Repository: Chester County Historical Society / Record Source: Other PACSCL Partners / Form: Photographs - Philadelphia Area Archives Search Results

Start Over Repository Chester County Historical Society Record Source Other PACSCL Partners Form Photographs

Extent:: 10.0 boxes
Abstract:: “In 1966, several black civil rights workers decided to form a small organization whose purpose was to end racial discrimination in Chester County.” So began the United Political Action Committee of Chester County (UPAC). The founders included Charles A. Melton, Charles H. Butler, Norman W. Bond, Robert L. Wright, Willie Stokes, James Ward, Alston B. Meade, W.T.M. Johnson, Ernest Spriggs and Charles V. Hamilton. The records, 1958-1996, include biographical material on committee members and others associated with UPAC as well as correspondence, minutes, hand written notes, legal documents, newspaper clippings, news releases, memos, scrapbooks, programs and photographs of activities. Also in the collection are papers of Dr. W.T.M. Johnson. These include indexed compilations of his published letters as well as papers related to his time as a member of the faculty at Lincoln University.

Held at: Chester County Historical Society [Contact Us]

Extent:: 4.0 linear feet
Abstract:: The Joseph B. Smith and Sons Funeral Home in West Chester, Pennsylvania was established in 1870, when Joseph B. Smith purchased the existing Hoffman Undertaking and Furniture Business. Smith’s firm, which was in business until 1994, was owned and operated by four successive generations of Smith men: Joseph B. Smith; his son, William B. Smith; his grandson, Ashton B.T. Smith; and his great-grandson, Ashton B.T. Smith, Jr. It ranked as one of the oldest funeral home businesses in Chester County. The Joseph B. Smith and Son Funeral Directors records houses the records produced by that funeral home from 1876 to 1946. In addition, there is a small cache of Smith family papers dating from 1883 to 1975. The bulk of the collection is made up of funeral home records. Included in the funeral home records are account books, funeral registries, bills, funeral home ephemera, and undertaker and coroner licenses. The Smith family papers section of the collection has very little to do with the...(see more)

Held at: Chester County Historical Society [Contact Us]

Extent:: 8.0 boxes
Abstract:: The families in the Taylor, Harris, Roman, Frazer, and Smith family papers, 1633 to 1980 (bulk 1685 to 1851) are all related by the marriage of Marianne Smith to Dr. Stephen Harris on April 14, 1833. Both sides of the lineage represented in this collection immigrated to Pennsylvania because of religious persecution in England and Ireland. As Presbyterians and Quakers, they no longer wished to live under a series of laws which forced non-Anglicans out of public office, schools and the church as well as prohibiting meetings for non-Anglican worship. These newcomers contributed to the establishment of the government and religious expression in early Chester County. The documents, covering topics such as land surveying, Native Americans, the Revolutionary War, astronomy, publishing, the iron industry, and religious persecution, provide a broad picture of early Chester County and its residents as they interacted with each other at home and in Philadelphia through business, religious, and...(see more)

Held at: Chester County Historical Society [Contact Us]

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