About

4 inches; photographic, printed.
567 black and white negatives
307 black and white prints
2 color snapshots
6 reels; 16mm color motion picture film

Collection Description

Elder Charles William Blair was a minister in the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), an African American sect of the Pentecostal Church. Elder Blair was pastor of Blair’s Temple Church of God in Christ, located in South Dallas, Texas. Elder Blair was married to Gladys Blair, with whom he had three children. He died about 1974.

The collection consists primarily of photographic materials documenting the life and career of Elder Blair and the Church of God in Christ movement in Texas. Significant images include his family and the Blair’s Temple Chruch of God in Christ, as well as historic images of COGIC founder Charles Harrison Mason and of Mason Temple, Memphis, Tennessee. An unrelated series documents an undated parade through downtown Dallas, Texas by Western Swing musician Bob Wills. In addition, there are six reels of 16 millimeter home-movie film. The reels, shot 1957-1958, include footage of Dallas, Texas, Waco, Texas, and a COGIC meeting in Memphis, Tennessee, in December 1956.

Arrangement: arranged by series and by format.

Copyright and permissions: use in educational research and publication only. Permission from TAAP Archive required.

Source: TAAP Archive Acquisition Fund

See also: Dallas Post-Tribune Photograph Collection