20th-Century Collections: Home

This section contains collections that include personal papers, as well as the records of institutions and associations that relate to the visual and performing arts, literature, music, and architecture.

 

American Color Print Society
American Color Print Society records, 1936-2010 (Collection 3536) 8 boxes (8 linear ft.)
The American Color Print Society (ACPS) is a non-profit, invitational membership organization that was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1939 for the purposes of exhibiting the color print.  At the time of its founding, most galleries were exhibiting only black & white prints.  Today, the ACPS accepts both color and black & white prints for display. The collection consists of multiple accessions and includes correspondence, financial records, meeting minutes, flyers, exhibition programs, clippings, serials, bank statements, membership records, mailing lists, slides, CDs, informational packets from local galleries and art centers, and other items.

 

Contemporary Club (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Contemporary Club (Philadelphia, Pa.) records, 1886-1951 (Collection 1981) 7 boxes  (3 linear ft.)The Contemporary Club, was organized in 1886 to hold discussions on outstanding questions of the day and to present scholarly papers by public figures.  Membership was open to men and women, most of whom were distinguished in the academic, artistic, and literary worlds of Philadelphia. Correspondence, 1886-1951, makes up the bulk of the papers, including: outgoing correspondence of club presidents; incoming correspondence of individuals invited to speak; miscellaneous correspondence to Thornton Oakley and other club officers.  Among the other papers are executive committee minutes, 1894-1919; photographs; yearbooks; and miscellanea.

 

Fairmount Park Art Association
Fairmount Park Art Association archives, 1871 -1972 (Collection 2045) 162 boxes 8 volumes (84 linear ft.)
The Fairmount Park Art Association (F.P.A.A.) was chartered in 1872 with the original purpose for "adorning Fairmount Park with statues, busts, and other works of art" and came to include the promotion "of the beautiful in the City of Philadelphia, in its architecture, improvements and general plan." The collection includes correspondence, board and committee minutes, financial records, contracts, clippings, photographs, scrapbooks, annual reports, pamphlets, and other items. Many of the records document specific projects.

 

Franklin Inn Club
Franklin Inn Club records, 1902 -1974 (Collection 1847) 33 boxes 28 volumes (21 linear ft.)
The Franklin Inn Club is a private club for authors, illustrators, editors, and publishers organized in 1902 at Philadelphia. Correspondence; biographical data on the members, and manuscripts or other examples of their work; minutes, 1902-1955; account books, 1923-1950, invoices, 1927-1937, financial reports, bills, and receipts, and miscellaneous financial records; entertainment records, including texts of speeches, papers, and plays given before the club; and miscellany of other materials.  The collection also contains three book length manuscripts: George Gibbs, The Secret Witness, (1917); John Bach McMasters, Life and Times of Stephen Girard, (1918); and Felix Emanuel Schelling, A History of English Drama, (1914).

 

Garden Club of Philadelphia
Garden Club of Philadelphia records, 1900-2005 (Collection 1476) 14 boxes 16 volumes (7 linear ft.)The Garden Club of Philadelphia was organized in 1904 for the purpose of "promoting an interest in gardens, their design, and management." Charter, 1907; minute books, 1904-1937, 1944-1962; "yearbooks," 1904-1953, which are scrapbooks of miscellaneous correspondence, some minutes and committee reports, transcripts of lectures and poems read at meetings, photographs, clippings; additional lectures delivered at meetings, 1905-1936; and annual meeting reports, 1904-1936. One small group of papers deals with the Club's participation in the Women's Land Army of America, 1917-1918, and agricultural reconstruction in France in 1918.

 

Lantern and Lens Gild of Women Photographers
Lantern and Lens Gild of Women Photographers records, 1904-2004 (Collection 3085) 15 boxes 15 volumes (9 linear ft.)
The Lantern and Lens Gild was established as the Drexel Camera Club in 1905 during Mathilde Weil’s photography class at the Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry (now Drexel University).  Led by Margaret Bodine, the ladies met on a weekly basis at 24 South 17th Street and later 24 South 18th Street for lectures, classes, and exhibitions.  They changed their name to The Photographers for a year before officially naming the group the Lantern and Lens Gild of Women Photographers in 1912.  The women traveled throughout the city and surrounding area to photograph people, animals, landscapes, buildings and many other subjects.  They hosted many visiting artists and subscribed to the leading photography publications of the time.  The Bryn Mawr Art Center and the Franklin Institute represent just two of the many places that exhibited their photographs.  The women also held photography competitions within the Gild and awarded four cups each year to honor the artistry of members.  The Lantern and Lens Gild moved into the New Century Guild Building at 1307 Locust Street in 1946 in order to expand their facilities.  They would remain here for almost twenty years, before discontinuing activities and club elections in 1965. The Lantern and Lens Gild of Women Photographers Records span from 1904 to 2004.  The collection is rich in images of the group’s outings; their works; meeting minutes; and twentieth century photography magazines.  The materials have been divided into three series – Gild papers, Printed materials and ephemera, and Images and artifacts.  The majority of the collection is photography publications and images with a lesser portion devoted to manuscript material.

 

Plastic Club
Plastic Club records, 1887-2007 (Collection 3106) 52 boxes 47 volumes (16 linear ft.)
The Plastic Club is the oldest club for women artists still in existence in the United States. It was founded in 1897 in Philadelphia and has included many illustrious members, such as Emily Sartain, Violet Oakley, Blanche Dillaye, Elizabeth Shippen Green, Cecila Beaux, and many others. It has sponsored exhibitions, lectures, and classes, and provided a place for women artists to meet and exchange ideas. The club has also played an active civic role over the years, for example conducting art classes for servicemen during World War II and donating art supplies to underprivileged children. Since 1909, the club has been housed at 247 South Camac Street in Center City. The building, which was designated a Historic Building in 1962, consists of two houses that were built in 1824 and joined to provide a large studio/gallery on the second floor. Since 1991, the club has admitted men, who now form close to half the membership. The historical records of the Plastic Club go back to its founding and richly document the club’s activities and members over most of the 20th century. The records include board minutes; annual reports; correspondence; exhibition programs, notices, and reviews; photos from events; directories of club members; files about early members’ artistic activities; scrapbooks of clippings; early sketchbooks and preparatory drawings for a set of stained glass windows; maintenance reports about the building; and a recent graduate thesis about the history of the club that focuses on the building. The Plastic Club’s website (www.plasticclub.org) contains a great deal of information on the club’s history, members, and current events.

 

Print Club (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Print Club (Philadelphia, Pa.) archives, 1915-1993 (Collection 2065) (104 linear ft.)
Since its founding in 1915, the Print Club has achieved a national reputation and membership.  Its purposes are to encourage the appreciation of prints and to provide audiences for the work of contemporary printmakers.  The membership has always included both collectors and printmakers; many of the former from the Philadelphia area, the latter from across the United States and Canada. Since its incorporation in 1921 it has been governed by a board of governors, from which the officers are chosen, and has been administered by a full-time director.  The club is located at 1614 Latimer Street, Philadelphia, a building it has occupied since 1919 and owned since 1927. The Print Club's exhibition program includes annual juried shows, traveling exhibitions, and occasional retrospective exhibitions.  In 1926 it mounted a Joseph Pennell retrospective.  It showed the drawings of Brancusi, Modigliani, and Picasso in 1930, and a group of modern American printmakers in 1936.  In the 1940's, the club conducted master classes under Stanley William Hayter and others.  It has published editions of prints by such artists as Frasconi, Kaplan, Paone, Spruance and others.  In the 1960's, the club began a program of print making demonstrations in the city's schools called "Prints in Progress." Until 1977, the club sold on consignment the works of many of its artist members.  And, since 1940, the club has been contributing its purchase prize prints to the permanent collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The archives consist of five types of records:  minutes of the board, 1921-1976; correspondence of the officers and director, 1916-1964; financial records, 1922-1972; consignment records, 1933-1964; and scrap books and published catalogues, 1926-1950.

 

The Weeders (Philadelphia, Pa.)
The Weeders records, 1912-2004 (Collection 2009.064) 20 boxes (8 linear ft.)
This collection contains the organizational records of the Weeders, a ladies' gardening club. The records include admission committee records, 1934-2004; committee minutes and treasurer's reports, 1914-2004; flower show records, 1932-1989; horticultural essays presented by members; programs, photographs, albums, and scrapbooks; documentation on the club's history; and VHS tapes of the cable television program "You and Your Environment." The archives consist of five types of records:  minutes of the board, 1921-1976; correspondence of the officers and director, 1916-1964; financial records, 1922-1972; consignment records, 1933-1964; and scrap books and published catalogues, 1926-1950.

Bellevue Stratford Hotel (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Bellevue Memorabilia collection, 1884-2005 (Collection 3078) 25 boxes 1 volumes (8.5 linear ft.)
The Bellevue Stratford Hotel at the southwest corner of Broad and Walnut Streets in Philadelphia opened as a luxury hotel in 1904.  First owned and operated by George C. Boldt, the hotel represented a union of the “old” Bellevue (at the northwest corner of Broad and Walnut) with the Stratford Hotel on the southwest site, which was demolished for the Bellevue’s construction.  The Bellevue Stratford, built in the French Renaissance style and now a national historic landmark, served for many years as a focus for hosting local, national, and international events with their attendant celebrities.  Over the years the Bellevue Stratford, with its distinctive size and architecture, acquired another title, that of the “Grande Dame of Broad Street.”  By mid century, however, the hotel exhibited signs of decline.  In 1976, still failing, the hotel was closed by the Department of Health which found the Bellevue responsible for thirty-five deaths from Legionnaires’ Disease. There ensued over the next ten years several changes in management, and in 1986 new owners closed the hotel for major renovations, reopening it in 1989 as the Hotel Atop the Bellevue.  Subsequent changes in management in 1996 altered its name to The Park Hyatt Philadelphia at The Bellevue.

The Bellevue Memorabilia Collection consists mainly of photographs, postcards, hotel brochures, hotel event programs, newspaper clippings, as well as sketches and drawings of the building and its ornate fixtures.  Portions of the collection served as part of an exhibit at the hotel showcasing the Bellevue’s history, which spanned the period from the 1900s to 2005.  In addition, the collection includes publications relating to Boldt, the hotel itself, or well-known Philadelphians, as well as samples of the hotel’s cutlery, dinner plates, table linens, and promotional items. The additions to the Bellevue memorabilia collection include photographs, magazines, ephemera, postcards, clippings, building redesign proposals and floor plans, typescripts of reminiscences about the Bellevue, and the syllabus from an urban studies course entitled ""Building Philadelphia's Brand."" There are also notes and catalog and website printouts from Andrea Riso's research about the history of the Bellevue, and 25 CDs, most or all of which contain photos (apparently unidentified) related to Bellevue history.  The additions consist of three boxes and date from circa 1896 to circa 2005.

 

Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Historical Society of Pennsylvania collection of Academy of Music programs, playbills, and scrapbooks, 1857-1972 (Collection 3150) 131 boxes 17 volumes (53.6 linear ft.)
This collection consists of playbills and programs to the various performances and special programs staged at the Academy of Music from 1857 to 1972.  Among the organizations represented in the collection are the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Pennsylvania Ballet, and various opera companies.  There are also programs from out-of-state companies, such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra.  In addition to the programs there are also several scrapbooks that contain ephemera and news clippings of reviews and announcements of performances as well as special events and programs.

 

Lithuanian Music Hall Association
Lithuanian Music Hall Association records, 1873-1992 (Collection 3043) 8 boxes 38 volumes (6.5 linear ft.)
The Lithuanian Music Hall Association (LMHA) was established on March 3, 1907, from various Lithuanian clubs and organizations in the Philadelphia area. This association was created to support and preserve the ethnic and cultural heritage of Lithuanian Americans, to give financial aid in case of sickness, and to provide mortuary benefits to the organization’s members. The organization established a library and a reading room, also supporting classes for the study of the Lithuanian and English languages, as well as promoting art. The building at the corner of Allegheny and Tilton Streets in Philadelphia, in which the organization has been located since 1908, is known as the Lithuanian Music Hall, where the LMHA provides a place for concerts, theatrical performances, conventions, various meetings, and social amusements. In 1943, the American Lithuanian Citizens’ Beneficial Club, which was established in 1902, merged with LMHA. In 1975, the LMHA became a shareholder-owned organization.  As of 2004, the LMHA is still in existence. The LMHA is the Philadelphia chapter of the Lithuanian American Community organization.

The collection contains materials of the LMHA as well as the Gedeminas’ Lithuanian Club, the American Lithuanian Citizens’ Beneficial Club, the National Lithuanian Beneficial Club, the Petro Armino Society, the Lithuanian National Independent Club, the First Lithuanian Building and Loan Association, and the Lithuanian Real Estate Company. Some of these organizations were among the first Lithuanian organizations in Philadelphia, which slowly dwindled as members passed away. The bulk of the collection is a number of income and expense ledgers, mostly of the LMHA. A small amount of correspondence in the collection belongs to the LMHA. Other materials of the LMHA and the above-mentioned organizations and clubs are bylaws, agreements and certificates, a number of minute books, dues and membership data books, records of sick and death benefit claims, and programs and flyers of events. Materials are in Lithuanian and English.

 

Philadelphia City Institute
Philadelphia City Institute records, 1852-1999 (Collection 3023) 29 boxes 36 volumes (15 linear ft.)
The Philadelphia City Institute (PCI) is a non-profit organization that has supported a free library in center city Philadelphia for 150 years.  The PCI Library has had three primary locations, with the current site at 1905 Locust Street, on Rittenhouse Square. Today, the PCI Library functions as a branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia.  The Free Library serves as librarian, agent, and administrator.  The Philadelphia City Institute maintains ownership of the premises and the assets, and the PCI Board of Managers, with endowment income, provides operational support, and funding for new books and equipment. The collection includes annual reports from 1856 through 1984 (most years), Board of Managers’ meeting minutes, membership information, librarian’s reports, financial records, correspondence, and photographs.

 

Scotch-Irish Foundation Library and Archives
Scotch-Irish Foundation Library and Archives collection, 1889-2001 (Collection 3093) 37 boxes 11 volumes (15 linear ft.)
The Scotch-Irish Foundation was founded in 1949 by the Scotch-Irish Society of the U.S.A. “to collect and preserve for public, educational, and research use, books, documents, family histories, letters, journals, and historical material relating to the origin and history of the Scotch-Irish people in the United States, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Scotland, and elsewhere.”  Its collection spans over a century, from 1896 to 2001.  However, most of the material dates from the 1950s to the mid 1990s. This collection contains, in addition to the records of the Foundation, those of the Scotch-Irish-Society of the U.S.A and its predecessor, the Pennsylvania Scotch-Irish Society.   There are membership files, family registrations and genealogies, correspondence, financial material, administrative files (most of which pertain to their annual dinners), clippings, audio-visual items, and printed materials covering topics such as the early history of the Pennsylvania Scotch-Irish Society and the history of the Scotch-Irish in America.

 

Theatre of the Living Arts (Organization: Philadelphia, Pa.)
Theatre of the Living Arts records, 1964-1971 (Collection 3378) 38 boxes  5 volumes (36 linear ft.)
The Theatre of the Living Arts (TLA) was the brainchild of two local women, Celia Silverman and Jean Goldman, determined to establish a regional theatre in the Philadelphia area.  Their goal was to develop a multipurpose performing arts center to include film, dance, and music.  At the time of its purchase in 1964 the building that would house the TLA was a derelict movie theater at 332-36 South Street.  Together with Anthony Checchia and Howard Berkowitz, the women formed a nonprofit corporation which operated the TLA, the Philadelphia Council for the Performing Arts (PCPA). The first performance season began January 1965 with a three-week run of "Galileo."   Some of the earliest members of the resident acting company included Judd Hirsh, Sally Kirkland, Morgan Freeman, Estelle Parsons and Ron Liebman. This collection includes administrative records, 1965-1970, mailing list information, play bills/ programs, publicity, scripts, royalty records and invoices.

Atiyeh, Wadeeha 1903-1973
Wadeeha Atiyeh papers , 1931-1972 (Collection MSS009) 1 boxes (0.4 linear ft.)
Wadeeha Atiyeh, a Lebanese singer, dancer, actress, writer, and storyteller, came to the United States as a young child. She was raised in Chicago by her grandparents, who maintained Middle Eastern traditions. Atiyeh studied voice under the direction of Ruth Julia Hall and made her professional debut in Chicago in 1932. Atiyeh performed traditional music, dance, and storytelling throughout the Midwest, eventually settling in New York City. In addition to a number of short stories, Atiyeh authored a Middle Eastern cookbook. The collection contains programs, reviews, publicity and public relations announcements, scripts and music from her productions, writings, correspondence, and published works.

 

Greenewalt, Mary Elizabeth Hallock, 1871-1950
Mary Elizabeth Hallock Greenewalt papers, 1769-1950 (Collection 0867) 39 boxes, 29 volumes, 23 flat files (18.2 linear ft.)
Mary Elizabeth Hallock Greenewalt (1871-1950) was a musician, inventor, lecturer, writer and political activist.  Born in Beirut to Sara (Tabet) Hallock, descendant of an aristocratic Syrian family, and Samuel Hallock, a U.S. consul, she was educated in Beirut and Philadelphia.  Hallock graduated from Philadelphia’s Musical Academy in 1893, and in 1897 studied piano in Vienna with Theodore Leschetizky.  In 1898 she married Dr. Frank L. Greenewalt, with whom she had one son, Crawford, born in 1902. A pianist noted for her interpretation of Chopin, Mary Greenewalt began in the early 1900s to investigate how gradated colored lighting might enhance the emotional expression of music.  By 1920 she had obtained the first of many patents covering a color organ designed to project a sequence of colored lighting arranged for specific musical programs.  In combining light and color as a single performance Greenewalt believed she had created a new, fine art which she named “Nourathar,” or essence of light. Although awarded eleven patents, Greenewalt spent a number of years pursuing patent infringements, finding recourse in the courts in 1932 with a judgment in her favor.  Greenewalt’s professional activities also included lecturing on music and serving as a delegate to the National Women’s Party, which was instrumental in winning women’s suffrage.  After retiring from the concert and lecture stage, Greenewalt published Nourathar: The Fine Art of Light-Color Playing in 1946.

This collection offers many examples of Greenewalt’s creative processes.  Correspondence details the development and manufacture of her color console and the legal battles surrounding her patents.  A photo album also documents Greenewalt’s creation of her light color console.  In addition, there is a draft autobiography, a family history, copies of patents, miscellaneous personal correspondence, blue prints and drawings, concert programs, news clippings, lecture and radio broadcasts manuscripts, scrapbooks, two small volumes in Arabic, and numerous brochures and pamphlets pertaining to electrical lamps and theatre lighting.  Artifacts include Greenewalt’s recording of Chopin made in 1920, a gold medal awarded in 1926, copper printing plates, and experimental, painted materials.

 

Gurzau, Elba Farabegoli
Elba Farabegoli Gurzau papers, 1920-1985 (Collection MSS048) 39 boxes (13.8 linear ft.) Elba Farabegoli Gurzau was born in New York City, the only child of Italian immigrants.  Educated in Italy and in New York City, she has pursued simultaneous careers as a social service worker with immigrants in New York and after 1942 in Philadelphia, and a folk dance promoter. The papers include personal papers and diaries; correspondence, organizational records and ephemera from folk dance and folk arts groups; professional files from her work with the New York YWCA's Italian Mothers' Club program in the 1930s, the Philadelphia International Institute (later the Nationalities Service Center), 1942-1981, and the Philadelphia Committee for Italian Relief in the late 1940s; and drafts and research files for her book Folk Dances, Costumes, and Customs of Italy.  Folk arts groups represented include Folk Festival Council of New York, Coro D'Italia and Esperia Dancers, all of New York City, and I Vivaci, Folk Dance Leaders Council, Folk Dance Demonstration Group, and I Ballerini, all of Philadelphia.  The papers also include extensive records of the Italian Folk Arts Federation of America, which Gurzau helped to found in the 1970s.  For related materials see records of Italian Folk Arts Federation of America.

 

Lapolla, Garibaldi M. (Garibaldi Marto) 1888-1954
Garibaldi M. Lapolla papers, 1930-1976 (Collection MSS064) 7 boxes (2.6 linear ft.)
Lapolla emigrated from the province of Potenza, Italy in 1890 with his family and settled in East Harlem, New York City. Lapolla was an educator in the New York City public school system and the author of several novels on Italian-American life in East Harlem. He also published two cookbooks. The collection contains correspondence, unpublished literary manuscripts including novels, short stories and poetry, and artwork.

 

Thomas, Thomas L.
Thomas L. Thomas papers, 1924 -1995 (Collection 3100) 5 boxes 1 volume (1.6 linear ft.)
Thomas L. Thomas was a Welsh immigrant to the United States, and a popular singer of light classical and ethnic Welsh music. Some of his records were issued by RCA Victor. His art extended to stage, radio, television and records, including appearances at Carnegie Hall and the NBC radio network. The height of his career appears to have been the 1940s and early 1950s. Later in his career, he went on the lecture circuit, eventually retiring to AZ. Thomas was also the youngest person to ever win the Metropolitan Opera's National Voice Competition, in 1937, as well as the first Welsh winner. The accession contains audio-visual materials, photographs, plaques, posters and performance publications relating to Welsh singer Thomas L. Thomas.

 

United Singers of Philadelphia
United Singers of Philadelphia records, 1887-1929 (Collection 3524) 1 boxes (0.4 linear ft.)
United Singers of Philadelphia was an umbrella organization, which represented approximately 40 area singing groups.  The member societies were predominantly German but included some other ethnic groups as well.  The scrapbook contains programs and clippings from contemporary papers covering the activities of the organization, and related German-American-based activities opposing Prohibition, nativism, and US entry into World War I on the side of the Allies.  Also present are a Cirkut group portrait, Atlantic City, 1932, and a German-language songbook, 1929.

 

Quong, Rose
Rose Quong papers, 1923-1973 (Collection MSS132) 7 boxes (3 linear ft.)
Rose Quong was born in Melbourne, Australia, the daughter of Chinese parents.  She worked as an actress in Australia, England, and France before coming to the United States in the 1930s, where she settled in New York City.  She continued her acting career in America and became a successful lecturer.  The collection includes diaries, script, scrapbooks, and audiotapes of Quong reading and of songs translated by Quong.

 

Stemons, James Samuel
James Samuel Stemons papers, 1894-1922 (Collection MSS012) 4 boxes  (1.4 linear ft.)
James Samuel Stemons was born in Clarksville, Tennessee, and settled in Philadelphia ca. 1900.  A postal worker, journalist and writer, he served as the editor of two short-lived African-American newspapers: The Philadelphia Courant and the Pilot.  He was also active in several civic organizations.  An outspoken advocate for equal industrial opportunities for Blacks, he lectured and published extensively on race relations.  He served as Field Secretary of the Joint Organization of the Association for Equalizing Industrial Opportunities and the League of Civic and Political Reform.  The collection documents Stemons's personal and professional life, and includes correspondence, printed materials, writings, clippings, a photocopy of a marriage license to Arizona L. Cleaver, and the manuscript of his unpublished autobiographical novel.

Archambault, Anna Margaretta, 1856-1956
Anna Margaretta Archambault papers, 1876-1945 (Collection 0011) 8 boxes (3 linear ft.)
Personal correspondence of portrait painter, miniaturist, author, and educator, is included with sketches, photos, and correspondence on her work in miniatures.  Also included are correspondence and notes for Guide Book of Art, Architecture, and Historic Interest in Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, 1924), which she edited for the Art Committee of the State Federation of Pennsylvania Women, histories of the counties of Pennsylvania, and clippings and illustrations to accompany the histories.

 

Bell, Esther R.
Esther R. Bell papers, circa 1850-1980 (Collection 3095) 33 boxes  6 volumes (12.2 linear ft.)
Esther Rebecca Bell (1906-1982) was a graphic artist from Media, Pennsylvania, a small suburb of Philadelphia, and a graduate of the Philadelphia School of Design for Women. While a college student, she received a fellowship to study art in Paris.  Locally, she became a well-known freelance graphic design artist and worked for several organizations in Philadelphia and Media.  She also designed Christmas cards, illustrated filmstrips, and taught silk screening classes.  She was an active volunteer in Media, became a board member of the Media-Upper Providence Library, and participated in the restoration of Media’s historic Minshall House. The collection consists of the papers of Esther R. Bell and her family, particularly Esther Fisher Bell, Joseph Percy Bell, Joseph Elliot Bell, and Charlotte Esther Bell.  It includes family correspondence, genealogical records, examples of Bell’s graphic design work, board records from the Media-Upper Providence Library, records from the Minshall House restoration, clippings, photographic prints, daguerreotypes, tintypes, 8mm film, and film and glass negatives.

 

Doyle, Jerry Aloysius, 1898-
Scrapbook of Jerry Doyle political cartoons and other clippings, 1941-1944 (Collection 3586) 1 box  (0.2 linear ft.)
Jerry Doyle was a cartoonist for the Philadelphia Record.  This scrapbook contains a presumably full run of his cartoons that were published in the Record from January to December 1941.  In them he covered everything from pre-war international and national matters such as Nazism, the war in Europe, and the “America First” campaign, to regional and local issues like labor strikes,  tax reform and water pollution.  His post-7 December 1941 cartoons take on a decidedly patriotic stance.  There are also a few loose clippings that date up to 1944 that are probably also from the Record, one of which is an article on Doyle and his work.

 

Lowrie and Derr families
Lowrie and Derr families papers, 1844-1969 (Collection D1259). 28 containers (25 linear feet).
This collection of family papers documents at least two generations, based largely in Wilkes Barre and Philadelphia. It includes a large amount of family correspondence and photographs; marriage records; diaries; financial records; art work and a manuscript by Elizabeth Derr Davisson; research notes, manuscripts, and published volumes on Philadelphia history by Sarah Dickson Lowrie; and songs, poems, and plays by Thompson Derr. Documentation from 1910-1960 is more robust. Of special interest are materials relating to tourism in the Southwestern United States and Native American art, life in London during World War II, and Philadelphia history. This collection includes an extensive album of tintypes.

 

Oakley, Violet, 1874-1961
Violet Oakley sketchbooks, 1908-1937 (Collection 3336). 7 Boxes (15.5 linear feet)
Sketchbooks containing drawings by Violet Oakley in charcoal, chalk, and ink. Subjects include League of Nations meetings, Florence, Lake Geneva, and other sites in Europe. The collection also includes paintings (gouache?) on board for the Pageant of 1908, and copies of "Divine Presence at the League of Nations," a 1937 pamphlet by Oakley discussing her painting of the same name.

 

Tacha, Athena, 1936-
Athena Tacha papers, 1942-1999 (Collection 3518) 6 boxes (3.4 linear ft.)
Athena Tacha was born in Larissa, Greece, in 1936. She was a sculptor who received degrees from the National Academy of Fine Arts (Athens, Greece), Oberlin College, and the University of Paris (Sorbonne). She settled in the United States and became a professor of sculpture at Oberlin. The collection includes correspondence, notebooks, drawings, musical scores, student papers, manuscripts for articles, photographs, clippings, immigration documents, and other items.

 

Wallgren, Abian A. (Abian Anders), 1891?-1948
Abian A. Wallgren collection of cartoons scrapbooks, 1917-1947 (Collection 1782) 3 volumes (2 linear ft.)
Wallgren drew cartoons for The Stars and Stripes, the official newspaper of the American troops in France during World War I, for the American Legion magazine, and for several syndicated comic strips. The bulk of the collection is made up of scrapbooks of cartoons and comic strips.  There are also clippings about his activities, and letters to him from prominent persons including Walt Disney, Herbert Hoover, and John J. Pershing.

 

Yost, Frederick M.
Frederick M. Yost collection on John Wanamaker's department store publicity, 1861-1985 (Collection 3440) 45 boxes 13 volumes (63 linear ft.)
This collection chronicles several decades of displays and promotions at John Wanamaker's department store, much of it under the supervision of Frederick M. Yost. Yost began working at Wanamaker's in 1948. From 1952 to 1965 he was in charge of sales promotions, and in 1965 became the Corporate Vice President. Yost's background included theater and lighting design. The collection includes papers and scrapbooks documenting public relations, advertising, special events, and store design and display. Also included are internal office memos, photographs of displays and their construction, architectural drawings, news clippings, and many materials pertaining to the elaborate Christmas displays and light shows that were a tradition at Wanamaker's.

Personal papers, family papers, and institutional records document various businesses and industries in Philadelphia and the surrounding region. Some of the industries represented include insurance, real estate, banking and finance, manufacturing, coal mining, transportation, printing and publishing, and retail.

Clearing House Association of Philadelphia
Clearing House Association of Philadelphia records, 1858-1958 (Collection 1908) 16 boxes 24 volumes
(12 linear ft.)
The Clearing House Association of Philadelphia was organized in 1858 to provide a common place where representatives of the associated banks could exchange checks and settle balances. The records include: correspondence, 1858-1958, primarily with the member Philadelphia banks; financial reports, 1885-1909, on gold certificates, U.S. legal tender certificates, collateral securities, and gold coin held by the Clearing House for member banks; semi-annual statements, 1858-1939, of expenditures and expenses; journals, 1887-1957; cashbooks, 1858-1940; ledger, 1890-1895; account books, 1949-1958; records on other clearing houses in the United States, 1914, 1929-1957, including correspondence, reports, and miscellaneous items; Keystone National Bank liquidation records, including journals, 1890-1891, correspondence and miscellaneous financial records, 1891-1930; Union Bank and Trust Company liquidation records, 1929-1934; examiner's report on the Kensington Security Bank and Trust Company, 1931; claims of members against other banks, 1931; and settlement sheets, 1930-1931. There are also a few records on bank mergers in Philadelphia; the clearing of ration checks, 1943-1946; miscellaneous scrapbooks; National Currency Association of Philadelphia minutes, 1908-1914; and other records.

 

Greenfield, Albert M., 1887-1967
Albert M. Greenfield papers, 1921-1966 (Collection 1959) 1,069 boxes, 85 volumes, 22 flat files (436.4 linear ft.)
Albert M. Greenfield was a real estate broker, banker, and philanthropist of Philadelphia.  He had many business interests among which were: Albert M. Greenfield & Co. (real estate), Bankers Securities Corporation, City Stores Co. (a chain of department stores), Bankers Bond & Mortgage Co., the Philadelphia Transportation Co., and its predecessor, the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company. Politically, Greenfield provided financial and other support to candidates for public office, including Edwin S. Vare of Philadelphia, Republican candidate for the United States Senate, 1926, and Lyndon B. Johnson, Democratic candidate for the presidency, 1960 and 1964; he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention, 1928; a delegate-at-large to the Democratic National Conventions, 1948-1964; and a presidential elector, 1960. The large array of organizations in which Greenfield held prominent positions includes: Sesqui-Centennial Exposition of 1926; the Pennsylvania Constitutional Commemoration Commission, 1938; Pennsylvania Commission of Celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence; World Affairs Council; Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce; Pennsylvania Water Resources Committee, 1951; Philadelphia National Shrines Park Commission, 1946-1956; and Fairmount Park Commission. He contributed to many institutions and organizations, including cultural and educational institutions such as Philadelphia Orchestra, Philadelphia Museum of Art, LaSalle College, and Lincoln University.  In addition he founded the Albert M. Greenfield Foundation, a philanthropic institution created during his later years. Greenfield also supported a variety of Jewish institutions and organizations such as Federation of Jewish Charities, National Conference of Christians and Jews, Development Fund for American Judaism, American Jewish Tercentenary, 1954-1955, and Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

These papers constitute the selected office files of Albert M. Greenfield.  Incoming and outgoing correspondence make up the bulk of the collection, but there is also a great quantity of other material, including appointment books, photographs, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, periodicals, and reports.  The papers for 1921-1966 cover several categories: personal, business, political, civic, philanthropic, Jewish affairs, and miscellaneous.The personal papers include mainly family, social, and private correspondence.  They are interspersed throughout and constitute a small but important part of the collection. The collection contains, in addition, papers of Greenfield's two confidential secretaries, Donald Jenks, 1951-1954, and John O'Shea, 1954-1964, including correspondence, drafts of speeches, appointment books, and miscellaneous materials; and a few personal papers, 1922-1930, of Greenfield's first wife Edna Kraus Greenfield, including personal and social correspondence, financial records, and record book of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Jewish Hospital-Emergency Fund, Philadelphia, 1922.

 

Philadelphia Stock Exchange
Philadelphia Stock Exchange papers, 1746-2005 (Collection 3070) 25 boxes 180 volumes (39 linear ft.)
The materials present in the Philadelphia Stock Exchange collection document exchange activities and history from 1746-2005.  Items in the collection relate to sales and business transactions, conferences and symposiums, administrative functions, innovative technologies, people, events and publications.  The collection is diverse with a variety of formats but the true strength of the papers lies with sales and business records.

Coxe family
Coxe family mining papers, 1774-1968 (Collection 3005) 1036 boxes 381 volumes (496 linear ft.)
The Coxe Family Mining Papers document the history of what once was the largest independent anthracite coal producer in the United States. Between 1865 and 1905 the Coxe family established and operated numerous companies for the purpose of developing the coal property purchased by the family patriarch, Tench Coxe, between 1790-1824. By the 1890s members of the Coxe family controlled multiple companies, collieries and mining towns in the Eastern-Middle Anthracite Field of Pennsylvania. The various Coxe-owned mining operations competed in an industry which was largely dominated by the major railroad lines of the region. Through the keen business management and ingenious engineering skill of Eckley B. Coxe, the Coxe family remained independent of the railroads for forty years. This distinction was brought to an end in 1905, when the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company purchased the capital stock of Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc.

Although the Coxe family surrendered the direct control of their mining operations, they did retain ownership of all their coal property. During the years 1905-1968, the Estate of Tench Coxe acted as land agents for their vast coal properties. In return for the coal-leases granted predominantly to Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc., the Estate of Tench Coxe received large monthly royalty payments, which were then distributed to the various Coxe Heirs. In 1950, the Estate of Tench Coxe cancelled its lease with Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc. Although this had the effect of placing Coxe Brothers out of business, the Estate continued to lease its property to various other operating agents. In 1962, the Coxe family began to liquidate its property, due in large part to the depressed condition of the anthracite industry. Six years later the remaining portions of the Coxe Estate were sold, ending nearly 200 years of active involvement in the coal business.

The Coxe Family Mining Papers document the Coxe family and its ownership of coal lands in northeastern Pennsylvania, as well as the various mining enterprises that were formed by the Coxes. The papers date from 1774 to 1968, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1905-1968. The collection includes land records, financial papers, mining and engineering files, corporate administrative materials, labor and employee papers, family records, bound volumes and photographs. Materials are divided into three record groups: the Estate of Tench Coxe, Coxe Mining Company Operations, and Coxe Family Files. Nearly all the materials are in English, with a few items in German.

 

Jacobs, Sophia Yarnall
Sophia Yarnall Jacobs papers, 1861-1990 (Collection 3007) 2 boxes 5 volumes (1.33 linear ft.)
Sophia Yarnall Jacobs was a civic worker and author.  She attended Bryn Mawr College from 1919-1921, marrying Reginald Robert Jacobs in 1921.  They divorced in 1937, and she served as secretary of the United Nations Council (later the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia) and was president of the National Council of Women from 1960-1963. The Sophia Yarnall Jacob papers contain photocopies of correspondence, photocopies of newspaper clippings, research notes, manuscript drafts, printed materials, letter books, and photographs.  All the files relate either to the Coxe family or to the various Coxe mining enterprises.  The papers are divided into two series, Coxe family research materials and bound volumes, and date from 1861-1990.

Greenfield, Albert M., 1887-1967
Albert M. Greenfield papers, 1921-1966 (Collection 1959) 1,069 boxes, 85 volumes, 22 flat files (436.4 linear ft.) See listing under "Banking and Finance" above.

 

Mutual Assurance Company for Insuring Houses from Loss by Fire
Mutual Assurance Company (Green Tree). Records, 1784-1995 (Collection  2189) (455 linear ft.)
The Mutual Assurance Company for Insuring Houses from Loss by Fire was organized in Philadelphia in 1784, in order to make fire insurance available to those citizens who wished to have trees in front of their houses. A green tree was selected as a symbol to appear on the company's policies and fire marks. The company archives of the Mutual Assurance Company, familiarly known as the Green Tree, are arranged in five major sections: A. Histories of the company, research notes, and Eighteenth and Nineteenth century general papers; B. Minutes of meetings and related records; C. Cancelled surveys and cancelled policies; D. General papers, including correspondence; E. Financial records and receipts. The collection also includes fifty eight volumes of Treasurer's Accounts, Cash Books, Street Registers, etc. In addition there are 151 volumes of manuscript and typescript records, which include original and typescript copies of the Minutes of Meetings of the Board of Trustees, copies of the company's annual reports to the Pennsylvania Insurance Department, ledgers, and cash books, and other financial records.

 

Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire
Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire records, 1839-1965 (Collection V41) 33 boxes (36 linear ft.)
The Philadelphia Contributionship, the oldest fire insurance company in the United States, was founded in 1752 and received a charter in 1768. From the beginning, the company inspected houses to be insured, reported faults in construction, and recommended changes to help protect against the risk of fire. Initially the company was purely mutual, whereby each member's deposit money was carried in a separate account, which was credited with interest earned and charged with its share of the losses. In 1763 this practice was changed so that all interest was earned on, and losses paid out of, a common account and each member's liability was limited to the amount of his deposit money. In 1810 the system of seven-year renewable policies was replaced with perpetual policies that require no renewal. The collection consists of insurance survey records on properties in Philadelphia and elsewhere in Pennsylvania, organized by location and including written reports, notes, diagrams of buildings (occasionally including blueprints), photographic prints, and negatives. Properties surveyed include houses, schools, churches, businesses, and non-profit institutions. Survey notes include policy numbers, names of owners, and information regarding a building's location, dimensions, construction, heating, lighting, waste disposal, and overall condition, as well as recommendations for safety improvements and whether or not to insure. There are also newspaper clippings, claims for losses by fire, and correspondence related to policies and claims.

Autocar Company
Autocar Company records, 1899 -1954 (Collection 1907) 1 box 11 volumes (2 linear ft.)
The Autocar Company was located in Ardmore.  Founded in 1899 by Louis S. Clarke and his brother John S. Clarke, the Autocar Company became a pioneer of the automotive industry, producing passenger cars and commercial motor vehicles.  After 1910 the company produced commercial motor vehicles exclusively.  The company became a division of White Motor Company in 1954. The records include: minutes, 1899-1953, 1953-1954; annual reports, 1929-1952; ledgers, 1909-1952, contain year-end figures; list of officers and directors, 1899-1925; and miscellaneous items.  Much of the material, 1942-1945, is on Autocar Company war production of heavy duty military vehicles.

 

Baile, Ron, Mr.
Howard F. Baile collection of Hog Island Shipyard memorabilia, 1918-1928 (Collection 3578) 1 box (0.3 linear ft.)
In 1917, American International Shipbuilding was contracted by the U.S. government to manufacture ships and build a shipyard at Hog Island, Philadelphia, in an effort to support American soldiers fighting overseas during World War I. President Woodrow Wilson’s wife, Edith, christened the yard’s first completed ship, the freight steamer Quistconck, in August 1918. The shipyard ceased operations in 1921. Howard F. Baile of Gloucester City, N.J., worked as an inspector at Hog Island Shipyard. His collection of related items includes photographs of the yard and ships, including those of the launch of the Quistconck; programs and invitations; a copy of General Specifications: Hog Island Shipyard, Plant, and Property, July 1920; and issues of Hog Island News from 1918 and 1921. Additionally, there are two navy surplus auction catalogues, 1924 and 1928; a liquidation catalogue for the facilities of Wm. Cramp and Sons, undated; and a printed hearing before the U.S. Senate of the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation, 1919; various issues of Hog Island News, 1918-1921; two issues of Emergency Fleet News, July and August 1918; and a small group of receipts, invoices, purchase orders, and form letters. There is also a pin of the U.S.-E.F.C. 606 Shipping Board.

