Philadelphia Area Archives

Start Over Online Content Not Available Subject Quakers -- Diaries Year 1827

Updegraff Family papers, 1810-1929 (inclusive) 1810-1896 (bulk)

Extent:: 1.0 linear ft. (2 boxes)
Abstract:: Letters; diaries; genealogical material; land grants signed by Presidents John Tyler, Martin Van Buren, and Franklin Pierce; and other papers of the Updegraff family, mainly those of David B. Updegraff, which provide a picture of Quakerism in 19th-century Ohio.

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

Jacob R. Elfreth Sr. diaries, 1814-1870 (inclusive)

Extent:: 2.5 linear ft. (46 volumes)
Abstract:: Jacob R. Elfreth Sr. was a teacher and a bookkeeper for the Leigh Navigation Company. The majority of entries detail family news, Quaker meetings, Elfreth's work with the Leigh Navigation Company, and births, deaths, and marriages within the Quaker community,

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

Joshua Sharpless diaries, 1798, 1965 (inclusive)

Extent:: 0.16 linear ft. (2 volumes)
Abstract:: Entries describe Sharpless's travel to, and time spent in, Cornplanter's village during 1798.

Held at: Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections [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]

Fisher-Warner Family Papers, 1684-1924 (inclusive)

Extent:: 7 linear ft. (17 boxes)
Abstract:: Miers Fisher (1748-1819), a birthright Quaker, was a prominent lawyer, legislator, philanthropist, merchant, and scientist in early Federal Philadelphia. Benjamin Warner, publisher and bookseller, married Fisher's daughter, Lydia, in 1814. Born in 1748 in Philadelphia, the son of Joshua and Sarah Rowland Fisher, Miers Fisher married Sarah Redwood in 1774. He was among a group of prominent Quaker merchants who were temporarily exiled to Winchester, Virginia, during the Revolution. Miers and Sarah had sixteen children, only five of which survived him. Their youngest son, Jabez Maud Fisher, was trained as an Engineer, and worked for a railway company and as a Naval Officer for the port of Providence; he moved to Denver, Colorado, in the early 1860's to be with his sons who had built a ranch. The collection includes journals, correspondence, and financial records of Miers Fisher, his daughter, Lydia Fisher Warner, his son, Jabez Maud Fisher, and their respective families.

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

Painter Family Papers, 1687-1948 (inclusive)

Extent:: 24 linear ft. (47 boxes)
Abstract:: The Painter family was an early Pennsylvania Quaker family that married into the Minshall family of Delaware County. In 1681, William Penn granted Thomas Minshall a land tract which now includes the Tyler Arboretum. The property was home to eight generations of the same family. The collection includes family correspondence, business and legal papers, property records, papers on interests and concerns of the Painter brothers, genealogical papers, and miscellaneous deeds and other papers collected by Minshall Painter. It is a rich source of information not only on the Painter family of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and the origins of the Tyler Arboretum, but also on agriculture, social life and customs, and nineteenth century Quaker concerns through day books, account books, financial records, correspondence, and other documents.

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

Sadie Sharpless Green family papers, 1825-1912 (inclusive)

Extent:: .1 linear ft. (.1 linear feet (4 folders.))
Abstract:: This collection includes the commonplace book of Sarah Sharpless Green, the writing book of her sister Amy Sharpless, and the copy book of her daughter Sadie Sharpless Green. In her journals are personal notes, poetry, newspaper clippings, and manuscript copies of spiritual writings. The most substantial of these is the account of the life of Quaker minister Ruth Anna Lindley.

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

Carman family papers, 1786-1894 (bulk)

Extent:: .1 linear ft. (.1 linear feet (13 folders.))
Abstract:: The collections contain journals, correspondence, and miscellaneous Quaker papers. A small journal kept by Thomas Carman, 1864 and 1867, describes his travels which included upstate New York, Baltimore, and Richmond (where he attended general Quaker meetings and visited African American services). Also a photocopy of a journal kept by Catharine Williams, describing a trip to Iowa in 1864 where she attended Yearly Meeting. Correspondents include Benjamin Angell, Edward Dorland, George M. Sisson, and Jeremiah Hubbard. Quaker materials include a 1786 manuscript describing a newspaper article on Quakers in France, an 1805 acrostic by William Hawkins devised for Mary Roach who was accompanying a traveling minister, copied poems and essays on religious themes, and a folder of miscellaneous materials which reflect the Carmans' support of organizations such as the Friends Academy at Union Springs, N.Y., a fair held in New York City to raise funds for freedmen, the Home for the Friendless...(see more)

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

Sharpless Family Papers, 1792-1892 (inclusive)

Extent:: 2 linear ft. (4 boxes)
Abstract:: The collection represents two branches of the Sharpless family of Pennsylvania descended from Joseph and Lydia (Lewis) Sharpless). It contains correspondence between extended Sharpless family relations including Sharpless, Hunn, Jones, Drinker families and journals of Joshua Sharpless, a Quaker minister who worked with Native Americans and visited Quaker meetings in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Canada. Correspondence covers various topics including the travels of women ministers, yellow fever, and contemporary events. The second series contains primarily nineteenth century correspondence of the extended family of Townsend and Mary Brinton (Jones) Sharpless. It includes letters written by Henry H. G. Sharpless during his European tour and extensive correspondence received by Ezekiel Hunn who served briefly in the Union Army during the Civil War.

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

Stackhouse Family Papers, 1804-1951 (inclusive) 1820-1916 (bulk) (bulk)

Extent:: 3.5 linear ft. (5 hollinger boxes and 1 carton)
Abstract:: The Stackhouse family was a Pennsylvania and New Jersey Quaker family with roots in the earliest settlement of America. The papers include diaries, ledgers, correspondence and other family papers and voluminous genealogical research conducted by Powell Stackhouse, Jr. They were united by the descendants of two sons of Amos and Mary (Powell) Stackhouse who shared an interest in family history. Powell Stackhouse, Jr., (1827-1900) was a real estate lawyer and conveyancer who pursued a "scientific" method of genealogical research in the 1890s. His cousin, Dr. Asa Matlack Stackhouse (1845-1916) also was interested in publishing a family genealogy, a project that was assumed but not completed by his son, William R. Stackhouse. Of special interest are family letters including a group which concerns Sharon Boarding School in Darby, Pennsylvania, and a small number of account books and diaries.

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