Call Number:

0175

Repository:

Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Extent:

105.0 linear feet (; 330 boxes, 133 volumes, 2 flat files)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate cited item of series here], Ferdinand J. Dreer autograph collection (Collection 175), The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Date:

1492-1925 (inclusive)

Creator:

Dreer, Ferdinand J., 1812-1902.

Form:

Autographs collections., Correspondence., and Deeds.

Abstract:

Ferdinand Julian Dreer’s chief hobby was collecting autographs. He started with two documents and over time he was able to amass more than 15,000 items from some of the world’s most prominent and intriguing public figures. Owing to this interest, Dreer became acquainted with many people in the world of arts and letters, politics, education, clergy, business, and international affairs. As he was aware of such a collection’s potential impact on scholarship and society, Dreer donated all of his holdings to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, with which he had been associated for many years as the institution’s vice president.

Ferdinand Julian Dreer was born March 2, 1812, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents, Frederick and Augusta Frederica (Nolthenius) Dreer, were of German ancestry. As a young boy, he was educated in the schools in Philadelphia. Then at the age of 16 he was apprenticed to a local jeweler, and later to a businessman in New York City. After becoming familiar with the assaying trade (analyzing the composition and quality of metal objects) he established the firm Annan & Dreer with John Annan. He later became business partners with George Hayes, establishing another firm, Dreer & Hayes, where Dreer worked until his retirement in 1863.

As a goldsmith and jeweler, Dreer was able to earn a fortune, primarily contracting with the government mint in Philadelphia (George 1986). With such a fortune, he was able to contribute to Philadelphia in many ways. He helped establish the Hayes Mechanics Home (later named Hayes Home for Men); promoted and directed the Philadelphia Academy of Music; was a charter member of the Howard Hospital and the Philadelphia Female Medical College; volunteered, at age 50, for the Gray Reserves during the Civil War; was a “generous contributor to and earnest worker in behalf of the bounty fund, the Sanitary Commission fair Cooper Shop refreshment saloon and the Satterlee Hospital" (Derby and White 1909); and served as a charter member of the Union Club of Philadelphia (which was founded in 1862 and merged with the Union League Club of Philadelphia in 1865).

Dreer’s enthusiasm for collecting came gradually. Ill health at the age of 37 and a close call with death caused him to rethink the degree to which he would work at this business and other affairs. Thinking that he was dying, Dreer traveled to Germany expecting to lay rest in his parents’ home county. “But the trip abroad proved beneficial, and he returned to America in a much improved state of health. Nevertheless, he reduced significantly his business activities and began to spend more and more time accumulating manuscripts of prominent world figures” (George 1986). However, it wasn’t until after his retirement that he devoted himself full-time to expanding his collection of autographs. Writing in 1890 of his reasons for pursuing autograph collecting so vigorously after retirement, Dreer (pp. vii-viii) commented:

“In the year 1863 I retired from the pursuit of a lucrative business on account of impaired health, and indulged to the fullest extent in my favourite employment and recreation of collecting, repairing, and arranging autograph letters, and in enriching printed volumes by the insertion of some of the letters, and also pictorial illustrations. I daily worked more hours and with greater assiduity in that ‘labour of Love’ than I ever did in money-winning. And this delightful occupation has been far more profitable to me than the former one, for it has, by daily recreation and continual pleasant employment, invigorated my physical powers, and, I am satisfied, has been instrumental, under Providence, in the prologation of my earthly existence for many years. It has diverted attention from myself, and prevented the intrusive approaches of the malady which afflicts the pessimist.”

The first two items in his collection were letters written by Norwegian violinist Ole Bull and Lydia Maria Child, American author and abolitionist. “These two letters created in me an earnest desire to possess more treasures of a similar kind” (p. v). As the collection grew, he understood an even greater purpose for such material—given the types of material he collected and the nature of their content relating to topics in history, biography, philosophy, art, science, education, and religion and theology. Following the first items came a letter written by George Washington, the nephew of the country’s first president, then letters from President George Washington, 51 from President Thomas Jefferson, at least one letter from each president before McKinley, signers of the Declaration of Independence, his friend’s Benson J. Lossing’s Pictoral Field-Book of the Revolution, and a collection of autographs created by Baltimore resident Robert Gilmor. Dreer then began acquiring documents from aboard including England, France, and Germany. Once satisfied with the formation of the collection, Dreer, in 1890, donated it to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, “one of the useful and flourishing institutions of my native city.”

Dreer married Abigail Dickinson in 1834 and they had two sons Frederick A. and Ferdinand J. Dreer Jr. Dreer died in 1902 leaving behind a rich legacy of service and philanthropy to the city of Philadelphia and the nation.

