Repository: Historical Society of Pennsylvania / Online Content: Not Available / Form: Correspondence. / Year: <span class="from" data-blrl-begin="1850">1850</span> to <span class="to" data-blrl-end="1899">1899</span> - Philadelphia Area Archives Search Results

John Wanamaker collection, 1827-1987 (inclusive)

Extent:: 193.2 linear feet (; 316 volumes, 438 boxes)
Abstract:: John Wanamaker (1838-1922) was a well-known merchant, entrepreneur, and lifelong resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was active in the city's religious, political, and philanthropic areas, founded several Presbyterian churches and Sunday schools, and served as postmaster general under President Benjamin Harrison from 1889 to 1893. He opened his first Philadelphia clothing store, Oak Hall, with partner Nathan Brown in 1861, and founded John Wanamaker and Co. in 1869. In 1876, he opened "A New Kind of Store" known as the Grand Depot at Thirteenth and Market Streets. This store later became the flagship store, with satellite stores eventually established in central and southeastern Pennsylvania, as well as New Jersey, Delaware, and New York City. Wanamaker was at the forefront in many areas of retailing including merchandising, employee relations and advertising. His sons Thomas B. Wanamaker and L. Rodman Wanamaker were also active in the business. Thomas ran John Wanamaker and...(see more)

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

William Curtis Bok and Nellie Lee Holt Bok papers, 1905-1984 (bulk) 1836-1991 (inclusive)

Extent:: 26.0 linear feet (; 70 boxes, 36 volumes)
Abstract:: This collection documents the personal and professional lives of William Curtis Bok (1897-1962) and Nellie Lee Holt Bok (1901-1984). Curtis Bok (he rarely went by "William") worked as a lawyer in Philadelphia and was elected to the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas and later to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. During his tenure on the Supreme Court he oversaw the famous obscenity case Commonwealth v. Gordon, which has yet to be overturned. He married twice, first to Margaret Adams Plummer in 1924, and then to Nellie Lee Holt in 1934. Nellie Lee was born in Nebraska and worked as an educator at Stephen's College, Columbia, Missouri. Between 1926 and 1927 she traveled around the world on behalf of the college interviewing various educational and religious leaders, including Mohandas Gandhi. She maintained a tradition of civic engagement throughout her life. The collection also documents to lives of their children (Curtis had three children with his first wife...(see more)

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

Richardson Dilworth papers, 1940-1972 (bulk) 1881-2002, undated (inclusive)

Extent:: 87.7 linear feet (; 258 boxes, 19 volumes, 7 flat files)
Abstract:: The papers of Richardson Dilworth include correspondence, office files, accounts, reports, political campaign materials, brochures, pamphlets, scrapbooks, and photographs that primarily pertain to the immediate years before and after he became mayor of Philadelphia (1956-1962). The collection also contains papers related to Dilworth’s role on the Philadelphia Board of Education, his failed run for Pennsylvania governor, and from his law firm Dilworth Paxson LLP.

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

Belfield papers, 1697-1977 (inclusive)

Extent:: 106.0 linear feet (235 boxes and 99 volumes)
Abstract:: The Belfield papers include materials from families who lived in the Belfield mansion in Germantown, Pennsylvania from 1826 until 1984; however, the papers span the years 1679 to 1977. 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 also houses papers from related individuals in the Emlen, Fisher, Hall, Lindley, Logan, Meigs, Wister, and other families. This collection includes correspondence, financial records, ephemera, photographs, scrapbooks, pamphlets, periodicals, and other items. Topics that are particularly well documented in the Belfield papers include: Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania; Colonial Dames of America; the Sesquicentennial Exposition; stamp collecting; world travel during the Great Depression;...(see more)

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

John Rutter Brooke papers, 1861-1902 (bulk) 1767-1918, undated (inclusive)

Extent:: 13.9 linear feet (; 27 boxes, 37 volumes, 6 flat files)
Abstract:: The papers of John Rutter Brooke include correspondence, accounts, regimental reports, military orders, and pamphlets that primarily pertain to his career in the United States Army, 1861-1902. Brooke’s military papers document the activities of the 53rd Pennsylvania volunteer regiment during the Civil War; the 3rd Infantry division and 7th Cavalry during the Indian Wars; the 1st Corps of the Army during the Spanish-American War; and Brooke’s service as military governor of Puerto Rico and Cuba, as well as his service in the Departments of the Missouri, the Platte, the Gulf, and the East. The collection is particularly rich in its documentation of the United States Army’s “Sioux Campaign” during 1890-1891, containing extensive correspondence during the height of the Ghost Dance on the Standing Rock and Pine Ridge reservations, and the ensuing military build-up, which escalated into the massacre at Wounded Knee on December 29, 1890.

