"Bethany Mission for Colored People" records

The "Bethany Mission for Colored People" was founded in the mid-1850s and, beginning in 1869, was located at Brandywine Street near 16th Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to its constitution, the Mission was to be non-denominational with the objective of "moral and religious education and general elevation of the Colored people by means of a Mission Sabbath School." The Sunday School welcomed students of all ages, from young children to the elderly. Attendance at the Mission peaked in the 1870s with enrollment close to 500 pupils. The Mission began a slow decline starting in the 1880s which continued until its close in the 1930s, due to the rise of Black churches and increased public education for African-Americans.

Marcellus Balderston (1842-1935) first became involved in the Mission in 1857. Balderston became superintendent of the mission in 1860, at 18 years old, a position he held until his death in 1935. Balderston's family was heavily involved in the mission. John, Rachel, and Lydia, his siblings, as well as Cecilia Wright, his wife, and Martha B. Livezey, his niece, were all teachers at the Mission. The Mission focused on service before creed and welcomed Hicksite, Gurneyite, and Wilburite Quakers as well as non-Friends. Balderston was listed as an original member of the Friends' Historical Association (FHA) and helped plan the merger of the FHA with the younger Friends' Historical Society of Philadelphia.

Photographer Frederick Gutekunst (1831-1917) was born in the Germantown area of Philadelphia and had a photography studio on Arch Street. Gutekunst was known as the "Civil War Photographer" and was renowned for his work as a portrait photographer in the form of carte-de-visite and cabinet cards. Gutekunst also produced several architectural photographs, such as that of the Bethany mission.