded by Harris County and the others by churches, but they admitted only white people; health care in Houston for elderly, indigent citizens, as in many other American cities, was based largely on a policy of racial segregation or exclusion. Hence, the goal of the Eliza Johnson Home--located on a thirty-five acre tract off Chocolate Bayou Road in the historically black neighborhood of Sunnyside--was basic: to provide a place "where our old people enjoy kind, humane care and freedom from fear and want in their remaining days."

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of business documents and correspondence, dating approximately from 1949 to 1983, and photographs and clippings.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged by type, and chronologically within each type.

 Access Restrictions

None.

 Use Restrictions

Permission to publish or reproduce materials from the Eliza Johnson Home for Aged Negroes Collection must be obtained from the Houston Metropolitan Research Center or the appropriate copyright holder.

 Preferred Citation

Eliza Johnson Home for Aged Negroes Collection. RG E 47. Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library.

Processing Information

Processed by Howard Beeth, 1983.

Index TermsSubjects (Organizations)Eliza Johnson Home for Aged NegroesSubjectsAfrican Americans--Texas--HoustonOlder peopleNursing homes--Texas--HoustonDetailed DescriptionBusiness Documents11Charter, Incorporation Papers, and Land Deed, 1949-1950, 195612Board of Directors and Annual Meting Minutes, 1950-1960 13Miscellaneous Documents and Correspondence, no date, 1951-1952, 1954-195614Executive Committee Meeting Minutes, March 1957-July 195815Miscellaneous Documents and Correspondence, 1957-1963, 1973198316Board of Directors Meeting Minutes and Correspondence, 1965-1968Photographs17Photograph Identification Sheets21-58PhotographsMiscellaneous3Scrapbook, containing mostly press clippings, 1952-19554Original document containers