Imes, Elmer Samuel, PhD (1883 – 1941)

Imes, Elmer Samuel, PhD (1883 – 1941)

  • <p>Elmer Samuel Imes. Image courtesy of blackpast.org</p>

Elmer Samuel Imes was a prominent physicist who worked for the Durkee Manufacturing Company in Grasmere. He was the second African American to earn a PhD in physics. In 1919, he married Nella Larsen, an American novelist of the Harlem Renaissance.

They met while Imes lived in New Brighton at 115 Belmont Pl. In the Fall of 1919, they rented a house at 785 Fingerboard Road in Grasmere, Staten Island close to where Imes worked. According to some accounts there were no African Americans who lived nearby.

Read more about Elmer Samuel Imes at: https://tinyurl.com/y4qblfjo, and https://tinyurl.com/y5wydotg.

Read more about Elmer's wife Nella at: https://tinyurl.com/yynkcvbm.

  • <p>Elmer Samuel Imes WWI Draft Card. Courtesy of ancestry.com</p>
  • <p>Nella Larsen. Image courtesy of blackpast.org</p>
  • <p>Durkee Manufacturing Company of Grasmere, Elmer's workplace. Image from "Staten Island" by Staten Island Chamber of Commerce - 1914.</p>