Philadelphia Area Archives

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Thomas Wistar journals, 1841-1875 (inclusive)

Extent:: 0.42 linear ft. (5 volumes)
Abstract:: Thomas Wistar's journal entries largely describe his work as an Indian Commissioner, including visits to Washington D.C., the Seneca Nation, the Wichita Indian Agency, and other Native American Reservations. In addition to his work as a commissioner, entries detail social calls with family and friends, descriptions of Quaker meetings, and religious reflection and prayers.

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

Henry Simmons letterbooks, 1797-1799, undated (inclusive)

Extent:: 0.06 linear ft. (2 volumes)
Abstract:: Henry Simmons, who belonged to the Middletown Monthly Meeting, spent a year with the Seneca near Cornplanter's village along with Halliday Jackson and Joel Swayne. There, the group of missionaries set up a school and model farm. Simmons's letterbooks are comprised of business and government correspondence related to his work with various Indigenous nations.

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

"An Autobiography and Family History", 1885 (inclusive)

Extent:: 0.4 linear ft. (2 volumes)
Abstract:: In addition to providing genealogical information about his ancestors, Barclay White's family history and autobiography describes his early life in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and his work with various Native tribes as an "Indian Agent."

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

"Account of Isaac Coates, Joshua Sharpless & John Pierce's Visits to the Indian Reservation in Western New York", Undated.

Extent:: 0.06 linear ft. (1 volume)
Abstract:: This copy of an account from 1798 and 1799 was written in an unknown hand likely in the latter half of the 19th century. The volume describes Isaac Coates, Joshua Sharpless, and John Pierce's travel to Native American reservations on behalf of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Indian Committee, and the work they did while there.

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

Benjamin H. Miller, U.S. Indian Inspector transcribed letters,1889-1890., ca. 1974-1975 (inclusive)

Extent:: 1 folders
Abstract:: The collection consists of typed transcripts of letters published in a local newspaper. They describe the places and people visited during Benjamin H. Miller's tenure as Indian Agent in South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota and elsewhere. The nineteen clippings, 1889-1890, were transcribed by William T. Thom, 3rd, a great-grandson. Also includes a typed manuscript introduction that describes Miller's farm, Mt Airy, Montgomery County, Maryland, and a typed index to the letters, 1974-1975.

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

Zebedee Haines Papers, 1857-1922 (inclusive)

Extent:: 0.5 linear ft. (1 box)
Abstract:: Zebedee Haines (1843-1923) was a Quaker who was active in the work of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends and of its Indian Committee in the late 19th century. Zebedee was also a student, teacher, administrator, and school committee member at Westtown School. The Haines family ran a dairy farm in West Grove, Pennsylvania. The collection contains family correspondence and diaries. Also includes letters of Zebedee Haines to his wife, describing his visits to Tunesassa and to native American groups in Nova Scotia with Joseph S. Elkinton in 1903, and of his daughter, Mary Elizabeth Haines, who taught at Tunesassa from 1908-09.

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

Turner Family Papers, 1776-1954 (inclusive)

Extent:: 2.5 linear ft. (5 boxes)
Abstract:: This collection centers around the family and descendants of Joseph Turner, Jr., (1790-1850) and his wife Rebecca (Sinclair) Turner (1787-1877), members of Baltimore Monthly Meeting-Western District. They raised eight children and had fifty-four grandchildren. As a young man, Joseph left the family plantation near Still Pond, Kent County, Maryland, and became a lumber merchant in Baltimore. He served as Clerk of the Lombard Street Meeting. Rebecca was a recorded minister and traveled widely. She served on the Standing Committee on Indian Concern of Baltimore Yearly Meeting, the Friends Association in Aid of Freedmen and on the first Board of Managers of Swarthmore College, 1862-1868. The Turner Family Papers are significant for the source material they provide on Quaker family life in Baltimore and the Eastern Shore of Maryland in the 19th century. The manuscripts include extensive correspondence concerning the Indian Committee of Baltimore Yearly Meeting and records of goods sent...(see more)

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

Halliday Jackson Manuscripts, 1755-1833 (inclusive)

Extent:: 0.42 linear ft. (1 box)
Abstract:: Halliday Jackson (1771-1835) was a Quaker minister from New Garden and Darby, Pa.. From 1798 to 1800 he joined the Quaker mission to the Seneca Indians organized by the Indian Committee of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Shortly after his return from the mission to the Seneca, Halliday Jackson married Jane Hough and moved to Darby, Pa. Following Jane's death in 1830, Halliday Jackson remarried in 1833 to Ann P. Paschall (1792-1874), also a Quaker minister. These records contain documents relating to the work of Halliday Jackson (1771-1835), Pennsylvania Quaker minister to the Indians. Includes correspondence, journals, copy work in prose and poetry, a history of the Separation of 1828, papers on Indian affairs. One journal concerns a visit to the Quakers in Ohio in 1816. Correspondents include Benjamin Ferris, Edward Garrigues, David Seaman, Micajah Collins, George Dillwyn, William Poole, Jesse Kersey, Halliday Jackson, John Jackson. The correspondence deals extensively with the...(see more)

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

John Jackson Papers, 1827-1849 (inclusive)

Extent:: 0.5 linear ft. (1 box)
Abstract:: John Jackson (1809-1855), son of Halliday and Jane Jackson of Darby, Pennsylvania, married Rachel Tyson (1807?-1883), daughter of Isaac Tyson of Baltimore, Maryland, in 1832. Together they established the Sharon Female Academy in Delaware County, Pa. John Jackson was a Quaker minister and served on the Joint Committee on Indian Affairs. Collection contains correspondence and other papers, 1827-1849. Series I is made up primarily of correspondence and drafts of correspondence between Griffith M. Cooper and Joseph Warner, 1835-1838 and 1843- 1846, circulated among members of the Joint Committee on Indian Affairs. Series II includes personal letters, 1827-1838, from Rachel Tyson to friends and family.

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

Price family papers, 1809-1878 (inclusive)

Extent:: .1 linear ft. (.1 linear feet (23 folders.))
Abstract:: This collection includes letters of Benjamin and Jane Price, among their family and with other Quakers. Also included are letters received by Benjamin's brother Eli K. Price regarding his legal practice, and by Benjamin's daughter-in-law Lydia H. Price, regarding family news. Bound volumes of letters record the correspondence of Benjamin and Jane Price while one or the other travelled in Quaker ministry. Of particular interest are : letters of Edward Hicks, regarding the Hicksite controversy ; letters of John Comly, regarding Quaker beliefs, the worship of Baal, and the views of Edward Hicks; letters of Deborah F. Wharton on Quaker concerns in Indian affairs; letters of Dillwyn Parrish regarding Quaker involvement in the Anti-slavery movement ; and an account by Benjamin Price of an Elias Hicks meeting. Other correspondents include Thomas Garrett, William Wharton, Jane Mott, and William Ellery Channing, regarding matters of practical or business concern.

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