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Start Over Repository Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College Subject Quaker prison reformers Year 1869

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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]

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Friends Historical Library Collection of miscellaneous manuscripts, 1547-1994 (inclusive)

Extent:
40 linear ft.
Abstract:
The Society of Friends or Quakers (today the terms are synonymous) was founded in the middle of the seventeenth century in England by George Fox and others. The Friends Historical Library Miscellaneous Manuscripts is an artificial collection, established in the middle of the 20th century to store single and very small groups of manuscripts and documents, both originals and copies. The collection includes holdings relevant to antislavery, temperance, women's rights, penal reform, and other social concerns of Quakers in the United States and in England.

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

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Abby Hopper Gibbons Family Photographs, 1854-1935 (inclusive)

Extent:
.3 cubic ft. (1 box)
Abstract:
Abigail Hopper Gibbons (1801-1893) was an important figure in many of the reform movements in the middle and late nineteenth century. Like her father, Isaac T. Hopper (1771-1852), "Abby" Gibbons was an ardent abolitionist and dedicated to prison reform. This collection includes: a carte de visite album compiled by Abby Hopper Gibbons; a daguerreotype of Abby with her husband James and children; and photographs of her descendents, the Dunning family.

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