 

Clapp family
Clapp family papers, 1942-1989 (Collection 2172) 23 boxes 46 volumes (33 linear ft.)
Forty six volumes of diaries and scrapbooks, 1942-1989, which document both visually and textually the daily lives of a Philadelphia, Pa. suburban couple. The scrapbooks include photographs, Christmas and birthday cards, ephemera from social events, and material relating to their children's education and interests. These "memory books" go several steps beyond the typical scrapbook, however.  They often include items that are more readily classified as artifacts -- apple stems, dixie cup spoons, and probably most memorably, a wishbone from a turkey. Mary Ann Clapp obviously spent a great deal of time compiling these albums and most items are captioned or refer the viewer to the diaries, take up the latter part of each volume.

 

Fels, Joseph, 1854-1914 and Mary Fels
Joseph and Mary Fels papers, 1840-1966 (Collection 1953) 11 boxes 5 volumes (5.4 linear ft.)
Joseph Fels, Philadelphia-London soap manufacturer, was a leader in the Single Tax movement.  After his death in 1914, the Single Tax was carried on by the Joseph Fels Fund Commission. Correspondence discussing economic and political reform in the United States, Europe, South American, and China, includes letters of Antonio Albenden, Earl Barnes, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, James Ludwig Hardie, Peter Kropotkin, William Hesketh Lever, Meyer Lissner, Wilhelm Ludwig Schrameier, and Samuel Fels, his brother and partner in Fels and Company, manufacturers of Fels-Naptha Soap. Copies of letters, 1899, 1906-1909, on the Fairhope Single Tax Colony in Alabama.  Correspondence, 1906-1914, with Israel Zangwill, and others, on the establishment of Jewish Agricultural Settlements by the Jewish Territorial Organization (I.T.O.).  Miscellaneous speeches and articles by and about Joseph Fels.  There is also correspondence, 1915-1918, of Daniel Kiefer, the Chairman of the Joseph Fels Fund Commission.

Papers, 1907-1952, of Fels's wife, Mary Fels, include: discussions of women's politics, Zionism, business, financial, and personal matters.  Correspondents include: Rifka Aaronsohn, Newton Diehl Baker, Anna Barnes, Walter Coates, "Gypsy Bill" Cortez, and Frank Smith.  Letters, reviews, and clippings about her writings including a typescript with notes of The Life of Joseph Fels.  Scrapbooks with clippings about Joseph Fels, on his death, including In Memorium. Guest book, 1906-1908, of Fels's home in Bickley, Kent. Correspondence, 1953-1956, and notes, clippings, and printed material of Arthur Power Dudden, relating to his research for Joseph Fels and the single tax movement, 1971. In Memorium in Danish and Swedish with English translations.

 

Fels, Samuel Simeon, 1860-1950
Samuel Simeon Fels papers, 1889-1973 (Collection 1776) 44 boxes (23 linear ft.)
Seven series of papers including: correspondence, publications, Fels and Company, financial records, legal papers, biography, and miscellaneous. Samuel Simeon Fels, youngest son of Lazarus and Susanna Fels, was born in Yanceyville, N.C., on February 16, 1860.  His family moved north to settle in Philadelphia, where in 1876 Samuel joined the soap manufacturing business established that year by his older brother.  The firm, Fels & Co., was incorporated in 1914, and Samuel became its first president, holding the office until his death in 1950.  (The company was sold to Purex Corporation in 1964.) While remaining active in the affairs of Fels & Co., he also became one of Philadelphia's most prominent philanthropists.  He took an active interest in, and gave generous support to civic, scientific, cultural, and educational causes.  In 1936 Fels established the Samuel S. Fels Fund to continue financial support in these areas.

The correspondence series, 1889-1957, is comprised primarily of Fels's personal letters and business correspondence.  The letters reflect Fels's philanthropic services as well as his interests in civic affairs and government reform.  Financial concerns as well as Fels's interest in the medical field, in scientific research, and in music and musicians are also documented in this series.  There is also a section in this series for the Samuel S. Fels Fund.There is Fels & Co. Executive Committee and Board of Directors correspondence, 1952-1965; Board of Directors minutes, 1914-1965; and annual reports 1951-1964. The publication series contains notes, drafts, correspondence, and comments concerning Fels's book This Changing World (Boston, 1933), his pamphlet, "A Layman's Program for Peace" (reprint from the New York Times Magazine, 1943), and some miscellaneous writings, mostly about education, and war, and plans for peace. Financial records, 1904-1954, consist of Fels's personal tax returns and related papers; his personal and business bank books; bills and receipts; miscellaneous stock and insurance certificates; and estate papers. A small group of legal papers, 1916-1952, contain miscellaneous deeds, agreements, and estate papers. The biography series, 1950-1973, includes groups of letters on the death of Fels, as well as correspondence and some working papers concerning publication of a Fels biography written by Dale Phalen in 1969. The miscellaneous series contains clippings, photographs, blueprints, printed material, records, and scrapbooks concerning various projects and interests of Fels.

 

Fletcher Works (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Fletcher Works records, 1845-1955 (Collection 2064) 6 boxes (2 linear ft.)
Otto W. Schaum and his son Fletcher Schaum were directors and managers of the Fletcher Works, a Philadelphia manufacturer of machinery for the textile industry.  The firm began in 1850 as Schaum & Uhlinger and became the Fletcher Works ca. 1920 because of a change of stock ownership in this closed corporation.  The Schaums retained their interests in the firm.  The firm was sold in 1955. The records include Otto Schaum's foundry notebooks, 1890-1929, detailing the daily operations of the shop; annual financial statements of the firm, 1923-1955; records of cost estimates for orders and sales, 1920's-1946; and inventories of looms, 1952, and baten shop, 1953-1954. Of particular interest are the fairly extensive records of the firm's relations with its work force. Beginning with a 1945 job classification survey by the National Metal Trades Association, Fletcher Schaum's files reveal the company's efforts to adjust to unionization. Included are several time studies, 1946-1947, and a copy of the union contract with the International Moulders & Foundry Workers, Local #1, in 1948. There are additional wage surveys, 1951-1955, and information on employee retirement. Also included are papers containing correspondence with several Philadelphia banks on recapitalization in the 1920's and debt problems in 1930's and 1940's. Two personal account books of Otto Schaum, 1930-1947, a small group of Schaum family photographs and memorabilia complete the collection.

 

Horstmann-Lippincott family
Horstmann-Lippincott family, 1724-1963 (Collection 1899) 32 boxes 79 volumes (18.5 linear ft.)
Primarily the personal papers of several related Philadelphia families, including correspondence, financial records, estate records, diaries, photographs, and much miscellanea.  The earliest papers, 1814-1858, are by members of the Shaw, Craige, and Lippincott families, and include: correspondence; miscellaneous receipts; Sarah Lippincott's receipt book, 1826-1858; and the diary, 1839-1840 of Josephine Craige who in 1845 married J.B. Lippincott, the founder of the publishing house. The Sigmund H. Horstmann papers include a few personal letters, 1869-1870; and miscellaneous business records, 1851-1864, of Horstmann Brothers and Company, importers and manufacturers of military uniforms, insignias, and flags.  His wife, Elizabeth West Horstmann, is represented by account books of household expenses, 1864; servant's wages, 1856-1896; travel expenses in Europe, 1869-1870; and two miscellaneous volumes. Also included are the European diaries, 1869-1870, 1873, of her daughters Sarah and Elizabeth Horstmann.

The bulk of the collection is made up of the personal papers, 1860-1927, of Walter Lippincott, son of J.B. Lippincott and husband of Elizabeth Horstman. It contains: incoming correspondence; accounts; bills and receipts; contracts; real estate records; tax records; household accounts; inventories; instructions to servants; photo albums; Lippincott's diary, 1892-1919, with brief notations on routine activities; transcript of Lippincott's interview with Admiral George Dewey on the problems of the German fleet at the battle of Manila Bay; school records and reports; and other miscellanea. Elizabeth Horstmann is represented by incoming letters, account book, 1884-1919, scrapbooks, school papers, and miscellanea. The papers, 1906-1950, of Bertha Horstman Lippincott Coles, the only child of Walter and Elizabeth Lippincott, include a few letters, some regarding her published writings; financial records on the large estate inherited from her parents and other properties; a diary, 1906-1907; papers on her work with the U.S. Service Club; and the manuscript of her book, Wound Stripes, (1921.)"

 

Perot family
Perot family papers, 1705-1956 (Collection 1886) 9 boxes 151 volumes (26 linear ft.)
Francis Perot began a Philadelphia brewing and malting business in 1818. About 1825 he absorbed the brewery which had been founded in 1687 by Anthony Morris, Jr., and which was then owned by Perot's father-in-law, Thomas Morris, 2d.  The Perot Malting Company gave up brewing in 1850, eventually closed its manufactories in Philadelphia and Oswego, N.Y. (acquired in 1882), and used only their malting plant in Buffalo, N.Y., which had been built in 1907.  The company was acknowledged as the oldest American business firm until it was sold in 1963. The smattering of records here, consisting of 88 volumes and 200 loose papers, are all that survive housecleaning.  They include ledgers and cashbooks, 1818-1953; salesbooks, 1873-1879, 1885-1953; minutes, receipt books, barley and malt accounts, rents and interests, contracts for the Buffalo plant construction.Perot family papers include: Francis Perot account books, 1823-1843, 1863-1885; William S. Perot, lawyer and estate executor for Sansom Perot, account books, 1836-1846; Elizabeth Marshall estate papers, 1862-1883; Mary Ann Marshall estate papers, 1881-1913; Elliston Joseph Perot diaries of academic, social, and church related activities, 1877-1901; and transcriptions of responses from the beyond to questions of T. Morris Perot, ca. 1890. Among the T. Morris Perot, Jr., papers, 1893-1945, is correspondence with Sarah Tyson Hallowell and her niece Harriet Hallowell, both living in Moretsur-Loing outside of Paris, on financial affairs and family news. In addition, the letters of Sarah Hallowell give glimpses of the coming of World War I, the Hallowells' hospital war work (financially supported by Perot), and post-war France.  Harriet, who died in 1943, gives some commentary on the events of World War II, but the restrictions which the war placed on communications with France limit this information. There are also correspondence and annual reports of the Santo Domingo Silver Mining Company, with mines in Chihuahua, Mexico, of which Perot was a major stockholder, and correspondence on the Association of Centenary Firms.

 

Wanamaker, John, 1838-1922
John Wanamaker collection, 1827-1987 (Collection 2188) 327 boxes 196 volumes (366 linear ft.)
John Wanamaker (1838-1922) was a merchant and entrepreneur.  Active in religious, political, and philanthropic areas, he founded several Presbyterian churches and Sunday Schools and served as Postmaster General under President Benjamin Harrison, 1889-93.  As merchant he opened Oak Hall in Philadelphia, PA, with partner Nathan Brown in 1861, founded John Wanamaker and Co. in 1869.  In 1876, they opened ""A New Kind of Store"" known as the Grand Depot at 13th and Market Streets.  This store later became the flagship store, with branches in Manhattan (NY), Westchester/Yonkers (NY), Moorestown (NJ), Wilmington (DE), Harrisburg (PA), Jenkintown (PA), King of Prussia (PA), Wynnewood (PA), Oxford Valley Mall-Langhorne (PA), Springfield (PA), Reading (PA), Deptford (NJ), Montgomery Mall-North Wales (PA), Lehigh Valley-Whitehall (PA), and Northeast Philadelphia. John Wanamaker was at the fore front in many areas in retailing including merchandising, employee relations and advertising.  His sons Thomas B. Wanamaker and L. Rodman Wanamaker were active in the business, Thomas running John Wanamaker and Co. in Philadelphia and Rodman taking over the New York store operations in 1906. The collection is organized in five series:  I. Personal records, (1850-1986); II. Store records, (1861-1987); III. Miscellaneous Publications, (1827-1917); IV. Prints and Photographs, (1861-1980, Bulk 1900-1936); V. Addendum.

 

Yost, Frederick M.
Frederick M. Yost collection on John Wanamaker's department store publicity, 1861-1985 (Collection 3440) 45 boxes 13 volumes (63 linear ft.) This collection chronicles several decades of displays and promotions at John Wanamaker's department store, much of it under the supervision of Frederick M. Yost. Yost began working at Wanamaker's in 1948. From 1952 to 1965 he was in charge of sales promotions, and in 1965 became the Corporate Vice President. Yost's background included theater and lighting design. The collection includes papers and scrapbooks documenting public relations, advertising, special events, and store design and display. Also included are internal office memos, photographs of displays and their construction, architectural drawings, news clippings, and many materials pertaining to the elaborate Christmas displays and light shows that were a tradition at Wanamaker's.

Atlantis, National Daily Greek Newspaper
Atlantis, National Daily Greek Newspaper records, 1894- 1973 (Collection MSS043) 99 boxes 109 volumes (44.5 linear ft.)
The first successful Greek language newspaper published in America, Atlantis was founded in 1894 by Solon J. and Demetrius J. Vlasto.  The paper was headed by a member of the Vlasto family until it closed in 1973.  Published in New York City, it had a national circulation and influence.  Atlantis supported the royalist faction in Greek politics until the mid-1960s.  Other recurring editorial themes include naturalization, war relief, Greek-American business interests, and Greek religious unity. The records include legal files, correspondence, scrapbooks, subscription records, tax returns, financial ledgers and labor files that span the newspaper's entire history.  Legal files include translations from Panhellinios, National Herald and other rival newspapers, as well as documentation of Atlantis' compliance with the 1917 Trading with the Enemy Act.  Editorial files before 1963 are missing.  Labor relations files and financial records are especially extensive.

 

Curtis Publishing Company
Curtis Publishing Company records, circa 1891-1968 (Collection 3115) 16 boxes 4 volumes (14.4 linear ft.)
Cyrus H. Curtis, a pioneer of modern magazine publishing in the United States, established the Curtis Publishing Company in 1891 in Philadelphia. Prior to this, Cyrus Curtis started his career by publishing a local weekly in Portland, Oregon, until a fire destroyed the plant. He later moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where he started to publish The People’s Ledger magazine. He continued to publish the magazine after he moved to Philadelphia in 1876. The Curtis Publishing Company became one of the most influential publishing companies in the United States during the early 20th century, having published Ladies Home Journal, The Saturday Evening Post, Holiday, The American Home, Jack & Jill, and Country Gentleman.

The collection contains financial documents that include annual reports, reports to the Board of Directors, information on annual meetings, ledgers, bills, deeds, contracts, Old Age and Social Security Records, payroll accounts, etc. In Boxes 3 to 6 there is information on standards for advertisements, writing and advertising case histories; miscellaneous publications on business advertising; and some materials on history of the business press. Apart from this the collection contains slides, brochures, pamphlets, magazines, and newspapers that provide information on publishing industry and the Philadelphia business community. The collection also has two volumes of preferred and common stock certificates (which are mostly empty), bound copies of The Ladies Home Journal  from 1913- 1917, and 1915 summaries of Saturday Evening Post and The Ladies Home Journal. In the latter half of the collection there is information on domestic subsidiaries of Curtis Publishing Company like National Analysts Inc., The American Home, Royal Electrotype Company, and also other publishing and printing companies in Philadelphia and other parts of the country. There are closing papers and settlement papers that highlight the sale of subsidiary companies of the Curtis Company.  A brief history of Cyrus Curtis and Saturday Evening Post can be found in Box 16.  Additionally Boxes 14 to 16 contain images of the Curtis Company, its employees, and various internal departments. There are also some early photographs showing the construction of the Curtis Building at Sixth and Walnut streets.

 

Fiorani Radio Productions
Fiorani Radio Productions records, 1931-1975 (Collection MSS049) 25 boxes 1 volume (9.4 linear ft.)
Angelo Fiorani was born in Tarquinia, Italy, and came to America ca. 1905. Rose Florey Fiorani was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1902. Beginning in 1933, the Fioranis worked as "time brokers" for radio programming targeting Italian Americans and broadcast Italian programs on Scranton-area radio stations, eventually owning and operating their own station, WPTS. The collection documents the Fioranis' forty-two years in broadcasting. It contains personal and business correspondence, advertisements and advertising account files, program schedules and scripts, financial records, uncatalogued photographs, fan mail, and souvenir programs of special events. The collection includes unprocessed additions. In English and Italian.

 

Fiorani Radio Productions and Fiorani-Florey Family
Fiorani Radio Productions records additions and Fiorani-Florey family papers, 1904-1998 (Collection MSS163) 42 boxes (19 linear ft.)
Angelo Fiorani was born in Tarquinia, Italy, and came to America circa 1905. Rose Florey Fiorani was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1902. Beginning in 1933, the Fioranis worked as "time brokers" for radio programming targeting Italian Americans and broadcast Italian programs on Scranton-area radio stations, eventually owning and operating their own station, WPTS. The collection documents the Fioranis' forty-two years in broadcasting. It contains personal and business correspondence, advertisements and advertising account files, program schedules and scripts, financial records, uncatalogued photographs, fan mail, and souvenir programs of special events. In English and Italian. Unprocessed additions include phonograph recordings of radio programs, court dramatizations, advertisements, and other segments used in the Fiorani radio broadcasts in the Scranton, Pa. area. Many of the recordings concern Italians or Italian-Americans.

 

Irish Edition (newspaper)
Irish Edition records, 1916-1991 (Collection 3049) 47 boxes (30 linear ft.)
The Irish Edition newspaper, founded in Philadelphia in 1981, is a regional monthly Irish-American newspaper with a focus on metropolitan Philadelphia, including south New Jersey and the Wilmington area of Delaware. While primarily concentrated on local concerns, the paper’s circulation is of a national scale and covers current events, politics, business, and the culture of Irish and Irish Americans both at home and abroad. The founders of the paper, Anthony R. Byrne and Jane M. Duffin, have served respectively as publisher and editor from the beginning of the paper to the current day. The paper is presently located in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania. The collection is divided into eight series, and the materials themselves consist of correspondence; article drafts and submissions; advertisements and ad copy; press releases and newsletters; publications and mailings from various information and newswire services; a smattering of financial materials; newspaper clippings and articles; and photographs and a few slides.

 

J.B. Lippincott Company
J.B. Lippincott Company records, 1851-1958 (Collection 3104) 94 boxes 98 volumes (140 linear ft.)
J. B. Lippincott & Co. was an American publishing house founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1836 by Joshua B. Lippincott. Joshua Lippincott's company began by selling Bibles and other religious works then successfully expanded into trade books, which became the largest portion of the business. In 1849, Lippincott acquired Grigg, Elliot & Co., a major book distribution company. The acquisition helped make the company one of the largest publishers in the United States. In the 1950s the company began producing a successful line of medical and nursing books and journals. The company was sold to Harper & Row in 1978 but Joshua Lippincott's great-grandson Joseph Wharton Lippincott, Jr. remained on the Board of Directors until 1987. In 1990, the company was acquired by Wolters Kluwer, who merged it with Raven Publishers and then with Williams & Wilkins to form Lippincott Williams & Wilkins in 1998.

The collection consists of business records documenting over 100 years of the company's history. The largest portion of the collection is a series of letterbooks containing outgoing correspondence related to all aspects of the publishing operation, from soliciting advertising magazines to negotiating author contracts. Several dozen letterbooks contain incoming correspondence from Lippincott's London Agency. Much of the rest of the collection consists of a variety of financial records, including general ledgers, receipt books, cash disbursement books, and payroll records. Publication costs and sales are documented through stock cards, royalty payment records, and order and inventory volumes. The collection includes several manuscripts for publications, and some original artwork and illustrations. There are also boxes of books published by Lippincott, including the Annals of Surgery." The collection is divided into eight series, and the materials themselves consist of correspondence; article drafts and submissions; advertisements and ad copy; press releases and newsletters; publications and mailings from various information and newswire services; a smattering of financial materials; newspaper clippings and articles; and photographs and a few slides.

 

People's Voice (New York, N.Y. : 1942-1948)
People's Voice research and editorial files, 1865-1963 (Collection 3086) 1 box (0.2 linear ft.)
People's Voice was a leftist African American newspaper in New York, N.Y., founded by Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.  It was published from 1942 to 1948. The collection includes correspondence, press releases, booklets, clippings, flyers, programs, printed materials, and photographs.

 

Philadelphia Gazette Publishing Company
Philadelphia Gazette Publishing Company records, 1891-1954 (Collection 1816) 7 boxes 368 volumes (64 linear ft.)
This Philadelphia publishing firm was known first as The German Daily Gazette Publishing Company, 1891-1918, and then as The Philadelphia Gazette Publishing Company, 1918-1954.  The firm published the principle German language newspapers of Philadelphia: Philadelphia Gazette-Demokrat; Philadelphia Sonntags-Gazette; Philadelphia Tageblatt, 1933-1944; and the Philadelphia Sonntagsblatt; also, it did a large scale printing business, including the printing for publishers of other Philadelphia area newspapers.

Financial records make up the main body of the collection, and may be divided into general accounts, advertising accounts, branch accounts, carrier's accounts, subscriber's accounts, special accounts, and miscellaneous accounts.  Included are journals; ledgers: general ledgers, advertiser's ledgers, branch ledgers, carrier's ledgers, commission ledgers, subscriber's ledgers, miscellaneous ledgers; cashbooks: general cashbooks, advertiser's cashbooks, carrier's cashbooks, subscriber's cashbooks; subscriber's receipt books; indexes to the record books; special accounts: advertising contract records, payroll records, trial balances, voucher registers; and miscellaneous financial accounts. The collection also contains minutes, 1891, concerning the organization of the company; miscellaneous non-financial records; correspondence, financial records, and miscellany, 1923-1954, of the publishing company, and also, of the Mayer family, proprietors of the company.  Members of the Mayer family represented include Gustav Mayer, Theodore Mayer, and Louis Mayer.

J. G. Brill Company
J.G. Brill Company. Records, 1877-1930 (Collection 1556) 648 boxes, 7 volumes (137 linear ft.)
The J.G. Brill Company and its various incarnations dominated the world of trolley and undercarriage manufacturing for most of its seventy-year history. Based in Philadelphia, Brill was founded in 1868 by a German immigrant and held in family hands well into the 1930s. At its height, The J.G. Brill Company owned plants in six states as well as in Canada and France. The collection consists of approximately 16,000 photographs, 6,000 glass-plate negatives, 10,000 acetate negatives, and thirteen order books, and documents the wide array of products manufactured by Brill. The photographs include interior and exterior views of railroad cars, trolleys, buses, ambulances, and trucks, as well as images of undercarriages, small parts, and seats. The collection also documents the factory grounds at 62nd and Woodland, particularly for World War I. Order books provide information on the quantity and types of items purchased, the companies purchasing them, and their dates of order and delivery.

 

Cox, Harold E.
Harold E. Cox Transportation collection, 1803-1967 (Collection 3158) 160 boxes, 624 volumes, 38 rolled items (199.5 linear ft.)
Prior to the 1870s, Philadelphia's public transportation system consisted of dozens of independently owned and operated horse drawn streetcar lines. In the 1880s and 1890s steps were taken toward electrification and unification, a goal finally achieved in 1902 with the founding of Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company (PRT). PRT constructed subway and elevated train lines, and managed public transportation until 1940, when the Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) was established, absorbing PRT and all of its functions. The Dr. Harold E. Cox transportation collection is composed primarily of records from PTC and PRT, as well as PRT's subsidiary and predecessor rail lines. This collection dates from 1803 to 1967, with the bulk of materials ranging from 1858 to 1960. It consists of financial records, legal records, correspondence, administrative records, ephemera, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, atlases, and route maps and diagrams. The collection documents the growth and development of public transportation in Philadelphia, with a focus on the business activities and legal affairs of the PTC and PRT.

 

Darrach, Charles Gobrecht, b.1846
Charles G. Darrach papers, 1906 -1919 (Collection 0160) 3 boxes  (0.8 linear ft.)
Correspondence and miscellaneous writings of Charles G. Darrach, Philadelphia civil and consulting engineer:  Topography of the Earth, 1906, contains maps and essays on the formation of the universe; Obligation, a Compilation, 1919, a metaphysical treatise on evolution; Folly of Philadelphia, 1918, criticism of politics, transit problems, concentration of business; The World War, 1917, correspondence on conscription in the United States Army; Port of Philadelphia, Public Utilities, 1913; National transportation and a discussion of the report on Atlantic Intracoastal Canals, 1917; Water Supply, Philadelphia, 1914-1917, a history of the water system, plans of dams and pumping plants.

 

Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company
Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company photograph albums, 1905-1908 (Collection V42) 6 volumes (2.5 linear ft.)
Albums contain photographs of Market Street from the 300 block to the 1200 block, highlighting storefronts and excavation, showing workmen, pipes, and cables. Includes views of subway tunnels, subway stations, trains, and construction diagrams for subway stations and equipment. Also includes scenes of New York City and Brooklyn.

 

Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company
Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company photoprints, 1903-1910 (Collection V40) 2 boxes 17 volumes (10 linear ft.)
Street views in and around Philadelphia documenting the construction of the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company's mass transit system. The construction of the Schuylkill River Bridge is highlighted, including views of its piers. Emphasis is placed on the Market Street line, especially of excavations. Retaining walls are shown with views of cracks and their destruction. Trench views are included. Substations are shown, especially at Willow Grove, Glenside, and the station at Market-Chestnut Street.

 

Vauclain, Samuel M. (Samuel Matthews), 1856-1940
Samuel Matthews Vauclain papers related to the Delaware River Bridge Joint Commission, 1915- 1930
(Collection 1900B) 7 boxes (5 linear ft.)
Papers of Samuel Matthews Vauclain as a member of the Delaware River Bridge Joint Commission on the planning, construction, and operation of the bridge, now named the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.  They include: correspondence, much of which is with Ralph Modjeski, chief engineer; minutes of the Joint Commission Executive Committee; financial reports; blueprints and maps; photographs; scrapbooks.  There are also 6 blueprints of the Remington Arms Company plant built by The Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1915 under Vauclain's direction.

Fifth Street Merchants Association (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Fifth Street Merchants Association (Philadelphia, Pa.) records, 1975-1987 (Collection MSS118) 2 boxes  (2.2 linear ft.)
The Fifth Street Merchants Association was formed in 1975 to represent the interests of merchants within the so-called ``Golden Block," the Fifth Street corridor bordered by Lehigh Avenue on the north and Allegheny Avenue on the south in North Philadelphia.  Membership consisted primarily of Spanish-speaking persons, mainly Puerto Ricans, who were numerically the largest group in the neighborhood.  The organization engaged in a variety of activities, namely the sponsorship of workshops and advertising promotions to foster business in the area.  The Fifth Street Merchants Association also worked to provide a link between merchants and the surrounding residential community and frequently acted as a liason between the city government and the district, lobbying for municipal services such as better police protection and street repairs.  This collection is made up of a small amount of meeting minutes, correspondence, and financial statements and receipts.  While the collection contains minutes from a 1987 meeting, the primary focus is on the earlier period.  Also included are a number of neighborhood maps that detail proposed Fifth Street parking improvements.

Spanish Merchants Association of Philadelphia
Spanish Merchants Association of Philadelphia records, 1970-1988 (Collection MSS114) 68 boxes   (171 linear ft.)
The Spanish Merchants Association was founded in 1970 by Puerto Rican businessmen in Philadelphia to distribute Minority Business Development Agency funds in the Latino community. Initially created to foster the growth of local Latino businesses, the association increasingly focused on housing, food, and other entitlement programs in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The organization was dissolved in 1989. The collection includes financial and other administrative records, and records from affiliated and associated organizations. In English and Spanish. Unprocessed additions consist of two boxes.

The collections that fall under this category include those that relate to education as well as to community, social service, ethnic, and benevolent organizations and associations.

American Association of University Women. Pennsylvania Division
Women's University Club, Philadelphia Branch of the American Association of University Women records, 1923-1995 (Collection 2138) 46 boxes 57 volumes (24 linear ft.)
The American Association of University Women incorporated in 1899 "for the purpose of uniting alumnae of different institutions for practical educational work, for the collection and publication of statistical and other information concerning education, and in general for the maintenance of high standards of education."  Membership is open to women holding approved degrees from institutions accepted by the association.  The Philadelphia Branch, also known as the College Club of Philadelphia, was recognized by the association in 1886. Minutes and correspondence of various committees within the A.A.U.W. including:  the executive board, membership, admissions, art, bicentennial, civic house, legislative, reorganization/relocation, fellowship, social and economic issues, status of women, steering and tea committees.  Statements, tax related materials, personnel records, time sheets, journals, ledgers, cashbooks, and bank account books give information on the financial aspects of the organization.  The remaining part of the archives is devoted to conferences, publicity, and printed materials and include: press releases, publicity calendars, clippings, the Bulletin, and general director's letters.

 

Covello, Leonard 1887-1982
Leonard Covello papers , 1907-1974, undated (Collection MSS040) 132 boxes (54.5 linear ft.)
Covello was born in Avigliano, Basilicata, Italy, and immigrated to East Harlem, New York City, with his family in 1896. He was a teacher and administrator in the New York City public school system, author of The Social Background of the Italo-American School Child and other studies, and a leader in the intercultural education movement and in the Italian-American community. The papers document Covello's career as a teacher at DeWitt Clinton High School, principal of Benjamin Franklin High School, East Harlem, and educational consultant to the Migration Division of the Puerto Rican Department of Labor, as well as his research on Italian-American immigrants and Puerto Ricans, especially in East Harlem, and his activities in the Italian-American community. The collection includes correspondence, his files as an educator, extensive research and writing files, records from organizations, and printed materials. This collection documents many overlapping topics, such as the history of education and educational theory, immigrant children and youth, assimilation versus retaining immigrant heritage, demographic changes in East Harlem, progressive politics in New York City (especially for 1930s-1960s), Italian-American and Puerto Rican communities in New York City (and their interaction), the history of social science research, and other topics. There is correspondence with prominent figures such as Fiorella La Guardia and Vito Marcantonio, and letters concerning the formation of Columbia University's Casa Italiana. Covello was meticulous in saving materials from his educational work, research, and many organizational affiliations. The collection also includes two 16mm film reels, "A Better Tomorrow" and "Per Un Domani Migliore," as well as 12 open-reel audio tapes regarding Puerto Rico and other matters.

 

Langman, Ida K. (Ida Kaplan), 1904-1991
Ida K. Langman scrapbook, 1919-1956 (Collection Am .0877) 1 volume (0.3 linear ft.)
Ida Kaplan was a student at the South Philadelphia High School for Girls. Book of mementos, including autographs and photographs of classmates and teachers, invitations, newspaper clippings, etc., as well as photographs and mementos of a trip to Washington.

 

Lapolla, Garibaldi M. (Garibaldi Marto) 1888-1954
Garibaldi M. Lapolla papers, 1930-1976 (Collection MSS064) 7 boxes (2.6 linear ft.)
Lapolla emigrated from the province of Potenza, Italy in 1890 with his family and settled in East Harlem, New York City. Lapolla was an educator in the New York City public school system and the author of several novels on Italian-American life in East Harlem. He also published two cookbooks. The collection contains correspondence, unpublished literary manuscripts including novels, short stories and poetry, and artwork.

 

Pennsylvania Home Teaching Society and Free Circulating Library for the Blind
Pennsylvania Home Teaching Society and Free Circulating Library for the Blind lantern slides, 1882-1932 (Collection V10)  (1 linear ft.)
The original 61 slides were used in a lecture given at the P.H.T.S. at an annual meeting in January, 1917.  A type written copy of the lecture is included in the collection folder. The collection depicts portraits of key members of the Pennsylvania Home Teaching Society for the Blind from 1882 to 1932, particularly Dr. William Moon, Adelaide Moon, John P. Rhoads, Judge William Ashuman, Frank Read, Robert C. Moon, John Thomson, James W. Moore, and James M. Anders.  Illustrates teaching methods, organizations, library facilities, and graphics related to the exhibition, particularly the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.  Depicts the Moon Society in England, and the printing of Moon books.  Includes images of Afro-Americans being taught.  The P.H.T.S. and the Pennsylvania Bible Society worked to increase literacy among the blind.

 

White-Williams Scholars
White-Williams Scholars records, 1800-2007 (Collection 3025) 199 boxes 85 volumes (98 linear ft.)The White-Williams Scholars served needy and talented students in the Philadelphia schools.  It was founded in 1800 as the Magdalen Society of Philadelphia (Magdalen Society of Philadelphia Records are maintained separately as Collection 2016).  The organization shifted its focus in 1917 from rehabilitation to prevention of delinquency.  It provided counseling in the schools, and training for counselors, as well as financial assistance.  Eventually, the school district took over the responsibility for counseling.  In 1918, the organization changed its name to the White-Williams Foundation to honor two of the original founders, Bishop William White and George Williams. The name changed again in 1994 to White-Williams Scholars, to recognize the updated mission of supporting high-achieving secondary school students with weekly stipends. In 2011, the organization merged with Philadelphia Futures under the name Philadelphia Futures.

The collection includes board of trustee and annual meeting minutes, financial records, general office files, a card file on former trustees, donor records, annual reports, and other items. About two-thirds of the collection consists of student files that are restricted.

Children's Aid Society of Pennsylvania
Children’s Aid Society of Pennsylvania records, 1857-1982 (Collection 3026) 38 boxes 56 volumes
(13 linear ft.)
The Children's Aid Society was organized in 1882, and under the leadership of Helen W. Hinckley, focused on establishing a law "prohibiting the reception and detention of children in almshouses, and providing child caring institutions, or industrial schools or homes."  "After the passage of this law in 1883, the Society offered its services to the poor law officials in placing in family homes the children from the almshouses and other children for whom care might be needed."  Throughout its existence, the Children's Aid Society was structured in various ways, but it finally settled on a county-centered organization to help further the best interests of the child. The collection includes annual reports, general accounts, register of cases, board minutes, cashbooks, scrapbooks, case histories, accounts of children, newspaper clippings, various printed matter, and other miscellaneous items.  The collection covers not only the Children's Aid Society, but the Union Temporary Home, Philadelphia Home for Infants, Children's Bureau, United States Committee for European Children (all of which but the Committee for European Children was later absorbed into the Children's Aid Society.)

 

Family Service of Philadelphia
Family Service of Philadelphia records, 1878-1999 (Collection 1961) 68 boxes (49 linear ft.)
The Philadelphia Society for Organizing Charitable Relief and Repressing Mendicancy (now the Family Service of Philadelphia), a private relief agency was organized in 1879 by a group of men connected with the Soup Houses and other charitable agencies. The correspondence files constitute the largest group of material and include: letterpress books of general correspondence, 1878-1911; incoming general correspondence, 1899-1908; incoming correspondence, 1900-1909, of general secretary Mary Richmond, a central figure in the emergence of professional social work in the United States; incoming and outgoing correspondence of the supervisor of districts, 1915; miscellaneous correspondence. Minute books, 1878-1928, include minutes of the Commission on Organizing Charities, 1878-1879; minutes of the Board of Directors; minutes of the Ward Associations; minutes of various committees.  Some of the minute books also contain case records.  Other records include application books, 1902-1909; case records, 1890-1923; annual reports of the Board of Directors, 1879-1900; annual reports of the Ward Associations, 1879-1902; scrapbooks, 1878-1879, 1895-1900; photographs; printed material such as "The Charity Organization Bulletin," and "The Monthly Register," 1879-1900, the first journal of social work to have a national circulation. The records do not include many financial accounts of the society, but there are a few miscellaneous financial records, among which are an account book, 1916-1921; minutes of the Committee on Finance, 1884-1894, 1904-1916; and a volume of papers, 1879-1882, primarily on financial matters. The collection contains, in addition, records of the Philadelphia Social Workers Club: incoming and outgoing correspondence, 1907-1922; minutes, 1905- 1920; account book, 1916-1921; and scrapbook of programs, 1917-1922.

 

Kensington Soup Society (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Kensington Soup Society records, 1853-2009 (Collection 3119) 9 boxes 13 volumes (5.25 linear ft.)The Kensington Soup Society (KSS) was founded in Philadelphia in 1844 as the East Kensington Soup Society.  By 1853, the company dropped “East” from its names and was incorporated as the Kensington Soup Society.  In its early years, KSS maintained close relationships with several local organizations, such as the Kensington Methodist Episcopal Church, the Kensington Building Association, and the Kensington Fire and Marine Insurance Company.  Among KSS’s original founders were Richard S. Allen, William Cramp, Jacob K. Vaughan, Robert Pearce, and Joseph Lippincott.  The first known location of KSS was on Shackamaxon Street.  By the 1860s, local directories had KSS listed on Allen Street; and on Crease Street by the 1870s. The Kensington Soup Society served the city for over 100 years and was the last remaining neighborhood soup society in Philadelphia. It closed in 2007 and reopened as a philanthropic organization for the Kensington and Fishtown neighborhoods.  The collection documents more than 100 years of the organization's work. Records are primarily administrative and financial, with lots of receipts, minutes, records of people served, records related to contractors and upkeep of their building, some ephemera, a little correspondence, and some photos and clippings. Thank you letters and bequest files show who supported KSS.

 

Lighthouse
Lighthouse records, 1893-2000 (Collection 1970) 175 boxes 238 volumes (105 linear ft.)
The Lighthouse, a settlement house, was founded as a social center for the mill workers of the Kensington section of Philadelphia.  It shortly expanded to include a Boys' Club, Men's Club, Girls' Club, Women's Club, Baldwin Day Nursery, and a several other activities, with the boys' sports program as its most viable activity. The records contain, in varying series, minutes, accounts, other operational records, scrapbooks and photograph albums of the Lighthouse, its' clubs and programs.

 

Orphan Society of Philadelphia
Orphan Society of Philadelphia records, 1814-1965 (Collection 1913) 6 boxes 77 volumes (9.5 linear ft.)
The Orphan Society of Philadelphia, a privately supported institution, was founded in 1814.  In March 1815, the Society began operations and soon was caring for twenty-five orphans in a rented house on Market Street, west of Broad Street.  Most of the original orphans were children who were moved from the Almshouse upon a recommendation by the Guardians of the Poor.  The orphanage operated continuously from 1815 until 1965 when it merged with the Elwyn School in Elwyn, PA.  The institution, while non-sectarian, was Christian-based in philosophy and teaching.  For at least the first one hundred years, admission was restricted to “destitute fatherless children of married parents.”  Boys were not admitted over the age of seven and were housed until the age of sixteen; girls were not admitted over the age of nine and were housed until the age of eighteen.  During the 150 years of its operation, the Society resided in four successive homes in three locations and served approximately eighty to one-hundred orphans most years.  However, by the 1950s, applications had decreased significantly; there were only twenty-three orphans under the Society’s care when it merged with the Elwyn School on February 14, 1965. This collection, which includes annual reports, historical records, committee and financial reports, ledgers, account books, real estate papers, admission books, and indenture and binding books and papers, is richest in the detailed minutes that record the administrative workings of the Society, the Visiting Committee reports, and in the books, correspondence, and papers reflecting the lives of individual orphans.

