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Mahlon Day papers
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Held at: Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections [Contact Us]370 Lancaster Ave, Haverford, PA 19041
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Mahlon Day (b. 1790) was a printer and publisher of children's books, including many moral tales. He was an active member of the Society of Friends, and served as clerk of New York Yearly Meeting. He served as a trustee of African Free Schools and as a manager of the New York Institution for the Blind, among other activities.
Day, born in Morristown, New Jersey, on August 27, 1790, was the son of Samuel and Nancy Day and brother of Stephen Munson, Samuel Jr., Susan, Phoebe, Abraham, Jared, Jehiel, Ira, and Nancy Jr. In 1815, he married Mary Kerr. Their children were Mary Jr., Sarah, Anna, Susan, Edward, and Jane. This latter Jane married William Thurston; thus the small collection of Thurston letters, documents, and photographs among these papers.
In 1839-1840, Day traveled to the West Indies with Joseph John Gurney, a Quaker minister and anti-slavery advocate.
In 1854, when Mahlon Day, his wife Mary, and daughter Susan were returning from England, their ship, the Arctic, was rammed by another boat. The Arctic sank, taking the three Days with it. There are letters of sympathy in this collection, primarily to the Day children.
The Mahlon Day Papers include journals from 1839 to 1843, including the journal of Day's trip to the West Indies in 1839-1840. There are also letters which touch on religious, political, business, and family matters.
Other Day family materials include the letters of Mary K. Day, 1852-1854; letters of Edward M. Day, 1854-1858; letters, 1847-1877; journals of Anna B. Day documenting trips to Europe, 1866-1867, 1877, 1890; and letters, 1854, and a commonplace book, 1840, of Susan B. Day.
Miscellaneous letters include sympathy letters on the death of Mahlon Day and other miscellaneous writings, including poetry and genealogical information on the Days and Thurstons.
Thurston family materials include letters (1767 to 1906), an account book (1879-1890), and a ship's log (1868-1879) of William Thurston, Jr.
There are photographs (including daguerreotypes), drawings, and silhouettes of the Days and Thurstons, drawings, including two by Joseph John Gurney and Amelia Mott Gummere, and a 1936 photo album.
Acquisition unknown.
Original processing information unknown. Revised by Elizabeth Peters; completed April, 2015.
- Newspaper articles covering the wreck of the Arctic to PG6.
- Newspaper clippings and pamphlet of the Women's Prison Association, 1855, to PG6.
- Obituaries of Joseph John Gurney and genealogical chart of the Gurney family to PG6.
- Two colored flower drawings by Jane R. Day to 988 A-R.
- Large engravings of Joseph John Gurney and Elizabeth Gurney Fry to 988 B-R.
- Fry, Elizabeth Gurrey. Texts for every day of the year. New York: Mahlon Day, 1839. OCLC 48886668.
- Horsley, Samuel. Book of Psalms. London: 1833. OCLC 2650564.
- Macduff, John. Words of Jesus. New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1854. OCLC 6618463.
- Texts..., 1856. (Not Mahlon Day imprint)
- Watts, Isaac. Divine Songs. New York: Mahlon Day, 1837. OCLC 210136907.
- Mason, John. Treatise on Self Knowledge. Boston: J. Loring, 1833. OCLC 5057779.
- Bible. London: John Field, 1658.
- Aikin, John. The calendar of nature. London: Baldwin, 1835. OCLC 84979916.
- Ely, Aaron. A School Dictionary of selected words. New York: Mahlon Day, 1833. OCLC 20080725.
People
- Gurney, Joseph John, 1788-1847
- Day, Mahlon
- Day, Mary K.
- Day, Susan B.
- Day, Anna B.
- Day, Edward M.
- Thurston, William B.
Subject
- Publisher
- Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections
- Access Restrictions
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The collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
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Standard Federal Copyright Laws Apply (U.S. Title 17).
Collection Inventory
Dates given for journals are the first recorded date in each.
Voyage from New York
St. Croix: copies of Gurney's poems; drawings, accounts
St. Thomas
Tortola: meeting at which J.J. Gurney spoke
St Christopher's: poems, meeting with "colored population", visit to Moravian School for children of African descent
St. John's: plea for abolition, pruchase of a sugar estate by some "Negroes", copy of letter to Elizabeth Fry, other meetings reported
Danish Islands' Black population not freed, only English
St Croix
Jamaica: preaching by J.J. Gurney, anti-slavery society resolutions
St. Amis Bay
Falmouth
Montego Bay
At sea
Havana: witnessed condition of housing for enslaved people and markets at which they are purchased
Savannah
Savannah
Charleston
Washington: went to House of Representatives, met with Rep. Holmes, heard speeches in the Senate, including J.Q. Adams. Introduced to John C. Calhoun and discussed, with J.J. Gurney, the question of slavery, emancipation and its success in the West Indies. Met also with Henry Clay, President van Buren, James Monroe and others.
Travelling north, stopped at Burlington and were met by Stephen Grellet.
