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American Friends Service Committee ephemera collection, 1919-1923 (inclusive)

Extent:

0.1 linear feet (8 folders)

Abstract:

Collection of ephemera related to the relief work carried on by the American Friends Service Committee in Central Europe following the First World War, from 1919 to 1923. It includes AFSC fliers and bulletins, with some items printed in German; ephemera related to a mass meeting and concert for Quaker relief in Vienna held at the Academy of Music in 1922; and clippings about AFSC activities or conditions in Central Europe, mostly from Philadelphia newspapers.

Held at: German Society of Pennsylvania: Joseph P. Horner Memorial Library [Contact Us]

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German Associated Nationality Group of the American Red Cross War Fund Campaign. Records, 1943-1945 (inclusive)

Extent:

0.1 linear feet (5 folders)

Abstract:

This collection contains the records of the German Associated Nationality Group, a committee of the Southeastern Pennsylvania chapter of the American Red Cross that led a fundraising effort within the German-American community in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during World War II, from 1943 to 1945, as part of the Red Cross War Fund campaign. Included are minutes of meetings (12 March to 12 May 1943); invitation letters to meetings (July 1943 to April 1944); two appeal letters (1944, 1945), including related Red Cross campaign ephemera; committee membership lists; lists of donors and donations; and two clippings from German-language newspapers.

Held at: German Society of Pennsylvania: Joseph P. Horner Memorial Library [Contact Us]

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United Singers of Philadelphia records, 1880-1926 (bulk) 1880-2006 (inclusive)

Extent:

8.0 linear feet (27 boxes + 8 oversize folders)

Abstract:

The collection comprises the records of the umbrella organization United Singers of Philadelphia (Vereinigte Sänger von Philadelphia) from its founding, in 1881, until 1926, with some scattered ephemera dating as late as 2006; included are the records of several regional singing festivals held in Philadelphia (in 1882, 1897, 1912, and 1926) under the auspices of the Nordöstlicher Sängerbund, an alliance of singing societies in the Mid-Atlantic region. The collection includes minute books, financial records, correspondence, membership lists, scrapbooks, three newspaper issues related to Saengerfests (1897, 1912), and ephemera, including souvenir programs, admission tickets, fliers, and singers' badges. Also included are manuscripts in the hand of William A. Haussmann, of essays written for a souvenir program of 1912, and the rehearsal attendance list of the Ladies' Chorus, dated 1925.

Held at: German Society of Pennsylvania: Joseph P. Horner Memorial Library [Contact Us]

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David J. Mahoney papers, 1923-2000 (inclusive) 1975-1998 (bulk)

Extent:

73 boxes

Abstract:

Personal papers of business executive and philanthropist David J. Mahoney. The bulk of the materials comprise correspondence from 1951 to 2000, including letters from Richard Nixon, Norton Simon, William Safire, and Vernon Jordan; writings from 1965 to 1999, including two books written by Mahoney: Confessions of a Street Smart Manager (1988) with Richard Conarroe and The Longevity Strategy: How to Live to 100 Using the Brain-Body Connection (1998) with Richard Restak, M.D.; and events covering the years 1968 to 1998, such as the Horatio Alger Award, which Mahoney won in 1977, and the Bilderburg Conference in both 1981 and 1982. Also available are newspaper clippings and publicity materials focusing on Mahoney as a society figure and businessman, media such as VHS tapes and DVD's, books, photographs, and award plaques and medals.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]

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Austro-American Relief Society records, 1916-1942 (inclusive)

Extent:

0.83 linear feet (5 boxes + 1 oversize folder)

Abstract:

Records of the Austro-American Relief Society of Philadelphia, Pa., mainly documenting its charitable work from 1916 to 1941, including fundraising in behalf of war relief for Austro-Hungarian and German civilians and prisoners of war during and after World War I. The collection includes financial records, membership and donor lists, inventories, correspondence, ephemera, and clippings.

