Philadelphia Area Archives

Start Over Year 1918

Decorative Arts Department Records, 1917-1978 (inclusive)

Extent:: 18.5 linear feet
Abstract:: None available.

Held at: Philadelphia Museum of Art Archives [Contact Us]

Daniel M. Williams Biographical Collection of George Grey Barnard, 1863-1969, undated (inclusive)

Extent:: 8.5 linear feet
Abstract:: This collection documents the tireless efforts of journalist Daniel M. Williams to refine and publish a biography of the American sculptor and collector George Grey Barnard. While the project never came to fruition, the collection represents approximately 30 years of Williams's accumulated research and writings, and consists of correspondence, including some of Barnard's personal letters to his family, as well as clippings, ephemera and photographs regarding the artist's life and career as a sculptor and important collector of Medieval art and architecture. Works by Barnard documented here include his celebrated commissions, such as the monumental figural group for the Pennsylvania Capitol at Harrisburg, as well as his controversial depictions of Abraham Lincoln and the god Pan. References to Barnard's excursions to the French countryside in search of artifacts include his sale to John D. Rockefeller, Jr. of more than 600 pieces, which would collectively be housed and referred to as...(see more)

Held at: Philadelphia Museum of Art Archives [Contact Us]

Arensberg Archives, 1905-1957, undated (inclusive)

Extent:: 33 linear feet
Abstract:: Art collectors Walter and Louise Arensberg amassed a seminal collection of Modern and pre-Columbian art between 1913 and 1950, when they presented it to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Arensberg Archives contain correspondence, ephemera, clippings, writings, personal and art collection records, and photographs documenting the couple's art collecting activities as well as their friendship with many important artists, writers and scholars, including Marcel Duchamp, Charles Sheeler, Walter Pach, Beatrice Wood, and Elmer Ernest Southard. The collection also includes some material related to Walter Arensberg's study of Francis Bacon and the founding of his research institute, the Francis Bacon Foundation.

Held at: Philadelphia Museum of Art Archives [Contact Us]

Rodin Museum Records, 1892-1991, undated (inclusive)

Extent:: 4 linear feet
Abstract:: The Rodin Museum, located on Benjamin Franklin Parkway, houses Philadelphian movie theater magnate and philanthropist Jules E. Mastbaum's exceptional collection of works by French sculptor Auguste Rodin. Mastbaum amassed the collection between 1923 and 1926 for the expressed purpose of founding a museum for the citizens of Philadelphia. The buiding was designed by noted architects Paul Philippe Cret and Jacques Greber between 1926 and 1929. The Rodin Museum is administered by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Records in this collection document the administration, maintenance, and renovation of the Rodin Museum.

Held at: Philadelphia Museum of Art Archives [Contact Us]

Leon Gardiner collection of American Negro Historical Society records, 1860-1890 (bulk) 1715-1962, undated (inclusive)

Extent:: 8.5 linear feet (, 15 boxes, 35 volumes)
Abstract:: The American Negro Historical Society was founded in 1897 by a group of Philadelphia blacks to study and preserve materials documenting the American black experience. Among the founders and early members were Robert Adger, W.M. Dorsey and Jacob C. White, Jr., who donated materials to the society, some of which are present in the collection. The collection is composed of administrative records of the society and materials collected by some of its members, including correspondence, minutes, reports, financial documents, membership lists, records of lectures and debates, library catalogues, baseball lineup and scorecards, speeches, printed matter, and portraits of distinguished black leaders and abolitionists.

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

John Rutter Brooke papers, 1861-1902 (bulk) 1767-1918, undated (inclusive)

Extent:: 13.9 linear feet (; 27 boxes, 37 volumes, 6 flat files)
Abstract:: The papers of John Rutter Brooke include correspondence, accounts, regimental reports, military orders, and pamphlets that primarily pertain to his career in the United States Army, 1861-1902. Brooke’s military papers document the activities of the 53rd Pennsylvania volunteer regiment during the Civil War; the 3rd Infantry division and 7th Cavalry during the Indian Wars; the 1st Corps of the Army during the Spanish-American War; and Brooke’s service as military governor of Puerto Rico and Cuba, as well as his service in the Departments of the Missouri, the Platte, the Gulf, and the East. The collection is particularly rich in its documentation of the United States Army’s “Sioux Campaign” during 1890-1891, containing extensive correspondence during the height of the Ghost Dance on the Standing Rock and Pine Ridge reservations, and the ensuing military build-up, which escalated into the massacre at Wounded Knee on December 29, 1890.

