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Richard Reeve Wood and Nancy Morris Wood family 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
Richard Reeve Wood (1897-1982)
Richard Reeve Wood graduated from Haverford College in 1920 with a degree in mathematics; he received an honorary degree of letters from his alma mater in 1971. After graduation, he worked with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) in reconstruction work in France before teaching at Friends Select School in Philadelphia and for a short time at Whittier College in California. Richard also did graduate work at Harvard University, but decided that his interests lay in the peace movement. He became secretary of the Friends Peace Committee of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM) and also the editor of The Friend. As the Committee's secretary, he became president of the National Peace Conference which led him to be a consultant in the meetings leading to the formation of the United Nations in 1945. He was a member of Moorestown Friends Meeting, served as a clerk of PYM, and was on the boards of the William Charter School, Friends Select School, and Haverford College. In 1923, Richard married Nancy Morris and they had three children: Rebecca, Anne, and Richard Jr. (Philadelphia Inquirer obituary)
Nancy Morris Wood (1898-1988)
Nancy Morris Wood, wife of Richard Reeve Wood, was educated at Westtown School and at Drexel Institute of Technology (now Drexel University) in Philadelphia. She was active on numerous social action and education committees as well as being a board member and volunteer worker for the Moorestown Visiting Nurse Association, the Moorestown Free Library, and the Cinnaminson Home in Cinnaminson, New Jersey. Nancy was also a trustee of the Female Association of Philadelphia and worked with the American Friends Service Committee. During World War II, she took two English evacuee children into her family for five years. (obituaries)
Edward S. Wood (b. 1868)
Edward S. Wood was the father of Richard Reeve Wood. Edward succeeded his father, Alexander Cooper Wood, as Treasurer of the Board of the Esterbrook Steel Pen Manufacturing Company.
Alexander Cooper Wood (1841-1919)
Alexander Cooper Wood, father of Edward S. Wood and grandfather of Richard Reeve Wood, was a prominent banker, manufacturer, and member of the Society of Friends. He entered the Esterbrook Steel Pen Manufacturing Company in 1873 and was associated with its activities for 46 years, serving as treasurer or president during most of this time. In 1891, Alexander was elected a director of the Camden Trust & Safe Deposit Company and in 1902 was elected its president. Upon retiring in 1917, he was chosen as the chairman of its board and held this position until his death. His other activities included being a member of the Board of Trustees of Bryn Mawr College for over 20 years; president of the board of Friends Hospital; vice president of the Board of Trustees of the Cooper Hospital; and serving as treasurer of the Mohonk Arbitration Conference for fifteen years. In 1866, he married Mary Emma Stokes and they had three children: Edward S., Alexander Cooper, Jr., and Anna. (obituaries and memorial)
Mary Emma Stokes Wood (1842-1920)
Mary Emma Stokes Wood was the wife of Alexander Cooper Wood and the mother of Edward S. Wood.
This collection contains the materials of several generations of Quaker families in the United States. Prominently featured are Richard Reeve Wood and Nancy Morris Wood; Edward S. Wood, Richard's father; and Alexander Cooper and Mary Emma Stokes Wood, Richard's grandfather and grandmother. Also represented in the collection are the Acton, Carpenter, Clark, Ellicott, and Evans Quaker families.
This collection is divided into five series:
Series I: Richard Reeve Wood and Nancy Wood papers
Series II: Edward S. Wood papers
Series III: Alexander Cooper Wood and Mary Emma Stokes Wood papers
Series IV: Extended family papers
Series V: Miscellaneous
Materials within each series are arranged by type
The Richard Reeve Wood and Nancy Morris Wood family papers were donated to Special Collections, Haverford College in November, 2007 and April, 2014 by Anne Wood.
Processed by Sandra Glascock; completed October, 2014.
People
- Wood, Alexander Cooper, 1841-1919
- Wood, Edward S., b. 1868
- Wood, Mary Emma Stokes, 1842-1920
- Wood, Richard R. (Richard Reeve), 1897-1982
Organization
- League of Nations. Assembly
- Esterbrook Steel Pen Manufacturing Company
- Gimbel Brothers
- John Wanamaker (Firm)
Subject
- Publisher
- Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections
- Finding Aid Author
- Sandra Glascock
- Finding Aid Date
- October, 2014
- Access Restrictions
-
The collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
-
Standard Federal Copyright Laws Apply (U.S. Title 17).
Collection Inventory
Series I primarily contains the correspondence of Richard and Nancy Wood and the writings of Richard Wood, including his articles, essays, limericks, notes and poems. Also included are legal documents arranging for a German girl to come live with the Woods; photographs of Richard taken on the day he received the degree of Doctor of Letters from Haverford College; artifacts such as a memento from the United Nations Conference attended by Richard in 1945 and a handkerchief given to Nancy by her future mother-in-law, Mary Reeve Wood; and biographical information such as copies of obituary notices, certificates, newspaper clippings and memorial service notes for Richard Wood and the passports and memorium books of Richard and Nancy Wood.
This subseries contains correspondence of Richard R. Wood and Nancy M. Wood. Letter writers include Chester W. Clark, George Spencer Morris, Hannah Stokes, Elizabeth Rhoads, Jane Rushmore, R. M. Simms, C.R. Vance, A. H. Wilson, Alexander C. Wood, Edward S. Wood, Mary Reeve Wood.