 

Pennsylvania Prison Society
Pennsylvania Prison Society records, 1787-1966 (Collection 1946) 1 boxes 29 volumes (5 linear ft.)The Pennsylvania Prison Society Records span from 1787 to 1966 and are comprised of twenty-nine minute books and one box of correspondence and other papers.  The collection offers a full picture of the society, its activities, and its goals through the detailed meeting minutes.  The topics in this collection include prison conditions at the Walnut Street jail, Eastern State Penitentiary and other county prisons; the plight of prisoners; relief given by the society; the roots and implementation of the Pennsylvania System of Solitary Confinement; the society’s involvement in national conferences for penal reform; acts brought to the state legislature for penal reform; and other miscellaneous topics. The Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons was organized in 1787 to promote penal reform.  Its early members included: William White, Benjamin Rush, Roberts Vaux, Dorthea Lynde Dix, and Rose Steadman.  In 1886 the Society's name was changed to its current name, the Pennsylvania Prison Society.

Minutes of the society, 1787-1832, 1852-1919, include its original constitution and discussion of news and legislation on the condition of prisons and prisoners.  Topics include: prison administration; solitary confinement to hard labor (the Pennsylvania System); the establishment of the Western Penitentiary in Pittsburgh, authorized in 1818, the Eastern Penitentiary in Philadelphia, authorized in 1821, the House of Refuge, in 1828, a House of Correction, opened in 1874, an "industrial home," opened in 1889, and an asylum for insane criminals, opened in 1905; separation of men and women prisoners, of juveniles, and of the insane; and the parole system. Minutes of the acting committee of the society, 1798-1966, contain reports of prison visits by members and by case workers; news of associated correctional facilities; the establishment of a half way house, and of a Narcotics Anonymous; gifts to the society; and other matters of concern and topics discussed at the general meetings. Minutes, 1854-1885, of the Committee on the Eastern Penitentiary contain reports on the conditions of prisoners, including criminals, delinquents, and the insane; news from the library, which was maintained by the Society; and summaries from case-workers concerning discharged prisoners. Copies of miscellaneous letters, 1816-1819, from Caleb Cresson, Jr., as secretary of the Society, and printed report, 1887, of the Society's 100th anniversary.

 

Public Baths Association of Philadelphia
Public Baths Association of Philadelphia records, 1890-1950 (Collection 1999) 1 boxes 4 volumes
(1 linear ft.)
The Public Baths Association of Philadelphia was a private charitable organization in 1895 to provide inexpensive bathing and laundry facilities to "the self-respecting poor" in working-class neighborhoods of Philadelphia.  The Association, distinct from the City Baths which were swimming pools open only during the summer months, opened its first bath house in 1898, its fifth in 1928.  The association functioned until 1946. The papers consist of: trustee minutes, 1902-1950; scrap books, 1898-1944, of newspapers clippings, fund-raising letters, and other records on the association's real property, 1890-1944.

Hayes Manor
Hayes Manor records, 1827-1994 (Collection 3108) 13 boxes 48 volumes (10.3 linear ft.)
Hayes Manor was founded as the Hayes Mechanics Home by George Hayes (1815-1857) and Ferdinand J. Dreer (1812-1902).  Along with Dundas T. Pratt as executor, these men created a home of “honorable retirement” for tradesmen and skilled mechanics.   The home was chartered in 1858, and the charter was ratified in 1861.  In 1967, the organization changed its name to the Hayes Home for Men.  In 1978, there occurred one final name change, to that of Hayes Manor, when the home began accepting women and couples.  Hayes Manor continues to operate as a retirement home at its Belmont Avenue residence of over one hundred and twenty years. The records of Hayes Manor document its history from before its inception in 1858 to the early 1990s. Among the materials are board reports and minutes, administrative correspondence, resident applications, estate records, financial books and papers, and numerous pamphlets, booklets, flyers, clippings, and photographs.

 

Indigent Widows' and Single Women's Society/Ralston House
Indigent Widows' and Single Women's Society/Ralston House records, 1817-1985 (Collection 3099)
63 boxes (25.5 linear ft.)
Founded in 1817 by Sarah Ralston, the Indigent Widows' and Single Women's Society represented the first charitable organization in Philadelphia exclusively devoted to the needs of the elderly.  Ralston recognized that many women faced destitution in their old age and, as a result, often spent the final years of their lives in the almshouse.  The goal of the Asylum was to provide a decent home life for those born of the middle class and higher, but who fell into less economically advantaged positions at the close of their lives.  While the home was non-sectarian, the Managers were interested in attracting a resident of high personal character, the traits of whom, in their view, typically belonged to members of the Protestant Christian sects.  Over the years the admissions policies grew increasingly democratic.  With the merger with the Tilden Home for Aged Couples, men and couples were granted entrance to the home.  With changing times also came a change in the corporate name.  In 1964, the Indigent Widows' and Single Women's Society dropped the word indigent from its name to convey a more contemporary value system and to offer a greater sense of dignity to those in the home.  In 1973, to better reflect the home's mixed gender constituency, and to simultaneously honor its founder Sarah Ralston, the institution changed its name to the Ralston House.  Finally, in 1985 the mission of the Ralston House changed from a residential care community to a community health facility.  Addressing the vital needs of the elderly remains its mission today.

The collection includes:  Board of Managers minutes, 1817-1982; Incorporation, Constitution, By-Laws and Annual Reports, 1871-1971; Board correspondence;  Physical Building files; Admissions files, 1817-1954; Visiting Committee records, 1826, 1836-1978; and Financial records. Unprocessed additions include 1 linear foot of admissions records, circa 1940-circa 1960; 16 financial volumes, 1817-1965;  and a bound volume of resident agreements, 1937-1951. Some materials are restricted.

Citizens' Permanent Relief Committee (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Citizens' Permanent Relief Committee papers, 1885-1923 (Collection 1421) 49 boxes  (18.5 linear ft.)
The Citizens' Permanent Relief Committee was a local philanthropic group which aided the sufferers in many disasters between 1878 and 1900, notably the Charleston Earthquake, 1885, the Johnstown Flood, 1889, the Russian famine, 1892-1893, and the Armenian massacres in 1896. During the Spanish-American War the Committee under the name National Relief Commission, helped soldiers, sailors, and their families. Correspondence, business papers, magazines, clippings, applications for relief, treasurer's reports, minutes, investigations and field reports related to each disaster for which the committee provided relief. Represented in the collection are: Eleanore Harris Albany, Marie Jeanette Osgood Aydelotte, Sarah Ann Pithouse Becker, Anna F. Davies, Mildred Fairchild, Bertha Sanford Greenberg, Lucy Biddle Lewis, Ellen Moore, May A. Naylor, Mildred Scott Olmsted, Kelly Roes, Edith Wilder Scott, Fay Mary MacCracken Stockwell, Katherine Tucker, and Lucy Langdon Wilson.

 

Emergency Aid of Pennsylvania Foundation
Emergency Aid of Pennsylvania Foundation records, 1914-1980 (Collection 3263) 62 boxes  (70 linear ft.)
Emergency Aid of Pennsylvania was a volunteer organization of women which began in 1914, when World War I made foreign and local relief necessary and at which time there was no Red Cross Chapter in Philadelphia. Its purpose, according to the Charter of Incorporation is "to carry on both at home and abroad, emergency and relief work for the benefit of the military forces and the civilian populations of the United States and of their Allies." In World War I the Emergency was the first organization in Philadelphia to forward relief supplies to the military and civilian forces of the Allies and throughout the War sent millions of dollars in money and supplies for overseas relief, having its own distributing centers in each country. In 1917 branches were organized throughout Pennsylvania.

In World War II the Emergency Aid again forwarded relief supplies to the Allies and rendered services for the military personnel of the United States, such as distributing supplies, operating canteens and recreation rooms, and provided housing and information services for enlisted men and women. The organization assigned volunteers to draft boards, hospitals, and numerous other war relief agencies and sold over $68,060,678 worth of war bonds.  Throughout the war years and in peacetime, a concurrent local welfare program was carried on, including follow-up care for infantile paralysis victims, unemployment relief, supplemental meals for school children, emergency help and clothing for individuals and families, and help for the disabled, the sick, and the underprivileged. The collection includes monthly bulletins (1928-1960), newsletters/bulletins (1918-1978), bylaws (1943, 1956), World War I printed reports, membership and dues cards (1969-1970), personnel records, financial information (1970s), fundraising (1970s), special events (1970s), and charitable outreach projects (1970s). Also included are a scrapbook, published books, photographs, certificates, ribbons, phonograph records with radio interviews from World War II.

South Philadelphia Women's Liberty Loan Committee
South Philadelphia Women's Liberty Loan Committee records, 1917-1919 (Collection 0217) 4 boxes (1.4 linear ft.)
Corinne Keen Freeman (b. 1869) was the chairperson of the South Philadelphia Women’s Committee, a local branch of the National Woman’s Liberty Loan Committee that was organized in 1917 under the auspices of the national War Loan Organization.  During World War I, the War Loan Organization oversaw the sales and publicity of Liberty Loans, which enabled the United States government to finance various aspects of the war by borrowing money on interest from the American people.  The South Philadelphia Women’s Committee was composed of several smaller committees that targeted specific groups within the community for loan subscriptions.  The committee’s headquarters was located at 329 South Broad Street.  During the period of 1917 to 1919 there were four Liberty Loan drives and a final Victory Loan drive. The materials in this collection consist of Corinne Keen Freeman’s correspondence, the administrative papers of the South Philadelphia Women’s Liberty Loan Committee, printed materials, ephemera, and photographs from the fourth Liberty Loan drive in 1918 and the final Victory Loan drive in 1919.  The correspondence in the collection provides a descriptive account of the activities of the Women’s Committee, while ward and committee reports offer a quantitative record of their loan sales within the South Philadelphia community.  Ephemera and several photographs of Corinne Keen Freeman and the members of the South Philadelphia Women’s Liberty Loan Committee are also included in the collection.

Aspira Association
Aspira, Inc. (Pennsylvania) records, 1969 -1996 (Collection MSS148) 69 boxes (27.6 linear ft.)
Aspira, founded in 1961 in New York City by a group of Latino professionals, is a national organization based in Washington, D.C., where it lobbies for education and youth programs aimed at the Latino population.  The Pennsylvania branch of Aspira, located in Philadelphia, was founded in 1969.  It primarily serves the Puerto Rican community, but also other Latinos and some non-Latinos, promoting community service, education, and interest in Puerto Rican culture.  Activities include sponsorship of cultural events, school programs, and scholarship and student loan programs.  The collection contains administrative correspondence and related materials, financial records, and personnel and student files.

 

Concerned Citizens of North Camden
Concerned Citizens of North Camden records, 1980-1990 (Collection MSS130) 8 boxes (3.2 linear ft.)
Concerned Citizens of North Camden was founded in 1978 as a grassroots organization dedicated to revitalizing the North Camden neighborhood of Camden, New Jersey, and empowering its residents. CCNC's work focused above all on providing better housing through a combination of public advocacy and community initiative to rehabilitate abandoned housing stock. Other areas of concern included cleaner streets, employment and job training, legal aid, neighborhood safety, and overall community development. The collection includes correspondence, administrative records, newsletters, flyers, and other materials. Portions of the collection are restricted.     Addition added as part of the Wm Penn Balch Museum repatriation. This addition consists of one poster with the heading: “Together We Can Make a Difference” in English and in Spanish.

 

Hispanic Federation for Social and Economic Development
Hispanic Federation for Social and Economic Development records, 1973-1985 (Collection MSS116) 21 boxes (9.6 linear ft.)
The Hispanic Federation for Social and Economic Development was a non-profit organization serving Puerto Ricans and Latinos in Philadelphia.  Established in 1981, the organization mirrored the goals of its founder, attorney Luis P. Diaz, who perceived the need for an agency to serve as a middleman between the city's predominantly non-Hispanic banks, corporations, public agencies, and planning officials on the one hand and Philadelphia's growing - but socially and economically disadvantaged - population of Spanish-speaking inhabitants on the other.  The Federation helped make resources and services available to a network of organizational members and affiliate groups made up of community-based organizations in Latino neighborhoods, until it went bankrupt in 1985.  This collection is particularly rich in information that details the evolution of housing and community development programs involving Philadelphia-area Hispanics between 1981 and 1985.  Included are correspondence, grant applications, reports, memoranda, financial records, newspaper clippings, project files for the Housing Initiative Program and the Human Services Program, and maps and other data collected by Federation staff during a 1982 Vacant Properties Survey of North Philadelphia.  Portions of the collection are restricted.

 

Latino Project (Philadelphia)
Latino Project records, 1962-1985 (Collection MSS117) 29 boxes (11.2 linear ft.)
The Latino Project, headed by attorney Luis P. Diaz, was a non-profit legal assistance and public advocacy organization that provided representation to Spanish-speaking groups and interests in Greater Philadelphia area.  Until its demise in 1984, The Latino Project was particularly concerned with protecting and developing employment opportunities in the public and private sectors under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (which forbade job discrimination on the basis of national origin) and providing legal representation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act (which forbade the exclusion of Latinos from participating in any federally assisted program and required such programs to affirmatively benefit Puerto Ricans and other Spanish-speaking people).  This collection consists of the files of the Latino Project from the mid-1970s through 1982.   Included are correspondence, memoranda, minutes, grant applications, clippings, newsletters, and other items pertaining to the work of the project and its executive director, advisory board, and staff.  Of special interest are legal case files and court proceedings documenting a number of discrimination cases involving the employment of Puerto Ricans and Latinos in Philadelphia.  The files also reflect the organization's interest in bilingual education, expanding educational and employment opportunities for Hispanics, and in improving the delivery of general health care and mental health services for Spanish-speaking clients.

 

Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union
Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union records, 1890-1986 (Collection 3028) 119 boxes ( 86.3 linear ft.)
This fraternal benefit society was established in Pittston, on June 24, 1893, as the Pennsylvania Slovak Roman and Greek Catholic Union (PSRGCU). In October 1954, the name of the organization was shortened to Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union (PSCU). The PSRGCU was born of necessity since injury or death compensation laws in the coal industry were not yet in existence. The Union was formed as a beneficial and insurance society, but also played cultural, and social roles. The Union, as a part of the Slovak-American ethnic community, contributed to the creation and preservation of parishes, religious orders, and newspapers. The PSCU had its home office in the City of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. In October 1990, the PSCU merged with the First Catholic Slovak Union of the United States and Canada (FCSU), which remains in existence in 2003. The FCSU’s corporate headquarters are in Independence, Ohio. The heart of the collection is membership applications, various insurance certificates and claims, and miscellaneous registers. Records of the PSCU also include constitutions and bylaws, convention minutes and reports, correspondence, official publications, administrative financial records, such as annual statements, general account ledgers, and expenses of supreme officers ledgers, and a great deal of membership financial records that include, in particular, income and expenses ledgers of the branches, membership dues books, check and cash registers, and claim ledgers. A few photographs, and one artifact finalize the collection.

 

Polish Union in the USA
Polish Union in the USA records, 1891-1987 (Collection MSS168) 271 boxes (205.2 linear ft.)
The Polish Union of the United States of North America is a national fraternal benefit society founded in 1890 and headquartered in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.  It provides life insurance and offers scholarship loans to its members.  The collection represents the union's national office records and includes death claim records, cash surrender records, juvenile division records, and endowment matured records.  Two volumes of minutes and materials originally interleaved with the minutes, including programs and a jubilee book, and some of the death claims, are present in microfilm.  The unprocessed additions to the records of the Polish Union of the United States of North America include four boxes  dating 1917 to 1986.  The record group includes constitutions and by-laws, minutes, correspondence, financial records, reports, programs, and other items.

 

Swiss Benevolent Society of New York
Swiss Benevolent Society of New York records, 1880-1982, undated (Collection MSS127) 87 boxes (46.8 linear ft.)
The Swiss Benevolent Society of New York is the oldest Swiss Benevolent Society in the United States, founded in 1832.  From its inception, the Swiss Benevolent Society of New York has sought to care for the poor among the Swiss population of New York.  The earliest records of the Society date from 1880 and include correspondence, board minutes, financial and administrative records, annual reports, newspaper clippings, blueprints and various printed materials.  The unprocessed additions to the Swiss Benevolent Society of New York Records consist of one box that contains brochures and invitations.

 

Swiss Benevolent Society of Philadelphia
Swiss Benevolent Society of Philadelphia records, 1860-1990 (Collection MSS013) 8 boxes (2.8 linear ft.)
The Swiss Benevolent Society was founded in 1860 to aid for needy Swiss immigrants coming into Philadelphia or New York City. In 1940, it affiliated itself with the New Helvetic Society.  The collection includes bylaws, constitutions, correspondence, minutes, annual reports, legal documents, membership records, an organizational history, and uncataloged photographs. For related materials, see New Helvetic Society Records. This first part of this collection documents charitable and networking activities within the Swiss American community, as well as disaster and war relief, over a full century. Box 1 Folder 1 includes detailed accounts of the society's history. Annual reports are mostly complete for 1914-1972. Minutes appear to be complete for 1863-1972 and discuss finances, management of the society's real estate, allocation of funds to people in need, planning for the annual meetings, allocation and collection of funds for relief abroad, and incidental notes concerning individual members and the circumstances of individual claimants. Some minute books also contain listings of members and officers, with addresses, as well as dues payments. The correspondence folder contains a detailed account of the 1964 Alaska earthquake. The unprocessed additions to the Swiss Benevolent Society of Philadelphia Records include constitution and bylaws, minutes, annual reports, correspondence, programs, photographs, clippings, financial and membership records, and other items. The collection includes a fairly complete set of annual reports from late 1940s to 1990s, some minutes of annual meetings, income and expenses ledgers for 1915-1974, a small amount of correspondence about relations with the consulate, requests for aid, notices to members, and other topics. There is an alphabetical card file of Swiss men and women who received aid from the Society which includes person's name, age, sometimes occupation, Swiss city of origin, amounts given, sometimes if the aid was refused, and sometimes the purpose of the moneys given.  There is also a copy of Sophie G. Bollier's will and a court document regarding her estate.

 

Southeast Asian Resource Action Center
Southeast Asian Resource Action Center records, 1979-1999, undated (Collection 3021) 33 boxes (13 linear ft.)
The Southeast Asian Resource Action Center (SEARAC) was established in Washington D.C. in 1979 as the Indochinese Resource Action Center (IRAC). The center serves as a national clearinghouse for information on Indochinese refugees, as well as a technical assistance center for the Southeast Asian American community. A group of concerned Americans founded the organization in the aftermath of the Cambodian Killing Fields and in the midst of the Vietnamese boat people crisis. IRAC has repeatedly redefined its mission, however, as its constituency of Indochinese refugees became United States citizens. In 1992, IRAC changed its name to the Southeast Asian Resource Action Center, because of the colonial overtones implied by the French term Indochina. Although the majority of the collection documents the activities of SEARAC through petitions, office files, and a technical assistance resource bank, there is also material pertaining to various Mutual Assistance Associations throughout the country.

Many of HSP’s collections document 20th-century family and social life, particularly those of the elite and burgeoning middle classes. Many of these family papers also include genealogical information.

The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is one of the most complete and professional genealogy centers in the nation, and the largest in the Mid-Atlantic region. The Society's 20th-century genealogy-related collections include family papers, funeral records, and institutional records. Many of these collections document the practice of this increasingly popular activity.

Allen, Alfred Reginald, 1876-1918; Allen, Alfred Reginald, 1905-1988
Allen family papers, 1837-1971 (Collection 3126) 57 boxes 13 volumes (23.2 linear ft.)
The Allen family of Philadelphia had its roots in Bristol, United Kingdom. Samuel Allen (sometimes spelled Allan or Allin) came to America in 1681 and settled in what is now known as Chester, Pennsylvania. The Allen family papers consist of correspondence, photographs, albums, newspaper clippings, volumes, manuscripts, ephemera, and artifacts collected first by Dr. Alfred Reginald Allen (1876-1918) and then by his son Alfred Reginald Allen Jr. (1905-1988). This collection of Allen family papers is rich in personal correspondence, particularly between Dr. Allen and his father in the late nineteenth century, between Dr. Allen and his wife while he was at the Army’s Plattsburg training camp and overseas, and between Reggie and his mother from the 1920s until her death in 1949. There are also numerous photographs and albums in the collection which are mostly family portraits, pictures of their summer holidays on Lake George, New York, and the family’s many travels abroad. There is also a significant amount of genealogical material in the form of historical biographies, family trees and letters. Dr. Allen began doing genealogical research and Reggie it.  While Dr. Allen concentrated on the history of the Allens and the Pomeroys, Reggie expanded the research to include the Howes, the DeWolfs, the Huntingtons, and other related lineages. This genealogical research is particularly interesting as all lines of the family were people who settled in America in the 1600s. The Pomeroys in particular were some of the original founders of the town of Dorset, Massachusetts.

 

Bok, Curtis, 1897-1962 and Nellie Lee Holt Bok
William Curtis Bok and Nellie Lee Holt Bok papers, 1836-1991 (Collection 3096) (25 linear ft.)
The focus of this collection is the personal and professional papers of Curtis (1897-1962) and Nellie Lee Bok.  In addition, there is some documentation of their children (Derek, Enid, and Benjamin) and their Bok and Holt ancestors.  There are letters, travel journals, identified files, photographs, and printed materials relating to the illustrious careers of both Curtis and Nellie Lee.

 

Clapp family
Clapp family papers, 1942-1989 (Collection 2172) 23 boxes 46 volumes (33 linear ft.)
Forty six volumes of diaries and scrapbooks, 1942-1989, which document both visually and textually the daily lives of a Philadelphia, Pa. suburban couple. The scrapbooks include photographs, Christmas and birthday cards, ephemera from social events, and material relating to their children's education and interests. These "memory books" go several steps beyond the typical scrapbook, however.  They often include items that are more readily classified as artifacts -- apple stems, dixie cup spoons, and probably most memorably, a wishbone from a turkey.   Mary Ann Clapp obviously spent a great deal of time compiling these albums and most items are captioned or refer the viewer to the diaries, take up the latter part of each volume.

 

Dwyer family
Dwyer family papers, 1854-1995 (Collection 3029) 60 boxes 34 volumes (26 linear ft.)
The Dwyer Family Papers primarily consist of the papers of Edward James Dwyer, a graduate of St. John's College in Annapolis Maryland, who then attended Johns Hopkins University as a graduate student in engineering. He later became the president of Electric Storage Battery Company and served on the board of Quaker Chemical Company, Selas Corporation, and the National Association of Manufacturers. He was also a lawyer. The collection also includes many papers relating to Elizabeth MacLachlan Dwyer. The children of Edward and Elizabeth are also represented. This collection includes correspondence; class notes and thesis of Edward J. Dwyer; genealogical notes on the Dwyer, Root, Waters, MacLachlan, McDonald, and Hamblin families; scrapbooks; printed matter; and ephemera.

 

Gondos family
Gondos family papers, 1895-circa 1978 (Collection 3082) 13 boxes 3 volumes (3.9 linear ft.)
Victor Gondos, a civil engineer, immigrated to the United States with his family in 1911, settling in Chicago. He married Irene Trautmann, and they had two sons, Zoltan (later Robert) and Victor Jr.  In the 1920s they moved to Reading, Pennsylvania, where Victor set up The Gondos Company, a general contracting firm.  In 1930, Gondos joined with his sons to form Gondos and Gondos, an architectural firm headquartered in Philadelphia that designed industrial buildings, schools, and hotels.  Both sons garnered engineering degrees, but Victor Jr. was also an historian and archivist, and he served on the staff of the National Archives for twenty-three years. This diverse collection, which spans almost one hundred years, chronicles a Hungarian family’s attempt to assimilate to the United States yet retain its heritage.  It also documents the family’s architectural and construction businesses from the mid 1920s though the Great Depression and World War II.  The vast majority of this collection is correspondence between family members in the United States and in Hungary.   There are also scrapbooks, audio materials, clippings, programs, pamphlets, journals, technical drawings, and photographs.

 

Horstmann-Lippincott family
Horstmann-Lippincott family, 1724-1963 (Collection 1899) 32 boxes 79 volumes (18.5 linear ft.)
Primarily the personal papers of several related Philadelphia families, including correspondence, financial records, estate records, diaries, photographs, and much miscellanea.  The earliest papers, 1814-1858, are by members of the Shaw, Craige, and Lippincott families, and include: correspondence; miscellaneous receipts; Sarah Lippincott's receipt book, 1826-1858; and the diary, 1839-1840 of Josephine Craige who in 1845 married J.B. Lippincott, the founder of the publishing house.

The Sigmund H. Horstmann papers include a few personal letters, 1869-1870; and miscellaneous business records, 1851-1864, of Horstmann Brothers and Company, importers and manufacturers of military uniforms, insignias, and flags.  His wife, Elizabeth West Horstmann, is represented by account books of household expenses, 1864; servant's wages, 1856-1896; travel expenses in Europe, 1869-1870; and two miscellaneous volumes. Also included are the European diaries, 1869-1870, 1873, of her daughters Sarah and Elizabeth Horstmann. The bulk of the collection is made up of the personal papers, 1860-1927, of Walter Lippincott, son of J.B. Lippincott and husband of Elizabeth Horstman. It contains: incoming correspondence; accounts; bills and receipts; contracts; real estate records; tax records; household accounts; inventories; instructions to servants; photo albums; Lippincott's diary, 1892-1919, with brief notations on routine activities; transcript of Lippincott's interview with Admiral George Dewey on the problems of the German fleet at the battle of Manila Bay; school records and reports; and other miscellanea. Elizabeth Horstmann is represented by incoming letters, account book, 1884-1919, scrapbooks, school papers, and miscellanea. The papers, 1906-1950, of Bertha Horstman Lippincott Coles, the only child of Walter and Elizabeth Lippincott, include a few letters, some regarding her published writings; financial records on the large estate inherited from her parents and other properties; a diary, 1906-1907; papers on her work with the U.S. Service Club; and the manuscript of her book, "Wound Stripes (1921)."

 

Lowrie and Derr Families
Lowrie and Derr families papers, 1844-1969 (Collection D1259). 28 containers (25 linear feet).
This collection of family papers documents at least two generations, based largely in Wilkes Barre and Philadelphia. It includes a large amount of family correspondence and photographs; marriage records; diaries; financial records; art work and a manuscript by Elizabeth Derr Davisson; research notes, manuscripts, and published volumes on Philadelphia history by Sarah Dickson Lowrie; and songs, poems, and plays by Thompson Derr. Documentation from 1910-1960 is more robust. Of special interest are materials relating to tourism in the Southwestern United States and Native American art, life in London during World War II, and Philadelphia history. This collection includes an extensive album of tintypes.

 

Wannemacher family
Wannemacher family papers, 1897-1957 (Collection 3324) 1 box 10 volumes (1.7 linear ft.)
These 10 photo albums document the social and political lives of the Wannemacher family and other young Philadelphians in the 1910s and 1920s.  At least some of the Wannemachers were Socialists involved with the Socialist Sunday School (24th and 27th wards) and the Young People's Socialist League.  Their picnics and other excursions are documented.  There is a picture of Eugene V. Debs and another of the Socialist Book Store, 1326 Arch St., Philadelphia. The other major aspect of this collection is the documentation of various family trips to the Jersey Shore, New York City, Niagara, Wisconsin, and New England, where the family visited the homes and graves of Emerson, Thoreau, Alcott, and Hawthorne.  They also traveled around Pennsylvania a great deal, to Harrisburg, Delaware Water Gap, Graterford, Wissahickon, Perkiomen, Media, Arden, and other places. Also of note are a handful of pictures of Philadelphia on Armistice Day.  Some albums focused on the childhood of Margaret Wannemacher.

 

Wright, Charles Adshead
Charles Adshead Wright collection, 1810-1982 (Collection 3013) 33 boxes (14 linear ft.)
The Wright Family Papers recount the story of an American family coming of age in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.  The story is told through the recollections and writings of Charles Adshead Wright, who began compiling his memoirs in 1923, at the age of twenty-four.  He titled his project, “The Story of a Life,” and noted, “It will be my purpose to record daily the experiences which I have had, and my own personal reaction to those experiences.”  His project went through several revisions and periods of dormancy in the subsequent years, but continued with the support of his family, who inspired him to write additional chapters that gave a chronological account of all of the activities of the Wright family.  He illustrated the text with family photographs, clippings, holiday cards, and other ephemera, so that by 1987 the “Wright Family History” occupied 108 binders and spanned nearly 172 years in the life of an American family.

Allen, Alfred Reginald, 1876-1918; Allen, Alfred Reginald, 1905-1988
Allen family papers, 1837-1971 (Collection 3126) 57 boxes 13 volumes (23.2 linear ft.)
The Allen family of Philadelphia had its roots in Bristol, United Kingdom. Samuel Allen (sometimes spelled Allan or Allin) came to America in 1681 and settled in what is now known as Chester, Pennsylvania. The Allen family papers consist of correspondence, photographs, albums, newspaper clippings, volumes, manuscripts, ephemera, and artifacts collected first by Dr. Alfred Reginald Allen (1876-1918) and then by his son Alfred Reginald Allen Jr. (1905-1988). This collection of Allen family papers is rich in personal correspondence, particularly between Dr. Allen and his father in the late nineteenth century, between Dr. Allen and his wife while he was at the Army’s Plattsburg training camp and overseas, and between Reggie and his mother from the 1920s until her death in 1949. There are also numerous photographs and albums in the collection which are mostly family portraits, pictures of their summer holidays on Lake George, New York, and the family’s many travels abroad.

There is also a significant amount of genealogical material in the form of historical biographies, family trees and letters. Dr. Allen began doing genealogical research and Reggie it.  While Dr. Allen concentrated on the history of the Allens and the Pomeroys, Reggie expanded the research to include the Howes, the DeWolfs, the Huntingtons, and other related lineages. This genealogical research is particularly interesting as all lines of the family were people who settled in America in the 1600s. The Pomeroys in particular were some of the original founders of the town of Dorset, Massachusetts.

 

Fluehr Funeral Home (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Fluehr Funeral Home records, 1919-1988 (Collection GSP 051) 10 boxes (4.75 linear ft.)
John F. Fluehr & Sons were funeral directors in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They later changed their name to Fluehr Funeral Home. They were located at 149 W. Susquehanna Avenue and 3260 and 3301-3305 Cottman Avenue. An associated funeral home was Fluehr's Funeral Home at 5401 Rising Sun Avenue in Philadelphia. The bulk of the collection consists of funeral records from 1929-1980, with several years missing. The funeral records include information on the deceased such as name (including maiden name for married women), birth date, death date, birthplace, names of family members, the cemetery and burial plot, residence prior to death, and cause of death. The records also include information on the funeral and burial arrangements, such as the type of casket, preparation of the body, clothing, flowers, and the associated costs for these items. Some records include the text of death notices.  Each book, or section of a book, corresponds to a calendar year, and the records within are in alphabetical order by last name. There is also one box of miscellaneous materials, including financial records and receipts from the 1970s-1980s, documentation related to a property purchased in Ship Bottom, New Jersey, an honorable discharge from the army for Leslie A. Lynch and estate settlement papers for Harry J. Behr and Robert Licsauer.

 

Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania
Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania collection of genealogical records, 1808-1979 (Collection 3270) (393 linear ft.)
This extensive collection originally was compiled and held by the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania.  Most of the records represent the research notes, reports and correspondence of genealogists.  Although most of the material is secondary and often uncited to source, there is a small amount of original documents within the volumes, including legal documents such as indentures and wills, correspondence, photographs, news clippings (mostly of obituaries), and receipts.  There are also many Photostats and typed transcripts of such documents.  While some volumes include documentation regarding multiple families, usually arranged alphabetically, many volumes are devoted to one family and occasionally follow a scrapbook-like format, filled with news clippings, photographs and printed ephemera.  There are also several multi-volume subseries of special topics, such as the signers of the Declaration of Independence and their descendants, the "old families" of Philadelphia and by regional groupings, including some of the mid-Atlantic states, New England, and the counties of Pennsylvania.

 

Cope, Gilbert and Joseph Cope
Gilbert and Joseph Cope genealogical research materials and personal papers, 1798-1988 (Collection GSP 041) 29 boxes (29 linear ft.)
The collection consists of genealogical research and personal papers compiled by Gilbert Cope (1840-1928) and his son Joseph. The largest portion of the collection is comprised of surname files from the Gilbert Cope Foundation of Genealogical and Historical Research (1818-1988).  These files include genealogical worksheets, clippings, correspondence, family charts, printed materials, and some original photographs and documents (many of them relating to the Copes).  Besides the Cope family itself, other families heavily represented include Baily, Brinton, Brown, Darlington, du Pont, Garrett, Gilbert, Hoopes, McGrew, Price, Sellers, Sharpless, and Smedley. The collection includes a number of volumes of correspondence to and from Gilbert and Joseph Cope, primarily on genealogical topics, with particular emphasis on Cope family history. Some printed materials from Pennsylvania and British institutions and groups are included. There are also some personal papers for ancestors of the Copes, including account books and diaries for Joseph Cope (1740-1820) and Eliza Cope (died 1862), and biographical information about Gilbert and Joseph, including transcripts of Gilbert’s diaries. Some miscellaneous notes, drawings, and published family histories are also included.

 

Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania
Historical Society of Pennsylvania and Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania collection of genealogical records, 1766-1982 (Collection 3255) 76 boxes (35 linear ft.)
Unlike the other records compiled by the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, most of the material in this collection is original.  Folders are arranged by family or individual and contain a variety of material.  Included are deeds wills and other legal documents, correspondence, account books, bills and receipts, school transcripts, photographs and printed material.  Some contain volumes of published family histories.  Perhaps more valuable than the genealogical data that can be extracted from these documents is the coverage of contemporary events also highlighted through words and pictures, including the Civil War and the Korean conflict.  Some individuals are represented through more extensive documentation, comprising a mini-collection of its own.  One such instance is the collection of Edwin S. Dunkerley, a former HSP volunteer.  In addition to material documenting his life, there are letters from an apparent relative who served as a missionary in China during World War I.  There is also one box of mid-19th century sheet music, identified as "Miss Leach" that includes titles such as "Lieutenant General Grant's Grand March," and F.B. Helmsmuller's "Ruck-Ruck-Gallop," or "Hitch-Hitch."  Some records are by institution such as the Moyamensing Lodge No. 330.

 

Jacobs, Sophia Yarnall
Sophia Yarnall Jacobs papers, 1861-1990 (Collection 3007) 2 boxes 5 volumes (1.33 linear ft.)
Sophia Yarnall Jacobs was a civic worker and author.  She attended Bryn Mawr College from 1919-1921, marrying Reginald Robert Jacobs in 1921.  They divorced in 1937, and she served as secretary of the United Nations Council (later the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia) and was president of the National Council of Women from 1960-1963. The Sophia Yarnall Jacobs papers contain photocopies of correspondence, photocopies of newspaper clippings, research notes, manuscript drafts, printed materials, letter books, and photographs.  All the files relate either to the Coxe family or to the various Coxe mining enterprises.  The papers are divided into two series, Coxe family research materials and bound volumes, and date from 1861-1990.

 

Ohio. Court of Common Pleas (Mahoning County)
Mahoning County Court of Common Pleas naturalization records, 1900-1933 (Collection MSS091) 8 boxes  ( 8 linear ft.)
The collection contains Preliminary Naturalization petition forms ("second papers") for Mahoning County, Ohio.  These forms were submitted to the district naturalization office along with immigrants' initial applications for naturalization ("first papers"), for verification of information such as arrival dates and residence before naturalization could proceed.  These forms were to be destroyed when the final naturalization certificate was completed.  This group of records was preserved by a clerk who passed them on to the donor.  Two different versions of the forms are represented in the collection.  In English.

 

Oliver H. Bair (Firm)
Oliver H. Bair funeral records, 1920-1980 (Collection 3338) 991 boxes (396.4 linear ft.)
The Oliver H. Bair Company was founded in 1878 with the intent to offer the best service possible for families that had to make funeral arrangements for their deceased loved ones.  Originating at 41 North Eighteenth Street in Philadelphia, the funeral home's most well-known location was at 1820 Chestnut Street, and it now operates from 8500 West Chester Pike in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, as a member of Oliver H. Bair Company & Monaghan Funeral Home.  The collection contains records dated from 1920-1980 and includes records not only from Oliver H. Bair Company, but also from five other funeral homes that operated in Philadelphia and were purchased by the Oliver H. Bair Company.  The burial records include information on the deceased, bills pertaining to funeral expenses, newspaper clippings, and correspondence between Oliver H. Bair and the person responsible for the payment for the deceased's funeral.

 

Rubincam, Milton, 1909-
Milton Rubincam papers, 1934-1980 (Collection GSP 102) 19 boxes 113 volumes (36.58 linear ft.)
The collection contains documentation of Rubincam's genealogical research. Materials include: an extensive, 113 volume Rubincam family genealogy, which contains correspondence, photocopies of records, photocopies of clippings, and other research; printed family histories and bibliographies (there are often photocopies of correspondence related to the research as well as the final product of the research); genealogical research on various royal families and non-royal families; manuscripts for articles and papers; articles and reprints by others; printed materials from genealogical societies, including a good deal of research related to the Sutherland family and newsletters from the Clan Sutherland Society in Scotland; and miscellaneous reels of microfilm for various individuals and families, as well as the Sussex County Court Records. Many of the genealogical projects draw on German primary sources. There is also extensive correspondence with fellow genealogists and historians - sometimes on genealogical topics, sometimes related to personal and organizational matters for organizations in which Rubincam was involved, such as the American Society for Genealogy. Some files include obituaries written by Rubincam. Correspondents include Walter Goodwin Davis, Donald Lines Jacobus, John Insley Coddington, and Calvin Kephart.

The legal profession, significant litigation cases, and matters relating to civil rights and international law are documented through personal papers and organizational records, including the records of law firms and professional associations.

Brehon Law Society
Brehon Law Society records, 1976-1989 (Collection 3044) 5 boxes (2.25 linear ft.)
The Brehon Law Society is a Philadelphia-based professional association founded in 1976 to promote the profession of law among people of Irish ancestry.  Members include lawyers, judges, law students, and “friends.”  The society supports legal education by providing professional development programs and offering mentors to law students. It sponsors speakers on current legal issues, and honors successful people, often society members, for their achievements in the field of law.  The Brehons promote Irish cultural events such as theater and concerts, and they organize social activities like holiday parties, dinner-dances, and receptions for visiting Irish dignitaries.  Society members celebrate their Irish heritage by marching in the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade and they usually hold a post-parade party.  There are also some events of a religious nature, such as communion breakfasts.  In addition, the Brehons have political interests.  Members run for judicial offices and positions in the Philadelphia Bar Association, and the society usually endorses a slate of candidates in those elections.  The Brehons are also watchful of political and human rights issues in Ireland. The collection includes bylaws, Executive Committee and general membership meeting agendas and minutes, membership information, financial records, reports on special events, and correspondence.  There is a card file of the members and friends of the society, and one artifact, a corporate seal.  Most of the material in this collection is dated from 1983 to 1986.

 

Carson, Hampton L. (Hampton Lawrence), 1852-1929
Hampton L. Carson papers, 1715-1941 (Collection 0117) 62 boxes (31.5 linear ft.)
Autograph letters and portraits, 1690-1921, of lawyers, judges, and others involved in the administration of law and justice in the courts of Pennsylvania, and of other states, from the early colonial period to the present. Among the letters are those of governors of Pennsylvania, 1789-1920; attorneys general of Pennsylvania, 1791-1920; members of the colonial bar, 1690-1775; members of the High Court of Error, 1761-1815; lawyers of the Revolutionary period, 1776-1801; justices of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1712-1921; and others.  There are also seven boxes containing approximately 400 caricatures of political leaders, members of the bar, and other prominent people, ca. 1880-1929.  Other items are pamphlets, speeches, newspaper clippings, on public questions; correspondence of Hampton L. Carson about his legal practice, and his presidency of the American Bar Association and of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; correspondence and papers on Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker of Pennsylvania.

