Call Number:

C0598

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 41 boxes
• 16.4 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Philadelphia Customhouse Records, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1824-1928 (inclusive)

Creator:

United States. Bureau of Customs. Philadephia Region

Form:

Correspondence.

Abstract:

Consists of correspondence and various records of the Philadelphia Customhouse dating from the 19th century to the early 1920s.

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.