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Henry Ernest Muhlenberg papers, 1781-1816 (inclusive)

Extent:

0.4 linear feet (; 1 box [15 folders])

Abstract:

This collection contains scientific letters written to Henry Ernest Muhlenberg (1753-1815). Muhlenberg, a Lutheran pastor and biologist, is considered the first botanist born in America who researched the flora and fauna of his homeland systematically. His work contributed considerably to the advancement of natural science around 1800. Some new descriptions and assignations of North American plants based on the system of Carl von Linné (also known as Carl Linnaeus, 1707-1778) go back to Muhlenberg. He discovered a type of grass of the subfamily of Chloridoideae common in Mexico and the south west of the United States, which after his discovery was named “the Muhlenbergia.” Various types of plants bear the type-epitheton “Muhlenbergii” to honor Henry Ernest Muhlenberg. He also discovered and identified the bog turtle, which got the epitheton “glyptemys muhlenbergii.” The German botanist Carl Ludwig Willdenow (1765-1812) honored Muhlenberg by naming a genus of grasses “Muhlenbergia.”...(see more)

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

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Abraham H. Cassel collection, 1680-1893 (inclusive)

Extent:

4.75 linear feet (48 volumes)

Abstract:

This collection contains printed material from the library of Abraham Harley Cassel, a book collector and historian who acquired over 50,000 books, pamphlets, and documents about early Pennsylvania history. Cassel was a member of the Dunkard Brethren who wrote about and collected books on early Pennsylvania German religious history. His library attracted scholars and historians of Pennsylvania and German American history, and at his death was divided among archives, libraries, and private collectors. The portion of Cassel’s collection that is housed at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania contains forty-seven items which range in date from 1680 to 1893. Items are arranged in alphabetical order, with volumes relating to the Ephrata religious community and the Schwenkfelder Church grouped together. This collection includes hymn books, religious tracts and catechism, diaries, letters, genealogical records, and examples of Pennsylvania German folk art and fraktur.

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

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United Singers of Philadelphia records, 1887-1932 (inclusive)

Extent:

0.4 linear feet (;1 box; 1 oversized photograph)

Abstract:

The United Singers of Philadelphia was an umbrella organization that represented approximately forty area singing groups, the majority of which were comprised of German immigrants. This collection dates from 1887-1932, although the bulk of the material is from 1905-1916. It includes a scrapbook compiled by the United Singers of Philadelphia, a German songbook, and a panoramic group photograph. The scrapbook contains detailed press coverage of German-American singers, musicians, and choirs, and political events in Philadelphia in the years before and during World War I. Contents include concert programs and reviews as well as clippings describing related (and often overlapping) political meetings and rallies.

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

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Volksverein of Philadelphia records, 1886-1949 (inclusive)

Extent:

2.1 linear feet (; 1 box, 12 volumes)

Abstract:

Now defunct, the Volksverein of Philadelphia was a local unit of the Catholic Central Union of America, which is a national Catholic social action and social welfare organization. The collection contains minutes of the meetings of the Volksverein, and job, financial, and subscription records of the organization's official organs, Philadelphia Volksblatt and Nord Amerika. The collection includes eleven ledgers recording cash transactions, subscriptions, and advertising. Also included is one book of minutes.

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

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Francis Daniel Pastorius records, 1689-1910 (inclusive)

Extent:

1.6 linear feet (; 2 volumes)

Abstract:

This collection contains the Grund und Lager Buch begun by Francis Daniel Pastorius to document the founding of the Germantown area of Philadelphia and its settlement. This volume includes "Rules and regulations for settlers" (1689-1697) and a copy of the charter for Germantown granted to Pastorius. This collection also contains an English translation of the German and Latin entries in the Grund und Lager Buch made by Marion Dexter Learned for the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in 1910.

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

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Bären-Bund des Philadelphia Turnbezirks minute book, 1891-1915 (inclusive)

Extent:

0.06 linear feet (1 volume)

Abstract:

Handwritten minute book of the Bären-Bund des Philadelphia Turnbezirks, from the founding, 23 March 1891, to 19 April 1915. The Bären-Bund was an alliance of senior gymnast squads, or Bären-Riege, of gymnastics clubs (Turnvereine) in the Philadelphia Turner district. The minutes include financial records and a copy of the constitution that was adopted upon the founding.

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

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German Society of Pennsylvania Agentur records, 1854-1938 (bulk) 1847-1947 (inclusive)

Extent:

10.0 linear feet (52 boxes)

Abstract:

72 volumes of handwritten ledgers, indexes, logs, reports, and letter books, recording the efforts of the Agentur to help needy German immigrants and Philadelphia residents of German origin over a period of a hundred years. Valuable biographical information for local history, social history, labor history, immigration research, genealogy.

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

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German Society of Pennsylvania Foreign Relief Committee records, 1919-1925, 1929

Extent:

0.5 linear feet (2 boxes + 1 oversize folder)

Abstract:

This collection contains the records of the German Society of Pennsylvania's Foreign Relief Committee, which from late 1919 through 1922 contributed humanitarian aid to the populations of Germany and Austria in the wake of the First World War. Most of the aid was distributed through the American Friends Service Committee. The collection contains correspondence, appeals, reports, financial records, and ephemera. The correspondence includes letters from 78 charitable organizations in Hamburg, Germany, that applied for distributions of donated sacks of flour in 1919; and nine letters written from various parts of Germany in 1922 during the period of inflation. The Foreign Relief Committee was comprised of an all-male committee of the Society and a committee of the Society's Women's Auxiliary, whose greatest contributions were in the form of knitted and sewn items produced by the members at weekly gatherings. Also included is a 1929 letter from the Deutsche Liga der freien...(see more)

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

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Max Heinrici manuscript and photographs, circa 1936-1939

Extent:

0.83 linear feet (2 boxes)

Abstract:

The collection contains an unpublished manuscript by Max Heinrici, and several photographs of him in his later years. The manuscript (approximately 460 leaves) tells the history of the German Society of Pennsylvania from 1915 to 1935, and was intended as a continuation of an earlier history of the Society that Heinrici had published in 1917, co-authored by Oswald Seidensticker. It includes biographical sketches of prominent Society leaders, and lists of its officers and board of directors for the period. The text gives perspectives on the experiences of German Americans in the era of the First World War, and contains material on charitable relief work carried on by German Americans in Philadelphia to benefit Germany and Austria-Hungary during and after the war.

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

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Henry Voelcker, Catherine Rabe, and Frederick Martin Rabe family papers, 1871, 1879

Extent:

0.2 linear feet

Abstract:

The collection consists of 12 letters written by Henry Voelcker, of Philadelphia, to his wife, Catherine Voelcker (later: Catherine Rabe), over several months during a trip to Germany, in 1879, along with a small notebook containing a draft of another letter. Henry and Catherine were both German immigrants, and the destination of Henry's trip was Durkheim, Germany, his hometown; he was very ill at the time and died shortly after his return to Philadelphia. The collection also includes a diary (partly resembling an autograph album) belonging to Frederick Martin Rabe, whom Catherine later married. Rabe, also a German immigrant and resident of Philadelphia, wrote the diary in 1871 when he was living in Lawrence, New South Wales, Australia.

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