"Watermelon man", circa 1973

This collection contains 27 black and white photographs taken by photographer and filmmaker Alexandra Peeler (1938-2022), which were displayed at the Turner Auditorium on the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine campus in an exhibition entitled “Scenes of East Baltimore” beginning in December 1973. This exhibit was produced by Peeler during her time as Associate Director of Public Affairs at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.

This collection has 27 of the 46 images that were originally displayed in the exhibit. These photographs were taken within a half-mile radius of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, located on the 500-600 blocks of North Broadway, and they depict the people and places of Fells Point, Patterson Park, South Broadway, and Madison Square. Subject matter includes businesses; individuals identified as immigrants; architecture; African American families; and more. Scenes depict African American adults and children socializing or working outdoors, such as playing basketball and cleaning marble steps; grocery storefronts and interiors; church interiors and exteriors; Arabbers; and urban life in general.