The Franklin Collection
The Franklin Collection contains letters, photographs, clippings and personal papers of Chester and Ada Franklin. The Franklins traveled extensively, and often separately. The love letters they exchanged reveal their relationship and times in which they lived. Please enjoy Black Archives of Mid-America's first collection to go online.
Chester Arthur Franklin Biography
Chester Arthur Franklin (1880-1955) founded The Call newspaper in May 1919. It was owned and operated by him until his death on May 7, 1955.
Born on June 7, 1880, Chester Franklin was the only child of George F. Franklin, a barber, and Clara Belle Williams Franklin, a teacher. He was born at the time when African Americans were moving out of Texas in search of better educational opportunities for their children.