The Dreer Collection consists of four sections: specimen autographs arranged by Dreer in categories; additions to the collection after 1890, largely alphabetically arranged; individual letterbooks, journals, literary manuscripts, and small collections assembled by others; and a collection of English and continental literary figures of the mid-19th century, assembled by Samuel Carter Hall, editor of the British Art Journal. The collection includes: political and military figures; European political and military figures; fine and performing artists; American and European literary figures; clergymen; scientists and explorers; and British and continental literary figures of the nineteenth century. These catergories are further broken down as follows:

Autographs of political and military figures, 1497-1922: Colonial Conventions, including the Albany and Stamp Act Congresses; members of the Old Congress; signers of the Declaration, with the state seals; members of the Federal Convention; Presidents Washington to Harding and their cabinets; governors of the states; mayors of Philadelphia to 1893; American statesmen; officers in America before the Revolution; generals of the Revolution; soldiers of the Revolution; officers in the War of 1812 and the Mexican War; American naval officers; Union generals; Confederate generals; and Union officers.

Autographs of European political and military figures, 1571-1917: Statesmen of continental Europe; British statesmen; French Revolution; royal personages; British military; British navy; officers of the French army and navy; miscellaneous military figures.

Autographs of fine and performing artists, 1492-1921: Actors, singers, and dancers; painters and engravers; architects and sculptors; musicians and composers.

American and European literary figures, 1604-1918: American prose writers; American poets; British prose writers; British poets; German prose writers; French prose writers; European writers; continental poets.

Autographs of clergymen, 1492-1921: American Protestant Episcopal bishops; American clergy; popes and cardinals; figures of the Protestant Reformation; British clergy.

Autographs of scientists and explorers, 1492-1912: Inventors; travelers and explorers; physicians, surgeons, and chemists; astronomers; scientists.

Miscellaneous manuscripts, 1730-1892: Letters of Nicholas Biddle; Bank of the United States; American lawyers; British lawyers; philanthropists; and famous merchants.

Literary and scientific autographs and manuscripts, 1703-1900: Letters, literary manuscripts, and journals organized around individuals, institutions, or events. Of American interest are: letters of the Penn family, 1666-1786; letter of Evan Evans, Rector of Christ Church, Philadelphia, to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, 1707; Franklin’s “Queries to be asked the Junto;” letters from Patrick Henry to George Washington, 1777-1778, concerning the Conway cabal; papers of George Washington, 1744-1799; letters of Thomas Jefferson, 1774-1825; letters of Robert Morris, 1777-1799; letters of Thomas Jefferson, 1774-1825; letters of Robert Morris, 1777-1799; Jacob Rush’s letters to John Hancock, 1777; letters to Philadelphia naturalist Humphrey Marshall from Thomas Parke, John Abell, and other naturalists in America and Europe, 1772-1796; John Heckewelder’s journal, 1793; and letters, papers, and prints illustrating Marquis de LaFayette’s life, 1784-1830.

Dreer also collected a comprehensive group of papers relating to the publication of John Marshall’s Life of George Washington, including the holograph manuscript for volumes 4 and 5 (the first three volumes were destroyed in a printing office fire), subscription lists, and letters between Caleb P. Wayne, the publisher, and Mason Locke Weems and William Poyntell, his agents, as well as letters from Bushrod Washington and John Marshall.

From his friend Robert Dale Owen, Dreer received holograph copies of “The Future of the North West in connection with the scheme of Reconstruction without New England,” 1863; Owen’s examination of spiritualism, “Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World,” 1860; and a letter addressed to President Lincoln in 1863, “The Pardoning Power in its Relation to Reconstruction.”

Other literary manuscripts include: Edgar Allan Poe, holograph copies of verse and a book review; letters of Jared Sparks, 1835-1843, to Edward Ingraham; Leigh hunt, manuscript for About Ben Adhem; William Duane’s book of humorous anecdotes; John Fanning Watson, “Historical Incidents of Germantown,” 1823, “Annals of Philadelphia” and supplement, and genealogical material concerning the Fanning family; Francis Hopkinson’s transcription, 1776, of “Chronological Tables of Europe;” John Redman’s annotated copy of Emanuel Swedenborg’s Delights of Wisdom concerning Conjugal Love (London, 1794); and John Penn’s copy of Les Vrais Principes de la Langue francaise (Amsterdam, 1747).

