Search

Start Over Place Philadelphia (Pa.) Year 1894

Main content

John Wanamaker collection, 1827-1987 (inclusive)

Extent:
193.2 linear feet (; 316 volumes, 438 boxes)
Abstract:
John Wanamaker (1838-1922) was a well-known merchant, entrepreneur, and lifelong resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was active in the city's religious, political, and philanthropic areas, founded several Presbyterian churches and Sunday schools, and served as postmaster general under President Benjamin Harrison from 1889 to 1893. He opened his first Philadelphia clothing store, Oak Hall, with partner Nathan Brown in 1861, and founded John Wanamaker and Co. in 1869. In 1876, he opened "A New Kind of Store" known as the Grand Depot at Thirteenth and Market Streets. This store later became the flagship store, with satellite stores eventually established in central and southeastern Pennsylvania, as well as New Jersey, Delaware, and New York City. Wanamaker was at the forefront in many areas of retailing including merchandising, employee relations and advertising. His sons Thomas B. Wanamaker and L. Rodman Wanamaker were also active in the business. Thomas ran John Wanamaker and...(see more)

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

Main content

Mutual Assurance Company (Green Tree) records, 1784-1995 (inclusive)

Extent:
455.0 linear feet
Abstract:
The Mutual Assurance Company for Insuring Houses from Loss by Fire was organized in Philadelphia in 1784, in order to make fire insurance available to those citizens who wished to have trees in front of their houses. A group of sixty-one men met on July 8, 1784 at the City (or London) Coffee House and agreed to create a new mutual fire insurance company. A deed of settlement was adopted and a green tree was selected as a symbol to appear on the company's policies and fire marks. The company archives of The Mutual Assurance Company, familiarly known as the Green Tree, consist of financial accounts and receipts, correspondence, histories, cancelled insurance surveys and policies, and miscellaneous material. The records date from the formation of the company in 1784 to 1995.

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

Main content

Edwin S. Stuart papers, 1884-1937 (inclusive)

Extent:
40.0 boxes
Abstract:
Edwin Sydney Stuart (1853-1937) was a Philadelphia businessman and politician during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In addition to owning and operating a successful bookstore, Stuart also served as mayor of Philadelphia from 1891 to 1995 and governor of Pennsylvania from 1907 to 1911. The Edwin S. Stuart papers, as received by Temple University, reflect a portion of the files from the Stuart/Emmons family and material stored at Leary & Co. prior to the closing of the firm in 1969. The records date from 1884 to 1937, and reflect both the archives of the Leary firm and the political and social activities of Governor Stuart. His papers document a variety of personal activities and social functions as well as his work with Girard College and the Union League. While the papers do document some of his political functions in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, this collection does not contain his formal political office files.

Held at: Temple University Libraries Special Collections Research Center [Contact Us]

Main content

Pennsylvania Horticultural Society minute books, 1827-2001 (inclusive)

Extent:
7.3 linear feet (27 containers)
Abstract:
The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) was founded on November 24, 1827 by fifty-three prominent Philadelphians; among them Horace Binney, David Landreth Jr., William Davidson, George Pepper, Nicolas Biddle and Moses Brown. Emulating similar societies existing in England at the time, the men formed their Society to promote “a highly instructive and interesting science for the purpose of improving the growth of vegetables, plants, trees, fruits and flowers.” Since that time, the Society and its membership has fostered “…an appreciation of plants, acquiring scientific knowledge about them, disseminating horticultural information, and involving the public in gardening and beautifying the City of Philadelphia.” More recently, the Society has worked specifically to beautify the city and help realize William Penn’s founding vision for Philadelphia to be a “greene countrie towne.” This is a collection of meeting minutes of the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Horticultural...(see more)

Held at: Pennsylvania Horticultural Society [Contact Us]

Main content

Union League archives, 1833-2010 (inclusive)

Extent:
1643.0 items
Abstract:
Founded in 1862 as a patriotic society to support the Union and the policies of President Abraham Lincoln, the Union League of Philadelphia laid the philosophical foundation of other Union Leagues across a nation torn by Civil War. From its founding to the present, the League has been a leading civic organization and has played an important role in the history of our country and the City of Philadelphia. Over the past 150 years, this service has ranged from raising troops during the Civil War and lobbying for enforcement of the “freedom” amendments during Reconstruction, to feeding the hungry during the Great Depression, to finding jobs for returning veterans after World War II. The Union League archives houses a wide variety of records related to the general administration of the Union League, its mission, building and history. Additionally, researchers will find a small sampling of papers more generally related to the Civil War, including some letters written by Abraham Lincoln....(see more)

Held at: Union League of Philadelphia [Contact Us]

Main content

Wagner Free Institute of Science Director's files, 1883-1948 (inclusive)

Extent:
36.42 linear feet (37 containers)
Abstract:
Incorporated by William Wagner (1796-1885) in 1855, the Wagner Free Institute of Science is a natural history museum and educational institution in Philadelphia that is dedicated to providing free public education in the sciences. This collection contains records of the operations of the Wagner Free Institute of Science from 1883 to 1948, including the Institute’s financial records; rental property records; and museum, library and instruction program records. The bulk of the collection is financial material and correspondence.

