Programme and brochure for fundraising concert given by Madame Selika for St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Washington, D.C. November 5th, 1885

Fundraising concert brochure and program pair for St. Luke's Episcopal Church, the first African American Episcopal church in Washington, D.C, for November 5th, 1885.

The star of this concert was Madame Selika (Marie Selika Williams, c. 1849-1937), the first African American to perform at the White House, performing with accompaniment, as well as with the Selika Quartette.
The program also lists multiple performances by her husband, Sampson Williams, known as Signor Velosko, the Hawaiian Tenor, as well as a performance and piano accompaniment by Blanche Washington, who is listed in Majors' Noted Negro Women: Their Triumphs and Activities. Other performers include Mamie Nichols, Josie Stewart Ball, Henry Jaeger, William T. Benjamin, and Mary P. Evans.

The concert is listed as managed by Daniel Alexander Payne Murray, noted historian, and directed by Christian Abraham Fleetwood, Union officer and recipient of the Medal of the Honor. Both were significant figures in the African American community of Washington, D.C. Along with European reviews of Madame Selika, the center portion of the brochure includes a paragraph statement by Daniel Murray, along with an undersigned list of supporters.

Brochure is 12" x 9" sheet folded to make 4pp., with last page blank. Program is 9.25" x 5.75", reverse blank. Both were removed from a scrapbook, with prior loss to paper and some loss to text at center folds, and evidence of scrapbook mounting and light restoration along fold. The larger brochure is significantly more intact, though there is some splitting at central fold. These defects are clearly visible in images. Still a remarkable survival, especially kept together as a pair.