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Philadelphia Custom House Records
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Held at: Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division. 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
From History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884 by John Thomas Scharf and Thompson Westcott (Philadelphia: L.H. Everts & Co., 1884): "In 1810, the United States authorized the purchase of a lot of ground and the construction of a building for the use of the custom-house and the various offices connected therewith . . . . A lot of ground was bought on the west side of Second Street, below Dock, at the northwest corner of Elmslie's Alley, running through to Laurel Court, afterward called Levant Street. Here, on the 12th of July, 1819, the first Federal building used for a custom-house in the city was opened . . . . In this building the business of the Philadelphia custom-house was carried on until about 1845, when the United States Bank having failed, the white marble building on Chestnut Street, between Fourth and Fifth, occupied by that institution, was purchased by the United States government, and has been in use ever since." In 1934, it was replaced by the present Custom House at Second and Chestnut Streets. I
The collection consists of correspondence and various records of the Philadelphia Customhouse dating from the 19th century to the early 1920s. The collection includes invoices, consumption entry permits, cargo descriptions, affidavits on entry of returned American products, daily reports of the assistant weigher, withdrawal entries, oaths or affirmations for the U.S. Bureau of Navigation by new masters of a vessel, and bound records of legal proceedings, such as those for Lancaster Mills vs. Thomas and Tracy. There is correspondence among customhouse brokers, the collector of customs, and John F. Hartranft of the Port of Philadelphia appraiser's office.
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Folder inventory prepared by Fadzilah Yahaya GS in 2011.
Organization
Subject
- Publisher
- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Date
- 2011
- Access Restrictions
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The collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
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Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.
Collection Inventory
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