Scientific and miscellaneous manuscripts complete this section of the collection: Benjamin Rush manuscripts, 1786-1813; materials relating to the polar expedition of John Ross, 1832-1836; letters to Alfred L. Elwyn, Treasurer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1848-1856; and Elisha Kent Kane’sjournal, 1853-1855, of the 2nd Grinnel Expedition and correspondence with George W. Childs concerning its publication. Also present: Thomas Rush memorandum book, 1711-1749; surveys of land of Richard Peters, 1742-1765; miscellaneous manuscripts of Friends Meetings, Middletown, Bucks County, and elsewhere, 1731-1832; records of the Homony Club, Annapolis, Md., 1770-1773; Chester Cunty bail books, 1768-1785, and special bail book, 1805-1830; Bucks County, militia brigade inspector’s reports, 1800-1818; Philadelphia Fire Company constitution and minutes, 1818-1837; dockets of justices of the peace, Adams County, 1830-1832, 1858-1860; subscription list for mezzotint engraving after Athenaeum portrait of George Washington, published by George W. Childs, 1852, with testimonial letters from U.S. senators; diaries and accounts of Mrs. Scott Siddons, 1881-1890; Robert Proud accounts for his Philadelphia school, 1751-1790, with a list of students; and Thomas Sully’s Register of Portraits.

Political and military history papers, 1518-1864: Dreer collected Civil War materials extensively, including William G. Brownlow, “History of the Rise, Progress and Decline of the Great Rebellion, 1861-1862,” published in 1862; letterpress book of Brevet Brigadier General James A. Ekin; papers relating to John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry, Va., his trial and subsequent execution; letters of Confederate General Gideon J. Pillow to his wife Mary; scrapbooks of “Rebellion Relics,” including ephemera, songsheets, broadsides, photograph of John Wilkes Booth, and Confederate and United States fractional currency; diary, 1862-1863, of John H. Markley, a sergeant in the Pennsylvania Volunteers; and Francis Janvier’s manuscript of his Civil War poem, “The Sleeping Sentinel,” 1863.

Represented, too, are a number of political and military figures from other periods: documents relating to the history of Holland, 1518-1673, including several of William the Silent and William III, in Dutch, and a summary account of the Estates General; letter of James VI of Scotland to Queen Anne of Denmark, 1593; documents relating to Admiral Sir William Penn, 1650-1651, including minutes of several Councils of War off Spain and of the Admiralty Board, 1655-1667; holograph and typescript of William Darlington’s “Memoirs and Correspondence of John Lacey, Esq.;” Jacob Vandel’s “Notes on the Mexican War,” 1846, revised 1874; returns of Daniel Wier, Commissary to His Majesty’s Troops in America, 1777; log of the U.S. brig Argus, 1808-1811; account with sloop Sally, 1763-1764; and letters of Edward Rutledge of South Carolina.

Miscellaneous letters, 1703-1883: Miscellaneous letters and papers of Americans and Europeans including correspondence of John Fothergill, Yorkshire Quaker merchant, and his son, Dr. John Fothergill, 1703-1798; letters collected by the family of John Franklin, pioneer settler in the Wyoming Valley; and papers of Edwin Greble, Philadelphia politician, 1853-1883. Also included in ephemeral Americana removed from a volume labeled by Dreer “Historical and Literary Curiosities.” Samuel Carter Hall letters, ca. 1850-1880: Letters addressed to Samuel Carter Hall, editor of the Art Journal, and his wife, Anna Maria Fielding Hall. Correspondents include: W. C. Aitken, William Cullen Bryant, Fredrika Bremer, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton, and Walter Savage Landor, 1850-1880s. Dreer formed this collection of “letters written by the hands of persons of different nationalities and distinguished in almost every arena of intellectual activity” between 1848 and 1890. To these holograph items Dreer added engravings, lithographs, and other ephemera illustrative of the careers of the individuals whose autographs he collected. With funds provided by Dreer at the time of his gift and by his estate, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania has continued to add to the collection.

The Dreer Collection was formed by gifts, purchases, and exchanges. Dreer’s most important early purchase was part of the Robert Gilmor Collection in 1851, a collection particularly rich in the papers of the Penn family, George Washington, and British and European artists and literary figures. In 1863 Dreer retired from the jewelry business to devote himself entirely to “my favorite employment and recreation of collecting, repairing, and arranging autograph letters.” The collection he formed is rather idiosyncratic and personal and reveals his interest in the arts and sciences, exploration, spiritualism, and the Civil War. Until 1870 Dreer dealt exclusively with American dealers and collectors, but thereafter he began to buy extensively in Europe. Throughout his collecting career Dreer received significant gifts from individuals whose papers he was collecting as well as from other collectors. Such gifts included an important group from Robert Dale Owen, and the Hall Collection from George W. Childs, editor of the Public Ledger.

After Dreer’s death, Simon Gratz bought extensively for the collection. The purchases recorded in the accession book reveal Gratz’ taste for political Americana more than they reflect Dreer’s interests.

1. Series I: Alphabetical Section
2. Series II: Subjects Section
3. Series III: Volumes
4. Series IV: Oversize Section