Held at: German Society of Pennsylvania: Joseph P. Horner Memorial Library [Contact Us]

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German Society of Pennsylvania institutional records, 1764-1968 (bulk) 1764-1998 (inclusive)

Extent:

27.4 linear feet

Abstract:

The German Society of Pennsylvania, founded in Philadelphia in 1764, directed its early efforts to assisting new German immigrants, especially those forced into indentured servitude when they were unable to pay their sea fare. Throughout the late 18th and 19th centuries, the Society was very visible in the thriving German-American community in Philadelphia, boasting just over one thousand members at the peak of its growth, in the late 1870s. In the 20th century, the Society’s scope and prominence was affected by the two World Wars, which created suspicion and criticism of Germanic culture. That suspicion and government scrutiny played a role in the dwindling membership of the Society. In the post-World War II era the Society channeled its overseas relief activities through a Quaker-based aid society. In the second half of the century, the neighborhood was also changing, as it became predominantly African-American, rather than German, and more impoverished. But the Society pressed...(see more)

Held at: German Society of Pennsylvania: Joseph P. Horner Memorial Library [Contact Us]

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Frederick W. Haussmann scrapbook, circa 1921-1925

Extent:

0.3 linear feet (1 volume/box + 6 folders)

Abstract:

Scrapbook kept by Frederick W. Haussmann, from approximately 1921 to 1925, related to his recreational and volunteer activities in Philadelphia, especially concerning the United Singers of Philadelphia (Vereinigte Sänger von Philadelphia), an umbrella organization of German-American choral societies, and the related regional group, Nordöstlicher Sängerbund, as well as the charitable organization Hilfsfond, which raised funds for humanitarian aid to Germany following the First World War. The volume also includes a section devoted to obituary clippings on German Americans in Haussmann's milieu.

Held at: German Society of Pennsylvania: Joseph P. Horner Memorial Library [Contact Us]

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Relief for German Children of the Lost Provinces of Germany and Austria records, circa 1924-1929

Extent:

0.13 linear feet (8 folders)

Abstract:

Records of a Philadelphia Committee that supported Relief for German Children of the Lost Provinces of Germany and Austria (Hilfswerk fuer die deutschen Kinder in den vom Deutschen Reich und Oesterreich abgetrennten Provinzen), a project of the Berlin-based German organization Verein für das Deutschtum im Ausland (VDA; Society for the Germans in Foreign Countries). The Philadelphia Committee, which was chaired by Pastor Fritz O. Evers from December 1925 through 1928, worked in cooperation with Robert Treut of the VDA, organizing Philadelphia showings of films provided by Treut that concerned Germany and German culture. The collection comprises financial records, correspondence, clippings, and ephemera related to four film evenings held from 1926 to 1929, the first three at the Metropolitan Opera House, and the last at the hall of the Philadelphia Turngemeinde.

Held at: German Society of Pennsylvania: Joseph P. Horner Memorial Library [Contact Us]

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Hilfsfond records, 1914-1925 (inclusive)

Extent:

1.7 linear feet (10 boxes + 1 oversize folder)

Abstract:

The Hilfsfond, or Relief Fund, of Philadelphia, was a German-American charity for civilian war relief that was founded on 5 August 1914, just after the start of the First World War, and remained in existence until 1925. The Hilfsfond initially aimed to assist widows and orphans of German and Austrian-Hungarian soldiers killed in the war. After the entrance of the United States into the war, it focused on aid to prisoners of war interned in the United States and Canada; and in the postwar period it provided humanitarian relief in Germany, with special attention to the plight of children. During World War I, the Hilfsfond had close ties to the National German-American Alliance. Some of its leaders were also active members of the German Society of Pennsylvania. In the 1920s the Hilfsfond worked in cooperation with the American Friends Service Committee. The records include minute books, from the founding until April 1925; treasurer's records, 1914 to 1916; and ephemera such as appeal...(see more)

Held at: German Society of Pennsylvania: Joseph P. Horner Memorial Library [Contact Us]