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Start Over Subject Prison reformers Subject Quaker women Place Philadelphia (Pa.) Year 1850 to 1899

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Collection of Bringhurst Family Correspondence, 1780-1811 (bulk) 1780-1941 (inclusive)

Extent:
6 linear ft.
Abstract:
Contains the collected correspondence of the Bringhurst family, largely compiled by C. Marshall Taylor. It includes correspondence, 1780-1806, of Philadelphia Quaker businessman James Bringhurst and his letters received from John Murray of New York City. Bringhurst corresponded with family and prominent friends including John Dickinson, Job Scott, Nathan Hunt, James Pemberton, Jesse Kersey, Lindley Murray and Moses Brown. Of particular interest are descriptions of life in Philadelphia and the conditions of free blacks, as well as Quaker religious and social concerns and visits from traveling ministers. A second group of letters contains primarily letters from Joseph Bringhurst, the brother of James, to his niece, Elizabeth Foulke while she was traveling in the ministry.

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

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Mira Sharpless Townsend Papers, 1815-1858 (bulk) 1806-1910 (inclusive)

Extent:
1 linear ft. (2 boxes)
Abstract:
The collection contains papers of Mira Sharpless Townsend, a major Quaker social activist and reformer in Philadelphia. Mira Sharpless Townsend (1798-1859) was born in Philadelphia, attended Friends Select School, and in 1828 married Samuel Townsend (1800-1887). He was a member of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting by whom she had six children, only two surviving to adulthood: Emily Sharpless Townsend who married Powell Stackhouse and Clara Gordon Townsend, married William Penn Troth. During the 1840's, Mira Townsend became an active and vocal social activist who wrote and published a variety of poetry and articles which reflected her strong views regarding women, slavery, temperance and capital punishment. She also was the driving force behind the founding of the Rosine Association. In January 1847, at a meeting of the Society for the Abolition of Capital Punishment, she announced her desire to form a society "to open a house for the reformation, employment and instruction of...(see more)

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