University Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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P. P. and F. Co. Marriage Certificate (Digitized Content)

1 Item Full Collection Description

The digitized content of the P.P. and F. Co. Marriage Certificate (Digitized Content) consists of a marriage certificate depicting a Black couple and minister during a wedding ceremony. The certificate was published by People’s Portrait and Frame Co. in Chicago, Illinois, in 1910.

People’s Portrait and Frame Co. was a design and photo company in Chicago, Illinois, in the early 1900s. The artist is unidentified, though it is possibly the work of Otto Schieble. Schieble was born in Germany in 1873, and was listed as living in Chicago, Illinois, as a "picture enlarger" in the 1910 United States Census.

The digitized content contains a digital copy of a large (15.75 x 20 inch) marriage certificate from P.P. and F. Co. [People’s Portrait and Frame Co.] in Chicago, Illinois. The chromolithograph image depicts a Black couple standing in front of a minister during a wedding ceremony. Underneath the image is the certificate section, with spaces for signatures from the couple and witnesses. The scene is encompassed by a purple border.

The Illinois History and Lincoln Collections unit at the University of Illinois Library manages the physical item of the P.P. and F. Co. Marriage Certificate (MS 1124). The collection was completely digitized in 2026. For more information, contact an archivist at ihlc@library.illinois.edu.