Held at: Wagner Free Institute of Science [Contact Us]

Main content

H. A. Pilsbry papers, 1900-1953 (bulk) 1885-1957 (inclusive)

Extent:
6.75 linear feet (8 containers)
Abstract:
Henry Augustus Pilsbry, Dean of American Malacologists, was the conservator, curator and head of the Department of Shells at the Academy of Natural Sciences for 70 years. He was also the internationally recognized authority in the field of land mollusks. He wrote and edited many volumes of the Manual of Conchology and from 1889 until his death was an editor of the journal Nautilus, which he founded. A member of many scientific expeditions, he traveled all over the United States, to the Caribbean, South America, Mexico, Hawaii and other Pacific Islands, and to Australia. This collection contains the professional papers of Henry A. Pilsbry between the years 1885 and 1957. The bulk of this collection consists of Pilsbry’s working files and drafts of published material that came from those files, including a draft of the second volume of Land Mollusks of North America. Pilsbry’s correspondence is by far the most valuable part of this...(see more)

Held at: Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia [Contact Us]

Main content

Conner family papers, 1832-1856 (bulk) 1832-1856 1816-1903 (inclusive)

Extent:
3.0 folders
Abstract:
Susan Dillwyn Physick was born on June 22, 1803, in Philadelphia, the second of four children. Her parents were Elizabeth Emlen, whose family was one of the wealthiest in Philadelphia, and Philip Syng Physick, the prominent physician. In 1824 she met naval Master-Commandant David Conner, and the two married on June 25, 1828. The Conner family papers consist primarily of 23 journals kept by Susan Dillwyn Physick Conner from 1832 to 1856. The collection also includes her unfinished autobiography with amendments by her son, a scrapbook, two notebooks, two journals by her son, one journal by Philip Conner’s wife, two letters (one by Mary Lewis, one by Philip Conner), three account books, two published books owned by Susan Physick Conner, and notes and drafts by Arthur Hale, Philip Conner’s son-in-law.

Held at: Independence Seaport Museum, J. Welles Henderson Archives and Library [Contact Us]

Main content

John E. Hand & Sons Co. records, 1865-2002, undated [bulk dates: 1900-1980]

Extent:
26.0 linear feet
Abstract:
The John E. Hand & Sons Company was founded in Philadelphia in 1873. The Hand Company built navigational equipment for all varieties of floating vessels, and operated a chain of retail outlets with “service stations” in numerous port cities, including Baltimore and New Orleans, until 1956. Service stations sold Hand instruments as well as other nautical paraphernalia and provided compass adjusting services. The collection documents the business activities of the John E. Hand & Sons Company from its institution in 1873 to 1997, when the company was sold. The collection boasts a wide breadth of material that includes legal documents, financial records, patents, correspondence, contracts, reports, catalogs and other ephemera, photographs, and engineering plans. Together, the records provide a thorough account of the firm’s operations.

Held at: Independence Seaport Museum, J. Welles Henderson Archives and Library [Contact Us]

Main content

Library Company of Philadelphia minute books, 1731-2000 (inclusive)

Extent:
46.0 volumes
Abstract:
In 1731, Benjamin Franklin and a group of intellectual Philadelphians established the Library Company of Philadelphia, a subscription library supported by its shareholders. The Library Company flourished because it adopted a purchasing policy responsive to the needs of its intellectually alert, economically ambitious, but non-elite membership. The Library Company of Philadelphia is now an independent research library specializing in American society and culture from the 17th to 19th centuries. The history of this organization is best documented by its minute books dating from 1731 to 2000. The collection consists of minute books documenting the meetings of the Directors (both the final approved version of the minutes and the rough drafts of the minutes), 1731 to 2000; the Trustees of the Loganian Library, 1853 to 1876; and the Committee for Fixing the Value of Lost Books, 1785 to 1848. In addition to meeting minutes, the minute books include financial reports, and supporting...(see more)

Held at: Library Company of Philadelphia [Contact Us]

Limit your search

more »

more »

more »

more »

more »

more »

more »

Current results range from 1500 to 2022

View larger »