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historical notes
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William Henry Dorsey was born in Philadelphia in 1837. His father was one of the city’s premiere caterers and left his son a great amount of wealth. In Philadelphia, Dorsey established himself first as an artist, then as scrapbooker, then as an avid collector of landscapes, portraits, photographs, books, pamphlets, artifacts, musical compositions, and engravings. He was also a founder of the American Negro Historical Society (ANHS), the first society to preserve the history of Black people.
Dorsey was foremost a scrapbooker, creating nearly 400 volumes by hand throughout his life. They remain an invaluable record of early Black history and culture. He also assembled a private museum on the second floor of his home at 206 Dean Street in Philadelphia to house his collection, where rare portrait engravings done by Patrick Reason, paintings and sculptures by Black artists such as Robert S. Duncanson, John G. Chaplin, and Edmonia Lewis and white artists such as Thomas Moran and James Hamilton, and Bertel Thorvaldsen could be found.
Dorsey was just as committed to creating art as collecting it. He produced commissioned works and participated in several exhibitions, but apparently won no prizes. Over the years he exhibited with fellow Black artists such as Henry Ossawa Tanner, Douglass, Duncanson, Bowser, Edward Mitchell Bannister, and Alfred Stidum at venues such as the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Working Men’s Club of Philadelphia.
Dorsey died in 1923. His scrapbooks are all that remains of his collection. |