 

Diaz, Nelson A.
Nelson A. Diaz papers, 1967-2009 (Collection 3079) 177 boxes (69.2 linear ft.)
Nelson Diaz (1947- ) is a Philadelphia attorney who served on the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas (1981-1992) and as general counsel for the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (1993-1996). In addition, he has been highly active in the Hispanic and overall Philadelphia community as an activist, businessman, and journalist. He has served on many boards and committees in the Philadelphia area, and his interests and involvement have ranged from youth groups to the Temple University Hospital to the William Penn Foundation. This extensive collection documents Diaz's activities relating to Hispanic issues, organizations, and events; his work with and for various boards and committees; his work as a judge and an attorney; and his numerous other activities. Materials include correspondence, memos, minutes, reports, transcripts, by-laws, mailing lists, financial data, petitions, clippings, personnel documents, photographs, and audio and video cassettes.

 

Lagakos, Gregory G.
Gregory G. Lagakos papers, 1961-1980 (Collection MSS062) 12 boxes 1 volume (4.8 linear ft.)
Gregory Lagakos, the son of Greek immigrants, was born and raised in Camden, New Jersey.  He practiced law in Philadelphia and served as a judge on the County Court of Philadelphia and the Common Pleas Court.  He was active in the Greek community and in local and national Greek organizations.  The collection consists primarily of materials from organizations in which Lagakos was active, including AHEPA, the Greek American Committee of the Philadelphia bicentennial celebration, and the 23rd Biennial Clergy-Laity Congress of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America.

 

Lagakos, Gregory G., 1912-1982
Gregory G. Lagakos papers additions, 1937-1989 (Collection MSS169) 23 boxes (8.8 linear ft.)
These additions to the Gregory Lagakos Papers consist primarily of materials from AHEPA, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America, and other organizations in which Lagakos was active. These materials include by-laws, correspondence, directories, financial records, historical notes, minutes, newspaper clippings, official publications, programs, reports, photographs, and other items. There is also a small amount of personal and family material, including Lagakos's resume, biography, family tree, and other items.

 

Lukas, Edwin J. (Edwin Jay), 1902-1973
Edwin J. Lukas papers, 1937-1973 (Collection MSS032) 2 boxes (0.8 linear ft.)
Edwin Lukas was a lawyer, author, criminologist and civil rights activist.  The collection primarily documents Lukas' private life and his work with the American Jewish Committee from 1950 to 1968.  It includes correspondence, speeches, articles, book reviews, drafts for a civil rights case book, and sound recordings.

 

Rawle & Henderson
Rawle & Henderson records, 1800-circa 1962 (Collection 3109) 63 volumes (9.7 linear ft.)
Rawle & Henderson, in 1983, was recognized by the United States Senate as “the oldest law firm in continuous practice in United States.”   It was founded in 1783 by William Rawle (1759-1836) under the name Rawle Law Offices.  Various members of the Rawle family headed the firm throughout the 1800s, including Rawle’s sons and grandsons.  In 1913, the firm became known as Rawle and Henderson with the addition of Joseph W. Henderson; he became a full partner in 1917.  The firm recently celebrated its 225th anniversary and continues as one of the region’s leading practices, particularly in the admiralty and maritime law. The Rawle & Henderson collection consists of sixty-three law books kept by the firm, the earliest dating to 1800.  There are published reports by William Rawle Jr. of cases heard by state Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, as well as copies of the Laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 1700-1805.  Additional volumes include “Paper Books” that contain reports and papers from specific cases worked by Rawle & Henderson from the 1920s to the 1950s, including several that involved the National Labor Relations Board.  There are also three miscellaneous books, including a copy of American Maritime Cases (1932), for which Joseph Henderson served as an associate editor.

 

Sowers, Clinton A.
Clinton A. Sowers records of the proceedings against the estate of Henrietta E. Garrett, 1936-1951 (Collection 3370) 1150 volumes (88 linear ft.)
These volumes are the records of Clinton Sowers, Esq., who was appointed an examiner to the proceedings of the claims against the estate of Henrietta E. Garrett, held in the Orphan's Court of Philadelphia County. Garrett died a widow on Nov. 16, 1930, leaving an estate valued at more than $17 million. In 1931, the Commonwealth of PA filed a claim alleging that Garrett died without leaving next of kin surviving her and that the estate should pass to the Commonwealth by escheat. Because of the size of the estate the case received world-wide publicity and approximately 25,800 claims were filed people in almost every state and several foreign countries.  In 1936, a master and two examiners were appointed to exam and render a decision to these claims. These records document this 15 year proceeding, including approximately 2,000 hearings, at which the testimony of more than 1,100 witnesses was taken and more than 7,700 exhibits were received in evidence. In 1950, the master ruled that Henrietta E. Garrett's nearest next of kin were Howard S. Kretschmar and Herman A. Kretschmar, maternal first cousins, and Johann Peter Christian Schafer I, a paternal first cousin. This collection consists of court hearing transcripts, exhibit books, transcripts of depositions, investigations, abstracts of testimonies, indexes, master's report, and other volumes.

HSP has a significant number of graphic material collections. The photographic collections offer a visual history of Philadelphia and the surrounding region, capturing people, places, and events, and offer a glimpse into the development of photography throughout the century. Materials contained in the graphic collections include photographs, posters, prints, slides, and drawings.

 

Albertype Company
Albertype Company photographs, 1910-1950 (Collection V18A) 7 boxes (2.4 linear ft.)
The Albertype Company was founded by Adolph and Herman L. Wittemann in 1890 as a postcard and viewbook publishing company.  The Brooklyn-based company used the recent technological innovation of the collotype, or albertype, to photomechanically reproduce images.  Amassing photographic negatives of towns and cities across the United States, the Albertype Company produced over twenty-five thousand collotypes before its closure in 1952. The collection includes 353 cellulose acetate and cellulose nitrate negatives, 3 glass plate negatives, and 10 positives.  These images document buildings, natural attractions, and streets in Pennsylvanian towns.  Additionally, there are over eighty views of the 1926 Sesquicentennial exhibition in Philadelphia.  The following cities and towns are represented: Blakeslee, Bryn Mawr, Clarion, Eaglesmere, Hoban Heights, Indiana, Lackawaxen, Lewisburg, Lord's Valley, Loretto, Mansfield, McConnellsburg, McKeesport, Mercersburg, Punxsutawney, Philipsburg, Reading, Renovo, Ridgeway, Sayre, Shillington, and State College. There are also many views of the Sesqui-Centennial grounds and buildings. Of note are a number of views of the Archdiocese exhibit.

 

Albertype Company
Albertype Company photographs, 1910-1952 (Collection V18) 43 boxes (14.4 linear ft.)
The Albertype Company was founded by Adolph and Herman L. Wittemann in 1890 as a postcard and viewbook publishing company.  The Brooklyn-based company used the recent technological innovation of the collotype, or albertype, to photomechanically reproduce images.  Amassing photographic negatives of towns and cities across the United States, the Albertype Company produced over twenty-five thousand collotypes before its closure in 1952. 
The collection includes 4223 cellulose acetate and cellulose nitrate negatives, 212 prints, and 66 postcards.  These images document buildings, natural attractions, streets, and recreational activities in Pennsylvanian towns. 

 

Barker, Albert W. (Albert Winslow), 1874-1947
Albert Winslow Barker glass plate negatives, circa 1909 (Collection 3171) 3 boxes (3 linear ft.)
142 glass plate negatives by Albert Winslow Barker, primarily of farm scenes in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

 

Bell, D. Sargent
D. Sargent Bell photograph collection, 1900-1942 (Collection V01) 10 boxes (19 linear ft.)
Dickenson Sargent Bell worked as a professional photographer in Philadelphia from the late 1890s through the early 1940s. He was the son of William S. Bell, a pioneer photographer active in Philadelphia from 1848-1905. D. Sargent Bell is first listed as a photographer in the 1896 city directory. By 1916, he opened a studio with Joseph Fisher at 1324 Walnut Street. Bell and Fischer operated at this address through 1920. Bell worked without a partner at various addresses from 1921 to 1942. Primarily photographs taken by Bell and Bell and Fischer. Subjects include the Bell Telephone Co., the Philadelphia Gas Works, Philadelphia department stores, business enterprises, exhibitions, furniture, eating establishments, religion, education, health care, organizations, industry, interior, streets, buildings, sports, and theatrical productions. Also included are family photographs and informal portraits and reproductions of two-dimensional works. Photographers include Dickenson Sargent Bell, Joseph Fischer, Bell and Fischer, and Rembrandt Studio.Many negatives are copy negatives of postcards.

 

Day family
Day family collection of lantern slides and glass plate negatives, 1900-1920 (Collection V35) 2 boxes (2 linear ft.)
Various unknown prints of political cartoons regarding the mayoralty campaign between Rudolph Blankenburg and Earle.  The political cartoons are by F. T. Richards, Skyes, Weed and Humbert Johnson.  There are also several slides of war cores for Blankenburg.  The collection also includes various photos of scenes of Egypt and China by Mrs. F. M. Day and A. B. Day.  There are also scenes of New York and Boston playgrounds.  Included in the collection are scenes of Holmesburg, PA and several unidentified photos of building interiors.  Additionally there are photos of Grand Central Station in New York City and Union Station in Washington, D. C.  The glass photo negatives are of the American Academy in Rome.

 

Darby, Delphine Fitz
Delphine Fitz Darby collection of photograph albums of Pennsylvania views, 1890-1931 (Collection Bd 608 P53) 1 box 2 volumes (0.4 linear ft.)
Images of people and places in Philadelphia including Fairmount Park, Rittenhouse Square, the consecration of Bishop Rhinelander at the Church of the Advocate (1911), and street scenes including Broad Street and the area around 18th and Diamond Sts.  Other great images include the Inquirer Airship, Founders Week Parade (1908), area colleges, the area around 41st and Baltimore in West Philadelphia, Delaware Water Gap, and Harrisburg.  Most images are labeled and dated and the few people who appear are usually identified.  There are 135 photographs, including two cyanotypes, and 115 negatives of images represented in the albums.

 

Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Historical Society of Pennsylvania large miscellaneous lantern slide collection, 1900-1920 (Collection V09) (21 linear ft.)
This collection contains approximately 1900 slides and pertains mainly to the Philadelphia vicinity but covers a wide range of topics, from Academy of Fine Arts to graves and graveyards to schools and colleges and industry.  The slides are arranged alphabetically by topic.  A significant number of the slides are reproductions of prints, especially by Frank H. Taylor.

 

Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Historical Society of Pennsylvania photograph collection, circa 1850-1992 (Collection V59) 48 boxes (160 linear ft.)
The Society’s photograph collection is a rich visual resource on a variety of topics, with an emphasis on Philadelphia and the surrounding region.  Subjects particularly well documented in the collection include: local streets and residences, Fairmount Park, Friends’ Meeting houses, and historic buildings and sites.  Other subjects include bridges, churches, factories, fire engines and companies, hotels, monuments, schools, societies and clubs, the Centennial International Exposition, Lincoln’s funeral, and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.  Everyday life is represented in images of sports and recreation, and people at work.  Reproductions of art objects, medals, clocks, and flags are also included.  In addition to documenting Philadelphia, the collection also includes views of other Pennsylvania cities and towns and a small group of foreign views. Prominent photographers in the collection include James Cremer, Harry W. Balleisen, James E. McClees, Frederick DeBourg Richards, and McAllister & Bros.  The collection spans from the mid 19th century to the late 20th century and contains examples of several different types of photographs, such as albumen prints, gelatin silver prints, and cyanotypes.  Also in the collection are examples of different photographic formats, like stereo views, cabinet cards, and cartes-de-visites. The collection is divided into two sections by size: small and medium. Within each section photographs are arranged alphabetically by subject.  Photographs within the Centennials and Parades folders are arranged chronologically by date of the event.

 

Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Historical Society of Pennsylvania portrait collection, circa 1700-1950 (Collection V88) 215 boxes (215 linear ft.)
This is an artificial collection created by HSP staff, containing graphics materials from many sources. The collection includes prints, photographs, and other portraits of a number of significant Americans and Philadelphians.

 

J. G. Brill Company
J.G. Brill Company records, 1877-1930 (Collection 1556) 648 boxes, 7 volumes (137 linear ft.)
The J.G. Brill Company and its various incarnations dominated the world of trolley and undercarriage manufacturing for most of its seventy-year history. Based in Philadelphia, Brill was founded in 1868 by a German immigrant and held in family hands well into the 1930s. At its height, The J.G. Brill Company owned plants in six states as well as in Canada and France. The collection consists of approximately 16,000 photographs, 6,000 glass-plate negatives, 10,000 acetate negatives, and thirteen order books, and documents the wide array of products manufactured by Brill. The photographs include interior and exterior views of railroad cars, trolleys, buses, ambulances, and trucks, as well as images of undercarriages, small parts, and seats. The collection also documents the factory grounds at 62nd and Woodland, particularly for World War I. Order books provide information on the quantity and types of items purchased, the companies purchasing them, and their dates of order and delivery.

 

Perkins, Helen C.
Helen C. Perkins collection of lantern slides, 1900-1912 (Collection V32) 3 boxes (1.8 linear ft.)
This collection of 112 lantern slides (both black and white and color) documents street scenes and alleys in Philadelphia, with a focus on Chestnut Street. The collection also depicts Philadelphia theaters, banks, government buildings, halls, mansions, the Liberty Bell, and historical sites at Independence National Historical Park and other landmarks. In addition, the collection contains reproductions of cave dwellings on the Delaware River, the White House, the U.S. Capitol, and Mount Vernon.

 

Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company
Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company photograph albums, 1905-1908 (Collection V42) 6 volumes (2.5 linear ft.)
Albums contain photographs of Market Street from the 300 block to the 1200 block, highlighting storefronts and excavation, showing workmen, pipes, and cables. Includes views of subway tunnels, subway stations, trains, and construction diagrams for subway stations and equipment. Also includes scenes of New York City and Brooklyn.

 

Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company
Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company photoprints, 1903-1910 (Collection V40) 2 boxes 17 volumes (10 linear ft.)
Street views in and around Philadelphia documenting the construction of the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company's mass transit system. The construction of the Schuylkill River Bridge is highlighted, including views of its piers. Emphasis is placed on the Market Street line, especially of excavations. Retaining walls are shown with views of cracks and their destruction. Trench views are included. Substations are shown, especially at Willow Grove, Glenside, and the station at Market-Chestnut Street.

 

Philadelphia Record
Philadelphia Record photo morgue, circa 1900-1946 (Collection V07) 293 boxes (292 linear ft.)
This collection consists of the photographs taken for the Philadelphia Record, a newspaper which published from 1879 to 1947, when it was absorbed by the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin.  Photographs are arranged by person or by subject.  Most of the collection consists of portraits of people prominent on the local and national level - from Connie Mack and John Wanamaker to Herbert Hoover and Charles Lindbergh. Subjects include explosions, auto accidents, schools, churches, farms, the war effort, women workers, sports, beauty pageants, army hospitals, military veterans, railroads, Eastern State Penitentiary, and Philadelphia stores. Many photos document the Depression and World War II and include captions.

 

Philadelphia War Photograph Committee
Philadelphia War Photograph Committee collection, 1915-1919 (Collection V03 ) 4 boxes (4.25 linear ft.)
Photographs and halftones collected by the Philadelphia War Photograph Committee to document World War I participation on the Philadelphia home front.  The collection is arranged in three groups:  civilian activities, servicemen and service activities, and war industries.  Civilian activities include charitable and service organizations, military and political parades, dignitaries, and activities at local institutions.  Servicemen are shown at military training facilities.  Also included are images of military vehicles, the U. S. Naval Air Station in Cape May, NJ, and aerial views of New Jersey beaches.  Industrial views document employees working in plants, particularly women in the work force.  Cramp's Shipyard, and Hog Island.  Photographers include Bell and Fischer, Frederick Gutekunst, George E. Nitzsche, J. W. Replogle, G. C. Horn and Company, Henry C. Howland, J. E. Green, and Harry Gruber.

 

Smith, Charles Morton, d. 1914
Charles Morton Smith collection of Philadelphia railroads photographs, 1898-1909 (Collection V43) 6 boxes 6 volumes (3 linear ft.)
Contains views of Philadelphia railroads including operations at Wayne Junction, street views of Delaware Avenue from Chestnut Street, the Arch Street Pier, the superstructure of the Chestnut Street Pier, the Master Street Yard as well as Master Street, the Columbia Avenue Station and Columbia Avenue, Sullivans Silk Mill and Montgomery Avenue as well as various street and station scenes.

 

Wallace, Philip B.
Phillip B. Wallace collection of glass and photographic negatives, 1930s-1940s (Collection V45) 71 boxes  (31 linear ft.)
This collection contains an extensive collection of glass and photo negatives of Philadelphia photographer Philip Wallace who worked between 1902 and the 1940s. Wallace's work focused on  copy work of art and artifacts; commercial work, including construction projects; architectural decorative details from the past; and a wide array of buildings, individuals, residences and scenes of the Philadelphia area.

 

Wallace, Philip B.
Phillip B. Wallace collection of photographs, 1902-1949, undated (Collection V50) 16 boxes 1 volumes (15.5 linear ft.)
Black & white prints and cyanotypes by Philadelphia photographer Philip B. Wallace include views of buildings and details of buildings, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia street scenes, trains, ships, paintings (especially portraits), etchings, rural scenes, historic sites from the 1926 Philadelphia Sesquicentennial, antiques, ironworks and other artifacts, and images of Philadelphia streets and house interiors. Also includes architectural line drawings and images of Boston street scenes.

Hulbert, Archer Butler, 1873-1933
The Crown Collection of Photographs of American Maps, edited by Archer Butler Hulbert, 1907- 1915 (Collection O 232) 14 volumes (2 linear ft.)
This collection contains fourteen volumes and three series of colonial maps of the East coast, Indian settlements, the central United States, and Eastern Canada. Only the first series has a list identifying the maps illustrated. The volumes were edited by Archer Butler Hulbert and published by the Arthur H Clark Company, Cleveland.

 

Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Historical Society of Pennsylvania print collection, circa 1800-circa 1950 (Collection V89) 75 boxes (28.2 linear ft.)
The Society Print collection provides a rich visual catalog of various local, regional, national, and international areas, locales, institutions, and scenes.  Despite the vast range of subjects under which the collection is arranged, the majority of the collection is centered on Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. The images date from the early 1800s to the mid twentieth century.  Items in the collection primarily include reproductions of prints, drawings, lithographs, etchings, woodcuts, and photographs, many of which have been clipped from newspapers, magazines, and calendars.  There are also postcards, greeting cards, and invitations.  Additionally, the collection includes scattered original artworks such as watercolors and drawings, as well as original photographs. This collection is divided into three categories according to size: small, medium, and large.  It is further arranged alphabetically within each size according to subject.  The small prints have been housed in boxes, while the medium and large prints are housed in oversized folders.  A detailed inventory of the small prints is available in HSP’s library.

 

Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Historical Society of Pennsylvania war posters collection, 1914-1945 (Collection V95)( 2.4 linear ft.)
The Historical Society includes among its holdings a collection of over 500 original World War I and World War II posters. The World War I series includes a number of Liberty Loan, American National Red Cross, and the U.S. Food Administration posters, while the World War II group includes American home front posters, many published by the Office of War Information. Other organizations represented in the collection include the War Production Board, the U.S. Shipping Board, Emergency Fleet Corporation, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Coast Guard Women's Reserve ("Spars"), the Y.W.C.A., the Women’s Land Army, as well as branches of the U.S. military. War bonds, rationing, enlistment, vigilance, and conservation of resources are all topics treated by these artworks. The collection includes posters by such famous artists as Albert Dorne, James Montgomery Flagg, E. McKnight Kauffer, David Stone Martin, Norman Rockwell, Ben Shan, and Frederick Siebel. The collection is arranged into three series: Series 1 (World War I), Series 2 (World War II), and Series 3 (Commemorative).  Materials are further arranged by size, except for Series 3 which contains only  medium-sized items, and country of origin. Within each subseries materials are arranged alphabetically by topic or issuing organization.

 

Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Historical Society of Pennsylvania World War II propaganda collection, 1939-1946 (Collection 3335) 2 boxes (0.6 linear ft.)
The collection mostly consists of World War II posters from a variety of governmental and nongovernmental agencies. These include recruiting posters from the U.S. Coast Guard, Coast Guard Women's Reserve ("Spars"), Marine Corps, Marine Corps Women's Reserve, Army, Navy, WAVES, Air Corps, and Seabees; war bond posters from the Victory Fund Committee and other agencies; U.S. Civil Service Commission recruitment posters targeting women and men; Office of War Information warnings against spreading rumors or giving information to the enemy; prints of Norman Rockwell paintings illustrating Franklin Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms"; and wartime posters from the Railroad Manpower Mobilization Committee, War Food Administration, Federal Housing Administration, Social Security Board, U.S. Employment Service, Internal Revenue Service, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Boy Scouts of America, Children's Bureau Commission on Children in Wartime, and private companies such as F. W. Woolworth. Also includes a few British war propaganda posters, posters warning against forest fires, and a series of Esso ads featuring "Famous gremlins you should know." Also include World War II-era Christmas cards, magazine ads for war bonds, booklets from the U.S. Army Ordnance Department, magazine pages explaining U.S. military insignia, Pennsylvania Civil Service Commission circulars, part of a 1943 calendar with illustrations by cartoonist Bill Eddy, and other materials.

 

Penrose, Boies, 1902-1976 and Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Historical Society of Pennsylvania Penrose Pictorial Philadelphia collection, 1852-1992 (Collection V60) 56 boxes (66 linear ft.)
The collection includes books, magazines, negatives, lantern slides, bills, letters, and book of purchases for the collection, Taylor prints A-M, Taylor prints N-W, Taylor prints streets A-Z. Photographs depict a wide variety of subjects with emphasis on Philadelphia residences, streets, historic buildings and sites, and parks. Views of Pennsylvania cities and towns, and a smaller group of foreign views, are included. Everyday life is represented in images of sports, recreation, and people at work. Other subjects include transportation, hotels, mills, ships, battlefields, theaters, and banks. Images of the Centennial International Exposition are also part of the collection. Photographers include Philip B. Wallace, Walter H. Snow, Joseph V. Labolito, and Frederick DeBourg Richards. The collection includes albumen prints, black & white prints, salt prints, and stereoviews.

 

Perkins, Helen C.
Helen C. Perkins scrapbooks, 1875-1912 (Collection V72 ) 37 boxes (12.4 linear ft.)
This collection is similar to the scrapbooks compiled by Perkins' contemporary Jane Campbell.  Included are newspaper clippings, black and white prints, and photographs of various sites throughout the city.  The collection is arranged by location, including Center City streets, creeks, and surrounding areas such as Germantown, Roxborough, Manayunk and the Main Line.  Other topics covered include colonial families, statuary and centennial buildings, public schools and scenes of New Jersey.  Some of the illustrations are accompanied by newspaper articles or notations made by Perkins.  The collection also includes a handwritten copy of "Souder's History of Chestnut Street--published in the Sunday Dispatch from April 1858 to October 1859."

 

Work Projects Administration
Work Projects Administration posters collection, 1934-circa 1941 (Collection V99) 7 boxes (2.3 linear ft.)
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was created in 1935, as part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, as a federal agency to provide work to unemployed people. It included a federal arts program, which consisted of the Federal Art, Music, Theatre, and Writers' Projects. In 1939, the WPA was reorganized as the Work Projects Administration and the arts programs were continued as state projects. The primary goals of the Federal Art Project (FAP) were to promote American art and artists; increase art education, especially for children; and research the history of American art and design.  FAP subsidiaries were eventually formed in each state; in Pennsylvania it was called the Pennsylvania Art Program (PAP).  It employed artists such as Charles Reed Gardner (1901-1974), Dox Thrash (1892-1965), and Michael J. Gallagher (1898-1965), who created numerous works for the war effort; public buildings, displays, and exhibitions; and for the general support of American art and graphic design. The collection consists of over 900 examples of artworks, many of which are originals, produced primarily by PAP artists during the early 1940s, including photographs, prints, costume plates, drawings, and watercolors.  The styles and subjects of the artworks are quite diverse and range from watercolors depicting laborers and landscapes, to woodblock prints inviting visitors to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Zoo, to costume plates showing the daily wear of Romanian peasants.

Several topics are covered in these collections, in particular Philadelphia political history. Others include national politics and international relations as well as political advocacy and reform movements.

Blankenburg, Rudolph, 1843-1918
Rudolph Blankenburg papers, 1881-1913 (Collection 1613) 1 box (0.33 linear ft.)
Philadelphia reform leader and mayor, 1911-1915. Correspondence concerning Philadelphia politics, including statements concerning graft in the City Treasurer's Office, 1881, as well as material on high speed transit and the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company, the sending of the Liberty Bell to San Diego,1915, and other items showing interest in good government for the city.  Correspondents include: Wayne MacVeagh, Edward T. Stotesbury, and Morris L. Cooke.  Some miscellaneous pamphlets and clippings.

 

Carson, Hampton L. (Hampton Lawrence), 1852-1929
Hampton L. Carson papers, 1715-1941 (Collection 0117) 62 boxes (31.5 linear ft.)
Autograph letters and portraits, 1690-1921, of lawyers, judges, and others involved in the administration of law and justice in the courts of Pennsylvania, and of other states, from the early colonial period to the present. Among the letters are those of governors of Pennsylvania, 1789-1920; attorneys general of Pennsylvania, 1791-1920; members of the colonial bar, 1690-1775; members of the High Court of Error, 1761-1815; lawyers of the Revolutionary period, 1776-1801; justices of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1712-1921; and others.  There are also seven boxes containing approximately 400 caricatures of political leaders, members of the bar, and other prominent people, ca. 1880-1929.  Other items are pamphlets, speeches, newspaper clippings, on public questions; correspondence of Hampton L. Carson about his legal practice, and his presidency of the American Bar Association and of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; correspondence and papers on Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker of Pennsylvania.

 

Civic Club of Philadelphia
Civic Club of Philadelphia records, 1893- 1957 (Collection 1813) 1 box 61 volumes (8 linear ft.)
The Civic Club of Philadelphia, organized in 1894, consisted of prominent Philadelphia women who sought to promote "by education and active cooperation a higher public spirit and better public order."  Initially the club was organized into four departments, Municipal Government, Education, Social Service, and Art, each of which operated somewhat autonomously and created its own committees or task forces.  The Education Department had committees on public schools, free libraries, and free kindergartens and the Municipal Government Department included committees on sanitation, civil service reform, and police patrons.  Despite its interest in social and political reform, the club refused on several occasions to take part as "disfranchised citizens" in meetings of the Anti-Spoils League and the National Civil Service Reform Convention.  By the 1920's, after the passage on the suffrage amendment, the club structure changed, the Departments were abandoned, and the committees reduced in number and given new, more limited charges.  In 1959, the membership voted the Club out of existence and transferred its assets to other civic organizations.

Included in the records are: director's minutes, 1899-1959; minutes of the general meetings, 1893-1948, 1959, primarily recording addresses to the membership; and minutes of the Art Department, 1894-1903, reflecting interest in free art exhibitions at Philadelphia museums, summer and community concerts, as well as parks and playgrounds.  There are also published annual reports, 1894-1935, including the constitution, by-laws, lists of officers and members, and financial summaries.  Published bulletins and calendars, 1907-1959, give summaries, often monthly, of club activities.  Also included are pamphlets and publications, 1894-1948; clippings, 1894-1903; a fiftieth anniversary volume, including lists of officers, 1944; and a volume containing four memorial addresses for distinguished members: Alice Lippincott, Anna Hallowell, Mary Channing Wister (Mrs. Owen Wister), and Sarah Yorke Stevenson (Mrs. Cornelius Stevenson).

 

Clark, Joseph S.
Joseph Sill Clark papers , 1904-1990 (Collection 1958) 319 boxes (224 linear ft.)
Joseph Sill Clark was a Democratic reform politician from Philadelphia. Early in his career he served as campaign manager for Richardson Dilworth's mayoral campaign, 1947, and as Philadelphia city controller, 1950-1951.  He served as mayor of Philadelphia, 1951-1956, and from 1957 to 1968 he was a United States senator from Pennsylvania. This is a partial record of the career of Joseph Sill Clark.  It consists primarily of material gathered by staff, reports, memoranda, clippings, news releases, articles, with some correspondence, all on issues and events with which Clark was involved. A small portion of the papers are concerned with Clark's early activities as campaign manager for Richardson Dilworth's mayoral campaign, 1947, and as Philadelphia city controller, 1950-1951, for which there are campaign and office files.  Clark's records as mayor of Philadelphia, 1951-1956, include campaign papers, some general office files, and transcripts of speeches.

The bulk of material covers Clark's years as United States senator from Pennsylvania, 1957-1968.  There are papers for his three senatorial campaigns, 1956, 1962, and especially 1968.  His Washington office general file reflects his interest in disarmament, the United Nations, Vietnam, and other matters before and after his appointment to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1965. Although correspondence is scattered throughout the papers, there is a correspondence series, 1966-1968, and form letters used to answer constituents. Additional congressional files include press releases, speeches, newspaper clippings; bills sponsored and co-sponsored by Clark; Clark's voting record; television scripts and tapes, 1959-1967, principally of a program done with Pennsylvania Senator Hugh Scott; clippings from the Congressional Record referring to Clark. Extra-senatorial activities for which there is material are the 1964 primary campaign of Genevieve Blatt (D.) for Senate, whom Clark supported, and the Pennsylvania State Planning Board, 1967-1968, of which Clark was a member.

 

Dallas, Constance H. 1902-
Constance H. Dallas papers, 1951-1956 (Collection 1984) 35 boxes 6 volumes (19 linear ft.)
Constance H. Dallas was the first woman to be elected to the Philadelphia City Council where she represented the 8th district (21st and 22nd Wards) composed of Germantown, West Oak Lane and Chestnut Hill. The papers include incoming and outgoing correspondence, reports, and other printed matter, published materials, clippings, and miscellanea and consist of six series: general files, having to do with council activities as well as papers on the Menniger Foundation, the Pennsylvania Federation of Democratic Women, and the World Affairs Council; committees of Council, largest of the series, consisting of material prepared for or used by the councilmanic committees, especially the committees of Public Welfare and of Public Health on which Dallas serves, together with papers on the Public Health Code of 1955 drafted by the Public Health Committee; administration, relating to various government departments including: City Planning, Police, Public Welfare, and Streets; political papers, files generated during Dallas's first successful campaign for City Council and its aftermath, 1951-1952, the election files for 1953, and for the Pennsylvania gubernatorial election of 1954; constituency affairs, includes material relating to the 8th district.; reports of various city departments.

 

Dilworth, Richardson, 1898-1974
Richardson Dilworth papers, 1881-2000 (Collection 3112) 251 boxes 19 volumes (101.2 linear ft.)
Richardson Dilworth (1898-1974) was a major figure in the political reforms of the 1950s, serving first as district attorney during the Clark administration from 1952-1955 and later as mayor from 1956-1962.  He also served as president of the Philadelphia Board of Education from 1965-1971 and remained active in civic affairs for the rest of his life. The papers primarily document Dilworth career before and after his time as mayor and include correspondence, reports, political campaign materials, brochures, pamphlets, scrapbooks, and Dilworth’s office files related to his law work, Board of Education activities, city planning, housing, civic organizations and projects, the Reading Railroad receivership, and the Pennsylvania Governor’s Committee on Transportation. There is a sizeable amount of Dilworth’s personal correspondence, as well as clippings he collected on various politicians, campaigns, and political, cultural, and social issues related to Philadelphia. Other material includes photographs, check stubs, typescripts of speeches, and papers related to the naming and dedication of the Richardson Dilworth International Terminal at Philadelphia International Airport. The collection also features personal documents from Dilworth's numerous trips abroad, including files related to his trip on the ill-fated SS Andrea Doria.

 

Earle, George Howard, 1890-1974
George Howard Earle papers, 1941-1960 (Collection 3260) 1 box (0.33 linear ft.)
George H. Earle III was a governor of Pennsylvania (1935-1939), Minister to Austria (1933-1934), Minister to Bulgaria (1940-1942), and was in the Navy during World War II (1942-1945) where he served as Assistant Naval Attaché to Turkey (1943-1945).  He finished his public and military service as Assistant Governor to Samoa (1945) before retiring to private life.  On 28 March 1947, Earle testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) that while he served as Attaché to Turkey, he was also serving at President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s request as an undercover representative of the president and reported directly to President Roosevelt on Balkan matters.  The collection is comprised of seven letters including three wartime letters to Earle from Franklin Roosevelt, copies of Earle’s testimony before three different House committees, a transcribed interview of Earle, and an article that Earle authored in 1960.  Most of the materials describe Earle’s opinion during World War II that Russia posed a larger threat to the United States than did Germany, and they describe his post-war view that Russian Communism continued to threaten the United States.  The materials also provide some insight into the conflict between Earle and Roosevelt that emerged as a result of Earle’s position on Russia during the war.

 

Greenfield, Albert M., 1887-1967
Albert M. Greenfield papers, 1921-1966 (Collection 1959) 456 boxes (547 linear ft.)
Albert M. Greenfield was a real estate broker, banker, and philanthropist of Philadelphia.  He had many business interests among which were: Albert M. Greenfield & Co. (real estate), Bankers Securities Corporation, City Stores Co. (a chain of department stores), Bankers Bond & Mortgage Co., the Philadelphia Transportation Co., and its predecessor, the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company. Politically, Greenfield provided financial and other support to candidates for public office, including Edwin S. Vare of Philadelphia, Republican candidate for the United States Senate, 1926, and Lyndon B. Johnson, Democratic candidate for the presidency, 1960 and 1964; he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention, 1928; a delegate-at-large to the Democratic National Conventions, 1948-1964; and a presidential elector, 1960. The large array of organizations in which Greenfield held prominent positions includes: Sesqui-Centennial Exposition of 1926; the Pennsylvania Constitutional Commemoration Commission, 1938; Pennsylvania Commission of Celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence; World Affairs Council; Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce; Pennsylvania Water Resources Committee, 1951; Philadelphia National Shrines Park Commission, 1946-1956; and Fairmount Park Commission. He contributed to many institutions and organizations, including cultural and educational institutions such as Philadelphia Orchestra, Philadelphia Museum of Art, LaSalle College, and Lincoln University.  In addition he founded the Albert M. Greenfield Foundation, a philanthropic institution created during his later years. Greenfield also supported a variety of Jewish institutions and organizations such as Federation of Jewish Charities, National Conference of Christians and Jews, Development Fund for American Judaism, American Jewish Tercentenary, 1954-1955, and Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

These papers constitute the selected office files of Albert M. Greenfield.  Incoming and outgoing correspondence make up the bulk of the collection, but there is also a great quantity of other material, including appointment books, photographs, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, periodicals, and reports.  The papers for 1921-1966 cover several categories: personal, business, political, civic, philanthropic, Jewish affairs, and miscellaneous. The personal papers include mainly family, social, and private correspondence.  They are interspersed throughout and constitute a small but important part of the collection. The collection contains, in addition, papers of Greenfield's two confidential secretaries, Donald Jenks, 1951-1954, and John O'Shea, 1954-1964, including correspondence, drafts of speeches, appointment books, and miscellaneous materials; and a few personal papers, 1922-1930, of Greenfield's first wife Edna Kraus Greenfield, including personal and social correspondence, financial records, and record book of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Jewish Hospital-Emergency Fund, Philadelphia, 1922.

 

League of Women Voters of Philadelphia
League of Women Voters of Philadelphia records, 1920-1961 (Collection 1940) 27 boxes (38 linear ft.)
In addition to educating the public during election campaigns, the League took stands on local issues concerning child care, city management, housing, public education, public health; national issues of the legal status of women and taxation of oleo margarine; and foreign policy questions including the United Nations and the Marshall Plan.  The Philadelphia chapter communicated with the national and state League organizations, politicians, civic leaders, and organizations. Correspondence, board minutes, budget and other committee reports, memoranda, circulars of League of Women Voters of Philadelphia.  Most of the material is for the years 1941-1959, but the files are neither complete nor consistent.

 

Moore, J. Hampton (Joseph Hampton), 1864-1950
J. Hampton Moore scrapbooks, 1883-1931 (Collection DJHMS) 85 volumes (17 linear ft.)
This collection comprises scrapbooks compiled on behalf of J. Hampton Moore. Most are newspaper clippings scrapbooks documenting Moore’s political career and related political and civic issues. Scrapbooks on some special topics (Republican Advisory Campaign Committee, 1906; 5 O’Clock Club, 1883-1907) also include ephemera and correspondence; at least one scrapbook is pieced-together transcripts presumably from the Congressional Record (indexed); there is a scrapbook on the 1889 Johnstown Flood. Because of the range of Moore's interests, this collection documents Philadelphia life and politics fairly comprehensively for the first third of the twentieth century from the perspective of multiple newspaper sources.

 

Moore, J. Hampton (Joseph Hampton), 1864-1950
J. Hampton Moore papers, 1786-1952 (Collection 1541) 363 boxes 73 volumes (162 linear ft.)
Joseph Hampton Moore was a congressional representative for seven terms from 1906 to 1920 and mayor of Philadelphia for two nonconsecutive terms in 1920 and 1932. While in these positions, Moore worked steadfastly to serve his party and constituents. His time serving the public was supplemented by his deep-rooted interest in waterways and shipping and he was president of the Atlantic Deeper Waterways Association for forty years. In addition, Moore was a founding member of the Five O’clock Club and member and officer of several other clubs and organizations. Much of the rest of his time was spent attending social functions. Moore’s forty years in local and national politics spanned the 1890s through the 1930s.

This collection is concentrated around correspondence that covers all aspects of Moore’s career and involvement in various clubs and organizations. Early papers relate to his first professional job as a reporter for the Philadelphia Public Ledger. Political papers provide insight into Moore’s terms as a representative and mayor, while various documents, leaflets, and volumes illustrate his activities within the Republican Party and affiliated clubs. Letters, reports, and other printed papers pertain to waterways and document Moore’s activities in the Atlantic Deeper Waterways Association. Various papers, pamphlets, and brochures document his travels to South America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Egypt. Moore spent a considerable amount of time attending social functions, and invitations, programs, and souvenir menus provide some detail of his social life. Newspaper clippings provide context to many of the issues Moore confronted in office. They also provide information on various individuals, businesses, and institutions Moore had contact with throughout his career. Photographs round out the collection providing images of Moore and some of the people and places mentioned throughout the collection.

 

New Century Trust
New Century Trust records, circa 1854-2004 (Collection 3097) 103 boxes, 73 volumes, 3 flat files (49.7 linear ft.)
The New Century Trust was founded in 1893 as the incorporated body of the New Century Working Woman’s Guild. Eliza Sproat Turner (1826-1903), a progressive women’s activist, helped create both organizations. Over several decades, the trust oversaw and provided financial support for the guild’s activities for women in the workforce, such as evening classes and lectures. For many women, the guild provided a haven away from the stresses of work, a place where they could obtain low-cost meals, sleeping accommodations, and even emergency financial assistance. In 1887, the guild began publishing a newspaper written by and for members, the Journal of Women’s Work, which offered event calendars, advice columns, short stories, and poems. It also eventually formed its own library, gymnasium, and a variety of internal committees on which the members could serve. In 1895, the guild shortened its name to The New Century Guild and became a member of the Federation of Women’s Clubs of Pennsylvania.