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

Simon Gratz autograph collection, 1343-1928

Extent:: 190.0 linear feet (; 633 boxes (18 volumes in boxes))
Abstract:: The collection was assembled by Simon Gratz, Philadelphia lawyer, school board member, and trustee of the Free Library. He began collecting at age 17 and, by the time he died, amassed about 175,000 manuscripts and portrait engravings and lithographs. Many of the latter he personally commissioned. In 1916 he became a vice-president of the Historical Society. Gratz continued until the end of his life to deal with such notable American collectors as George Brinley, Louis J. Cist, Adrien Joline, Charles J. Jones, E.H. Leffingwell, and Joseph J. Mickley. The dealers with whom he dealt included Charavay in Paris, Naylor and Maggs in London, Cohn in Berlin, Benjamin in New York, and A.S.W. Rosenbach in Philadelphia. The records of his transactions survive from 1861 to 1925 in his "Autograph Journals." On January 1, 1925, Gratz noted that his collection had, because of astute sales and exchanges, "cost less than nothing." Gratz acquired his collection by exchange with and purchase from a...(see more)

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

Simon Gratz autograph collection, 1517-1925 (inclusive)

Extent:: 130.4 linear feet (; 326 boxes)
Abstract:: This autograph collection was created by Simon Gratz, starting in his late teens. A myriad of documents are included and represent Gratz’s philosophy of collecting and the many relationships he formed with other collectors in the United States and abroad. Contained here are autographed letters, legal documents, and artifacts from many prominent and well known figures and personalities in the arts, religion, government, education, and military. While there are some non-substantive letters written to Gratz much of the collection includes correspondence between prominent women and men across classes, professions, and nationalities. The collection dates from the sixteenth century to the early twentieth century. Besides date range, this collection differs slightly from the Simon Gratz collection (#250A) in its alphabetical arrangement, compared to the arrangement by categories/subjects (Case) in #250A. One other distinction in this collection are the personal letters and papers of Simon...(see more)

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

Andrew Atkinson Humphreys papers, 1850-1879 (bulk) 1708-1930, undated (inclusive)

Extent:: 69.0 linear feet (120 boxes, 76 volumes, 15 flat files)
Abstract:: The papers of Andrew Atkinson Humphreys span the course of Humphreys's career, including his service in the Second Seminole War, his work as a civil engineer on surveys along the U.S. coast and the Mississippi River, as chief of staff for General George Meade; and as head of the United States Corps of Topographical Engineers. The collection consists of correspondence, orders, reports, payment vouchers, ephemera, maps, survey data, drafts and published works. The most significant groups of materials in this collection are documents from the Civil War, including muster rolls, reports, orders, and payment vouchers, which may have been collected when Humphreys served in the Army of the Potomac; and papers related to the survey of the Mississippi River in the 1850s and 1860s. Also of interest are Humphreys's later reflections on the Civil War in his notes and manuscripts for Gettysburg to the Rapidan and The Virginia Campaign. Also included in this...(see more)

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

Jonathan Roberts papers, 1780-1930

Extent:: 3.5 linear feet (; 8 boxes)
Abstract:: These papers relate particularly to state and national political history during the Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe presidential administrations. Among the subjects dealt with in the papers from 1780-1848 are: Pennsylvania legislation, political affairs at Lancaster, Republican and Adamite factions, promotion of manufacture, controversies over the charter of the United States Bank, embargoes, the British orders in council, agitation for war with England, opposition of the Federalists to government war loan; French decrees affecting American ships and commerce, foreign trade, New England political factions, land claims, Andrew Jackson's conduct in Florida and New Orleans, restoration of the Capitol, political appointments, the Missouri question, ratification of the Spanish treaty, Marquis de Lafayette's reception at Harrisburg, presidential elections, religion, Texas slavery contest, California, Roberts's appointment as collector of the Port of Philadelphia, his dismissal by President...(see more)

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

« Previous
Next »
1
2
3
4
5
6
…
403
404