Tanzy Ward releases third book on Black Victorian-era material culture

Atlanta native Tanzy Ward grew up appreciating family heirlooms.

At her grandmother’s house, they regularly watched the PBS travel and history series “Antique Roadshow,” looked through old yearbooks and stared at fine china displayed in a cabinet no one could touch.

Ward witnessed her grandfather cover his furniture with plastic, often heard her mother share stories about hair and clothing accessories passed down from her aunts and great-grandmother.

The moments inspired her to archive, preserve, restore and document histories on Black decorative art and material culture from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

“I’ve always had an old soul, going through those items, looking at old photographs and wondering, ‘What happened to that?’ My family wouldn’t know if something got lost, destroyed or if somebody got rid of them. We all share those stories of our ancestors and elders having those beautiful heirlooms we need to gate-keep,” Ward told UATL.

Ward — an antique jewelry dealer and preservationist — this month released “Precious Black Jewels: The Bijou Material Culture of Black Victorians and Edwardians,” a book that uncovers Black presence in vintage jewelry produced in the late 1800s and early 1900s. She’s having a book signing at Hapeville Depot Museum and Visitor Center on Wednesday.

“Precious Black Jewels” follows “Unsung Portraits: Anonymous Images of Black Victorians and Early 20th Century Ancestors,” Ward’s 2022 book that looks at how Black people used photography and fashion to challenge negative stereotypes and caricatures pre-World War I. She published her first book, “Hidden Legacies: African Presence in European Antiques,” six years ago.

“I was seeing a lot of Black people that have beautiful jewelry in these pictures, and they’re not represented enough in decorative arts relating to antique jewelry. It was a great opportunity to take what I’ve already collected, talk about the different types of jewelry they had on, relate it to their experiences being a Black person in that era and being overlooked when it came to the quality pieces they wore,” Ward said.

Cover art for "Precious Black Jewels: The Bijou Material Culture of Black Victorians and Edwardians," by Tanzy Ward. (Courtesy of Zanathia Jewelry)

In October 2017, Ward founded Zanathia Jewelry, an antique jewelry restoration company and e-commerce store. It was a side hustle in addition to her full-time job in customer service at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Ward was laid off three years later and decided to concentrate on entrepreneurship.

“It was God telling me I needed to focus, and it pushed me into a new era,” she said.

Ward spent a year earning her antique appraisal certification from Asheford Institute of Antiques in Destin, Florida, while studying liberal arts at Saint Leo University.

She noticed the certification program’s lack of cultural diversity around antiques. “It focused on Europeanization of decorative arts, and I wanted to know where Black Victorians and craftsmen are. I had a growing collection, so I wanted to create books and material around what I was preserving,” Ward said.

Antique Victorian era oval photographic stickpin featuring an unidentified elegant Black woman, c. 1885-1910. (Tanzy A. Ward Antique Photography Archives)

Later that year — 2021 — Ward contributed pieces from her collection to an exhibit at Yale University’s divinity school. She held her first solo exhibit, “Our Ancestral Garden: Honoring Black Victorian Material Culture and Accurate Black Americana,” at the Apex Museum in Atlanta three years later.

“Sometimes, people have forgotten how amazing our ancestors and elders dressed. It was regular for them, and I was able to transform people into another era,” Ward said.

Late 19th century tintype housed in a decorative pressed brass case, depicting an unidentified dapper and poised Black man, c. 1885-1895. (Tanzy A. Ward Antique Photography Archives)

Ward plans to continue exploring Black Victorian memento pieces, curate exhibits and assist collectors on estate sales.

She hopes to inspire younger members of diverse families to protect their memorabilia and memories connected to them.

“Our elders are getting older,” she said, “so it’s important for each generation to become historians, archivists for their families and hold on to their ancestry.”

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