Philadelphia Area Archives

Start Over Form Diaries Year 1790

Newcastle Memorandum-book or, a methodical pocket-journal, for the year MDCCLXXV Calculated to answer the immediate purposes of Gentlemen and Tradesmen in all Parts of Great Britain and Ireland, respecting their Daily Transactions and other Occasional Business, 1775-1847 (inclusive)

Extent:: 1 volume
Abstract:: A leather bound datebook used as a diary, account book, and note book, belonging to Ralph Hodgson from Darlington, England. Contains brief records for 1775, 1776, and 1777 and a few entries, in a later hand, dated 1845, 1846, 1847.

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

Weiss family of Weissport, Pennsylvania papers, 1777-1916 (inclusive)

Extent:: 0.75 linear feet
Abstract:: The Weiss family was prominent in the coal business in eastern Pennsylvania during the late 1700s and 1800s. The Weiss family collection dates from 1777 to 1916 and documents, most fully, Jacob Weiss (1750-1839), Francis White (1773-1845), and Francis White (1819-1888). The papers include diaries, geological and surveying notebooks, maps and observations; personalia and biographical notes; transcribed documents, portraits, scrapbooks, business journals, daybooks, mercantile records and account books as well as correspondence of many members of the family.

Held at: Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia [Contact Us]

Spencer Family papers, 1729-1905 (inclusive) 1812-1905 (bulk)

Extent:: 0.5 linear ft. (1 document box)
Abstract:: The 19th century correspondence and commonplace books of members of the Quaker Spencer family.

Held at: Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections [Contact Us]

Comly-White Family Papers, 1771-1961 (inclusive)

Extent:: 3 linear ft. (6 boxes)
Abstract:: John Comly, a Quaker minister and school master, was born in 1773. He married Rebecca Budd, a fellow teacher at the Westtown School, in 1803. They operated the Pleasant Hill Boarding School on their Byberry farm from 1804-1815. The collection includes family correspondence, the journal of John Comly's brother, Isaac, other manuscript writings, financial and legal papers, and miscellaneous papers. Also includes the ledger and memorabilia of Pleasant Hill Boarding School and papers of Helen Comly White relating to her student years at Swarthmore College from 1870-75.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

Emily Howland Family Papers, 1763-1929 (inclusive)

Extent:: 7 linear ft. (17 boxes (plus photographs))
Abstract:: Emily Howland (1827-1929) was a Quaker humanitarian and educator who is particularly known for her work with formerly-enslaved African Americans in Virginia during and after the American Civil War. A birthright Friend, Emily Howland was the only daughter of Slocum and Hannah (Tallcot) Howland of Sherwood, N.Y. She was educated locally and for a brief period in Philadelphia, and then moved to Washington, D.C. in 1857 to teach at the Miner School for Freedmen. During the war she worked at a contraband camp in Virginia, establishing a school and coordinating relief activities. She returned to Sherwood after her father's death in 1881 and contributed time and money toward the maintenance of the Sherwood School. She continued her interest in the education of African-Americans in the south, and was also involved in woman suffrage and temperance. Emily Howland never married, and died in Sherwood at the age of 102. The collection contains correspondence, journals, other manuscripts,...(see more)

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

Walker-Conard-Cowgill Family Papers, 1699-1912 [bulk 1792-1912] (inclusive)

Extent:: 1.5 linear ft. (3 boxes)
Abstract:: The Walkers, Conard, and Cowgills were Quaker families of Frederick County, Virginia, and Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The collections contains papers of the Walker and allied Coates, Cowgill, and Conard families, including general correspondence (1792-1912), Civil War correspondence and diaries (1893-1900) of Union soldier Edward B. Conard (ca. 1844-1917), diaries (1896-1898) of Jacob Walker, ledger (1847-1887) of David Walker (1818-1889), journals, financial and legal papers, genealogical material, and memorabilia. Correspondents include Eliza Coates Cowgill (ca. 1790-ca. 1871) and Eliza C. Conard Walker, both of Montgomery County.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

Ann Paschall Jackson Family Papers, 1709-1936 (inclusive) 1810-1874 (bulk)

Extent:: 4 linear ft. (9 boxes)
Abstract:: The collection contains diaries, ledgers, and albums of Ann Price Gibson Paschall Jackson (1792-1874) and her family. Related to many Pennsylvania Quaker families including Price, Sharples/Sharpless, Paschall, and Townsend, Ann P. Paschall (later Ann P. Jackson) was recorded as a minister of Darby Monthly Meeting (Hicksite) in 1831. Series 1 is composed of her diaries, 1814 to 1874. The detailed entries concern religious and practical matters. Series 2 contains diaries, ledgers, and albums of related family members including the journals of her first husband, Thomas J. Paschall. Of special interest is the small number of miscellaneous manuscripts in Series 3, particularly a 1709 bill of sale for an enslaved woman to Thomas Paschall, Jr.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

Joshua Evans Papers, ca. 1788- ca. 1804 (inclusive)

Extent:: 1 linear ft. (2 boxes)
Abstract:: Joshua Evans, a Quaker minister and abolitionist, was born in 1731 in West Jersey. About the year 1754, he experienced a religious conversion and thereafter devoted his life to sharing his rigorous interpretation of the gospel through an ascetic and pious life style and simple ministry. Barely educated, he was nevertheless acknowledged as a minister by Haddonfield Monthly Meeting in 1759. Evans was a vegetarian and a fervent proponent of the peace testimony, Quaker plainness, and ending slavery. In 1798, he traveled through the southern states condemning slavery in the strongest terms. Returning to New Jersey, he died in July 1798. Evans is representative of the radical, "primitive" Quaker tradition and reflects the diversity of late eighteenth century Quakerism. This collection contains portions of the journals kept while traveling in the ministry among Friends in New York, New England, Canada, the South, and elsewhere, mostly in the period 1788-1798. The transcripts of the journal...(see more)

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

Sarah Cresson diary, 1789-1829 (inclusive)

Extent:: 0.06 linear ft. (1 volume)
Abstract:: Cresson was a Quaker minister who was born in Philadelphia and later moved to Haddonfield, New Jersey. The majority of her diary entries detail visits from traveling Quaker ministers, funerals of community members, and descriptions of Quaker meetings, including testimonies given. Many entries are composed solely of prayers to God, or exclamations of Sarah's religious conviction and her devotion to her God and the Quaker faith, while later entries tend to detail more earthly concerns, particularly Sarah's struggles with depression.

Held at: Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections [Contact Us]

Elizabeth Drinker diaries, 1758-1800 (inclusive)

Extent:: 0.34 linear ft. (24 volumes)
Abstract:: Elizabeth was a colonial era Quaker and prolific journal writer. Elizabeth's diaries are composed of her personal reflections of the day-to-day life of a wealthy Quaker woman in colonial Philadelphia. The majority of Elizabeth's entries detail her daily life, including social calls with other Quaker families and individuals, the births, deaths, and marriages within her community, and attendance at, and descriptions of, weekly and monthly Quaker meetings. Elizabeth's description of events during the American Revolutionary War include general military events, as well as personal experiences during the war.

Held at: Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections [Contact Us]