The records of the New Century Trust include their own and mostly those of the New Century Guild and its predecessor, New Century Working Women’s Guild. Spanning from the mid 1800s to the early 2000s are board and committee meeting minutes, administrative files, membership materials including members’ information cards,financial records, photographs, artifacts, clippings, and ephemera

 

Philadelphia County (Pa). Board of Assistance
Philadelphia County Board of Assistance records on employees dismissed for alleged Communist affiliations, 1940-1942 (Collection 1361) 4 boxes (2 linear ft.)
Testimony before the Reviewing Board of the Philadelphia County Board of Assistance on the appeals of 50 employees discharged for alleged communist affiliation, 1941. Typewritten transcripts.

 

Philadelphia Federation of Women's Clubs and Allied Organizations, Inc.
Philadelphia Federation of Women's Clubs and Allied Organizations, Inc. (PFWC) records, 1943-1998 (Collection 3050) 6 boxes (2.2 linear ft.)
The Philadelphia Federation of Women’s Clubs and Allied Organizations, Inc., was organized in 1922 and was affiliated with the Pennsylvania Federation of Women’s Clubs, which had been in existence since 1895.  Its objectives, as stated in its Charter and By-Laws, were “to unite Women’s Clubs and other organized groups of women existing in Philadelphia and adjacent territory for purposes of mutual benefit and to promote their common interests in civic, educational and moral measures which make for individual and community welfare.” The clubs constituting the federation had varying objectives, but all aimed to serve some segment of the community. The federation made it possible for them to join together for shared agendas and for a stronger voice beyond their individual memberships. The presidents of the clubs formed the backbone of the federation’s operation under the guidance of its board and elected officers. The records of the organization are concentrated in banking and other financial activities associated with managing its affairs.  There is also substantial material on a public forum presented by the federation in the midst of World War II to consider planning for postwar U.S. world positioning.

 

Randall, Natalie Saxe (1923-1999)
Natalie Saxe Randall papers, 1923-1998 (Collection 3466) 45 boxes ( 19 linear ft.)
The collection includes the typed incoming and outgoing correspondence (originals and retained copies, respectively) and other papers, 1923-1998, documenting the life and executive political work of Natalie Saxe Randall, life-long Philadelphian, Democratic party organizer, director of Joseph Clark and Richardson Dilworth's reform Committee for Philadelphia 1947-1956, executive assistant to Richardson Dilworth during his terms as reform mayor of Philadelphia 1956-1962 and as president of the Philadelphia Board of Education 1965-1970, and thereafter as a brilliant Harrisburg lobbyist for Lincoln College and a consortium of Philadelphia cultural institutions.

Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies
Balch Institute political ephemera collection, 1941-1972 (Collection 3472) 3 boxes (3 linear ft.)
The collection includes printed material and photographs relating to American politics. Most prevalent in the collection are materials related to President Richard Nixon and presidential candidate and Senator George McGovern.

 

Baltic Women's Council
Baltic Women's Council records, 1948-1987 (Collection 3199) 1 box (0.2 linear ft.)
The Baltic Women's Council was founded in 1947 in Germany and had clubs or representatives in several countries of western Europe, North America, and South America. The council included delegations of Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian women. The collection includes minutes, reports, correspondence, statutes, and other items.

 

Behuncik, Edward J.
Edward J. Behuncik papers, 1918-1993 (Collection MSS170) 16 boxes (7.4 linear ft.)
Edward J. Behuncik was a lawyer, founder of the Slovak World Congress and participant in other organizations related to Slovakia and the Democratic Party.  The papers reflect Behuncik's civic, community, political and religious activities. The papers include minutes, speeches, correspondence, reports, printed materials, clippings, directories, photos, diplomas, posters, artifacts and other materials.

 

Biddle, Anthony Joseph Drexel, 1896-1961
Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle papers, circa 1912-1961 (Collection 3110) 93 boxes (31.6 linear ft.)
Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Jr. (1896-1961) was very active in Democratic politics, including serving as associate secretary of the Democratic National Convention in 1936.  His activity in the political arena led to several appointments as a diplomatic officer.  He served as minister to Norway, 1935-37, and ambassador to Poland, (1937-Sept. 9, 1939).  After the invasion of Poland by the Germans, Biddle accompanied the Polish government to France, where he served as interim ambassador to France and ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the United States to the governments of Poland, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, Greece, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and Luxembourg.  He resigned from diplomatic service in 1944, and then served in various positions such as adjutant general (with rank of major general) to Pennsylvania. The collection includes correspondence, speeches, newspaper clippings, photographs, scrapbooks, awards, commendations, and other miscellaneous material.  The papers document Biddle's diplomatic career, particularly his time as U.S. ambassador to Poland (1937-1939), and his army career as a junior officer during World War I, a colonel of the cavalry during and after World War II, and a brigadier general (later major general) with the U.S. Army in Europe during the early cold war.

 

Hasselriis, Caspar
Caspar Hasselriis papers, 1906-1973 (Collection MSS173) 7 boxes (2.6 linear ft.)
Caspar Hasselriis was born in Skive, Denmark and immigrated to America in 1906, settling first in Chicago and later in Forest Hills, NY.  He was the author of several books and was active in Danish-American organizations.  He was founder and first director of the Danish Information Office and honorary president of the Danish-American Society.  The papers include correspondence, news clippings, articles, books, records of Ratin Laboratory, photographs, and miscellaneous materials relating to Danish literature and affairs.  In Danish and English.

 

Hurban-Boor family
Hurban-Boor family papers and photographs, circa 1874-1993 (Collection MSS166) 9 boxes (4.8 linear ft.)
Flat file materials include a passport and other official documents, a photograph, printed materials, and genealogical notes.  The collections also contains eight photo albums and souvenir books relating to Vladimir Hurban's service as Czechoslovakian ambassador to Egypt in the 1920s.  Photographs depict various Egyptian landmarks and sites, and Vladimir and his wife Olga are shown in several photos. There is also a volume entitled "The Four Freedoms," which was given to Vladimir Hurban when he was the Czechoslovakian ambassador to the United States. Also included is one loose photo (reproduced from a daguerreotype) of Samuel Jurkovic. The photographs date from 1920 to 1943 and consist of one box.   Unprocessed additions to the collection are .2 linear feet and consist of images, a death notice, a paper on democracy in Czechoslovakia, and a book on Edvard Beneš’s 1943 visit to the United States and Canada.  The photographs depict Vladimir Hurban, Olga Boor Hurban, Jan Masaryk, Edvard Beneš, and George and Emilia Jurković.

For related material see the Vladimir Hurban papers (MSS034).

 

Kolankiewicz, Leon J.
Leon J. Kolankiewicz papers, 1888-1978 (Collection 3071) 6 boxes (2.9 linear ft.)
Leon J. Kolankiewicz (1892-1971) was a Pennsylvania state assemblyman, the first Polish-American councilman at large elected in Philadelphia, and a strong advocate for Polish wartime and peacetime relief.  A native Philadelphian, Kolankiewicz worked with various Polish-American associations to educate and inform citizens of efforts to help Poland and its people recover from recent wars.  As a councilman, he consistently worked with and among the Polish community to ensure their places in Philadelphia’s social, political, and economic schema.  He also worked with other civic leaders to ensure the observance of important Polish events and holidays within the city. Kolankiewicz’s papers are primarily related to his public personas as a city representative and as a Polish relief worker.  Included in this richly varied collection are incoming and outgoing correspondence from Kolankiewicz, Judge Robert and Anne von Moschzisker, and Ignace Jan and Helena Paderewski; assorted booklets and pamphlets on such subjects as Polish war relief, Poland-United States relations, and Polish tourism; and publicity photographs of Kolankiewicz.  A majority of the items in the collection are written or printed in Polish since Kolankiewicz often communicated with his Polish friends, colleagues, and constituents in their native tongue.

 

Polish National Alliance of the United States of North America. Group No. 2180, SS. Peter and Paul Lodge (Palmerton, Pa.)
Polish National Alliance of the United States of North America Group No. 2180 records, 1921-1955 (Collection MSS050) 4 boxes (2.1 linear ft.)
The alliance is a national fraternal benefit organization for men, women, and children of Polish, Lithuanian, Ruthenian, or Slovak descent or affiliation.  Founded in 1880, the society promotes and seeks to restore and preserve Polish independence.  It also conducts fraternal, educational, charitable and life insurance programs.  The society is headquartered in Chicago. The collection contains financial and membership records from the Palmerton branch.

There are also collections for several other Pennsylvania branches of this organization.

Ethnic Millions Political Action Committee (EMPAC!)
Ethnic Millions Political Action Committee (EMPAC!) records, circa 1969-1981s (Collection 3094) 16 boxes 1 volume (5.7 linear ft.)
The organization was incorporated in 1974 in New York City by Michael Novak and others as a national civil rights committee representing white ethnics.  Its goals included the establishment of a white ethnic political caucus and fair representation of white ethnics in education and the media.  The committee also supported better relations between black and white ethnics.  Its newsletter, A New America (changed to EMPAC! in 1976), was published by Novak and was an influential forum for the new ethnicity during the mid 1970s.  The collection consists of correspondence and editorial files, reference and research materials, membership records, and a dues book.

 

Fels, Joseph, 1854-1914 and Mary Fels
Joseph and Mary Fels papers, 1840-1966 (Collection 1953) 11 boxes 5 volumes (5.4 linear ft.)
Joseph Fels, Philadelphia-London soap manufacturer, was a leader in the Single Tax movement.  After his death in 1914, the Single Tax was carried on by the Joseph Fels Fund Commission. Correspondence discussing economic and political reform in the United States, Europe, South American, and China, includes letters of Antonio Albenden, Earl Barnes, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, James Ludwig Hardie, Peter Kropotkin, William Hesketh Lever, Meyer Lissner, Wilhelm Ludwig Schrameier, and Samuel Fels, his brother and partner in Fels and Company, manufacturers of Fels-Naptha Soap. Copies of letters, 1899, 1906-1909, on the Fairhope Single Tax Colony in Alabama.  Correspondence, 1906-1914, with Israel Zangwill, and others, on the establishment of Jewish Agricultural Settlements by the Jewish Territorial Organization (I.T.O.).  Miscellaneous speeches and articles by and about Joseph Fels.  There is also correspondence, 1915-1918, of Daniel Kiefer, the Chairman of the Joseph Fels Fund Commission.

Papers, 1907-1952, of Fels' wife, Mary Fels include: discussions of women's politics, Zionism, business, financial, and personal matters.  Correspondents include: Rifka Aaronsohn, Newton Diehl Baker, Anna Barnes, Walter Coates, "Gypsy Bill" Cortez, and Frank Smith.  Letters, reviews, and clippings about her writings including a typescript with notes of The Life of Joseph Fels.  Scrapbooks with clippings about Joseph Fels, on his death, including In Memorium. Guest book, 1906-1908, of Fels' home in Bickley, Kent. Correspondence, 1953-1956, and notes, clippings, and printed material of Arthur Power Dudden, relating to his research for Joseph Fels and the single tax movement, 1971. In Memorium in Danish and Swedish with English translations.

 

Fryer, John, 1937-2003
John Fryer papers, 1883-2004, undated (Collection 3465) 217 boxes, 34 volumes, 9 flat files (75 linear ft.)
John Fryer was a ground-breaking gay psychiatrist best known for appearing in full disguise at the 1972 American Psychiatric Association (APA) convention.His speech at the convention is credited with convincing the APA to remove homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1973. As a psychiatrist Fryer worked largely with gay men, lesbians, people who abused alcohol and drugs, and those who were coping with death and dying. He was also a professor at Temple University School of Medicine, and organist and choirmaster at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Germantown. The collection contains Dr. Fryer's personal and professional papers and includes correspondence, subject files, papers from his student years, diaries, appointment books, teaching materials, notebooks and manuscripts, church programs, sheet music, photographs, audiocassettes, and other items. Patient and student records are restricted.

 

Hoh, Yam Tong and Daisy Law
Yam Tong Hoh and Daisy Law papers, 1919-1977 (Collection 3020) 2 boxes (0.85 linear ft.)
The Papers of Rev. Yam Tong and Daisy Law Hoh span the years 1919 to 1977, and focus primarily on their lives while residing in the United States as emigrants from China. The collection reflects the work of Yam Tong as an educator and Reverend in both California and Philadelphia, as well as his untiring work for the True Light School of Hong Kong. The collection complements the Reverend Dr. Yam Tong Hoh Papers (MSS126),  located at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, by providing biographical material on Yam Tong's first wife, Daisy Law Hoh, as well as Rev. Hoh.

 

Indian Rights Association
Indian Rights Association records, 1830-circa 1986 (Collection 1523) 327 boxes 63 volumes (183 linear ft.)
The Indian Rights Association (IRA) was founded in Philadelphia in 1882 to "bring about the complete civilization of the Indians and their admission to citizenship." For several decades it was one of the most important organizations influencing American Indian policy. From 1884 to 1939 it maintained a Washington office to act as a legislative lobby and liaison with the Board of Indian Commissioners and the Board of Indian Affairs. The IRA also maintained close contacts with Indian agents and with Indians themselves through correspondence and almost annual field trips to reservations and settlements. The records of the organization span from its origins to the 1980s and include correspondence, research papers, administrative files, photographs, publications, and papers of Herbert Welsh, one of its founders.

 

Latino Project (Philadelphia)
Latino Project records, 1962-1985 (Collection MSS117) 29 boxes (11.2 linear ft.)
The Latino Project, headed by attorney Luis P. Diaz, was a non-profit legal assistance and public advocacy organization that provided representation to Spanish-speaking groups and interests in Greater Philadelphia area.  Until its demise in 1984, The Latino Project was particularly concerned with protecting and developing employment opportunities in the public and private sectors under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (which forbade job discrimination on the basis of national origin) and providing legal representation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act (which forbade the exclusion of Latinos from participating in any federally assisted program and required such programs to affirmatively benefit Puerto Ricans and other Spanish-speaking people).  This collection consists of the files of the Latino Project from the mid-1970s through 1982.   Included are correspondence, memoranda, minutes, grant applications, clippings, newsletters, and other items pertaining to the work of the project and its executive director, advisory board, and staff.  Of special interest are legal case files and court proceedings documenting a number of discrimination cases involving the employment of Puerto Ricans and Latinos in Philadelphia.  The files also reflect the organization's interest in bilingual education, expanding educational and employment opportunities for Hispanics, and in improving the delivery of general health care and mental health services for Spanish-speaking clients.

 

Milgram, Morris, 1916-
Morris Milgram papers, 1923-1994 (Collection 2176) 480 boxes, 1 flat file (188 linear ft.)
Morris Milgram was a pioneer in the development of integrated housing.  His first community, Concord Park, consisted of 139 detached homes and opened in 1954 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  In 1968 he became the first recipient of the National Human Rights Award from the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.  Milgram was instrumental in the formation of the Fund for an OPEN society.  OPEN is a non-profit organization that provides affordable mortgages for home purchases that increase diversity. The bulk of the collection consists of Milgram’s office files related to the funding and administration of his housing projects. Also included are records of his involvement with several political and activist groups, correspondence between Milgram and several family members, correspondence with his wives, and papers reflective of his relationship with poet, author, and civil rights advocate Pauli Murray.

 

New Century Trust
New Century Trust records, circa 1854-2004 (Collection 3097) 104 boxes 73 volumes (50.1 linear ft.)In 1893, Eliza Sproat Turner (1826-1903) a progressive women’s activist helped create the New Century Trust as the incorporated body of her own organization, the New Century Guild for Working Women, which she founded in 1882.  Over several decades, the trust oversaw and provided financial support for guild’s activities for women in the workforce, such as evening classes and lectures.  For many women, the guild provided a haven away from the stresses of work, a place where they could obtain low-cost meals, sleeping accommodations, and even emergency financial assistance.  In 1887, the guild began publishing a newspaper written by and for members, the Journal of Women’s Work; it offered event calendars, advice columns, short stories, and poems.  It also eventually formed its own library, gymnasium, and a variety of internal committees on which the members could serve.  In 1895, the guild shortened its moniker to The New Century Guild and also became a member of the Federation of Women’s Clubs of Pennsylvania.  The records of the New Century Trust include their own and mostly those of the New Century Guild, and its predecessor, New Century Working Women’s Guild.  Spanning from the late 1800s to the early 2000s are board and committee meeting minutes and minute books, administrative files, membership materials including members’ information cards, financial records, bills, receipts, invoices, photographs, artifacts, clippings, and miscellaneous ephemera.

 

Philadelphia Federation of Women's Clubs and Allied Organizations, Inc.
Philadelphia Federation of Women's Clubs and Allied Organizations, Inc. (PFWC) records, 1943-1998 (Collection 3050) 6 boxes (2.2 linear ft.)
The Philadelphia Federation of Women’s Clubs and Allied Organizations, Inc., was organized in 1922 and was affiliated with the Pennsylvania Federation of Women’s Clubs, which had been in existence since 1895.  Its objectives, as stated in its Charter and By-Laws, were “to unite Women’s Clubs and other organized groups of women existing in Philadelphia and adjacent territory for purposes of mutual benefit and to promote their common interests in civic, educational and moral measures which make for individual and community welfare.” The clubs constituting the federation had varying objectives, but all aimed to serve some segment of the community. The federation made it possible for them to join together for shared agendas and for a stronger voice beyond their individual memberships. The presidents of the clubs formed the backbone of the federation’s operation under the guidance of its board and elected officers. The records of the organization are concentrated in banking and other financial activities associated with managing its affairs.  There is also substantial material on a public forum presented by the federation in the midst of World War II to consider planning for postwar U.S. world positioning.

 

Philadelphia Friendship Fete
Philadelphia Friendship Fete records, 1929-1982 (Collection 3074) 2 boxes 5 volumes (1.7 linear ft.)
The Philadelphia Friendship Fete, a joint effort of various Philadelphia area women’s organizations, began in 1929.  Over seventy clubs attended the first Fete.  The purpose of the group was to promote friendship among Philadelphia area women’s clubs, to recognize and honor area women, nationally and internationally. This collection contains Advisory Council minutes, scrapbooks and the Golden Chain of Friendship.  Minute books begin in 1931 and end in 1982.  Scrapbooks contain programs, publicity and photographs relating to the forty-four Friendship Fete luncheons which were held over the period from 1929 to 1982.

 

Weiner, Max, 1912-1989
Max Weiner collection on Consumer Education and Protective Association, 1966-1990 (Collection 3427) 11 boxes (10.2 linear ft.)
Papers of Max Weiner, founder and executive director of the Consumer Education and Protective Association (CEPA), founded in 1966. This organization fought utility companies, public transportation companies, automotive companies, and other major parties in order to secure rights for consumers. Weiner and CEPA also spoke out about a number of socio-political issues, including political corruption and police brutality. Included in the collection are newspaper clippings, press releases, leaflets, pamphlets, and other printed materials regarding rallies and activities, newspapers and newsletters, correspondence, speeches, radio program scripts, reports, court documents, cartoons, transcripts of hearings, and information about the groups and companies that CEPA fought. There are also videotapes and audiotapes of Weiner's appearances on TV and radio programs. Weiner ran for office unsuccessfully a number of times on the Consumer Party ticket.

 

Welsh, Herbert, 1851-1941
Herbert Welsh collection, 1853-1934 (Collection 0702) 125 boxes (77 linear ft.)
The collection is arranged in the following categories: correspondence, 1875-1934; Philippines, 1892-1925; Indian rights, 1877-1934; international arbitration, 1896; National Civil Service Reform League, 1881-1929; Philadelphia and National Municipal League, 1893-1896; Friends of German Democracy, 1914-1919; Syrian affairs, educational, religious, foreign missionaries, 1907-1916; Armenian affairs, 1896-1924; Waldensian affairs, 1907-1923; Society for the Protection of Forests, 1890-1929; public education, 1890-1891; John Welsh correspondence on the Centennial Exhibition, 1858-1886; post office political discrimination in Philadelphia, 1898; ballot reform in Philadelphia; 1890-1891; Honest Government Party, Dr. S.C. Swallow campaign in Pennsylvania, 1898-1899; Lincoln Independent Republican Committee, Pattison for Governor, 1890; Anti-Combine Committee, Pattison for Mayor, Philadelphia, 1895, Independent Committee, W. Redwood Wright for Treasurer, Philadelphia, 1891.

The arrangement continues with pure water and sanitation, Railroad Safety Commission, 1893; personal interest cases, 1873-1933; Welsh family correspondence, 1891-1926; Welsh foreign correspondence, 1873-1935; Welsh personal correspondence, 1863-1935; Welsh essays and speeches, 1863-1934; Welsh journals, 1898-1919; shorthand notes, n.d.; cancelled checks and bills, 1886-1920; invitations, greeting cards, announcements; broadsides and miscellaneous printed material, 1880-1925; lists of names and addresses of members of various organizations, n.d.; diaries, 1883-1928; letter books, 1886-1931; account books, 1854-1899; photographs, views, clippings. The correspondence of Herbert Welsh, 1875-1934, with prominent men and women, including presidents of the United States, cabinet members, members of Congress, jurists, scientists, scholars, civic reformers, local and national political leaders.  It contains material on a variety of political, social and economic subjects:  Indian rights, anti-imperialism, international arbitration, League of Nations, Philippine annexation, scandals involving American soldiers, Turkish atrocities, Armenian massacres, Syrian relief and education, domestic and foreign missionaries, Waldensian Society and its evangelism in Italy, civil service reform, World War, establishment of the Friends of German Democracy, Centennial Exhibition, Society for the Protection of Forests, political corruption in Pennsylvania, reform movements in Philadelphia, education, sanitation, Audubon Society, Racial problems, arts, sciences, and local charities.

The 2002 merger of the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies with the Historical Society of Pennsylvania strengthened HSP's already significant holdings relating to ethnic and immigrant history. These collections document the experiences of more than sixty ethnic groups, including African American, Chinese, German, Greek, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Jewish, Native American, Polish, Puerto Rican, Slovak, and Ukrainian communities in the United States.

The Historical Society has also engaged in projects as part of the New Immigrants Initiative with the goal of expanding its documentation of Arab, African, Latino, Southeast Asian, and Korean immigrant communities in the greater Philadelphia area.

Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies
Balch Institute ethnic images in advertising collection, 1891-1999 (Collection 3238) 3 boxes (2 linear ft.)
This collection is an artificial one consisting of ethnic images in advertisements, ranging from the late 1890s to 1999.  The ethnic groups included are African-American, Arab, Anglo, Dutch, Eskimo, English, Chinese, general Asian, Native American, Italian, Irish, Hawaiian, German, Jewish, Japanese, Scottish, French, Greek, Russian, Swiss, Mexican, general Latin American, Pennsylvania German, and some multi-ethnic. Images are arranged alphabetically by name of ethnic group portrayed. The collection appears to have been intended for an exhibit.

 

Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies; Historical Society of Pennsylvania
New Immigrants Initiative collection, 1976-2004 (Collection 3442) 22 boxes (4 linear ft.)
This collection contains the records of the New Immigrants Initiative, a multi-year series of projects started by the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies and completed by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, which explored the history and experience of non-European immigrant communities in the Philadelphia area.  The purpose of these projects was to document these communities for the historical record and to create interpretive exhibits, publications, and programs that educate about the recent immigrant experience.  Five communities were initially part of the project, with four being fully finished: Indian, Arab, African, Latino, and Korean (started but not completed).  Included in the collection are oral history transcripts, photographs, printed material, ephemera, and correspondence. There are also numerous audio cassette tapes and VHS tapes.

 

Ethnic Millions Political Action Committee (EMPAC!)
Ethnic Millions Political Action Committee (EMPAC!) records, circa 1969-1981s (Collection 3094) 16 boxes 1 volume (5.7 linear ft.)
The organization was incorporated in 1974 in New York City by Michael Novak and others as a national civil rights committee representing white ethnics.  Its goals included the establishment of a white ethnic political caucus and fair representation of white ethnics in education and the media.  The committee also supported better relations between black and white ethnics.  Its newsletter, A New America (changed to EMPAC! in 1976), was published by Novak and was an influential forum for the new ethnicity during the mid 1970s.  The collection consists of correspondence and editorial files, reference and research materials, membership records, and a dues book.

 

Philadelphia Fellowship Commission
Philadelphia Fellowship Commission records, 1945-1968 (Collection MSS155) 3 boxes (1 linear ft.)
The Philadelphia Fellowship Commission was formed in 1941 as a community service organization aimed at promoting better relations between diverse ethnic and religious groups.  The organization sponsored educational and job assistance programs and was active in the establishment of Philadelphia branches of the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Conference of Christians and Jews.  These records include minutes, reports and printed materials, papers, and speeches.  The Philadelphia Fellowship Commission was a pioneering, well-connected, and extremely active early civil rights organization. The collection addresses many racial and ethnic-related conflicts and problems that Philadelphia faced in the two decades after World War II in areas such as employment, housing, community-police relations, discrimination in public accommodations and services, election practices, and education. The collection also touches on the Commission's media work.

Ferguson, Ruth Johns
Ruth Johns Ferguson papers, 1901-1985 (Collection 3075) 4 boxes (1.7 linear ft.)
Ruth Johns Ferguson (1902-1989), born Ruth Elizabeth Booker Johns, was a beauty culture expert, co-proprietor of the Apex School of Beauty Culture franchise in Philadelphia, and member of the National Beauty Culturists’ League and its national sorority, Theta Nu Sigma.  She worked for the Apex Hair and News Company, the company that created the Apex beauty school, in the early part of the twentieth century.  Eventually, Ferguson chose to teach the younger generations about beauty culture.  Ferguson and her partner, Naomi T. Fassett (1908-1983), opened an Apex beauty school branch at 525 South Broad Street in Philadelphia, which they ran for about 35 years.  Classes at Apex consisted mostly of young African American women from Philadelphia and the surrounding region, who wished to become beauty culture experts.  Ruth Johns Ferguson stood out among her contemporaries as an African American woman running her own successful business in the mid- to late-twentieth century. The Ruth Johns Ferguson collection is small yet varied and includes her father’s personal diary, a 1956 Apex School of Beauty Culture yearbook, National Beauty Culturists’ League/Theta Nu Sigma booklets, newspaper articles, diplomas, certificates, and a dark blue vinyl document bag.  Photographic prints make up a majority of the collection.  Ferguson kept pictures of friends and family as well as formal photographs of Apex graduation classes and National Beauty Culturists’ League/Theta Nu Sigma-related gatherings and events.

 

Links, Inc. Eastern Area
Links Eastern Area archival collection, 1946-2003 (Collection 3055) 11 boxes 1 volume (5.5 linear ft.)
Founded in 1946 and incorporated as a national organization in 1951, the Links have continually developed and refined their means of effectively responding to the social, political, and financial challenges of the black community for over fifty years.  Established in Philadelphia by Sarah Strictland Scott and Margaret Roselle Hawkins as a small association dedicated to the changing needs of professional African-American women, the Links today rely on the efforts of nearly 10,000 women from 274 chapters in realizing its national and international initiatives.  In 1984, the Links, Inc. established an international headquarters in Washington, DC. Initially started as a time capsule project to commemorate the new millennium, the collection has grown substantially with its reconfiguration as an archival effort.  As the time capsule evolved into what is now the Eastern Area Archival Repository, designated archivists and historians from each chapter contributed a diverse range of materials to document the organization’s history and achievements.  While the specific materials vary from chapter to chapter, collectively they bring to light the Links’ success in finding new interpretations of and new solutions to challenges within the black community throughout the world.

 

McDaniel, Thelma
Thelma McDaniel collection, 1935-1989 (Collection 3063) 6 boxes (3.5 linear ft.)
Thelma McDaniel was a collector of the radical literature of the civil rights, black power, and communist movements in the United States and African solidarity movements abroad. As a resident of Philadelphia, she collected a variety of documents from mostly local organizations, including flyers; pamphlets; and newspapers expressing the sentiments, attitude, philosophies, strategies, and tactics of these various movements and participating groups and organizations. Although there is little information on McDaniel’s life story or her participation in the activities of the civil rights and black power movements, her collection documents the socio-cultural and political dynamics of the African American and multiracial struggles throughout the country. This collection is rich in documenting the on-the-ground activities of the organizing that took place primarily Philadelphia, as well as other parts of the United States and Africa.

 

People's Voice (New York, N.Y.: 1942-1948)
People's Voice research and editorial files, 1865-1963 (Collection 3086) 1 box (0.2 linear ft.)
People's Voice was a leftist African American newspaper in New York, N.Y., founded by Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.  It was published from 1942 to 1948. The collection includes correspondence, press releases, booklets, clippings, flyers, programs, printed materials, and photographs.

 

Rector, Justine J.
Justine J. Rector papers, 1870-2000 (Collection 3088) 14 boxes (5.5 linear ft.)
Justine J. Rector (b. 1927) has been an active and prolific journalist and teacher in Philadelphia and in Washington, D. C. since the late 1960s. She has involved herself in promoting civil rights, fostering high standards in journalism, and in documenting and improving race relations, particularly in Philadelphia. In addition to her academic career, which included jobs at Temple University, Howard University, and Columbia University, Rector has also worked as a freelance reporter throughout the Philadelphia and Washington D.C. areas. She founded the African American Male Resource Center, an organization designed to educate the public on the “plight of the Black male in America.”

The collection spans her career as a journalist for newspapers in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland. The vast majority of the collection is made up of subject files collected by Rector in the course of her research on Black history, her professional activities as a Black journalist, and her participation in a variety of civic organizations and conferences. There is also a large group of newspaper clippings covering the period of the civil rights era in Philadelphia, through the 1980s debate of Ebonics in public schools. Of note is a large amount of material dating back to the origins of Black journalism in Pennsylvania in the 1870s, which includes a historical listing of Black journalists in Pennsylvania.

 

Shelton, Bernice Dutrieuille
Bernice Dutrieuille Shelton papers, 1913-1983 (Collection MSS131) 27 boxes (10.8 linear ft.)
Bernice Dutrieuille Shelton was born in Philadelphia.  She was among the earliest African-American graduates of Girls' High, and became a journalist in the early 1920s.  Shelton contributed regular features on social news and columns on other subjects to area African-American newspapers, including the Philadelphia Tribune and the Baltimore Afro-American, serving as both special correspondent and advertising representative for the Afro-American. She was active in a number of civic organizations including the YWCA, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Clubs.  The collection contains personal and professional correspondence and related materials, drafts and clippings of many of Shelton's columns, drafts of a history of the Dutrieuille family written by Shelton, miscellaneous writings and printed materials, and uncataloged photographs.

 

Stemons, James Samuel
James Samuel Stemons papers, 1894-1922 (Collection MSS012) 4 boxes  (1.4 linear ft.)
James Samuel Stemons was born in Clarksville, Tennessee, and settled in Philadelphia ca. 1900.  A postal worker, journalist and writer, he served as the editor of two short-lived African-American newspapers: The Philadelphia Courant and the Pilot.  He was also active in several civic organizations.  An outspoken advocate for equal industrial opportunities for Blacks, he lectured and published extensively on race relations.  He served as Field Secretary of the Joint Organization of the Association for Equalizing Industrial Opportunities and the League of Civic and Political Reform.  The collection documents Stemons's personal and professional life, and includes correspondence, printed materials, writings, clippings, a photocopy of a marriage license to Arizona L. Cleaver, and the manuscript of his unpublished autobiographical novel.

 

Twigs, Inc. Philadelphia Chapter
Twigs, Inc. Philadelphia Chapter records, 1959-1998 (Collection MSS154) 13 boxes (5.8 linear ft.)
Twigs was founded in 1948 to promote strength, growth, and life among African-American families. The collection contains both chapter and national records, including constitutions and bylaws, minutes, correspondence, financial records, membership and alumni directories, scrapbooks, ephemera, and other items.

American Friends Service Committee
American Friends Service Committee, Clothing Committee, Japanese American relocation center card files, 1943-1945 (Collection MSS065) 4 boxes (0.6 linear ft.)
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) was established in 1917 and is a service agency related to the Society of Friends.  The Clothing Committee of AFSC sent gifts of clothing, toys, and other articles to Japanese Americans living in relocation centers during World War II.  This collection contains AFSC administrative files for their program with new mothers, consisting of individual index cards for each case.  The cards usually contain the name of the woman, where she resided, the sex and date of birth of the baby, and the date that a gift was ordered or sent.  Some cards contain additional information.  The cards are arranged alphabetically by the mother's surname.  In English.

 

Hoh, Yam Tong and Daisy Law
Yam Tong Hoh and Daisy Law papers, 1919-1977 (Collection 3020) 2 boxes (0.85 linear ft.)
The Papers of Rev. Yam Tong and Daisy Law Hoh span the years 1919 to 1977, and focus primarily on their lives while residing in the United States as emigrants from China. The collection reflects the work of Yam Tong as an educator and Reverend in both California and Philadelphia, as well as his untiring work for the True Light School of Hong Kong. The collection complements the Reverend Dr. Yam Tong Hoh Papers (MSS 126),  located at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, by providing biographical material on Yam Tong's first wife, Daisy Law Hoh, as well as Rev. Hoh.

 

Holy Redeemer Chinese Catholic Church
Holy Redeemer Chinese Catholic Church records, 1939-1975 (Collection MSS030) 1 box (0.4 linear ft.)
Holy Redeemer Chinese Roman Catholic Church was founded in Philadelphia's Chinatown in 1941 as a mission church of the parish of St. John the Evangelist. The collection consists of the unbound contents of two scrapbooks: programs, invitations, announcements, newspaper clippings, and personal correspondence from contributors to the scrapbooks.

 

Iwata, Shigezo and Sonoko
Shigezo and Sonoko Iwata papers, 1942-1987 (Collection MSS053) 2  boxes (0.6 linear ft.)
Shigezo Iwata was born in Japan and immigrated to the United States in 1924.  Sonoko U. Iwata was born in Los Angeles.  The couple made their home in Thermal, California where they farmed and Shigezo was secretary of the Thermal Farmers' Cooperative Association.  Separated in the initial part of World War II when Shigezo was arrested and detained by the FBI at the Lordsburg Internment Camp (New Mexico), the Iwatas were reunited in 1943 at the Colorado River Relocation Center near Poston, Arizona.  The collection contains letters between the Iwatas and their friends detailing life in the relocation center and the internment camp.  There are also personal documents and biographical materials.

 

Kobayashi, Sumiko
Kobayashi, Sumiko. Papers, 1941-1989 (Collection MSS073) 22 boxes (8.8 linear ft.)
Sumiko Kobayashi was born in Yamato, a Japanese agricultural community near Palm Beach, Florida, the daughter of Japanese immigrants.  Her family was relocated from San Leandro, California under Executive Order 9066 and interned in the Topaz Relocation Center in Utah.  Kobayashi was allowed to leave the camp in order to attend college through the help of the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council, and graduated from Brothers College, Drew University in Madison, New Jersey in 1946.  She has been active in many Japanese-American and Asian-American organizations and served as Redress Chair for Pennsylvania of the Japanese American Citizens' League's National Committee on Redress.  The collection includes personal correspondence, documents, and photographs relating to the family's time in the Topaz Relocation Center, as well as drawings made by Kobayashi at Topaz and the Tanforan Assembly Center, but it consists primarily of records of the organizations in which she has been active.  In English and Japanese.

For related materials see the Susumu Kobayashi Papers (MSS71) and the Sumiko Kobayashi papers (additions), 1942-2003 (MSS073A)

 

Quong, Rose
Rose Quong papers, 1923-1973 (Collection MSS132) 7 boxes (3 linear ft.)
Rose Quong was born in Melbourne, Australia, the daughter of Chinese parents.  She worked as an actress in Australia, England, and France before coming to the United States in the 1930s, where she settled in New York City.  She continued her acting career in America and became a successful lecturer.  The collection includes diaries, script, scrapbooks, and audiotapes of Quong reading and of songs translated by Quong.

Behuncik, Edward J.
Edward J. Behuncik papers, 1918-1993 (Collection MSS170) 16 boxes (7.4 linear ft.)
Edward J. Behuncik was a lawyer, founder of the Slovak World Congress and participant in other organizations related to Slovakia and the Democratic Party.  The papers reflect Behuncik's civic, community, political and religious activities. The papers include minutes, speeches, correspondence, reports, printed materials, clippings, directories, photos, diplomas, posters, artifacts and other materials.

 

Gondos family
Gondos family papers, 1895-circa 1978 (Collection 3082) 13 boxes 3 volumes (3.9 linear ft.)
Victor Gondos, a civil engineer, immigrated to the United States with his family in 1911, settling in Chicago. He married Irene Trautmann, and they had two sons, Zoltan (later Robert) and Victor Jr.  In the 1920s they moved to Reading, Pennsylvania, where Victor set up The Gondos Company, a general contracting firm.  In 1930, Gondos joined with his sons to form Gondos and Gondos, an architectural firm headquartered in Philadelphia that designed industrial buildings, schools, and hotels.  Both sons garnered engineering degrees, but Victor Jr. was also an historian and archivist, and he served on the staff of the National Archives for twenty-three years. This diverse collection, which spans almost one hundred years, chronicles a Hungarian family’s attempt to assimilate to the United States yet retain its heritage.  It also documents the family’s architectural and construction businesses from the mid 1920s though the Great Depression and World War II.  The vast majority of this collection is correspondence between family members in the United States and in Hungary.   There are also scrapbooks, audio materials, clippings, programs, pamphlets, journals, technical drawings, and photographs.

 

Hurban-Boor family
Hurban-Boor family papers and photographs, circa 1874-1993 (Collection MSS166) 9 boxes (4.8 linear ft.)
Flat file materials include a passport and other official documents, a photograph, printed materials, and genealogical notes.  The collections also contains eight photo albums and souvenir books relating to Vladimir Hurban's service as Czechoslovakian ambassador to Egypt in the 1920s.  Photographs depict various Egyptian landmarks and sites, and Vladimir and his wife Olga are shown in several photos. There is also a volume entitled "The Four Freedoms," which was given to Vladimir Hurban when he was the Czechoslovakian ambassador to the United States. Also included is one loose photo (reproduced from a daguerreotype) of Samuel Jurkovic. The photographs date from 1920 to 1943 and consist of one box.   Unprocessed additions to the collection are .2 linear feet and consist of images, a death notice, a paper on democracy in Czechoslovakia, and a book on Edvard Beneš’s 1943 visit to the United States and Canada.  The photographs depict Vladimir Hurban, Olga Boor Hurban, Jan Masaryk, Edvard Beneš, and George and Emilia Jurković.

For related material see the Vladimir Hurban papers (MSS034).

 

Kolankiewicz, Leon J.
Leon J. Kolankiewicz papers, 1888-1978 (Collection 3071) 6 boxes (2.9 linear ft.)
Leon J. Kolankiewicz (1892-1971) was a Pennsylvania state assemblyman, the first Polish-American councilman at large elected in Philadelphia, and a strong advocate for Polish wartime and peacetime relief.  A native Philadelphian, Kolankiewicz worked with various Polish-American associations to educate and inform citizens of efforts to help Poland and its people recover from recent wars.  As a councilman, he consistently worked with and among the Polish community to ensure their places in Philadelphia’s social, political, and economic schema.  He also worked with other civic leaders to ensure the observance of important Polish events and holidays within the city. Kolankiewicz’s papers are primarily related to his public personas as a city representative and as a Polish relief worker.  Included in this richly varied collection are incoming and outgoing correspondence from Kolankiewicz, Judge Robert and Anne von Moschzisker, and Ignace Jan and Helena Paderewski; assorted booklets and pamphlets on such subjects as Polish war relief, Poland-United States relations, and Polish tourism; and publicity photographs of Kolankiewicz.  A majority of the items in the collection are written or printed in Polish since Kolankiewicz often communicated with his Polish friends, colleagues, and constituents in their native tongue.

