Subject: Quaker businesspeople / Language: English - Philadelphia Area Archives Search Results

Extent:: 5.5 linear ft. (11 boxes plus photographs)
Abstract:: The Fisher-Brinton collection contains the papers of an Irish-American and Pennsylvania family with roots in the earliest years of the Society of Friends. It includes correspondence, diaries, memoirs, photographs, scrapbooks, and other materials that reflect family and Quaker concerns, and, in particular, the Conservative branch of the Society of Friends. Abraham Fisher (1823-1909) was a member of a prominent Quaker family of Youghal County, Ireland. In 1871, he assumed a position as book-keeper for the Alexandra Colony, an English settlement on the San Javier River in rural Argentina. Unaware of the increasing violence in the region, his wife and children joined him in early 1872. In 1874 the family moved to Dymond City, North Carolina, and eventually, to Southeastern Pennsylvania. The family had a deep appreciation for their family history and Irish roots, continuing through the twentieth century; Abraham's great-granddaughter, Margaret E. Brinton, attended a small Irish...(see more)

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

Extent:: 1 volumes (large leather-bound volume.)
Abstract:: Letter book of Philadelphia Quaker merchant Caleb Peirce (1763-1853). 270 complete business letters, 43 partial with alternating pages removed. Peirce operated a hardware store that offered all types of metalwork as well as related household and some fine goods. He corresponded with shippers, suppliers, fellow merchants, and customers, and the letters document the challenges of domestic and international commerce.

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

Extent:: 1 volumes
Abstract:: Letter book of Thomas Chalkley (1675-1741), Quaker minister and businessman. Primarily business correspondence, most copied by his assistant, it also includes some personal references and provides insight into early 18th century maritime trade, particularly the Quaker relationships involved in trade with the West Indies.

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

Extent:: .75 linear ft. (2 boxes)
Abstract:: This collection contains over 240 mainly incoming manuscript letters addressed to Thomas Evans, a Philadelphia druggist, author, editor, Orthodox Quaker minister of Philadelphia and, in 1833, one the founders of Haverford College. The letters, 1823-1859, contain material on his very active role in the Society of Friends and the problems of religious doctrine before and during the Hicksite and Wilburite schisms within the Quaker faith. The collection also includes papers and legal documents from Evans' role as trustee for multiple Quaker estates.

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

Extent:: 25.2 linear ft. (60 boxes, 8 volumes)
Abstract:: The William Evans Rhoads family papers collection contains letters, financial material, deeds, photographs, genealogical charts and more, related to William Evans Rhoads, his children, and his ancestors extending back to the early 1800s. William Evans Rhoads was a Quaker businessman living in Moorestown, New Jersey at the turn of the 20th century.

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

Extent:: 1 linear ft. (4 volumes)
Abstract:: This collection consists of four volumes of business letter books authored by Thomas P. Cope (1768-1843) and his uncle and business partner Thomas Mendenhall (1759-1843). Thomas P. Cope trained under his uncle who was in the mercantile shipping business at the turn of the nineteenth century. Thomas P. Cope took over his uncle's business in 1821 and the succeeding three volumes of business letters are all authored by him. Cope established Philadelphia's first packet line, a small fleet of first-rate ships that offered regular freight and passenger service between Philadelphia and Liverpool. Cope was very involved in local politics; in 1837 he was a member of the Convention to amend the Constitution of Pennsylvania, he was the President of the Board of Trade and of the Mercantile Library, as well as a member of the first board of Haverford College. Cope also helped create Fairmount Park by securing Lemon Hill. At the time of his death Thomas P. Cope was one of the wealthiest and most...(see more)

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

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