Of note are letters written by Richard to his wife, children and parents from Geneva in 1925 while attending the Sixth League Assembly Session of the League of Nations and those written in 1935 while he was attending the Sixteenth League Assembly Session of the League of Nations in Geneva.
Physical Description4 folders
1 folders
Marriage certificate of Richard Reeve Wood and Nancy Morris Wood, 1923.
1 folders
1 folders
1 folders
The memento from the United Nations Conference that Richard Wood attended in 1945.
2 folders
Series II consists primarily of materials concerning Edward S. Wood's shipment of care packages to a British prisoner of war, Major Elliot Viney, being held in Germany. Viney was the son of a business associate of Edward Wood. Included are the correspondence of Wood with government officials, suppliers and the Viney family as well as Wood's account book and receipts from the post office and department stores such as the Gimbel Brothers and Wanamaker's. Also included in this series is biographical information that includes a photograph of Edward S. Wood among a group of men, the honeymoon itinerary of Edward and his wife, Mary Reeve, and notes from Edward to his sister, Anna.
2 folders
1 folders
1 folders
Series III contains the correspondence, diaries, photographs and receipts for goods and services of Alexander and Mary Emma Stokes Wood. Also included is biographical information such as invitations and greeting cards; extracts; and obituary notices and eulogy for Alexander Wood.
The bulk of these materials are the courtship letters between Alexander and Mary Emma Stokes Wood. The correspondence of Alexander C. Wood is in Box 2 and the correspondence of Mary Emma Stokes Wood is in Box 3.
Letter writers to Alexander C. Wood include: L.S. Boyer, Richard Esterbrook, Richard Esterbrook Jr., Martha Eastburn Stokes, Mary W. Stokes, M. Carey Thomas, Anna S. Wood, Elizabeth H. Wood, Isaac H. Wood.
Letter writers to Mary Emma Stokes Wood include: Sarah Wyatt Acton, Charles Bettle, Mary Bettle, Elizabeth K. Carlile, Joseph Carlile, Alice Carter, Hannah Carter, William T. Elkinton, Antoinette Esterbrook, Richard Esterbrook, E.S. Evans, Hettie Evans, Rebecca Evans, Susan Farnum, Emma Forsythe, Ellen Smith, Winston Smith, Anna Stokes, Anne H. Stokes, Joseph Stokes, Mary Stokes, N. Newlin Stokes, Nancy Evans Stokes, Nathaniel Newlin Stokes, Pattie E. Stokes.
Physical Description7 folders
2 folders
1 folders
2 folders
1 folders
This subseries contains a letter written to Hannah H. Acton and the notebook of her sister, Sarah Wyatt Acton as well as family/genealogy information.
Physical Description1 folders
This subseries contains legal documents pertaining to the Carpenter and Clark families; Carpenter family history/genealogy and the almanac and disposition of property memoranda of Mary Redman Carpenter as well as the wills of her sister Rachel Redman Clark.
Physical Description1 folders
Contains materials of Nancy Morris Wood's maternal ancestry and includes the correspondence of Mary Thomas Ellicott and Nancy Ellis Ellicott; photographs of Nancy Ellis Ellicott and William Ellicott; and family history and genealogy.
The correspondence of Lydia Ellicott Morris is located in the Morris Family subseries.
Physical Description1 folders
Marriage Certificate of Frederick Turnpenny and Lydia L. Ellicott, 1837.
Marriage Certificate of William M. Ellicott and Nancy M. Ellis, 1860.
This subseries contains materials related to Charles Evans, who was the husband of Anna Wood. It includes the letters of Charles and his mother--Rebecca Carter Evans--and sister--Grace Evans--as well as business documents associated with the "Carter & Scattergood" company of which Charles was a partner.
Physical Description1 folders
Contains materials of Nancy Morris Wood's paternal ancestry and includes photographs of George Spencer Morris, his sister Hannah Perot Morris and his father Samuel Morris; the correspondence of Samuel Morris, George Spencer Morris and Lydia Ellicott Morris; artifacts such as an almanac belonging to Beulah Sansom, a printed card of the Perot Coat of Arms, a recipe book belonging to Hannah Perot, a small painting by Hannah Perot Morris and memorial books for Samuel Morris and George Spencer Morris.
Physical Description2 folders
Marriage Certificate of George Spencer Morris and Lydia Ellicott, 1885.
Contains the correspondence of Mary Reeve Wood's father--Richard Henry Reeve--and photographs and documents relating to the distribution of possessions of her aunt--Rebecca Cooper Reeve.
Physical Description1 folders
Contains materials related to Mary Emma Stokes' ancestors. Including family/genealogy information; correspondence of Mary Emma's father--Nathaniel Newlin--and her brother--N. Newlin --and her sister--Hannah; and photographs of her brother and his wife as well as one of a German servant who worked for the Stokes family.
Physical Description2 folders
This series contains materials that are not directly related to or cannot be attributed to any of the families represented in the collection. Materials include a proprietary statement for John Fenwick regarding land ownership in New Jersey; a 1770 letter to John Fothergill from William Logan; a document written by W.W. Comfort in regards to Isaac Sharpless; notes taken during the week of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting 1842; correspondence of Joseph C. Turnpenny; copied minutes from the Newtown Monthly Meeting regarding William Cooper of Coleshill; and unidentified letters.