 

Lithuanian Music Hall Association
Lithuanian Music Hall Association records, 1873-1992 (Collection 3043) 8 boxes 38 volumes (6.5 linear ft.)
The Lithuanian Music Hall Association (LMHA) was established on March 3, 1907, from various Lithuanian clubs and organizations in the Philadelphia area. This association was created to support and preserve the ethnic and cultural heritage of Lithuanian Americans, to give financial aid in case of sickness, and to provide mortuary benefits to the organization’s members. The organization established a library and a reading room, also supporting classes for the study of the Lithuanian and English languages, as well as promoting art. The building at the corner of Allegheny and Tilton Streets in Philadelphia, in which the organization has been located since 1908, is known as the Lithuanian Music Hall, where the LMHA provides a place for concerts, theatrical performances, conventions, various meetings, and social amusements. In 1943, the American Lithuanian Citizens’ Beneficial Club, which was established in 1902, merged with LMHA. In 1975, the LMHA became a shareholder-owned organization.  As of 2004, the LMHA is still in existence. The LMHA is the Philadelphia chapter of the Lithuanian American Community organization.

The collection contains materials of the LMHA as well as the Gedeminas’ Lithuanian Club, the American Lithuanian Citizens’ Beneficial Club, the National Lithuanian Beneficial Club, the Petro Armino Society, the Lithuanian National Independent Club, the First Lithuanian Building and Loan Association, and the Lithuanian Real Estate Company. Some of these organizations were among the first Lithuanian organizations in Philadelphia, which slowly dwindled as members passed away. The bulk of the collection is a number of income and expense ledgers, mostly of the LMHA. A small amount of correspondence in the collection belongs to the LMHA. Other materials of the LMHA and the above-mentioned organizations and clubs are bylaws, agreements and certificates, a number of minute books, dues and membership data books, records of sick and death benefit claims, and programs and flyers of events. Materials are in Lithuanian and English.

 

Nagorski, Zygmunt, 1884-1973
Zygmunt Nagorski papers, 1920-1995 (Collection MSS025) 15 boxes (7.4 linear ft.)
Zygmunt Nagorski was Nagorski was a Polish immigrant who worked as a journalist and editor in the United States. Previous to his time in the U.S. he worked as an attorney in Warsaw, as a member of the Polish government in exile during WWII (head of "lecture division"), and worked as a correspondent for the Allies during the war. In the United States, Nagorski worked as the editor of the Foreign News Service, and as a journalist with the Christian Science Monitor, the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Denver Post, the Money Manager (East-West Trade), and the Boston Post. He also authored a number of books, his articles appeared in numerous scholarly journals, and he additionally provided policy papers for Carter during his Presidential campaign. A leitmotif of his writings was the tyranny and consequences of enforced Communist regimes. The collection includes correspondence, writings and speeches, legal documents, notes, briefs, and organizational minutes relating to Nagorski's legal career and writings, post World War II political and economic interests, involvement in educational organizations and personal activities.  Most of the material is in Polish. There are four boxes of unprocessed additions.

 

Swiss Benevolent Society of New York
Swiss Benevolent Society of New York records, 1880-1982, undated (Collection MSS127) 87 boxes (46.8 linear ft.)
The Swiss Benevolent Society of New York is the oldest Swiss Benevolent Society in the United States, founded in 1832.  From its inception, the Swiss Benevolent Society of New York has sought to care for the poor among the Swiss population of New York.  The earliest records of the Society date from 1880 and include correspondence, board minutes, financial and administrative records, annual reports, newspaper clippings, blueprints and various printed materials.  The unprocessed additions to the Swiss Benevolent Society of New York Records consist of one box that contains brochures and invitations.

 

Swiss Benevolent Society of Philadelphia
Swiss Benevolent Society of Philadelphia records, 1860-1990 (Collection MSS013) 8 boxes (2.8 linear ft.)
The Swiss Benevolent Society was founded in 1860 to aid needy Swiss immigrants coming into Philadelphia or New York City. In 1940, it affiliated itself with the New Helvetic Society.  The collection includes bylaws, constitutions, correspondence, minutes, annual reports, legal documents, membership records, an organizational history, and uncataloged photographs. For related materials, see New Helvetic Society Records.

Bergdoll family
Bergdoll family papers, 1910-1974 (Collection MSS021) 5 boxes (2.6 linear ft.)
The Bergdolls were a prominent Philadelphia German family who operated the Bergdoll and Sons Brewing Co. The bulk of the collection relates to Grover Cleveland Bergdoll (1893-1966), particularly his youthful experience as a race car driver, his trial and imprisonment for evading the draft during World War I, and the settlement of his estate. The papers include legal documents, financial papers, newspaper clippings, and other materials. Also present are miscellaneous documents relating to the brewery and Louis J. Bergdoll Motor Company, and an unpublished family history, "The Curse of the Bergdoll Gold."

 

National Carl Schurz Association
National Carl Schurz Association records, 1709-1995 (Collection MSS167) 225 boxes (112 linear ft.)
The National Carl Schurz Association, Inc. (NCSA) was established in 1930 as the Carl Schurz Memorial Foundation (CSMF) to promote and improve the teaching of German language and culture, and to foster friendship between the United States and German-speaking countries. In 1962, the CSMF changed its name to the National Carl Schurz Association, Inc. The association focused on providing and stimulating interest in German studies, facilitating occasional student and teacher exchange, fostering international education, and providing audio-visual language teaching aids. The collection consists of records from the CSMF and NCSA, as well as several related organizations: the Oberlaender Trust, American Association of Teachers of German, American Council on German Studies, and Educational Services International, with the prevalence of the materials stemming from the NCSA. The majority of the records from each organization are correspondence and financial documents. Other records include organizational charts; bylaws; agreements between partners; convention and annual meeting minutes and reports; committee reports; bicentennial exhibit inventories and catalogs; bicentennial contests essays; membership and employment records; materials that illustrate the programs implemented and provided, and publications. Also present are some of Carl Schurz’s personal documents from unknown sources, including his speeches, certificates, correspondence, memorials, and family genealogy. The collection is completed by scrapbooks, photographs, negatives, slides, and artifacts belonging to each organization.

 

Old First Reformed Church
Old First Reformed Church records, 1741-1976 (Collection 3010) 104 boxes 246 volumes (42 linear ft.)
The Old First Reformed Church of Philadelphia was founded as the German Reformed Church of Philadelphia in 1727. Its records document over two hundred years of one of Philadelphia's oldest congregations. The collection includes administrative, financial, pastoral, membership, and Sunday school records. Also included are materials from other church organizations and projects, church services and events, higher church bodies and related congregations, and the congregation's documentation and interpretation of its’ own history.

 

Philadelphia Gazette Publishing Company
Philadelphia Gazette Publishing Company records, 1891-1954 (Collection 1816) 7 boxes 368 volumes (64 linear ft.)
This Philadelphia publishing firm was known first as The German Daily Gazette Publishing Company, 1891-1918, and then as The Philadelphia Gazette Publishing Company, 1918-1954.  The firm published the principle German language newspapers of Philadelphia: Philadelphia Gazette-Demokrat; Philadelphia Sonntags-Gazette; Philadelphia Tageblatt, 1933-1944; and the Philadelphia Sonntagsblatt; also, it did a large scale printing business, including the printing for publishers of other Philadelphia area newspapers. Financial records make up the main body of the collection, and may be divided into general accounts, advertising accounts, branch accounts, carrier's accounts, subscriber's accounts, special accounts, and miscellaneous accounts.  Included are journals; ledgers: general ledgers, advertiser's ledgers, branch ledgers, carrier's ledgers, commission ledgers, subscriber's ledgers, miscellaneous ledgers; cashbooks: general cashbooks, advertiser's cashbooks, carrier's cashbooks, subscriber's cashbooks; subscriber's receipt books; indexes to the record books; special accounts: advertising contract records, payroll records, trial balances, voucher registers; and miscellaneous financial accounts. The collection also contains minutes, 1891, concerning the organization of the company; miscellaneous non-financial records; correspondence, financial records, and miscellany, 1923-1954, of the publishing company, and also, of the Mayer family, proprietors of the company.  Members of the Mayer family represented include Gustav Mayer, Theodore Mayer, and Louis Mayer.

 

United Singers of Philadelphia
United Singers of Philadelphia records, 1887-1929 (Collection 3524) 1 boxes (0.4 linear ft.)
United Singers of Philadelphia was an umbrella organization, which represented approximately 40 area singing groups.  The member societies were predominantly German but included some other ethnic groups as well.  The scrapbook contains programs and clippings from contemporary papers covering the activities of the organization, and related German-American-based activities opposing Prohibition, nativism, and US entry into World War I on the side of the Allies.  Also present are a Cirkut group portrait, Atlantic City, 1932, and a German-language songbook, 1929.

Aspira Association
Aspira, Inc. (Pennsylvania) records, 1969 -1996 (Collection MSS148) 69 boxes (27.6 linear ft.)
Aspira, founded in 1961 in New York City by a group of Latino professionals, is a national organization based in Washington, D.C., where it lobbies for education and youth programs aimed at the Latino population.  The Pennsylvania branch of Aspira, located in Philadelphia, was founded in 1969.  It primarily serves the Puerto Rican community, but also other Latinos and some non-Latinos, promoting community service, education, and interest in Puerto Rican culture.  Activities include sponsorship of cultural events, school programs, and scholarship and student loan programs.  The collection contains administrative correspondence and related materials, financial records, and personnel and student files.

 

Concerned Citizens of North Camden
Concerned Citizens of North Camden records, 1980-1990 (Collection MSS130) 8 boxes (3.2 linear ft.)
Concerned Citizens of North Camden was founded in 1978 as a grassroots organization dedicated to revitalizing the North Camden neighborhood of Camden, New Jersey, and empowering its residents. CCNC's work focused above all on providing better housing through a combination of public advocacy and community initiative to rehabilitate abandoned housing stock. Other areas of concern included cleaner streets, employment and job training, legal aid, neighborhood safety, and overall community development. The collection includes correspondence, administrative records, newsletters, flyers, and other materials. Portions of the collection are restricted.  Addition added as part of the Wm Penn Balch Museum repatriation. This addition consists of one poster with the heading: “Together We Can Make a Difference” in English and in Spanish.

 

Diaz, Nelson A.
Nelson A. Diaz papers, 1967-2009 (Collection 3079) 177 boxes (69.2 linear ft.)
Nelson Diaz (1947- ) is a Philadelphia attorney who served on the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas (1981-1992) and as general counsel for the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (1993-1996). In addition, he has been highly active in the Hispanic and overall Philadelphia community as an activist, businessman, and journalist. He has served on many boards and committees in the Philadelphia area, and his interests and involvement have ranged from youth groups to the Temple University Hospital to the William Penn Foundation. This extensive collection documents Diaz's activities relating to Hispanic issues, organizations, and events; his work with and for various boards and committees; his work as a judge and an attorney; and his numerous other activities. Materials include correspondence, memos, minutes, reports, transcripts, by-laws, mailing lists, financial data, petitions, clippings, personnel documents, photographs, and audio and video cassettes. There are also several boxes of unprocessed additions.

 

Hispanic Federation for Social and Economic Development
Hispanic Federation for Social and Economic Development records, 1973-1985 (Collection MSS116) 21 boxes (9.6 linear ft.)
The Hispanic Federation for Social and Economic Development was a non-profit organization serving Puerto Ricans and Latinos in Philadelphia.  Established in 1981, the organization mirrored the goals of its founder, attorney Luis P. Diaz, who perceived the need for an agency to serve as a middleman between the city's predominantly non-Hispanic banks, corporations, public agencies, and planning officials on the one hand and Philadelphia's growing - but socially and economically disadvantaged - population of Spanish-speaking inhabitants on the other.  The Federation helped make resources and services available to a network of organizational members and affiliate groups made up of community-based organizations in Latino neighborhoods, until it went bankrupt in 1985.  This collection is particularly rich in information that details the evolution of housing and community development programs involving Philadelphia-area Hispanics between 1981 and 1985.  Included are correspondence, grant applications, reports, memoranda, financial records, newspaper clippings, project files for the Housing Initiative Program and the Human Services Program, and maps and other data collected by Federation staff during a 1982 Vacant Properties Survey of North Philadelphia.  Portions of the collection are restricted.

 

Latino Project (Philadelphia)
Latino Project records, 1962-1985 (Collection MSS117) 29 boxes (11.2 linear ft.)
The Latino Project, headed by attorney Luis P. Diaz, was a non-profit legal assistance and public advocacy organization that provided representation to Spanish-speaking groups and interests in Greater Philadelphia area.  Until its demise in 1984, The Latino Project was particularly concerned with protecting and developing employment opportunities in the public and private sectors under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (which forbade job discrimination on the basis of national origin) and providing legal representation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act (which forbade the exclusion of Latinos from participating in any federally assisted program and required such programs to affirmatively benefit Puerto Ricans and other Spanish-speaking people).  This collection consists of the files of the Latino Project from the mid-1970s through 1982.   Included are correspondence, memoranda, minutes, grant applications, clippings, newsletters, and other items pertaining to the work of the project and its executive director, advisory board, and staff.  Of special interest are legal case files and court proceedings documenting a number of discrimination cases involving the employment of Puerto Ricans and Latinos in Philadelphia.  The files also reflect the organization's interest in bilingual education, expanding educational and employment opportunities for Hispanics, and in improving the delivery of general health care and mental health services for Spanish-speaking clients.

 

Spanish Merchants Association of Philadelphia
Spanish Merchants Association of Philadelphia records, 1970-1988 (Collection MSS114) 68 boxes   (171 linear ft.)
The Spanish Merchants Association was founded in 1970 by Puerto Rican businessmen in Philadelphia to distribute Minority Business Development Agency funds in the Latino community. Initially created to foster the growth of local Latino businesses, the association increasingly focused on housing, food, and other entitlement programs in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The organization was dissolved in 1989. The collection includes financial and other administrative records, and records from affiliated and associated organizations. In English and Spanish. There are two boxes of unprocessed additions. 

Cleary, James J. (James Joyce), 1888-1974
James J. Cleary papers, 1837-1988 (Collection 3076) 15 boxes  11 volumes (5.8 linear ft.)
James Joyce Cleary (1888-1974) was a published writer, an athlete, a worker, a socialist, and a father.  Born in Ireland, Cleary immigrated to the United States when he was a teenager, living first in New York City and then in Philadelphia, where he settled and formed a small family.  He worked at several different kinds of jobs during his life, but eventually started his own grocery business, Golden Dawn.  He was an avid sports fan and especially enjoyed attending local track and field events.  He believed in socialism as a system that could positively affect American politics and economics.  Cleary endured decades of war, depression, and prosperity, and found a suitable balance between his Irish roots and American ways of life. This collection is rich with materials that Cleary collected and created.  There are folders of his poems and prose writings, some of which were published in local newspapers.  There are also several folders of his personal financial, legal, and work-related documents.  Additionally, Cleary saved sports programs, family papers, and numerous clippings from newspapers and magazines.  From some of these clippings, Cleary made large, full scrapbooks that define eras in news and pictures.  Also in this collection is a sizable amount of pro-socialist and pro-Soviet literature, clippings from Henry Ford’s Dearborn Independent, and several Irish newspapers.

 

Clark, Dennis
Dennis Clark papers, 1888-1982 (Collection MSS037) 8 boxes (7.3 linear ft.)
An historian and foundation administrator, Clark has written extensively on the Irish immigrant in urban society and Irish life in Philadelphia.  The collection consists primarily of research materials, including research papers, drafts of Clark's writings, articles and clippings, correspondence, manuscripts, book reviews, and cassettes.  Also present are materials relating to the Clan-na-Gael of Philadelphia.  Clark's diaries are available on microfilm.  In English.

See also Dennis Clark papers (additions), 1863-1994 (Collection MSS177).

 

Irish Edition (newspaper)
Irish Edition records, 1916-1991 (Collection 3049) 47 boxes (30 linear ft.)
The Irish Edition newspaper, founded in Philadelphia in 1981, is a regional monthly Irish-American newspaper with a focus on metropolitan Philadelphia, including south New Jersey and the Wilmington area of Delaware. While primarily concentrated on local concerns, the paper’s circulation is of a national scale and covers current events, politics, business, and the culture of Irish and Irish Americans both at home and abroad. The founders of the paper, Anthony R. Byrne and Jane M. Duffin, have served respectively as publisher and editor from the beginning of the paper to the current day. The paper is presently located in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania.

 

Loane, W. Paul
W. Paul Loane papers, 1960-2001 (Collection 3092) 6 boxes (2.1 linear ft.)
W. Paul Loane is an intriguing character to whom many labels apply: native Philadelphian, Ulsterman, Protestant, Roman Catholic, and sommelier. During the 1980s, he fervently supported Loyalist causes in Northern Ireland, formed ties with paramilitary, political, and cultural groups and became the North American Representative for the Ulster Defense Association (UDA) and the Ulster Democratic Party (UDP). By the late 1990s, however, he had become a proponent of reconciliation with the Republic of Ireland, visiting Nationalist shrines in Northern Ireland and, eventually, converting to Roman Catholicism. The collection documents many aspects of Loane’s life, from his political and cultural interests to his professional expertise in the field of wine and spirits. It consists of pamphlets, notices and publications from Ulster-related societies and organizations. There are newspaper clippings, articles written by Loane, ephemera and correspondence. In addition, there are photographs and fifteen audio tapes, as well as unprocessed additions. 

 

Society of the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick
Society of the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick records, 1771-1982, undated (Collection 1152) 4 boxes 11 volumes (3 linear ft.)
The Society of the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick was founded in 1771 as a social organization for men of Irish heritage.  The original organization was dissolved by 1798.  In 1792, the Hibernian Society for the Relief of Emigrants from Ireland was incorporated, with much of its membership overlapping with the Friendly Sons.  In 1898 the Hibernian Society changed its name to the Society of the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick for the Relief of Emigrants from Ireland. The initial accession consists of: Rules and minute book, 1771-1797; minute books, 1813-1910, 1935-1956, 1960-1982; record of fees for membership, dinners and scholarship fund, 1954-1960; annual toasts, 1853-1880; portraits of early members; constitution and by-laws, 1941, 1945, 1951, 1971; membership lists, 1954, 1956, 1958, 1971; addresses presented to the society; dinner programs, 1939-1980; and other ephemera.  The additions consist of programs from the society's 139th and 210th annual banquets, as well as a blank membership certificate.

See also Society of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick records circa 1850-2006, bulk 1940-2006 (Collection 3573).

American Institute for Italian culture
American Institute for Italian culture records, 1957-1983 (Collection 3027) 10 boxes (4.5 linear ft.)
The American Institute for Italian Culture (AIIC) was a nonprofit corporation, organized for educational and charitable purposes. Its primary goal was to foster a greater understanding and appreciation of the impact of Italian culture on the American way of life. From 1963 to 1982, the AIIC sponsored numerous programs and events in the Philadelphia area to present and celebrate the cultural contributions of Italians and Italian-Americans. Most events were open to the public and free of charge. Peter and Ida Rosa Pugliese led the AIIC from its inception, and the organizations’ achievements were a reflection of the Puglieses’ talents and dedication. The Puglieses had a major role in every AIIC activity. The collection includes bulletins and programs for the many AIIC events. In addition, there are administrative and financial records, correspondence, speeches, 380 photographs, and twenty-one audiotapes. The records show both public and private aspects of the AIIC’s twenty-year history.

 

Covello, Leonard 1887-1982
Leonard Covello papers, 1907-1974, undated (Collection MSS040) 132 boxes (54.5 linear ft.)
Covello was born in Avigliano, Basilicata, Italy, and immigrated to East Harlem, New York City, with his family in 1896. He was a teacher and administrator in the New York City public school system, author of The Social Background of the Italo-American School Child and other studies, and a leader in the intercultural education movement and in the Italian-American community. The papers document Covello's career as a teacher at DeWitt Clinton High School, principal of Benjamin Franklin High School, East Harlem, and educational consultant to the Migration Division of the Puerto Rican Department of Labor, as well as his research on Italian-American immigrants and Puerto Ricans, especially in East Harlem, and his activities in the Italian-American community. The collection includes correspondence, his files as an educator, extensive research and writing files, records from organizations, and printed materials. This collection documents many overlapping topics, such as the history of education and educational theory, immigrant children and youth, assimilation versus retaining immigrant heritage, demographic changes in East Harlem, progressive politics in New York City (especially for 1930s-1960s), Italian-American and Puerto Rican communities in New York City (and their interaction), the history of social science research, and other topics. There is correspondence with prominent figures such as Fiorella La Guardia and Vito Marcantonio, and letters concerning the formation of Columbia University's Casa Italiana. Covello was meticulous in saving materials from his educational work, research, and many organizational affiliations. The collection also includes two 16mm film reels, "A Better Tomorrow" and "Per Un Domani Migliore," as well as 12 open-reel audio tapes regarding Puerto Rico and other matters.

 

Fiorani Radio Productions and Fiorani-Florey Family
Fiorani Radio Productions records additions and Fiorani-Florey family papers, 1904-1998 (Collection MSS163) 42 boxes (19 linear ft.)
Angelo Fiorani was born in Tarquinia, Italy and came to America circa 1905.  Rose Florey Fiorani was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1902.  Beginning in 1933, the Fioranis worked as "time brokers" for radio programming targeting Italian Americans and broadcast Italian programs on Scranton-area radio stations, eventually owning and operating their own station, WPTS.  The collection documents the Fioranis' forty-two years in broadcasting.  It contains personal and business correspondence, advertisements and advertising account files, program schedules and scripts, financial records, uncatalogued photographs, fan mail, and souvenir programs of special events.  The collection includes unprocessed additions.  In English and Italian.  Register available. The 1992-074 additions include phonograph recordings of radio programs, court dramatizations, advertisements, and other segments used in the Fiorani radio broadcasts in the Scranton, Pa. area. Many of the recordings concern Italians or Italian-Americans.

See also Fiorani Radio Productions records, 1931-1975 (Collection MSS049).

 

Gurzau, Elba Farabegoli
Elba Farabegoli Gurzau papers, 1920-1985 (Collection MSS048) 39 boxes (13.8 linear ft.) Elba Farabegoli Gurzau was born in New York City, the only child of Italian immigrants.  Educated in Italy and in New York City, she has pursued simultaneous careers as a social service worker with immigrants in New York and after 1942 in Philadelphia, and a folk dance promoter.  The papers include personal papers and diaries; correspondence, organizational records and ephemera from folk dance and folk arts groups; professional files from her work with the New York YWCA's Italian Mothers' Club program in the 1930s, the Philadelphia International Institute (later the Nationalities Service Center), 1942-1981, and the Philadelphia Committee for Italian Relief in the late 1940s; and drafts and research files for her book Folk Dances, Costumes, and Customs of Italy.  Folk arts groups represented include Folk Festival Council of New York, Coro D'Italia and Esperia Dancers, all of New York City, and I Vivaci, Folk Dance Leaders Council, Folk Dance Demonstration Group, and I Ballerini, all of Philadelphia.  The papers also include extensive records of the Italian Folk Arts Federation of America, which Gurzau helped to found in the 1970s.  For related materials see records of Italian Folk Arts Federation of America.

 

Lapolla, Garibaldi M. (Garibaldi Marto) 1888-1954
Garibaldi M. Lapolla papers, 1930-1976 (Collection MSS064) 7 boxes (2.6 linear ft.)
Lapolla emigrated from the province of Potenza, Italy in 1890 with his family and settled in East Harlem, New York City. Lapolla was an educator in the New York City public school system and the author of several novels on Italian-American life in East Harlem. He also published two cookbooks. The collection contains correspondence, unpublished literary manuscripts including novels, short stories and poetry, and artwork.

 

Russoniello, Vincent, 1890-1980
Vincent Russoniello papers, 1907-1985 (Collection MSS047) 8 boxes (4 linear ft.)
Vincent Russoniello was born in St. Andrea de Conza, Avellino, Italy and immigrated to the United States in 1905.  His family settled in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he worked in a stone quarry and trained to be an architect.  Russoniello established his own firm in 1921 and practiced architecture in Scranton for over sixty years.  His largest commissions were for more than twenty churches.  Most of the churches were Roman Catholic nationality parishes or other immigrant congregations. The collection includes assignments from correspondence school courses, drawings, specifications, correspondence, brochures, and records from Russoniello's architectural firm.  The bulk of the collection is architectural drawings.

Beck, Joseph E.
Joseph E. Beck papers, 1902-1988 (Collection 3083) 3 boxes 1 volume (1.2 linear ft.)
Joseph E. Beck (1904-1981), a native of Racine, Wisconsin, was a social worker who helped Jewish refugees during World War II.  Having previously worked for various social agencies in Cleveland, Ohio, and Scranton, Pennsylvania, Beck became the executive director of the Jewish Family Society of Philadelphia in 1934.  He headed this organization until 1942 when he accepted the executive directorship of the National Refugee Service, in New York City.  He left this organization in 1950 and moved to California, where he continued social work and eventually retired. This small yet vivid collection includes correspondence, family records, photographs, clippings, and 16mm films.  The majority of the collection is comprised of Beck’s candid and personal writings on a variety of social, political, and cultural topics.  Many of these writings were used in Beck’s autobiography, a copy of which is also in this collection.

 

Bender, Rose I., 1869-1964
Rose I. Bender papers, 1929-1973 (Collection MSS020) 5 boxes (2 linear ft.)
Rose I. Bender was born in Philadelphia, the daughter of Joseph and Rachel Magil, Lithuanian immigrants and pioneer Zionists.  She was active in Hadassah and a wide variety of other Jewish organizations at both the local and national level.  In 1945 she became Executive Director of the Philadelphia Zionist Organization of America.  The collection consists of correspondence, clippings, and miscellaneous items relating to Bender's activities in Hadassah, the Zionist Organization of America, Allied Jewish Appeal, and other organizations, including the National Jewish Hospital, American Palestine Music Association, and the Palestine Pavilion at the 1939 World's Fair in New York.  Also included are notes and souvenirs from her work as a delegate at Zionist congresses in Geneva (1939) and Basel (1946).

 

Greenfield, Albert M., 1887-1967
Albert M. Greenfield papers, 1918-1969 (Collection 1959) 1,069 boxes, 85 volumes, 22 flat files (436.4 linear ft.)
Albert M. Greenfield was a real estate broker, banker, and philanthropist of Philadelphia.  He had many business interests among which were: Albert M. Greenfield & Co. (real estate), Bankers Securities Corporation, City Stores Co. (a chain of department stores), Bankers Bond & Mortgage Co., the Philadelphia Transportation Co., and its predecessor, the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company. Politically, Greenfield provided financial and other support to candidates for public office, including Edwin S. Vare of Philadelphia, Republican candidate for the United States Senate, 1926, and Lyndon B. Johnson, Democratic candidate for the presidency, 1960 and 1964; he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention, 1928; a delegate-at-large to the Democratic National Conventions, 1948-1964; and a presidential elector, 1960. The large array of organizations in which Greenfield held prominent positions includes: Sesqui-Centennial Exposition of 1926; the Pennsylvania Constitutional Commemoration Commission, 1938; Pennsylvania Commission of Celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence; World Affairs Council; Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce; Pennsylvania Water Resources Committee, 1951; Philadelphia National Shrines Park Commission, 1946-1956; and Fairmount Park Commission. He contributed to many institutions and organizations, including cultural and educational institutions such as Philadelphia Orchestra, Philadelphia Museum of Art, LaSalle College, and Lincoln University.  In addition he founded the Albert M. Greenfield Foundation, a philanthropic institution created during his later years. Greenfield also supported a variety of Jewish institutions and organizations such as Federation of Jewish Charities, National Conference of Christians and Jews, Development Fund for American Judaism, American Jewish Tercentenary, 1954-1955, and Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

These papers constitute the selected office files of Albert M. Greenfield.  Incoming and outgoing correspondence make up the bulk of the collection, but there is also a great quantity of other material, including appointment books, photographs, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, periodicals, and reports.  The papers for 1921-1966 cover several categories: personal, business, political, civic, philanthropic, Jewish affairs, and miscellaneous. The personal papers include mainly family, social, and private correspondence.  They are interspersed throughout and constitute a small but important part of the collection. The collection contains, in addition, papers of Greenfield's two confidential secretaries, Donald Jenks, 1951-1954, and John O'Shea, 1954-1964, including correspondence, drafts of speeches, appointment books, and miscellaneous materials; and a few personal papers, 1922-1930, of Greenfield's first wife Edna Kraus Greenfield, including personal and social correspondence, financial records, and record book of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Jewish Hospital-Emergency Fund, Philadelphia, 1922.

 

Solis-Cohen, Jacob, Jr., 1890-1968
Jacob Solis-Cohen Jr. papers, 1925-1960 (Collection MSS014) 4 boxes (1.6 linear ft.)
Jacob Solis-Cohen was a member of a prominent Philadelphia Sephardic Jewish family. He was a real estate appraiser with the real estate company Mastbaum Brothers and Fleisher, eventually serving as vice-president of the firm. He became president of Albert M. Greenfield and Company when that firm merged with Mastbaum Brothers and Fleisher in 1929. Solis-Cohen was also active in several Jewish organizations. He served as president of the Jewish Publication Society and of the Mikveh Israel Congregation and was a member of the boards of directors of the Foster Home for Hebrew Orphans and the Jewish Theological Seminary, and the executive council of the American Jewish Historical Society. The collection consists primarily of correspondence relating to genealogical matters and to Solis-Cohen's activities with the Foster Home for Hebrew Orphans and other charitable organizations. Also present are writings, chiefly on historical topics, and scrapbooks documenting Solis-Cohen's personal and business life and the genealogy of the Silva-Solis family and related families.

 

Walinsky, Ossip
Ossip Walinsky papers, 1916-1973 (Collection MSS039) 9 boxes (4.7 linear ft.)
Ossip Walinsky was born Joseph Melechinsky in Grodno, Lithuania in a Orthodox Jewish family.  Following an arrest for anti-government activities in 1904, he escaped to Germany and then settled in London.  In 1912 he immigrated to the United States and settled in New York City, where he became active as a labor organizer.  In 1918 he became a manager of the Pocketbook Workers Union, New York, and remained with them until elected president of the International Leather Goods, Handbag, Belt, and Novelty Workers Union in 1951. Walinsky was also a prolific writer and was active in Jewish, Zionist and humanitarian organizations. The collection contains biographical material, correspondence and organizational records from the Pocketbook Workers Union and the International Leather Goods, Handbag, Belt, and Novelty Workers Union, and records from several Jewish organizations.  Also included are clippings related to Jewish organizations.

Collections relating to religion include the histories of churches located in the Philadelphia region as well as the religious activities of ethnic and immigrant communities.

Behuncik, Edward J.
Edward J. Behuncik papers, 1918-1993 (Collection MSS170) 16 boxes (7.4 linear ft.)
Edward J. Behuncik was a lawyer, founder of the Slovak World Congress and participant in other organizations related to Slovakia and the Democratic Party.  The papers reflect Behuncik's civic, community, political and religious activities. The papers include minutes, speeches, correspondence, reports, printed materials, clippings, directories, photos, diplomas, posters, artifacts and other materials.

 

Boyko, Anna Kobryn
Anna Kobryn Boyko papers, 1910-1973 (Collection MSS024) 1 box (0.4 linear ft.) Immigrating to the United States from Tuchne, Peremshyl Province, Ukraine in 1913, Boyko and her family settled in Philadelphia in 1918.  She was active in organizing Ukrainian societies in Philadelphia, including the Providence Association of Ukrainian Catholics in America and the Ukrainian Women's Organization.  She also helped to found Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church.  The collection contains diaries, an autobiography, correspondence, and writings by Boyko, as well as materials concerning the Central Council of Ukrainian Women in America, Philadelphia Chapter.

 

Edmunds, Albert J. (Albert Joseph), 1857-1941
Albert Joseph Edmunds papers, 1844-1941 (Collection 1342) 53 boxes 1 volume (22 linear ft.)
Albert Joseph Edmunds was a noted Biblical scholar and the cataloger of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The collection includes: correspondence, 1867-1941, notebooks, diaries, 1874-1929, notes on religion, cults, ballads, writings, essays, poems, bills and receipts, and spiritual lectures. The collection also includes correspondence to Benjamin Smith Lyman on vegetarianism while Lyman was in Japan.

 

Episcopal Church. Diocese of Pennsylvania. Episcopal Churchwomen
Episcopal Church, Diocese of Pennsylvania, Episcopal Churchwomen records, 1898-1975 (Collection 2106) 4 boxes (1.3 linear ft.)
The Diocesan Committee of the Women's Auxiliary of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, covering southeastern Pennsylvania, was formed in 1898 to increase the number of parishes and to assist established missions.  The Diocesan Committee concentrated its early efforts of missionary work by assisting the female population in orphanages, reformatories, prisons and hospitals.  Subsequently, the Committee concerned itself with cultural displacement, prison and hospital conditions, orphans, the impact of the Depression and finally with employment and job training.  Sometime after 1970, the Committee was subsumed together with two other branches of Episcopal Churchwomen into the new "Department of Diocesan Ministries." Records, 1898-1975, include minutes, 1898-1972, (1923-24 are missing) with indexes, 1898-1970 & a card index, 1989-1970; newsletters, 1921-1942; miscellaneous reports, memos and background papers, 1920-1969; correspondence, 1908-1974; files on missions, ca. 1938; treasurers' files, 1920-1963; auditors' reports, 1941-1956 and a volume of A History of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, annotated by Betsey Tilden Wells ( last chairperson of the Committee).

 

First Association of Spiritualists of Philadelphia
First Association of Spiritualists of Philadelphia collection, circa 1867-1955 (Collection 3089) 3 boxes (1 linear ft.)
The First Association of Spiritualists of Philadelphia first met in 1852 and ratified its official constitution in 1864. This small collection contains a detailed scrapbook, printed materials, and the constitution of the organization.  The collection also contains pamphlets, newspapers, and magazines documenting other Spiritualist groups in the Delaware Valley.

 

Hoh, Yam Tong, 1898-1987
Yam Tong Hoh papers, circa 1910-1987 (Collection MSS126) 64 boxes (26.5 linear ft.)
Born in Fushan, China, Hoh received his education at Stanford University, San Anselmo Theological Seminary and Columbia University Teachers College.  He returned to China to head the True Light Middle School.  After World War II, he came to the United States to head the Chinese Community Center in Oakland, California, and to serve the Chinese Congregational Church in Berkeley.  He was called to lead the Chinese Christian Church and Center of Philadelphia in 1954.  After his retirement from the ministry in 1967, he became first director of On Lok House, which provided subsidized housing for Asian elderly.  The collection consists of correspondence, writings, uncataloged photographs, and numerous administrative records and printed materials, the bulk of which relate to Hoh's work in the Chinese-American community of Philadelphia.  In English and Chinese.

 

Hoh, Yam Tong and Daisy Law
Yam Tong Hoh and Daisy Law papers, 1919-1977 (Collection 3020) 2 boxes (0.85 linear ft.)
The Papers of Rev. Yam Tong and Daisy Law Hoh span the years 1919 to 1977, and focus primarily on their lives while residing in the United States as emigrants from China. The collection reflects the work of Yam Tong as an educator and Reverend in both California and Philadelphia, as well as his untiring work for the True Light School of Hong Kong. The collection complements the Reverend Dr. Yam Tong Hoh Papers (MSS 126),  located at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, by providing biographical material on Yam Tong's first wife, Daisy Law Hoh, as well as Rev. Hoh.

 

Holy Redeemer Chinese Catholic Church
Holy Redeemer Chinese Catholic Church records, 1939-1975 (Collection MSS030) 1 box (0.4 linear ft.)
Holy Redeemer Chinese Roman Catholic Church was founded in Philadelphia's Chinatown in 1941 as a mission church of the parish of St. John the Evangelist. The collection consists of the unbound contents of two scrapbooks: programs, invitations, announcements, newspaper clippings, and personal correspondence from contributors to the scrapbooks.

 

Matlack, T. Chalkley (Thomas Chalkley), 1858-1945
T. Chalkley Matlack collection, 1912-1939 (Collection 0401) 21 boxes (18 linear ft.)
T. Chalkley Matlack was a Quaker artist and scholar interested in public education in Philadelphia.  The collection contains Quakeriana, including historical sketches and pictures of Friends meeting houses in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, and the boarding homes, schools, and burial grounds associated with them; also historical notes on several Friends meeting houses. There are also literary and musical manuscripts, including synopses of novels, bibliographies, biographical sketches, literary quotations, and water color sketches of maps, scenes, coats of arms, and characters in works of Sir Walter Scott, James Fenimore Cooper, and George Moritz Ebers, the Egyptian romancer; notes on the lives and works of 160 composers of music.  Other items in the collection include Cooper maps, 1911-1913; Cooper dictionary, 1914; Waverly maps, 1912-1923; Ebers maps, 1919; Ebers dictionary, 1919; and Aeolian records, 1916-1919, 1922.

 

Matlack, T. Chalkley (Thomas Chalkley), 1858-1945
Thomas Chalkley Matlack diaries, 1887-1945 (Collection Am .098550) 5 volumes (0.9 linear ft.)
Thomas Chalkley Matlack was a teacher at Friends Central School in Philadelphia. This collection consists of four typescript volumes and one manuscript volume, 1887-1945, describing Matlack's daily life, teaching, family relationships, and Quaker society.

 

Old First Reformed Church
Old First Reformed Church records, 1741-1976 (Collection 3010) 104 boxes 246 volumes (42 linear ft.)
The Old First Reformed Church of Philadelphia was founded as the German Reformed Church of Philadelphia in 1727. Its records document over two hundred years of one of Philadelphia's oldest congregations. The collection includes administrative, financial, pastoral, membership, and Sunday school records. Also included are materials from other church organizations and projects, church services and events, higher church bodies and related congregations, and the congregation's documentation and interpretation of its own history.

Collections in this category relate to inventions, engineering, and developments in infrastructure, particularly transportation. They also document topics relating to public health and nursing.

Aero Club of Pennsylvania
Aero Club of Pennsylvania records, 1908-2011 (Collection 1742) 6 boxes (3.6 linear ft.)
The Aero Club of Pennsylvania was founded in Philadelphia on December 17, 1909, on the anniversary of the Wright Brother's first flight.  The club was created for the "encouragement and development of interest and activity in aeronautics and aviation." The initial accession dates from 1908 to 1953 and consists of: minute books, 1909-1953; record of daily activities, 1930-1932; correspondence, 1929-1950; drafts for a club history, 1932-1939; membership lists, 1945-1949; miscellaneous pamphlets, 1910-1931; and scrapbooks, 1908-1910, 1915, 1929-1932. Additions to the collection include meeting minutes, newsletters, photographs, correspondence, clippings, programs, pamphlets, and other ephemera.

 

Darrach, Charles Gobrecht, b.1846
Charles G. Darrach papers, 1906 -1919 (Collection 0160) 3 boxes  (0.8 linear ft.)
Correspondence and miscellaneous writings of Charles G. Darrach, Philadelphia civil and consulting engineer:  Topography of the Earth, 1906, contains maps and essays on the formation of the universe; Obligation, a Compilation, 1919, a metaphysical treatise on evolution; Folly of Philadelphia, 1918, criticism of politics, transit problems, concentration of business; The World War, 1917, correspondence on conscription in the United States Army; Port of Philadelphia, Public Utilities, 1913; National transportation and a discussion of the report on Atlantic Intracoastal Canals, 1917; Water Supply, Philadelphia, 1914-1917, a history of the water system, plans of dams and pumping plants.

