Rachel Creefield silhouette

The Rachel Creefield silhouette (c. 1825) is believed to be the earliest known hollow-cut silhouette of an African-American woman.[1] It is held in the collection of the Smithsonian.

Silhouette of Rachel Creefield c.1825

Rachel Creefield was employed by the Dickey family of Chester County, Pennsylvania. The silhouette is one of six likely created at the Peale Museum of family members of Creefield's employers, including John Miller Dickey. Creefield is believed to have been a domestic servant in the household of Ebenezer Dickey.[1]

The silhouette is "cut from off-white wove paper and backed with black paper (with a positive image of the bust transferred in brown onto the backing sheet)."[1] The work measures approximately 3.5 inches (8.9 cm) by 4.5 inches (11 cm).[1]

See also
  • Moses Williams, a Black silhouette cutter whose own 1803 silhouette is the earliest known of an African-American[1]

References
  1. "Six Hollow-cut Silhouettes : Rachel Creefield, an African-American Woman from Pennsylvania, and Members of Her Employer's Family, including John Miller Dickey, founder of Ashmun Institute Lincoln University". Between the Covers. Retrieved 2022-11-02.

Further reading
  • Chester County Historical Society. Miller-Dickey Family Papers (MS. Coll. 142)
  • Chester County Negro Servant Returns, 1788-1821
  • Account Book (1831 to 1847) of Jane Miller Dickey
  • Abstracts, Notes, and Comment by Thomas A. Urbine, Jr. (1977)
  • John Bradley. The Dickey Family (1990)
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