[Photo Album of High School and College Life.]

Illinois, 1948. Good. 10¼" x 13½". String-tied photo album lacking its covers. 56 pages with 156 black and white photographs inserted into corner mounts + an additional 65 photos laid in. Photos range from 2" x 3" to 8" x 10" and around one third are captioned. Album good: lacking covers and several leaves are loose; photos generally very good plus or better.

This is a collection of photos compiled by an African American man from Illinois, Elmus Norris, Jr. Norris was born in 1929 raised in Murphysboro and attended Murphysboro High School. The album covers Norris' life from high school through early adulthood, though there are a handful of photos from an earlier period likely showing his family around their home.

High school photos include an entire page devoted to a basketball tournament in 1945 and there are two 8x10 team photos and two smaller group shots, showing that Elmus was one of two Black players on the team. He also played football for Murphysboro and a small team shot showed he was the only African American on the football team. Another 8x10 was likely taken in college and shows a group of young African American men dressed in suits; possibly Elmus' fraternity as we know he was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and may have also attended Southern Illinois State Normal University.

College-era photos include named pictures of his classmates, shots around campus and a series of Elmus posing with various female friends in Elkville. Elmus participated in ROTC while in college and there are several shots of him in uniform. There's also a great 8x10 of a Black military band marching in a parade.

Other interesting photos include a lovely shot of a baptism at a lake and two pages are devoted to the summer of 1948 when Elmus worked for the Missouri and Pacific railroad in Warnock apparently repairing traintracks and similar work. There's also a page of four photos showing Norris with fellow attendees of a Baptist Sunday School Convention.

A fine collection of well composed images.