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

James Buchanan papers, 1815-1868 (bulk) 1783-1895, undated (inclusive)

Extent:: 35.0 linear feet (74 boxes, 25 volumes)
Abstract:: The James Buchanan papers span the entirety of Buchanan's legal, political and diplomatic career, including his service as Pennsylvania assemblyman, U.S. representative, minister to Russia, U.S. senator, secretary of state, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Great Britain, and president of the United States. The collection consists primarily of correspondence, but also includes speeches, notes, business papers, legal papers, manuscript drafts, pamphlets, books, newspaper clippings, and scrapbooks. The most significant groups of materials in this collection are related to Buchanan's time as secretary of state, 1845-1849; minister to Great Britain, 1854-1856; and the growing differences between the North and South before the Civil War, 1857-1861.

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

Salmon P. Chase Papers, 1850-1872 (bulk) (1824-1884, undated) (inclusive)

Extent:: 12.0 linear feet (; 43 boxes; 16 volumes; 10 flat files)
Abstract:: Salmon P. Chase (1808-1873) was a career politician and an influential Union decision-maker during the Civil War. He served as governor of Ohio, U.S. senator, secretary of the Treasury, and Supreme Court chief justice. The Salmon P. Chase Papers, which span the years 1824-1884, provide tremendous insight into the professional life of Chase and provide information on the National Bank and specie debates, as well as the abolition movement from the early 1820s through the Civil War. This collection contains correspondence, speech notes, newspaper clippings, biographical material, court opinions, financial papers, and a myriad of miscellaneous items. In addition to containing Chase's papers, this collection also contains the papers of J. W. Schuckers, Chase's personal secretary and biographer. Schuckers’s papers give further insight into the economic situation immediately following the Civil War and include correspondence, newspapers, investments records, and other financial papers.

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

George G. Meade collection, 1845-1872 (bulk) 1811-1897, undated (inclusive)

Extent:: 9.0 linear feet (11 boxes, 36 volumes, 29 flat files)
Abstract:: George G. Meade's career in the military began during his student years at West Point, where he studied topographical engineering. He served in the Mexican-American War and went on to become a celebrated Union general in the Civil War, where his son George served under his command. This collection covers all aspects of Meade's career, including his student work, his work as a cartographer while working for the U.S. coastal survey and during the Civil War, and his service as commander of the Army of the Potomac. In addition to his military papers, there are a significant group of letters to Meade's wife Margaretta and their children, which document his family relationships and his feelings about his military service during the Mexican-American and Civil wars. Also included in this collection are letters compiled by Meade's son George while he was writing a biography of his father, titled The Life and Letters of General Meade. The manuscripts for this work make up...(see more)

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

Citizens' Permanent Relief Committee records, 1885-1923, undated (inclusive)

Extent:: 16.5 linear feet (34 boxes, 61 volumes, 10 flat files)
Abstract:: The Citizens' Permanent Relief Committee was a local philanthropic group which aided the sufferers in many disasters between 1878 and 1900, notably the Johnstown Flood, the Russian famine, the Armenian massacres, and other disasters that took place during the final decade of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. During the Spanish-American War the Committee under the name National Relief Commission, helped soldiers, sailors, and their families. The collection consits of 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.

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

Waln family papers, 1759-1888 (inclusive)

Extent:: 5.6 linear feet (; 14 boxes)
Abstract:: The Walns were a family of prominent Quaker merchants in Philadelphia. In 1774, Richard Waln, moved the family to Crosswicks, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, where he purchased "Walnford" and established a flour mill. The Waln family papers document primarily the family's business activities. Richard Waln (1737-1808) who was engaged in the milling business in Walnford, New Jersey, also was involved with financial concerns in Philadelphia. His nephew Robert (1765-1836) was the director of the Philadelphia Insurance Company from 1804 to 1813. Robert a successful merchant, joined into a partnership with his cousin Jesse, and traded with England and the West Indies, and later with East India and China. The collection consists largely of correspondence and financial records.

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

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