Single-volume summary of the above journals, omitting the return trip and visit to Washington.
Article appearing in the New York Evangelist, pasted into a notebook. Describes Mahlon Day's opinions on slavery based on his trip to the West Indies.
Not all letters are indexed below; those selected were chosen on the basis of author and/or content.
mind occupied with business and extra military duty; feels he must serve his country; many people fleeing into countryside for fear of invasion.
would like to vacation when his business (a newspaper) is partially suspended; asks her opinion of his marrying someone.
Journal: voyage from New York to Liverpool on the steamer Atlantic, inculding sighting of an iceberg.
travelling through Dublin and Wales; Irish Friends.
Dublin Yearly Meeting, people and sights.
met with Eli and Sybil Jones in Manchester.
fascinated by sights of London; tea with Bevan Braithwaite who presented him with 2-volume journal of J.J. Gurney; attended London Yearly Meeting; does not feel John Wilbur has made much impression on London Friends.
letter concerning business matters.
in London Yearly Meeting, Joseph Sturge and Henry Pease talked about their visit to Russia and interview with the czar. John Bright also spoke.
Two weeks of London Yearly Meeting are over.
describes visit to the Crystal Palace (London); tells son about laying in provisions for the winter.
France hard up for fuel -- no coal, no wood; sights of Paris.
sights of Switzerland.
description of Heidelberg, Cologne, Brussels, etc.
business letter concerned with rents and stocks.
have returned to England, may take the steamer Arctic home, but are not yet sure.
will depart on the Atlantic on September 29th, destined for New York.
visited the graves of J.J. Gurney and Amelia Opie.
change of sailing dates means they will depart with the Arctic.
touring Scotland.
Letters written from England telling of attending Friends meetings, family matters, contemporary medication for minor ailments, etc. To children and husband. Approximately 42 letters.
to Jane R. Thurston. Two letters.
Not all letters are indexed below; those selected were chosen on the basis of author and/or content. There are approximately 27 letters.
sends extracts of letters with accounts of the decease of J.J. Gurney.
encloses four miniature photographs (tin?) of herself and someone else.
multiple letters written from various locations around Europe.
multiple letters written from various locations around Europe.
description of the meeting in England of Mahlon and Mary Day with Eli and Sybil Jones before the formers' fateful departure for America.
minute issued when supplying the place of treasurer left vacant by the death of Mahlon Day. Copied by Anna B. Day.
summary of sermon delivered by Richard Mott.
trips to England, France, Italy. Includes pressed flowers notched in.
trips to England, Ireland, Scotland, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, France. Includes unattached papers, one a satirical poem about Woodrow Wilson, as well as pressed flowers and photographs.
Journal III: trips to Switzerland, England, France, Austria.
Journal IV: trip to Italy. May not be in the hand of Anna B. Day. Papers with different handwriting laid in.
letters descriptive of the voyage to England on the Arctic, travels about England and the coninent and Meetings attended. To family. Approximately 25 letters.
Not all letters are indexed below; those selected were chosen on the basis of author and/or content. Letters are ordered by last name of author, then by date.
J(oseph?) Taylor has been with them and gone to Meetings.
sends drawing for Day coat-of-arms to be printed for bookplates.
is disturbed by the way in which he has talked about religion.
sorry they had so short a time to converse.
printed letter of invitation to a ball honoring the Prince of Wales.
cannot attend Meeting, asks that Day send him and some others copies of "Remarks."
Days' visit to England discussed and sorrow at their loss.
positive report on Mary Day's deportement and self-discipline in refraining from speaking with classmates during school hours.
positive report on Anna Day's deportement and self-discipline in refraining from speaking with classmates during school hours.
Includes copied poetry, instructions for properly setting a breakfast table, diagram of properly set dinner table, etc.
Information for Thurston and Day family genealogies.
Not all letters are indexed below; those selected were chosen on the basis of author and/or content. There are approximately 14 letters, mostly dealing with family matters.
has survived the earthquake in San Francisco, and reports some details of the disaster.
Includes notes, copied poems, addresses, etc. Also keys to various ciphers and some notes written in them, particularly pigpen.
Painting of Mahlon Day (photograph)
Painting of Mary Day (photograph)
Family photographs mounted on paper
Engraving of Anna Braithwaite
Lithograph of Anna Braithwaite
Steel engraving (?) of Christopher Wren Tower
Pen & ink drawing of Friends Meeting House at Burlington, NJ, by Amelia Mott Gummere
Pencil sketch of Anna B. Day by Joseph John Gurney
Daguerreotype in square red velvet case.
Daguerreotype in square red velvet case.
Daguerreotype in wooden box. Also includes tin(?) miniature.
Daguerreotype in embossed black leather case.
Daguerreotype in embossed brown leather case.
Daguerreotype in large leather case.
Daguerreotype in black leather case.
Photograph in black velvet frame.
Silhouette in black oval frame.
Pen & ink drawing, red velvet oval case.
Red leather album, includes photographs and detailed captions.