 

Dixon, Samuel Gibson, 1851-1918
Samuel Gibson Dixon papers, 1884-1953 (Collection 1941) 10 boxes 5 volumes (4.5 linear ft.)
Samuel Gibson Dixon was a physician, a scientist, and served as first commissioner of health for the state of Pennsylvania. The bulk of the collection is made up of typescripts and printed copies of lectures, articles, and pamphlets on all the subjects that concerned Dixon from 1905 to 1918 including: public health, diseases, preventative medicine, hygiene, and sanitation.  A small part of the collection is made up of incoming and some outgoing correspondence on public health issues such as sanitary and safety conditions of rural schools in Pennsylvania. The remainder of the collection includes medical school notes, 1884; material on Dixon's pioneer research on immunity in tuberculosis; photographs; newspaper clippings; and miscellanea.

 

Dwyer family
Dwyer family papers, 1854-1995 (Collection 3029) 60 boxes 34 volumes (26 linear ft.)
The Dwyer Family Papers primarily consist of the papers of Edward James Dwyer, a graduate of St. John's College in Annapolis Maryland, who then attended Johns Hopkins University as a graduate student in engineering. He later became the president of Electric Storage Battery Company and served on the board of Quaker Chemical Company, Selas Corporation, and the National Association of Manufacturers. He was also a lawyer. The collection also includes many papers relating to Elizabeth MacLachlan Dwyer. The children of Edward and Elizabeth are also represented. This collection includes correspondence; class notes and thesis of Edward J. Dwyer; genealogical notes on the Dwyer, Root, Waters, MacLachlan, McDonald, and Hamblin families; scrapbooks; printed matter; and ephemera.

 

Engineers Club of Philadelphia
Engineers Club of Philadelphia records, 1877-1988 (Collection 3144) 59 boxes 33 volumes
(20.6 linear ft.)
The Engineers’ Club of Philadelphia has its roots in the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, where numerous engineers congregated to view the latest scientific and mechanical advances. The club itself was established in December 1877 and Professor Lewis Haupt (1844-1934) was named its first president. The club’s objectives included the “professional improvement of its members, the encouragement of social intercourse among men of practical science, and the advancement of engineering in its several branches.” This collection of the club's records covers about 100 years of its history and consists of minutes, correspondence, financial papers, committee reports, minutes of committee meetings, publications, awards given by the club, records of resignations, 100th anniversary planning documents, invitations, and menus. There are also papers pertaining to club affiliates, membership, and classes, as well as several unbound scrapbooks of club mailings, copies of the club's newsletter, Bulletin, and papers pertaining to the club's published history.

 

Greenewalt, Mary Elizabeth Hallock, 1871-1950
Mary Elizabeth Hallock Greenewalt papers, 1769-1950 (Collection 0867) 39 boxes, 29 volumes, 23 flat files (18.2 linear ft.)
Mary Elizabeth Hallock Greenewalt (1871-1950) was a musician, inventor, lecturer, writer and political activist.  Born in Beirut to Sara (Tabet) Hallock, descendant of an aristocratic Syrian family, and Samuel Hallock, a U.S. consul, she was educated in Beirut and Philadelphia.  Hallock graduated from Philadelphia’s Musical Academy in 1893, and in 1897 studied piano in Vienna with Theodore Leschetizky.  In 1898 she married Dr. Frank L. Greenewalt, with whom she had one son, Crawford, born in 1902. A pianist noted for her interpretation of Chopin, Mary Greenewalt began in the early 1900s to investigate how gradated colored lighting might enhance the emotional expression of music.  By 1920 she had obtained the first of many patents covering a color organ designed to project a sequence of colored lighting arranged for specific musical programs.  In combining light and color as a single performance Greenewalt believed she had created a new, fine art which she named “Nourathar,” or essence of light. Although awarded eleven patents, Greenewalt spent a number of years pursuing patent infringements, finding recourse in the courts in 1932 with a judgment in her favor.  Greenewalt’s professional activities also included lecturing on music and serving as a delegate to the National Women’s Party, which was instrumental in winning women’s suffrage.  After retiring from the concert and lecture stage, Greenewalt published Nourathar: The Fine Art of Light-Color Playing in 1946.

This collection offers many examples of Greenewalt’s creative processes.  Correspondence details the development and manufacture of her color console and the legal battles surrounding her patents.  A photo album also documents Greenewalt’s creation of her light color console.  In addition, there is a draft autobiography, a family history, copies of patents, miscellaneous personal correspondence, blue prints and drawings, concert programs, news clippings, lecture and radio broadcasts manuscripts, scrapbooks, two small volumes in Arabic, and numerous brochures and pamphlets pertaining to electrical lamps and theatre lighting.  Artifacts include Greenewalt’s recording of Chopin made in 1920, a gold medal awarded in 1926, copper printing plates, and experimental, painted materials.

 

Madeira, Edith, 1865-1951
Edith Madeira papers, 1900-1951 (Collection 2053) 2 boxes (0.4 linear ft.)
Edith Madeira (1865-1951) served as the chief nurse for the American Red Cross Commission to Palestine from June 1918 to January 1919.  The Commission was formed “to look after the sickness and starvation of the civilian population in the occupied area of Palestine.” The papers of Edith Madeira consist of typescript letters, 1917-1919; her “Report for Nursing Service” detailing the Commission’s work in Palestine; Madeira’s nursing diploma and license; memoirs detailing her voyage to Palestine, by way of South Africa and the Indian Ocean; memoirs featuring her service in Palestine and surrounding regions; and lastly, a scrapbook filled with photographs, memorabilia, and a few plant specimens.

 

Mills, Charles K. (Charles Karsner), 1845-1931
Charles K. Mills scrapbooks, 1863-1941 (Collection 0424) (3.3 linear ft.)
Charles K. Mills was born in Falls of Schuylkill, Pennsylvania, on December 4, 1845.  He attended Central High School, although a year of service in the Civil War delayed his graduation until 1864.  He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Medical School in 1869 and received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the same university in 1871.  He was married to Clara Elizabeth Peale in 1873, and with her had four children.  Dr. Mills was a preeminent neurologist who did much to advance his field in Philadelphia, having established the nervous ward of the Philadelphia General Hospital in 1877 and founded the Philadelphia Neurological Society in 1884.  He was instrumental in the reform of the city’s General Hospital and he advocated improved health and sanitary conditions in many public sectors.  Dr. Mills was a professor emeritus of neurology at the University of Pennsylvania, where he taught from 1877 to 1915, and a member of and frequent lecturer to many medical organizations.  In 1923, he was elected president of the American Neurological Society.  Dr. Mills died May 28, 1931, at the age of eighty-five.

Dr. Mills’ eleven scrapbooks, 1863 to 1931, document his professional career, but contain very few materials from his educational and military careers. Letters of appointment and re-appointment to various medical organizations, as well as notices of Dr. Mills' frequent lectures before these organizations, constitute the bulk of the volumes. Dr. Mills’ lecture transcripts and reports on his medical research are pasted throughout the scrapbooks, as are many University of Pennsylvania course schedules for the period during which he taught there.  Newspaper clippings report on Dr. Mills’ involvement in several major events of his day, including the reform of the Blockley Almshouse and the post-mortem examination of Charles Guiteau, who was executed in 1882 for the assassination of President Garfield.  Dr. Mills was also a poet and devoted historian of the Falls of Schuylkill, his cherished childhood home.  He published several poems, mainly inspired by historical topics, many of which can be found in the scrapbooks, and wrote a book on the history of his birthplace, an excerpt of which is contained in a newspaper clipping. Dr. Mills’ obituaries are the last items in the scrapbooks.

 

Philadelphia Drug Exchange
Philadelphia Drug Exchange records, 1861-1957 (Collection 1835) 1 box 10 volumes (2.5 linear ft.)
The Philadelphia Drug Exchange was founded in 1861 to promote the interests of the local drug and allied industries. These records include: minutes, 1861-1955, of the board of directors and of annual meetings; roll of officers and members, 1861-1912; circulars, 1873-1877; and annual reports, 1875-1957.

 

Philadelphia General Hospital. Women's Advisory Council
Women's Advisory Council of Philadelphia General Hospital records, 1915-1957 (Collection 1710) 13 boxes 5  volumes (5.8 linear ft.)
The Woman's Advisory Council of Philadelphia General Hospital was a hospital auxiliary originally organized to advise the Philadelphia Director of Health on conditions at the hospital. The Council’s goal was to spur improvement and maintenance of higher sanitation standards and eliminate overcrowding at the hospitals.  Under the jurisdiction of the Department of Public Health, the Council was initially responsible for all city hospitals, but focused primarily on Philadelphia General Hospital, then known as Blockley Hospital. Records include correspondence, minutes, hospital shop reports, journals, bills, and receipts.  There are some papers of the Social Service Auxiliary, Philadelphia General Hospital, 1945 1950.

 

Vauclain, Samuel M. (Samuel Matthews), 1856-1940
Samuel Matthews Vauclain papers related to the Delaware River Bridge Joint Commission, 1915- 1930
(Collection 1900B) 7 boxes (5 linear ft.)
Papers of Samuel Matthews Vauclain as a member of the Delaware River Bridge Joint Commission on the planning, construction, and operation of the bridge, now named the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.  They include: correspondence, much of which is with Ralph Modjeski, chief engineer; minutes of the Joint Commission Executive Committee; financial reports; blueprints and maps; photographs; scrapbooks.  There are also 6 blueprints of the Remington Arms Company plant built by The Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1915 under Vauclain's direction.

Personal papers and organizational records document athletic and social clubs and associations. Collections of family papers document American travel during this time period.

Athletic Club of the Schuylkill Navy of Philadelphia
Athletic Club of the Schuylkill Navy of Philadelphia records, 1876-1923 (Collection 1684) 2 boxes (0.66 linear ft.)
The Athletic Club of the Schuylkill Navy of Philadelphia was an organization of wealthy men interested in amateur athletics. The collection includes the charter, reports, programs, and other miscellaneous material of the Athletic Club of the Schuylkill Navy of Philadelphia, as well as some information on amateur athletics, 1887-1894.

 

Cleary, James J. (James Joyce), 1888-1974
James J. Cleary papers, 1837-1988 (Collection 3076) 15 boxes  11 volumes (5.8 linear ft.)
James Joyce Cleary (1888-1974) was a published writer, an athlete, a worker, a socialist, and a father.  Born in Ireland, Cleary immigrated to the United States when he was a teenager, living first in New York City and then in Philadelphia, where he settled and formed a small family.  He worked at several different kinds of jobs during his life, but eventually started his own grocery business, Golden Dawn.  He was an avid sports fan and especially enjoyed attending local track and field events.  He believed in socialism as a system that could positively affect American politics and economics.  Cleary endured decades of war, depression, and prosperity, and found a suitable balance between his Irish roots and American ways of life. This collection is rich with materials that Cleary collected and created.  There are folders of his poems and prose writings, some of which were published in local newspapers.  There are also several folders of his personal financial, legal, and work-related documents.  Additionally, Cleary saved sports programs, family papers, and numerous clippings from newspapers and magazines.  From some of these clippings, Cleary made large, full scrapbooks that define eras in news and pictures.  Also in this collection is a sizable amount of pro-socialist and pro-Soviet literature, clippings from Henry Ford’s Dearborn Independent, and several Irish newspapers.

 

Dorizas, Michael M. 
Michael M. Dorizas papers, 1913-1958 (Collection MSS022) 12 boxes (4.2 linear ft.)
Dorizas was a Greek-American Olympic athlete and professor of geography. Born in Constantinople, he attended the University of Pennsylvania and subsequently taught at the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce. The collection consists of correspondence, lecture notes, writings, course materials, clippings, and other personal and professional papers. Also included is correspondence with the Order of AHEPA and other Greek-American organizations. Additional papers of Michael Dorizas are held by the University Archives, University of Pennsylvania.

 

Fernberger, Marylin; Edward Fernberger
Marilyn and Edward Fernberger collection on Philadelphia professional and amateur tennis tournaments, 1962-1992 (Collection 3265) 78 boxes (95 linear ft.)
This collection consists of Marilyn and Edward Fernberger's records of professional and amateur tennis tournaments held in Philadelphia between 1962 and 1992.  The material includes files relating to organization, promotion, finances, players, facilities, etc., together with scrapbooks, photographs, posters, and ephemera for Virginia Slims, U.S. Pro Indoor and other tournaments and tennis activities.

 

Malta Boat Club (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Malta Boat Club records, 1870-1912 (Collection 1525) 10 boxes (3.5 linear ft.)
The Malta Boat Club, a Philadelphia athletic and social club, was founded in 1860. Financial accounts, correspondence, miscellaneous papers, and lectures on banking.

 

McGlinn, Frank
Frank McGlinn collection of ephemera, 1880-1993 (Collection 3314) (75 linear ft.)
Frank McGlinn was a Philadelphia resident who collected over the years various Playbills, programs, broadsides, and other miscellaneous items belonging to various civic, cultural, athletic, and political organizations of Philadelphia.

 

Penn athletic club of Philadelphia
Penn athletic club of Philadelphia photograph albums, 1925-1945 (Collection D0078) 3 boxes (3 linear ft.)
Photograph albums of members, scrapbooks, and miscellaneous framed materials of the Penn Athletic Club.

 

Roxborough Turners
Roxborough Turners records, 1873-1981 (Collection 3056) 14.5 boxes 56 volumes (15.75 linear ft.)
Founded in 1873 in the Philadelphia neighborhood of Roxborough, the Roxborough Turners follow theories common to the Turnverein movement, which was founded in Germany in 1811. Turnvereins, which literally translate as “gymnastics clubs,” or “unions,” dedicated themselves to physical health through athletics and gymnastics. The Roxborough Turners arose from the merger of Turnvereins in two adjacent neighborhoods—Roxborough and Manayunk—and originally took the name Germania Turn-Verein of Roxborough und Manayunk, changing to the current name in 1954. The organization was a social and athletic club with their own hall, containing a bar, library, gymnastics and athletic programs for both adults and children, and entertainment and meeting space for rent or members’ use. As of November 2004, the organization is still active, and is located at 418 Leverington Avenue in Philadelphia. The records contained in this collection include a complete run of minutes, detailed financial and membership records, correspondence, certificates of achievement and diplomas, visitor and library registers, programs and pamphlets, and several uncataloged photographs. The collection is in English and German, with earlier records maintained in the old German script.

Belfield Papers
Belfield papers (Collection 3159) 235 boxes, 99 volumes (106 linear feet)
The Belfield papers include materials from families who lived in the Belfield mansion in Germantown, Pennsylvania from 1826 until 1984. Featured individuals include William and Sarah Logan Fisher Wister, their son John Wister and his wife, Sarah Tyler Boas Wister, their granddaughter Sarah Logan Wister Starr and her husband, James Starr, and their great-granddaughter S. Logan Starr Blain and her husband, Dr. Daniel Blain. The collection includes significant documentation of world travel during the Great Depression, especially in Series IV and VII.

 

Bok, Curtis, 1897-1962 and Nellie Lee Holt Bok
William Curtis Bok and Nellie Lee Holt Bok papers, 1836-1991 (Collection 3096) (25 linear ft.)
The focus of this collection is the personal and professional papers of Curtis (1897-1962) and Nellie Lee Bok.  In addition, there is some documentation of their children (Derek, Enid, and Benjamin) and their Bok and Holt ancestors.  There are letters, travel journals, identified files, photographs, and printed materials relating to the illustrious careers of both Curtis and Nellie Lee.

 

Dwyer family
Dwyer family papers, 1854-1995 (Collection 3029) 60 boxes 34 volumes (26 linear ft.)
The Dwyer Family Papers primarily consist of the papers of Edward James Dwyer, a graduate of St. John's College in Annapolis Maryland, who then attended Johns Hopkins University as a graduate student in engineering. He later became the president of Electric Storage Battery Company and served on the board of Quaker Chemical Company, Selas Corporation, and the National Association of Manufacturers. He was also a lawyer. The collection also includes many papers relating to Elizabeth MacLachlan Dwyer. The children of Edward and Elizabeth are also represented. This collection includes correspondence; class notes and thesis of Edward J. Dwyer; genealogical notes on the Dwyer, Root, Waters, MacLachlan, McDonald, and Hamblin families; scrapbooks; printed matter; and ephemera.

 

Lowrie and Derr Families
Lowrie and Derr families papers, circa 1844-1969 (Collection D1259). 28 containers (25 linear feet).
This collection of family papers documents at least two generations, based largely in Wilkes Barre and Philadelphia. It includes a large amount of family correspondence and photographs; marriage records; diaries; financial records; art work and a manuscript by Elizabeth Derr Davisson; research notes, manuscripts, and published volumes on Philadelphia history by Sarah Dickson Lowrie; and songs, poems, and plays by Thompson Derr. Documentation from 1910-1960 is more robust. Of special interest are materials relating to tourism in the Southwestern United States and Native American art, life in London during World War II, and Philadelphia history. This collection includes an extensive album of tintypes.

 

Minter, Lloyd C., b. 1914
Lloyd C. Minter papers, 1929-1999 (Collection 3318) 11 boxes 62 volumes (9 linear ft.)
This collection includes travel scrapbooks (32 v.) of trips to Europe, Asia, North and South America, and the Middle East, 1948-1998. Scrapbooks contain photographs, postcards, receipts, maps, souvenir brochures, ticket stubs, papers pertaining to the tour groups, and other mementoes.  Also included are diaries, 1929-1937, 1977, 1987-1999 (22 v.), personal account books, 1947-1977 (3 v.), address books (4 v.); and the diary of Minter's aunt, Mary Elcock Minter, 1942-1955.

 

Wright, Charles Adshead
Charles Adshead Wright collection, 1810-1982 (Collection 3013) 33 boxes (14 linear ft.)
The Wright Family Papers recount the story of an American family coming of age in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.  The story is told through the recollections and writings of Charles Adshead Wright, who began compiling his memoirs in 1923, at the age of twenty-four.  He titled his project, “The Story of a Life,” and noted, “It will be my purpose to record daily the experiences which I have had, and my own personal reaction to those experiences.”  His project went through several revisions and periods of dormancy in the subsequent years, but continued with the support of his family, who inspired him to write additional chapters that gave a chronological account of all of the activities of the Wright family.  He illustrated the text with family photographs, clippings, holiday cards, and other ephemera, so that by 1987 the “Wright Family History” occupied 108 binders and spanned nearly 172 years in the life of an American family.

Particularly strong among HSP's 20th-century military collections are those relating to World War I and World War II. Personal papers and organization records document the experiences of those involved in military service as well as the experiences of those on the home front. Home front activities that are documented include the work of civilian relief and service groups, particularly those staffed by women. The maltreatment of Japanese Americans during World War II is also documented in several significant personal and family papers.

Allen, Alfred Reginald, 1876-1918; Allen, Alfred Reginald, 1905-1988
Allen family papers, 1837-1971 (Collection 3126) 57 boxes 13 volumes (23.2 linear ft.)
The Allen family of Philadelphia had its roots in Bristol, United Kingdom. Samuel Allen (sometimes spelled Allan or Allin) came to America in 1681 and settled in what is now known as Chester, Pennsylvania. The Allen family papers consist of correspondence, photographs, albums, newspaper clippings, volumes, manuscripts, ephemera, and artifacts collected first by Dr. Alfred Reginald Allen (1876-1918) and then by his son Alfred Reginald Allen Jr. (1905-1988).This collection of Allen family papers is rich in personal correspondence, particularly between Dr. Allen and his father in the late nineteenth century, between Dr. Allen and his wife while he was at the Army’s Plattsburg training camp and overseas, and between Reggie and his mother from the 1920s until her death in 1949. There are also numerous photographs and albums in the collection which are mostly family portraits, pictures of their summer holidays on Lake George, New York, and the family’s many travels abroad. There is also a significant amount of genealogical material in the form of historical biographies, family trees and letters. Dr. Allen began doing genealogical research and Reggie it.  While Dr. Allen concentrated on the history of the Allens and the Pomeroys, Reggie expanded the research to include the Howes, the DeWolfs, the Huntingtons, and other related lineages. This genealogical research is particularly interesting as all lines of the family were people who settled in America in the 1600s. The Pomeroys in particular were some of the original founders of the town of Dorset, Massachusetts.

 

Baile, Ron, Mr.
Howard F. Baile collection of Hog Island Shipyard memorabilia, 1918-1928 (Collection 3578) 1 box (0.3 linear ft.)
In 1917, American International Shipbuilding was contracted by the U.S. government to manufacture ships and build a shipyard at Hog Island, Philadelphia, in an effort to support American soldiers fighting overseas during World War I. President Woodrow Wilson’s wife, Edith, christened the yard’s first completed ship, the freight steamer Quistconck, in August 1918. The shipyard ceased operations in 1921. Howard F. Baile of Gloucester City, N.J., worked as an inspector at Hog Island Shipyard. His collection of related items includes photographs of the yard and ships, including those of the launch of the Quistconck; programs and invitations; a copy of General Specifications: Hog Island Shipyard, Plant, and Property, July 1920; and issues of Hog Island News from 1918 and 1921. Additionally, there are two navy surplus auction catalogues, 1924 and 1928; a liquidation catalogue for the facilities of Wm. Cramp and Sons, undated; a printed hearing before the U.S. Senate of the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation, 1919; various issues of Hog Island News, 1918-1921; two issues of Emergency Fleet News, July and August 1918; and a small group of receipts, invoices, purchase orders, and form letters. There is also a pin of the U.S.-E.F.C. 606 Shipping Board.

 

Emergency Aid of Pennsylvania Foundation
Emergency Aid of Pennsylvania Foundation records, 1914-1980 (Collection 3263) 62 boxes (70 linear ft.)
Emergency Aid of Pennsylvania was a volunteer organization of women which began in 1914, when World War I made foreign and local relief necessary and at which time there was no Red Cross Chapter in Philadelphia. Its purpose, according to the Charter of Incorporation is "to carry on both at home and abroad, emergency and relief work for the benefit of the military forces and the civilian populations of the United States and of their Allies." In World War I the Emergency was the first organization in Philadelphia to forward relief supplies to the military and civilian forces of the Allies and throughout the War sent millions of dollars in money and supplies for overseas relief, having its own distributing centers in each country. In 1917 branches were organized throughout Pennsylvania.

In World War II the Emergency Aid again forwarded relief supplies to the Allies and rendered services for the military personnel of the United States, such as distributing supplies, operating canteens and recreation rooms, and provided housing and information services for enlisted men and women. The organization assigned volunteers to draft boards, hospitals, and numerous other war relief agencies and sold over $68,060,678 worth of war bonds.  Throughout the war years and in peacetime, a concurrent local welfare program was carried on, including follow-up care for infantile paralysis victims, unemployment relief, supplemental meals for school children, emergency help and clothing for individuals and families, and help for the disabled, the sick, and the underprivileged. The collection includes monthly bulletins (1928-1960), newsletters/bulletins (1918-1978), bylaws (1943, 1956), World War I printed reports, membership and dues cards (1969-1970), personnel records, financial information (1970s), fundraising (1970s), special events (1970s), and charitable outreach projects (1970s). Also included are a scrapbook, published books, photographs, certificates, ribbons, phonograph records with radio interviews from World War II.

 

Harper, Clarence L.,
Clarence L. Harper papers on the drafting of Philadelphians by the Selective Service System during World War I, 1917-1918 (Collection 1203) 1 box (0.66 linear ft.)
Papers of Clarence L. Harper on the drafting of Philadelphians for World War I.

 

Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Historical Society of Pennsylvania war posters collection, 1914-1945 (Collection V95) (2.4 linear ft.)
The collection includes over 500 original World War I and World War II posters. The World War I series includes a number of Liberty Loan, American National Red Cross, and the U.S. Food Administration posters, while the World War II group includes American home front posters, many published by the Office of War Information. Other organizations represented in the collection include the War Production Board, the U.S. Shipping Board, Emergency Fleet Corporation, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Coast Guard Women's Reserve ("Spars"), the Y.W.C.A., the Women’s Land Army, as well as branches of the U.S. military. War bonds, rationing, enlistment, vigilance, and conservation of resources are all topics treated by these artworks. The collection includes posters by such famous artists as Albert Dorne, James Montgomery Flagg, E. McKnight Kauffer, David Stone Martin, Norman Rockwell, Ben Shan, and Frederick Siebel. The collection is arranged into three series: World War I, World War II, and Commemorative.

 

Leonard, Edith Lincoln
Edith Lincoln Leonard collection, 1916-1945 (Collection 2113) 1 box (0.25 linear ft.)
One letter, dated July 23, 1916, from L.P. Wood to J.B. Leonard comments on naval action at the close of World War I.   The remainder of the collection is correspondence addressed to Edith Lincoln Leonard, a school teacher during World War II, from Phil Huffman, Alan Grout, Dick Thomas, J.P. Danton, George Dawson Perry, and Warner Bunden.  The letters discuss life in the service from training camp through to the end of the men's service.  Some topics include:  censorship, active duty in the Army, Naval Air Combat Intelligence, west coast and Pacific assignments, the Zoot Suit Riots, Marine life, and Navy life.

 

Long, George V.Z.
George V. Z. Long papers, 1918-1919 (Collection 1528) 1 box (0.33 linear ft.)
Diary telling of the experiences of George V. Z. Long as Y.M.C.A. secretary with the 89th Division, American Expeditionary Forces in France, 1918, and letters praising his efforts.

 

Madeira, Edith, 1865-1951
Edith Madeira papers, 1900-1951 (Collection 2053) 2 boxes (0.4 linear ft.)
Edith Madeira (1865-1951) served as the chief nurse for the American Red Cross Commission to Palestine from June 1918 to January 1919.  The Commission was formed “to look after the sickness and starvation of the civilian population in the occupied area of Palestine.” The papers of Edith Madeira consist of typescript letters, 1917-1919; her “Report for Nursing Service” detailing the Commission’s work in Palestine; Madeira’s nursing diploma and license; memoirs detailing her voyage to Palestine, by way of South Africa and the Indian Ocean; memoirs featuring her service in Palestine and surrounding regions; and lastly, a scrapbook filled with photographs, memorabilia, and a few plant specimens.

 

National League for Woman's Service
National League for Woman's Service records, 1917-1920 (Collection 2136) 2 boxes (0.8 linear ft.)
The National League for Woman's Services was the result of a study done by Grace Parker in 1916 on the work of British women during World War I.  After completing her observations, she returned to the United States to organize the American version of what she saw.  The league was organized in Washington, D.C., 1917, "with the object of establishing through the country, state branches to maintain a Bureau of Registration and Information, under which Bureau organizations may enroll, to be called upon for service by the Government in case of need."  The league called for women to enlist their talents such as sewing, skilled labor, and arsenal work as appropriate to each committee.  Some of the committees include:  War Hospital Library committee, Comfort Kit committee (sending sweaters, socks and other homemade items), Musical Records and Games committee, Canteen committee, Membership committee, Belgian Relief committee, French War Relief committee, and British committee.

The collection includes minutes, 1917-1920, reporting on provisions sent to soldiers, American Red Cross medical volunteer service, instructions to civilians and soldiers, Liberty Loan and Victory Loan Campaigns, and other fund raising efforts; membership lists; Liberty Loan Campaign information; and printed materials on the roles played by the league and its activities and on League for Woman's Service outside the United States.

 

Noyes, Stephen H., 1881-1932
Stephen H. Noyes papers, circa 1916-1925 (Collection 1472) 2 boxes (0.8 linear ft.)
Captain Stephen H. Noyes served as an aviator in World War I. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Distinguished Service Cross. The collection includes letters, orders, maps, photographs, and instruction books.

 

Pepper, George Wharton, 1867-1961
George Wharton Pepper papers related to the Pennsylvania Council of National Defense, 1917-1918 (Collection 1551) 3 boxes 2 volumes (1.5 linear ft.)
The Council was established in March, 1917, as a civilian organization to provide safety for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and later became a cooperative agency of the Federal Council of National Defense. This group advised Governor Brumbaugh, promoted civilian affairs, and assisted businessmen in the war effort. George Wharton Pepper served as chairman. Minutes of the Advisory Committee; correspondence file of George Wharton Pepper; publicity information on Pepper's efforts; treasurer's reports, 1917-1918.

 

Pennsylvania Railroad. Women's Division for War Relief
Pennsylvania Railroad Women's Division for War Relief papers, 1916-1919 (Collection Am .2999) 2 volumes (0.29 linear ft.)
The Pennsylvania Railroad Women's Division for War Relief began as a chapter of the Pennsylvania Women's Division for Preparedness, and changed its name when the United States entered World War I in 1917. The Division included women employees and relatives of employees of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Men were also invited to rejoin the renamed organization. The Division had eight departments. This collection mainly contains records of Department 7, which was responsible for hospital equipments and comfort kits, and includes correspondence, reports, pamphlets, newspaper clippings, photographs, notes, financial records, and other items.

 

Philadelphia War Photograph Committee
Philadelphia War Photograph Committee collection, 1915-1919 (Collection V03) 4 boxes (4.25 linear ft.)
The collection includes photographs and halftones gathered by the Philadelphia War Photograph Committee to document World War I participation on the Philadelphia home front.  The images are arranged in three groups:  civilian activities, servicemen and service activities, and war industries.  Civilian activities include charitable and service organizations, military and political parades, dignitaries, and activities at local institutions.  Servicemen are shown at military training facilities.  Also included are images of military vehicles, the U. S. Naval Air Station in Cape May, NJ, and aerial views of New Jersey beaches.  Industrial views document employees working in plants, particularly women in the work force. Cramp's Shipyard and Hog Island are depicted.  Photographers include Bell and Fischer, Frederick Gutekunst, George E. Nitzsche, J. W. Replogle, G. C. Horn and Company, Henry C. Howland, J. E. Green, and Harry Gruber.

 

South Philadelphia Women's Liberty Loan Committee
South Philadelphia Women's Liberty Loan Committee records, 1917-1919 (Collection 0217) 4 boxes (1.4 linear ft.)
Corinne Keen Freeman (b. 1869) was the chairperson of the South Philadelphia Women’s Committee, a local branch of the National Woman’s Liberty Loan Committee that was organized in 1917 under the auspices of the national War Loan Organization.  During World War I, the War Loan Organization oversaw the sales and publicity of Liberty Loans, which enabled the United States government to finance various aspects of the war by borrowing money on interest from the American people.  The South Philadelphia Women’s Committee was composed of several smaller committees that targeted specific groups within the community for loan subscriptions.  The committee’s headquarters was located at 329 South Broad Street.  During the period of 1917 to 1919 there were four Liberty Loan drives and a final Victory Loan drive. The materials in this collection consist of Corinne Keen Freeman’s correspondence, the administrative papers of the South Philadelphia Women’s Liberty Loan Committee, printed materials, ephemera, and photographs from the fourth Liberty Loan drive in 1918 and the final Victory Loan drive in 1919.  The correspondence in the collection provides a descriptive account of the activities of the Women’s Committee, while ward and committee reports offer a quantitative record of their loan sales within the South Philadelphia community.  Ephemera and several photographs of Corinne Keen Freeman and the members of the South Philadelphia Women’s Liberty Loan Committee are also included in the collection.

 

Wallgren, Abian A. (Abian Anders), 1891?-1948
Abian A. Wallgren collection of cartoons scrapbooks, 1917-1947 (Collection 1782) 3 volumes (2 linear ft.)
Wallgren drew cartoons for The Stars and Stripes, the official newspaper of the American troops in France during World War I, for the American Legion magazine, and for several syndicated comic strips. The bulk of the collection is made up of scrapbooks of cartoons and comic strips.  There are also clippings about his activities, and letters to him from prominent persons including Walt Disney, Herbert Hoover, and John J. Pershing.

Beck, Joseph E.
Joseph E. Beck papers, 1902-1988 (Collection 3083) 3 boxes 1 volume (1.2 linear ft.)
Joseph E. Beck (1904-1981), a native of Racine, Wisconsin, was a social worker who helped Jewish refugees during World War II.  Having previously worked for various social agencies in Cleveland, Ohio, and Scranton, Pennsylvania, Beck became the executive director of the Jewish Family Society of Philadelphia in 1934.  He headed this organization until 1942 when he accepted the executive directorship of the National Refugee Service, in New York City.  He left this organization in 1950 and moved to California, where he continued social work and eventually retired. This small yet vivid collection includes correspondence, family records, photographs, clippings, and 16mm films.  The majority of the collection is comprised of Beck’s candid and personal writings on a variety of social, political, and cultural topics.  Many of these writings were used in Beck’s autobiography, a copy of which is also in this collection.

 

Biddle, Anthony Joseph Drexel, 1896-1961
Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle papers, 1912-1961 (Collection 3110) 93 boxes (31.6 linear ft.)
Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Jr. (1896-1961) was very active in Democratic politics, including serving as associate secretary of the Democratic National Convention in 1936.  His activity in the political arena led to several appointments as a diplomatic officer.  He served as minister to Norway, 1935-37, and ambassador to Poland, (1937-Sept. 9, 1939).  After the invasion of Poland by the Germans, Biddle accompanied the Polish government to France, where he served as interim ambassador to France and ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the United States to the governments of Poland, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, Greece, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and Luxembourg.  He resigned from diplomatic service in 1944, and then served in various positions such as adjutant general (with rank of major general) to Pennsylvania. The collection includes correspondence, speeches, newspaper clippings, photographs, scrapbooks, awards, commendations, and other miscellaneous material.  The papers document Biddle's diplomatic career, particularly his time as U.S. ambassador to Poland (1937-1939), and his army career as a junior officer during World War I, a colonel of the cavalry during and after World War II, and a brigadier general (later major general) with the U.S. Army in Europe during the early cold war.

 

Bradley, Frank Gordon
Frank Gordon Bradley World War II correspondence, 1942-1945 (Collection 3548) 1 box (0.6 linear ft.)
Frank Gordon Bradley was born in Branford, Connecticut and served with the United States Army during World War II.  He attended the University of Pennsylvania in the 1930s, where he majored in journalism.  In the 1950s he moved to Philadelphia, first to Germantown and then to Mount Airy.  This collection consists of approximately 300 letters written by Bradley to his family in Connecticut during World War II.  His letters originated from various army bases throughout the country including Fort George Gordon Meade, Maryland; Fort Sam Houston, Texas; Camp Davis, North Carolina; Fort Riley, Kansas, and Camp Crowder, Missouri.  In his letters, Bradley talked about family events, requested supplies, and discussed what he could about his daily life in the army.  There are also a few scattered letters to Bradley from his family.

 

Doyle, Jerry Aloysius, 1898-
Scrapbook of Jerry Doyle political cartoons and other clippings, 1941-1944 (Collection 3586) 1 box  (0.2 linear ft.)
Jerry Doyle was a cartoonist for the Philadelphia Record.  This scrapbook contains a presumably full run of his cartoons that were published in the Record from January to December 1941.  In them he covered everything from pre-war international and national matters such as Nazism, the war in Europe, and the “America First” campaign, to regional and local issues like labor strikes,  tax reform and water pollution.  His post-7 December 1941 cartoons take on a decidedly patriotic tone.  There are also a few loose clippings that date up to 1944 that are probably also from the Record, one of which is an article on Doyle and his work.

 

Hauck family
Hauck family papers, 1930-1999 (Collection 3401) 13 boxes (5.2 linear ft.)
Darthe Hauck (1918-2006), daughter of Elizabeth and Percy LaCriox Charlton of New Jersey, served several cultural institutions in Philadelphia during her lifetime, including the Museum Council of Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Society for the Preservation of Landmarks, the City Parks Association, and the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. She married Air Force Lieutenant Joseph Bernard Hauck in 1943; the couple had a son, Joseph B. Hauck Jr. about a year later. This collection consists of the papers, letters, and photographs of Darthe Hauck, Joseph B. Hauck, and their son Joseph B. Hauck Jr. of Philadelphia.  A significant portion of the collection is made up of Darthe's and Joseph's weekly (sometime daily) wartime correspondence from 1942 to 1945.  There are also several photographs from overseas at that time, including those of a USO stop-over.  Papers from their son, Joseph Jr. are less in quantity but no less rich.  He served as a psychological warfare officer during the Vietnam War and died in 1976 from the effects of Agent Orange.  The collection contains many letters written from him to family and friends, his Army application and medical records, and a sizeable collection of photographs taken during his time in Southeast Asia from about 1968 to 1969.

 

Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Historical Society of Pennsylvania collection of World War II papers, 1920-1981 (Collection 1479) 97 boxes 38 volumes (46 linear ft.)
In late 1942, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania solicited materials to form an artificial collection to document the war effort of a number of community and social service agencies in Philadelphia. The bulk of the material donated came from the Office of War Information, the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies, and the United Service Organization of Philadelphia. Smaller donations were made by other community organizations and volunteers such as Mrs. Weber, a member of St. Mark's church who corresponded with servicemen. The collection, which dates from 1938 to 1948, consists of press releases, administrative records, correspondence, financial records, photographs, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, posters, and ephemera.     

 

Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Historical Society of Pennsylvania war posters collection, 1914-1945 (Collection V95) (2.4 linear ft.) See description in "World War I" section above.

 

Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Historical Society of Pennsylvania World War II propaganda collection, 1939-1946 (Collection 3335) 2 boxes, 18 folders (0.6 linear ft.)
The collection mostly consists of World War II posters from a variety of governmental and nongovernmental agencies. These include recruiting posters from the U.S. Coast Guard, Coast Guard Women's Reserve ("Spars"), Marine Corps, Marine Corps Women's Reserve, Army, Navy, WAVES, Air Corps, and Seabees; war bond posters from the Victory Fund Committee and other agencies; U.S. Civil Service Commission recruitment posters targeting women and men; Office of War Information warnings against spreading rumors or giving information to the enemy; prints of Norman Rockwell paintings illustrating Franklin Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms"; and wartime posters from the Railroad Manpower Mobilization Committee, War Food Administration, Federal Housing Administration, Social Security Board, U.S. Employment Service, Internal Revenue Service, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Boy Scouts of America, Children's Bureau Commission on Children in Wartime, and private companies such as F. W. Woolworth. The collection also includes a few British war propaganda posters, posters warning against forest fires, a series of Esso ads featuring "Famous gremlins you should know," World War II-era Christmas cards, magazine ads for war bonds, booklets from the U.S. Army Ordnance Department, magazine pages explaining U.S. military insignia, Pennsylvania Civil Service Commission circulars, part of a 1943 calendar with illustrations by cartoonist Bill Eddy, and other materials.

 

Keebler, William, 1920-1963
William Keebler papers, 1939-1945 (Collection 2166) 1 box (0.4 linear ft.)
The papers consist of correspondence with his family, personal papers describing life in various stateside army posts, including a stint in 1945 in the Pacific theatre, and ten photographs.   

                                                                   

Kolankiewicz, Leon J.
Leon J. Kolankiewicz papers, 1888-1978 (Collection 3071) 6 boxes (2.9 linear ft.)
Leon J. Kolankiewicz (1892-1971) was a Pennsylvania state assemblyman, the first Polish-American councilman at large elected in Philadelphia, and a strong advocate for Polish wartime and peacetime relief.  A native Philadelphian, Kolankiewicz worked with various Polish-American associations to educate and inform citizens of efforts to help Poland and its people recover from recent wars.  As a councilman, he consistently worked with and among the Polish community to ensure their places in Philadelphia’s social, political, and economic schema.  He also worked with other civic leaders to ensure the observance of important Polish events and holidays within the city. Kolankiewicz’s papers are primarily related to his public personas as a city representative and as a Polish relief worker.  Included in this richly varied collection are incoming and outgoing correspondence from Kolankiewicz, Judge Robert and Anne von Moschzisker, and Ignace Jan and Helena Paderewski; assorted booklets and pamphlets on such subjects as Polish war relief, Poland-United States relations, and Polish tourism; and publicity photographs of Kolankiewicz.  A majority of the items in the collection are written or printed in Polish since Kolankiewicz often communicated with his Polish friends, colleagues, and constituents in their native tongue.

