Year: <span class="from" data-blrl-begin="1845">1845</span> to <span class="to" data-blrl-end="1849">1849</span> - Philadelphia Area Archives Search Results

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]

Extent:: 4.75 linear ft. (10 boxes)
Abstract:: The collection contains correspondence, writings, and other papers of the family of Ezekiel Hunn and Lydia Jones Sharpless Hunn, Philadelphia and Delaware Quakers. The papers were compiled by their granddaughter Katherine Hunn Karsner (1899-1993). She was a Philadelphia Quaker minister and married Joseph Reed Karsner in 1930 under the care of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting (Hicksite). The bulk of the collection is composed of correspondence from their daughter, Mary Ann Karsner Kegler (1932-1983) who moved to Alaska in 1950 and was one of the founders of Chena Ridge Monthly Meeting. The collection also contains earlier family correspondence between Ezekiel and Lydia Jenkins Hunn and other members of the Hunn family. The writings include diaries and writings by Katherine Hunn Karsner, her sister Lydia Hunn Williamson, Joseph Karsner, and Mary Ann Karsner Kegler.

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

Extent:: 2 volumes
Abstract:: Minutes of the Byberry Philosophical Society which was formed in the early nineteenth century for the "acquisition and promotion of scientific knowledge." The group collected specimens of flora, fauna, minerals, and items of historic interest and eventually erected a building to hold the collection. Almost all of their members were Quakers, but this was not a condition of membership.

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

Held at: Science History Institute Archives [Contact Us]