 

Leonard, Edith Lincoln
Edith Lincoln Leonard collection, 1916-1945 (Collection 2113) 1 box (0.25 linear ft.)
See the description in the "World War I" section above.

 

Lloyd, Eleanor Morris
Mrs. Stacy B. Lloyd papers on American Red Cross's Allied Prisoners of War Food Packing Service, 1940-1945 (Collection 3467) 2 boxes ( 0.7 linear ft.)
Mrs. Stacy B. (Eleanor Morris) Lloyd, who lived in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, served as the chairman of the Red Cross Prisoner of War Food Packaging Center in Philadelphia during World War II. This small yet remarkable collection of papers relates to her work in which she oversaw the local Red Cross facility that produced hundreds of care packages over several years that were sent to Allied prisoners of War in Europe and Japan.  The collection includes letters, dozens of photographs showing everything from the women workers to the contents of the care packages, and many clippings pertaining to the Red Cross and prisoners of war.  In addition, there are five photographs that are mounted behind glass. 

 

Lowrie and Derr Families  
Lowrie and Derr families papers, 1844-1969 (Collection D1259). 28 containers (25 linear feet).
This collection of family papers documents at least two generations, based largely in Wilkes Barre and Philadelphia. It includes a large amount of family correspondence and photographs; marriage records; diaries; financial records; art work and a manuscript by Elizabeth Derr Davisson; research notes, manuscripts, and published volumes on Philadelphia history by Sarah Dickson Lowrie; and songs, poems, and plays by Thompson Derr. Documentation from 1910-1960 is more robust. Of special interest are materials relating to tourism in the Southwestern United States and Native American art, life in London during World War II, and Philadelphia history. This collection includes an extensive album of tintypes.

American Friends Service Committee
American Friends Service Committee, Clothing Committee, Japanese American relocation center card files, 1943-1945 (Collection MSS065) 4 boxes (0.6 linear ft.)
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) was established in 1917 and is a service agency related to the Society of Friends.  The Clothing Committee of AFSC sent gifts of clothing, toys, and other articles to Japanese Americans living in relocation centers during World War II.  This collection contains AFSC administrative files for their program with new mothers, consisting of individual index cards for each case.  The cards usually contain the name of the woman, where she resided, the sex and date of birth of the baby, and the date that a gift was ordered or sent.  Some cards contain additional information.  The cards are arranged alphabetically by the mother's surname. In English.

 

Iwata, Shigezo and Sonoko
Shigezo and Sonoko Iwata papers, 1942-1987 (Collection MSS053) 2  boxes (0.6 linear ft.)
Shigezo Iwata was born in Japan and immigrated to the United States in 1924.  Sonoko U. Iwata was born in Los Angeles.  The couple made their home in Thermal, California where they farmed and Shigezo was secretary of the Thermal Farmers' Cooperative Association.  Separated in the initial part of World War II when Shigezo was arrested and detained by the FBI at the Lordsburg Internment Camp (New Mexico), the Iwatas were reunited in 1943 at the Colorado River Relocation Center near Poston, Arizona.  The collection contains letters between the Iwatas and their friends detailing life in the relocation center and the internment camp.  There are also personal documents and biographical materials.

Kobayashi, Sumiko
Kobayashi, Sumiko. Papers, 1941-1989 (Collection MSS073) 22 boxes (8.8 linear ft.)
Sumiko Kobayashi was born in Yamato, a Japanese agricultural community near Palm Beach, Florida, the daughter of Japanese immigrants.  Her family was relocated from San Leandro, California under Executive Order 9066 and interned in the Topaz Relocation Center in Utah.  Sumiko was allowed to leave the camp in order to attend college through the help of the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council, and graduated from Brothers College, Drew University in Madison, New Jersey in 1946.  She has been active in many Japanese-American and Asian-American organizations and served as Redress Chair for Pennsylvania of the Japanese American Citizens' League's National Committee on Redress.  The collection includes personal correspondence, documents, and photographs relating to the family's time in the Topaz Relocation Center, as well as drawings made by Kobayashi at Topaz and the Tanforan Assembly Center, but it consists primarily of records of the organizations in which she has been active.  In English and Japanese.

 

Kobayashi, Sumiko
Sumiko Kobayashi papers (additions), 1942-2003 (Collection MSS073A) 11 boxes (4.2 linear ft.)
This collection adds to the Sumiko Kobayashi Papers, MSS073. It includes much information about the movement in the Japanese-American community for redress following the World War II mass internment, as well as information on cultural and memorial sites dealing with Japanese-American history. There is also a fair amount of correspondence between Kobayashi and the various organizations to which she was affiliated from approximately 1985 to 2003, with the bulk of the correspondence occurring between 1988 and 2003. There are newsletters, pamphlets, and information that flowed between other organizations to which Kobayashi belonged in this same time period. This collection includes a number of newspaper clippings. Lastly, there are letters from grateful individuals who listened to Kobayashi tell her life story.

 

Kobayashi, Susumu
Susumu Kobayashi papers, circa 1930-circa 1947 (Collection MSS071) 3 boxes (1.3 linear ft.)
Susumu Kobayashi was born in Hirata, Shamane-ken, Japan, and came to the United States in 1914 to join Yamato, a Japanese agricultural community near Palm Beach, Florida.  He later worked as a florist and estate gardener in Chicago, and as a florist in San Leandro, California.  He and his family were evacuated under Executive Order 9066 to Tanforan Assembly Center, and later to the Topaz, Utah, Relocation Center.  When released from the camp, the family relocated first to Connecticut and then to the Philadelphia area, where Susumu operated a contract gardening business. The collection contains personal and business correspondence, business records including a ledger and daybook, and papers related to the family's relocation which include an alien registration book, an indefinite leave certificate, and a claim sheet for compensable items.  Also present are recordings of Japanese music. 

 

Yabuki, Dean
Dean Yabuki papers, 1931-1993 (Collection 3015) 1 box (0.4 linear ft.)
The Dean Yabuki Papers relate to a selection of photographs taken by Dorothea Lange and others at various Japanese-American internment camps during World War II. In 1992, to mark the 50th anniversary of the creation of the camps, Dean Yabuki created, "Captured Memories," an exhibition of Dorthea Lange's photographs, which chronicled the removal of Japanese Americans from California. This collection contains copies of prints by Lange and others used in the exhibit at the Asian Resource Gallery in Oakland, California. The photographs are accompanied by various printed items, pertaining not only to the exhibit, but also the experiences of those who felt the injustice first hand.

Hauck family
Hauck family papers, 1930-1999 (Collection 3401) 13 boxes (5.2 linear ft.)
Darthe Hauck (1918-2006), daughter of Elizabeth and Percy LaCriox Charlton of New Jersey, served several cultural institutions in Philadelphia during her lifetime, including the Museum Council of Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Society for the Preservation of Landmarks, the City Parks Association, and the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. She married Air Force Lieutenant Joseph Bernard Hauck in 1943; the couple had a son, Joseph B. Hauck Jr. about a year later. This collection consists of the papers, letters, and photographs of Darthe Hauck, Joseph B. Hauck, and their son Joseph B. Hauck Jr. of Philadelphia.  A significant portion of the collection is made up of Darthe's and Joseph's weekly (sometime daily) wartime correspondence from 1942 to 1945.  There are also several photographs from overseas at that time, including those of a USO stop-over.  Papers from their son, Joseph Jr. are less in quantity but no less rich.  He served as a psychological warfare officer during the Vietnam War and died in 1976 from the effects of Agent Orange.  The collection contains many letters written from him to family and friends, his Army application and medical records, and a sizeable collection of photographs taken during his time in Southeast Asia from about 1968 to 1969.

The Historical Society holds a significant number of collections that document women’s various contributions to, and experiences during, the 20th century. In particular, the collections relate to women's contributions to politics, arts and culture, and civil society.

Archambault, Anna Margaretta, 1856-1956
Anna Margaretta Archambault papers, 1876-1945 (Collection 0011) 8 boxes (3 linear ft.)
Personal correspondence of portrait painter, miniaturist, author, and educator, is included with sketches, photos, and correspondence on her work in miniatures.  Also included are correspondence and notes for Guide Book of Art, Architecture, and Historic Interest in Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, 1924), which she edited for the Art Committee of the State Federation of Pennsylvania Women, histories of the counties of Pennsylvania, and clippings and illustrations to accompany the histories.

 

Atiyeh, Wadeeha 1903-1973
Wadeeha Atiyeh papers , 1931-1972 (Collection MSS009) 1 boxes (0.4 linear ft.)
Wadeeha Atiyeh, a Lebanese singer, dancer, actress, writer, and storyteller, came to the United States as a young child. She was raised in Chicago by her grandparents, who maintained Middle Eastern traditions. Atiyeh studied voice under the direction of Ruth Julia Hall and made her professional debut in Chicago in 1932. Atiyeh performed traditional music, dance, and storytelling throughout the Midwest, eventually settling in New York City. In addition to a number of short stories, Atiyeh authored a Middle Eastern cookbook. The collection contains programs, reviews, publicity and public relations announcements, scripts and music from her productions, writings, correspondence, and published works.

 

Greenewalt, Mary Elizabeth Hallock, 1871-1950
Mary Elizabeth Hallock Greenewalt papers, 1769-1950 (Collection 0867) 39 boxes, 29 volumes, 23 flat files (18.2 linear ft.)
Mary Elizabeth Hallock Greenewalt (1871-1950) was a musician, inventor, lecturer, writer and political activist.  Born in Beirut to Sara (Tabet) Hallock, descendant of an aristocratic Syrian family, and Samuel Hallock, a U.S. consul, she was educated in Beirut and Philadelphia.  Hallock graduated from Philadelphia’s Musical Academy in 1893, and in 1897 studied piano in Vienna with Theodore Leschetizky.  In 1898 she married Dr. Frank L. Greenewalt, with whom she had one son, Crawford, born in 1902. A pianist noted for her interpretation of Chopin, Mary Greenewalt began in the early 1900s to investigate how gradated colored lighting might enhance the emotional expression of music.  By 1920 she had obtained the first of many patents covering a color organ designed to project a sequence of colored lighting arranged for specific musical programs.  In combining light and color as a single performance Greenewalt believed she had created a new, fine art which she named “Nourathar,” or essence of light. Although awarded eleven patents, Greenewalt spent a number of years pursuing patent infringements, finding recourse in the courts in 1932 with a judgment in her favor.  Greenewalt’s professional activities also included lecturing on music and serving as a delegate to the National Women’s Party, which was instrumental in winning women’s suffrage.  After retiring from the concert and lecture stage, Greenewalt published Nourathar: The Fine Art of Light-Color Playing in 1946.

This collection offers many examples of Greenewalt’s creative processes.  Correspondence details the development and manufacture of her color console and the legal battles surrounding her patents.  A photo album also documents Greenewalt’s creation of her light color console.  In addition, there is a draft autobiography, a family history, copies of patents, miscellaneous personal correspondence, blue prints and drawings, concert programs, news clippings, lecture and radio broadcasts manuscripts, scrapbooks, two small volumes in Arabic, and numerous brochures and pamphlets pertaining to electrical lamps and theatre lighting.  Artifacts include Greenewalt’s recording of Chopin made in 1920, a gold medal awarded in 1926, copper printing plates, and experimental, painted materials.

 

Lantern and Lens Gild of Women Photographers
Lantern and Lens Gild of Women Photographers records, 1904-2004 (Collection 3085) 15 boxes 15 volumes (9 linear ft.)
The Lantern and Lens Gild was established as the Drexel Camera Club in 1905 during Mathilde Weil’s photography class at the Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry (now Drexel University).  Led by Margaret Bodine, the ladies met on a weekly basis at 24 South 17th Street and later 24 South 18th Street for lectures, classes, and exhibitions.  They changed their name to The Photographers for a year before officially naming the group the Lantern and Lens Gild of Women Photographers in 1912.  The women traveled throughout the city and surrounding area to photograph people, animals, landscapes, buildings and many other subjects.  They hosted many visiting artists and subscribed to the leading photography publications of the time.  The Bryn Mawr Art Center and the Franklin Institute represent just two of the many places that exhibited their photographs.  The women also held photography competitions within the Gild and awarded four cups each year to honor the artistry of members.  The Lantern and Lens Gild moved into the New Century Guild Building at 1307 Locust Street in 1946 in order to expand their facilities.  They would remain here for almost twenty years, before discontinuing activities and club elections in 1965. The Lantern and Lens Gild of Women Photographers Records span from 1904 to 2004.  The collection is rich in images of the group’s outings; their works; meeting minutes; and twentieth century photography magazines.  The materials have been divided into three series – Gild papers, Printed materials and ephemera, and Images and artifacts.  The majority of the collection is photography publications and images with a lesser portion devoted to manuscript material.

 

Oakley, Violet, 1874-1961
Violet Oakley sketchbooks, 1908-1937 (Collection 3336). 7 Boxes (15.5 linear feet)
Sketchbooks containing drawings by Violet Oakley in charcoal, chalk, and ink. Subjects include League of Nations meetings, Florence, Lake Geneva, and other sites in Europe. Also includes paintings (gouache?) on board for Pageant of 1908. Also includes copies of "Divine Presence at the League of Nations," a 1937 pamphlet by Oakley discussing her painting of the same name.

 

Plastic Club
Plastic Club records, 1887-2007 (Collection 3106) 52 boxes 47 volumes (16 linear ft.)
The Plastic Club is the oldest club for women artists still in existence in the United States. It was founded in 1897 in Philadelphia and has included many illustrious members, such as Emily Sartain, Violet Oakley, Blanche Dillaye, Elizabeth Shippen Green, Cecila Beaux, and many others. It has sponsored exhibitions, lectures, and classes, and provided a place for women artists to meet and exchange ideas. The club has also played an active civic role over the years, for example conducting art classes for servicemen during World War II and donating art supplies to underprivileged children. Since 1909, the club has been housed at 247 South Camac Street in Center City. The building, which was designated a Historic Building in 1962, consists of two houses that were built in 1824 and joined to provide a large studio/gallery on the second floor. Since 1991, the club has admitted men, who now form close to half the membership. The historical records of the Plastic Club go back to its founding and richly document the club’s activities and members over most of the 20th century. The records include board minutes; annual reports; correspondence; exhibition programs, notices, and reviews; photos from events; directories of club members; files about early members’ artistic activities; scrapbooks of clippings; early sketchbooks and preparatory drawings for a set of stained glass windows; maintenance reports about the building; and a recent graduate thesis about the history of the club that focuses on the building. The Plastic Club’s website (www.plasticclub.org) contains a great deal of information on the club’s history, members, and current events.

 

Quong, Rose
Rose Quong papers, 1923-1973 (Collection MSS132) 7 boxes (3 linear ft.)
Rose Quong was born in Melbourne, Australia, the daughter of Chinese parents.  She worked as an actress in Australia, England, and France before coming to the United States in the 1930s, where she settled in New York City.  She continued her acting career in America and became a successful lecturer.  The collection includes diaries, script, scrapbooks, and audiotapes of Quong reading and of songs translated by Quong.

 

Theatre of the Living Arts (Organization: Philadelphia, Pa.)
Theatre of the Living Arts records, 1964-1971 (Collection 3378) 38 boxes  5 volumes (36 linear ft.)
The Theatre of the Living Arts (TLA) was the brainchild of two local women, Celia Silverman and Jean Goldman, determined to establish a regional theatre in the Philadelphia area.  Their goal was to develop a multipurpose performing arts center to include film, dance, and music.  At the time of its purchase in 1964 the building that would house the TLA was a derelict movie theater at 332-36 South Street.  Together with Anthony Checchia and Howard Berkowitz, the women formed a nonprofit corporation which operated the TLA, the Philadelphia Council for the Performing Arts (PCPA). The first performance season began January 1965 with a three-week run of "Galileo."   Some of the earliest members of the resident acting company included Judd Hirsh, Sally Kirkland, Morgan Freeman, Estelle Parsons and Ron Liebman.  This collection includes administrative records, 1965-1970, mailing list information, play bills/ programs, publicity, scripts, royalty records and invoices.

 

The Weeders (Philadelphia, Pa.)
The Weeders records, 1912-2004 (Collection 3555) 22 boxes (9.7 linear ft.)
This collection contains the organizational records of the Weeders, a ladies' gardening club. The records include admission committee records, 1934-2004; committee minutes and treasurer's reports, 1914-2004; flower show records, 1932-1989; horticultural essays presented by members; programs, photographs, albums, and scrapbooks; documentation on the club's history; and VHS tapes of the cable television program "You and Your Environment." The archives consist of five types of records:  minutes of the board, 1921-1976; correspondence of the officers and director, 1916-1964; financial records, 1922-1972; consignment records, 1933-1964; and scrap books and published catalogues, 1926-1950.

American Association of University Women. Pennsylvania Division
Women's University Club, Philadelphia Branch of the American Association of University Women records, 1923-1995 (Collection 2138) 46 boxes 57 volumes (24 linear ft.)
The American Association of University Women incorporated in 1899 "for the purpose of uniting alumnae of different institutions for practical educational work, for the collection and publication of statistical and other information concerning education, and in general for the maintenance of high standards of education."  Membership is open to women holding approved degrees from institutions accepted by the association.  The Philadelphia Branch, also known as the College Club of Philadelphia, was recognized by the association in 1886. Minutes and correspondence of various committees within the A.A.U.W. including:  the executive board, membership, admissions, art, bicentennial, civic house, legislative, reorganization/relocation, fellowship, social and economic issues, status of women, steering and tea committees.  Statements, tax related materials, personnel records, time sheets, journals, ledgers, cashbooks, and bank account books give information on the financial aspects of the organization.  The remaining part of the archives is devoted to conferences, publicity, and printed materials and include: press releases, publicity calendars, clippings, the Bulletin, and general director's letters.

 

Campbell, Jane, d. 1928
Jane Campbell scrapbook collection, 1890-1921 (Collection V71) 104 boxes (24.5 linear ft.)
Jane Campbell contributed many articles on the history of Philadelphia places to the Philadelphia Record, a number of them about sites on Chestnut and Market Streets.  This collection consists of the more than 100 scrapbooks she compiled for her research.  The collection includes images related to Philadelphia, particularly Center City streets.  Neighborhoods represented are Frankford, Germantown, Manayunk and Roxborough, as well as views of the Delaware River and along Delaware Avenue.  Many of the Center City sites documented are no longer extant.  Other subjects include cemeteries, fire departments, businesses, historic houses, residences and churches.  Other organizations, arranged under the topic of philanthropy, are also included, such as the Home for Aged Couples, The Burd Orphan Asylum and the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb.  Events depicted include city parades and celebrations as well as war-related organizations and activities, such as the Red Cross, Liberty Loans, aid to Armenians and peace promotions prior to US intervention.  Individuals also make up a small portion of the collection, including "Renowned Ladies" such as Agnes Repplier and Mrs. Rudolph Blankenburg.  The collection consists of photographs taken by Campbell as well as black and white prints, postcards and captioned newspaper photos.  There are also a number of newspaper articles, clippings from reports and brochures and some correspondence.  Campbell's articles for the Record are also included.

 

Dallas, Constance H. 1902-
Constance H. Dallas papers, 1951-1956 (Collection 1984)35 boxes 6 volumes ( 19 linear ft.)
Constance H. Dallas was the first woman to be elected to the Philadelphia City Council where she represented the 8th district (21st and 22nd Wards) composed of Germantown, West Oak Lane and Chestnut Hill. The papers include incoming and outgoing correspondence, reports, and other printed matter, published materials, clippings, and miscellanea and consist of six series: general files, having to do with council activities as well as papers on the Menniger Foundation, the Pennsylvania Federation of Democratic Women, and the World Affairs Council; committees of Council, largest of the series, consisting of material prepared for or used by the councilmanic committees, especially the committees of Public Welfare and of Public Health on which Dallas serves, together with papers on the Public Health Code of 1955 drafted by the Public Health Committee; administration, relating to various government departments including: City Planning, Police, Public Welfare, and Streets; political papers, files generated during Dallas's first successful campaign for City Council and its aftermath, 1951-1952, the election files for 1953, and for the Pennsylvania gubernatorial election of 1954; constituency affairs, includes material relating to the 8th district.; reports of various city departments.

 

Katzenstein, Caroline
Caroline Katzenstein papers, circa 1850-1965 (Collection Am .8996) 3 boxes (0.9 linear ft.)
Caroline Katzenstein (1888-1968) was a leader in the Pennsylvania suffrage movement.  She served in official positions for the Equal Franchise Society of Philadelphia, the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and the National Woman’s Party.  After women won the vote in 1920, Katzenstein continued to fight for women’s rights and lobbied tirelessly for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment for over twenty years. In 1919, Katzenstein used her expertise in publicity to aid the Women Teachers Organization of Philadelphia in their efforts to increase salary for women teachers. Additionally, Katzenstein was a successful insurance agent for the Equitable Life Insurance Society of New York, the Massachusetts Bonding and Insurance Company (Philadelphia Branch), and the Philadelphia Life Insurance Company.The Caroline Katzenstein papers document Katzenstein’s participation in the suffrage movement from 1909  to 1921, her efforts to help women obtain equal pay for equal work in the 1920s, her tireless promotion of the Equal Rights Amendment from 1923 to 1965, and her career as an insurance agent (1909-circa 1930).

 

League of Women Voters of Philadelphia
League of Women Voters of Philadelphia records, 1920-1984 (Collection 1940) 89 boxes (39.8 linear ft.)
The League of Women Voters (LWV) was established in 1919 to help educate women on the civic responsibilities of voting. In addition to its primary focus of educating the public during elections, the LWV quickly extended its program, taking positions on several national issues, especially the legal status of women; foreign policy, like the institution of the United Nations and the Marshall Plan; as well as the on-going debate over the taxation of margarine. Locally, chapters were involved in public issues such as child care, city management, housing, public education and public health. The Philadelphia chapter communicated with the national and state League organizations, politicians, civic leaders, and organizations. The League of Women Voters of Philadelphia records include administrative documents and organizational papers for the Philadelphia branch of the League of Women Voters. The collection, which dates from 1920 to 1984, consists of materials from the national, state, and local branches of LWV. In particular, there are financial records, membership lists, publications, program materials, meeting minutes, correspondence and memoranda, newspaper clipping scrapbooks, and audiovisual materials. These records document the organization's administration as well as its outreach activities, and document the development of an important women's rights organization with a strong commitment to educating women on political issues and the importance of voting.

 

Lewis, Dora Kelly, b. 1862
Dora Kelly Lewis correspondence, 1884-1921 (Collection 2137) 2 boxes (0.75 linear ft.)
Dora Kelly Lewis served actively in the women's suffrage movement.  She became an executive member of the National Women's Party in 1913.  She served as the chairman of finance in 1918 and as the national treasurer in 1919.  In 1920, she headed the ratification committee. The correspondence of Dora Kelly Lewis consists of encouraging and endearing letters from her husband, Lawrence Lewis, 1884-1903, reporting on his legal practice and commenting on Dora's suffragist activities.  The letters, 1914-1921, are, for the most part, from Dora to her children, some, from prison, reassuring her family that her actions were not illegal, and to her mother.  There are a few typed, diary pages.  These letters document her efforts in gaining franchise for women.

 

National Organization for Women. Philadelphia Chapter
National Organization for Women. Philadelphia Chapter records, 1968-1977 (Collection 2054) 8 boxes (3 linear ft.)
The National Organization for Women was founded in 1966 in Washington D. C. to help achieve equality for women in all areas of life.  In January of 1968, two women active in the national organization founded the Philadelphia Chapter.  These records of the Philadelphia Chapter of the National Organization for Women include newsletters of NOW chapters, circulars, publications from the National, Pennsylvania and Chapter offices.  Annual files concern subjects such as child care, employment, abortion legislation, and media.

 

Randall, Natalie Saxe (1923-1999)
Natalie Saxe Randall papers, 1923-1998 (Collection 3466) 45 boxes (19 linear ft.)
The collection includes the typed incoming and outgoing correspondence (originals and retained copies, respectively) and other papers, 1923-1998, documenting the life and executive political work of Natalie Saxe Randall, life-long Philadelphian, Democratic party organizer, director of Joseph Clark and Richardson Dilworth's reform Committee for Philadelphia 1947-1956, executive assistant to Richardson Dilworth during his terms as reform mayor of Philadelphia 1956-1962 and as president of the Philadelphia Board of Education 1965-1970, and thereafter as a brilliant Harrisburg lobbyist for Lincoln College and a consortium of Philadelphia cultural institutions.

 

Rector, Justine J.
Justine J. Rector papers, 1870-2000 (Collection 3088) 14 boxes (5.5 linear ft.)
Justine J. Rector (b. 1927) has been an active and prolific journalist and teacher in Philadelphia and in Washington, D. C. since the late 1960s. She has involved herself in promoting civil rights, fostering high standards in journalism, and in documenting and improving race relations, particularly in Philadelphia. In addition to her academic career, which included jobs at Temple University, Howard University, and Columbia University, Rector has also worked as a freelance reporter throughout the Philadelphia and Washington D.C. areas. She founded the African American Male Resource Center, an organization designed to educate the public on the “plight of the Black male in America.”

The collection spans her career as a journalist for newspapers in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland. The vast majority of the collection is made up of subject files collected by Rector in the course of her research on Black history, her professional activities as a Black journalist, and her participation in a variety of civic organizations and conferences. There is also a large group of newspaper clippings covering the period of the civil rights era in Philadelphia, through the 1980s debate of Ebonics in public schools. Of note is a large amount of material dating back to the origins of Black journalism in Pennsylvania in the 1870s, which includes a historical listing of Black journalists in Pennsylvania.

 

Women's Way of Philadelphia
Women's Way of Philadelphia records, 1975-1996 (Collection 3434) 43 boxes (42 linear ft.)
Women's Way of Philadelphia was founded in 1977 by combining seven women's advocacy agencies. As taken from the organization’s website, Women’s Way is a “non-profit organization that raises money and public awareness to fight for and achieve women’s equality, safety, self-sufficiency and reproductive freedom through women-centered funding, advocacy and education.” It serves the region of southeastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. The collection dates from 1974 to 1996, though the bulk of the material is from 1977 to 1988. The records include articles of incorporation, board and annual meeting materials, annual reports, financial records, administrative files, and records of fundraising efforts (campaigns, dinners, concerts, and other events) and grant-giving (applicants, grantees).

Civic Club of Philadelphia
Civic Club of Philadelphia records, 1893- 1957 (Collection 1813) 1 box 61 volumes (8 linear ft.)
The Civic Club of Philadelphia, organized in 1894, consisted of prominent Philadelphia women who sought to promote "by education and active cooperation a higher public spirit and better public order."  Initially the club was organized into four departments, Municipal Government, Education, Social Service, and Art, each of which operated somewhat autonomously and created its own committees or task forces.  The Education Department had committees on public schools, free libraries, and free kindergartens and the Municipal Government Department included committees on sanitation, civil service reform, and police patrons.  Despite its interest in social and political reform, the club refused on several occasions to take part as "disfranchised citizens" in meetings of the Anti-Spoils League and the National Civil Service Reform Convention.  By the 1920's, after the passage on the suffrage amendment, the club structure changed, the Departments were abandoned, and the committees reduced in number and given new, more limited charges.  In 1959, the membership voted the Club out of existence and transferred its assets to other civic organizations.

Included in the records are: director's minutes, 1899-1959; minutes of the general meetings, 1893-1948, 1959, primarily recording addresses to the membership; and minutes of the Art Department, 1894-1903, reflecting interest in free art exhibitions at Philadelphia museums, summer and community concerts, as well as parks and playgrounds.  There are also published annual reports, 1894-1935, including the constitution, by-laws, lists of officers and members, and financial summaries.  Published bulletins and calendars, 1907-1959, give summaries, often monthly, of club activities.  Also included are pamphlets and publications, 1894-1948; clippings, 1894-1903; a fiftieth anniversary volume, including lists of officers, 1944; and a volume containing four memorial addresses for distinguished members: Alice Lippincott, Anna Hallowell, Mary Channing Wister (Mrs. Owen Wister), and Sarah Yorke Stevenson (Mrs. Cornelius Stevenson).

 

Emergency Aid of Pennsylvania Foundation
Emergency Aid of Pennsylvania Foundation records, 1914-1980 (Collection 3263) 62 boxes  (70 linear ft.)
Emergency Aid of Pennsylvania was a volunteer organization of women which began in 1914, when World War I made foreign and local relief necessary and at which time there was no Red Cross Chapter in Philadelphia. Its purpose, according to the Charter of Incorporation is "to carry on both at home and abroad, emergency and relief work for the benefit of the military forces and the civilian populations of the United States and of their Allies." In World War I the Emergency was the first organization in Philadelphia to forward relief supplies to the military and civilian forces of the Allies and throughout the War sent millions of dollars in money and supplies for overseas relief, having its own distributing centers in each country. In 1917 branches were organized throughout Pennsylvania.

In World War II the Emergency Aid again forwarded relief supplies to the Allies and rendered services for the military personnel of the United States, such as distributing supplies, operating canteens and recreation rooms, and provided housing and information services for enlisted men and women. The organization assigned volunteers to draft boards, hospitals, and numerous other war relief agencies and sold over $68,060,678 worth of war bonds.  Throughout the war years and in peacetime, a concurrent local welfare program was carried on, including follow-up care for infantile paralysis victims, unemployment relief, supplemental meals for school children, emergency help and clothing for individuals and families, and help for the disabled, the sick, and the underprivileged. The collection includes monthly bulletins (1928-1960), newsletters/bulletins (1918-1978), bylaws (1943, 1956), World War I printed reports, membership and dues cards (1969-1970), personnel records, financial information (1970s), fundraising (1970s), special events (1970s), and charitable outreach projects (1970s). Also included are a scrapbook, published books, photographs, certificates, ribbons, phonograph records with radio interviews from World War II.

 

Indigent Widows' and Single Women's Society/Ralston House
Indigent Widows' and Single Women's Society/Ralston House records, 1817-1985 (Collection 3099) 63 boxes (25.5 linear ft.)
Founded in 1817 by Sarah Ralston, the Indigent Widows' and Single Women's Society represented the first charitable organization in Philadelphia exclusively devoted to the needs of the elderly.  Ralston recognized that many women faced destitution in their old age and, as a result, often spent the final years of their lives in the almshouse.  The goal of the Asylum was to provide a decent home life for those born of the middle class and higher, but who fell into less economically advantaged positions at the close of their lives.  While the home was non-sectarian, the Managers were interested in attracting a resident of high personal character, the traits of whom, in their view, typically belonged to members of the Protestant Christian sects.  Over the years the admissions policies grew increasingly democratic.  With the merger with the Tilden Home for Aged Couples, men and couples were granted entrance to the home.  With changing times also came a change in the corporate name.  In 1964, the Indigent Widows' and Single Women's Society dropped the word indigent from its name to convey a more contemporary value system and to offer a greater sense of dignity to those in the home.  In 1973, to better reflect the home's mixed gender constituency, and to simultaneously honor its founder Sarah Ralston, the institution changed its name to the Ralston House.  Finally, in 1985 the mission of the Ralston House changed from a residential care community to a community health facility.  Addressing the vital needs of the elderly remains its mission today.

The collection includes:  Board of Managers minutes, 1817-1982; Incorporation, Constitution, By-Laws and Annual Reports, 1871-1971; Board correspondence; Physical Building files; Admissions files, 1817-1954; Visiting Committee records, 1826, 1836-1978; and Financial records. Unprocessed additions include 1 linear foot of admissions records, circa 1940-circa 1960; 16 financial volumes, 1817-1965; and a bound volume of resident agreements, 1937-1951. Some materials are restricted.

 

Langman, Ida K. (Ida Kaplan), 1904-1991
Ida K. Langman scrapbook, 1919-1956 (Collection Am .0877) 1 volume (0.3 linear ft.)
Ida Kaplan was a student at the South Philadelphia High School for Girls. Book of mementos, including autographs and photographs of classmates and teachers, invitations, newspaper clippings, etc., as well as photographs and mementos of a trip to Washington.

 

Lloyd, Eleanor Morris
Mrs. Stacy B. Lloyd papers on American Red Cross's Allied Prisoners of War Food Packing Service, 1940-1945 (Collection 3467) 2 boxes ( 0.7 linear ft.)
Mrs. Stacy B. (Eleanor Morris) Lloyd, who lived in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, served as the chairman of the Red Cross Prisoner of War Food Packaging Center in Philadelphia during World War II. This small yet remarkable collection of papers relates to her work in which she oversaw the local Red Cross facility that produced hundreds of care packages over several years that were sent to Allied prisoners of War in Europe and Japan.  The collection includes letters, dozens of photographs showing everything from the women workers to the contents of the care packages, and many clippings pertaining to the Red Cross and prisoners of war.  In addition, there are five photographs that are mounted behind glass.

 

National League for Woman's Service
National League for Woman's Service records, 1917-1920 (Collection 2136) 2 boxes (0.8 linear ft.)The National League for Woman's Services was the result of a study done by Grace Parker in 1916 on the work of British women during World War I.  After completing her observations, she returned to the United States to organize the American version of what she saw.  The league was organized in Washington, D.C., 1917, "with the object of establishing through the country, state branches to maintain a Bureau of Registration and Information, under which Bureau organizations may enroll, to be called upon for service by the Government in case of need."  The league called for women to enlist their talents such as sewing, skilled labor, and arsenal work as appropriate to each committee.  Some of the committees include:  War Hospital Library committee, Comfort Kit committee (sending sweaters, socks and other homemade items), Musical Records and Games committee, Canteen committee, Membership committee, Belgian Relief committee, French War Relief committee, British committee.

The collection includes minutes, 1917-1920, reporting on provisions sent to soldiers, American Red Cross medical volunteer service, instructions to civilians and soldiers, Liberty Loan and Victory Loan Campaigns, and other fund raising efforts; membership lists; Liberty Loan Campaign information; and printed materials on the roles played by the league and its activities and on League for Woman's Service outside the United States.

 

New Century Trust
New Century Trust records, circa 1854-2004 (Collection 3097) 103 boxes, 73 volumes, 3 flat files (49.7 linear ft.)
The New Century Trust was founded in 1893 as the incorporated body of the New Century Working Woman’s Guild. Eliza Sproat Turner (1826-1903), a progressive women’s activist, helped create both organizations. Over several decades, the trust oversaw and provided financial support for the guild’s activities for women in the workforce, such as evening classes and lectures. For many women, the guild provided a haven away from the stresses of work, a place where they could obtain low-cost meals, sleeping accommodations, and even emergency financial assistance. In 1887, the guild began publishing a newspaper written by and for members, the Journal of Women’s Work, which offered event calendars, advice columns, short stories, and poems. It also eventually formed its own library, gymnasium, and a variety of internal committees on which the members could serve. In 1895, the guild shortened its name to The New Century Guild and became a member of the Federation of Women’s Clubs of Pennsylvania.

The records of the New Century Trust include their own and mostly those of the New Century Guild and its predecessor, New Century Working Women’s Guild. Spanning from the mid 1800s to the early 2000s are board and committee meeting minutes, administrative files, membership materials including members’ information cards,financial records, photographs, artifacts, clippings, and ephemera.

 

Pennsylvania Railroad Women's Division for War Relief
Pennsylvania Railroad Women's Division for War Relief papers, 1916-1919 (Collection Am .2999) 2 volumes (0.29 linear ft.)
The Pennsylvania Railroad Women's Division for War Relief began as a chapter of the Pennsylvania Women's Division for Preparedness, and changed its name when the United States entered World War I in 1917. The division included women employees and relatives of employees of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Men were also invited to rejoin the renamed organization. The division had eight departments. This collection mainly contains records of Department 7, which was responsible for hospital equipments and comfort kits, and includes correspondence, reports, pamphlets, newspaper clippings, photographs, notes, financial records, and other items.

 

Philadelphia Federation of Women's Clubs and Allied Organizations, Inc.
Philadelphia Federation of Women's Clubs and Allied Organizations, Inc. (PFWC) records, 1943-1998 (Collection 3050) 6 boxes (2.2 linear ft.)
The Philadelphia Federation of Women’s Clubs and Allied Organizations, Inc., was organized in 1922 and was affiliated with the Pennsylvania Federation of Women’s Clubs, which had been in existence since 1895.  Its objectives, as stated in its Charter and By-Laws, were “to unite Women’s Clubs and other organized groups of women existing in Philadelphia and adjacent territory for purposes of mutual benefit and to promote their common interests in civic, educational and moral measures which make for individual and community welfare.” The clubs constituting the federation had varying objectives, but all aimed to serve some segment of the community. The federation made it possible for them to join together for shared agendas and for a stronger voice beyond their individual memberships. The presidents of the clubs formed the backbone of the federation’s operation under the guidance of its board and elected officers. The records of the organization are concentrated in banking and other financial activities associated with managing its affairs.  There is also substantial material on a public forum presented by the federation in the midst of World War II to consider planning for postwar U.S. world positioning.

 

Philadelphia Friendship Fete
Philadelphia Friendship Fete records, 1929-1982 (Collection 3074) 2 boxes 5 volumes (1.7 linear ft.)
The Philadelphia Friendship Fete, a joint effort of various Philadelphia area women’s organizations, began in 1929.  Over seventy clubs attended the first Fete.  The purpose of the group was to promote friendship among Philadelphia area women’s clubs, to recognize and honor area women, nationally and internationally. This collection contains Advisory Council minutes, scrapbooks and the Golden Chain of Friendship.  Minute books begin in 1931 and end in 1982.  Scrapbooks contain programs, publicity and photographs relating to the forty-four Friendship Fete luncheons which were held over the period from 1929 to 1982.

 

South Philadelphia Women's Liberty Loan Committee
South Philadelphia Women's Liberty Loan Committee records, 1917-1919 (Collection 0217) 4 boxes (1.4 linear ft.)
Corinne Keen Freeman (b. 1869) was the chairperson of the South Philadelphia Women’s Committee, a local branch of the National Woman’s Liberty Loan Committee that was organized in 1917 under the auspices of the national War Loan Organization.  During World War I, the War Loan Organization oversaw the sales and publicity of Liberty Loans, which enabled the United States government to finance various aspects of the war by borrowing money on interest from the American people.  The South Philadelphia Women’s Committee was composed of several smaller committees that targeted specific groups within the community for loan subscriptions.  The committee’s headquarters was located at 329 South Broad Street.  During the period of 1917 to 1919 there were four Liberty Loan drives and a final Victory Loan drive. The materials in this collection consist of Corinne Keen Freeman’s correspondence, the administrative papers of the South Philadelphia Women’s Liberty Loan Committee, printed materials, ephemera, and photographs from the fourth Liberty Loan drive in 1918 and the final Victory Loan drive in 1919.  The correspondence in the collection provides a descriptive account of the activities of the Women’s Committee, while ward and committee reports offer a quantitative record of their loan sales within the South Philadelphia community.  Ephemera and several photographs of Corinne Keen Freeman and the members of the South Philadelphia Women’s Liberty Loan Committee are also included in the collection.

 

Women's Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Women's Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals records, 1870-1970
(Collection 3156) 14 boxes (30 linear ft.)
Records of the Women's SPCA, which was formed in 1869 as an auxiliary to the men's organization and was incorporated in 1870. Originally the WSPCA's purpose was to provide for the inspection of and care of horses.  Materials include photographs, correspondence, annual reports, minutes, their publication (The Guardian), newspaper clippings, business records, and other printed matter.