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Philadelphia Canoe Club records
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Held at: Chestnut Hill Historical Society [Contact Us]8708 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia, PA, 19118
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Chestnut Hill Historical Society. 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
“The Philadelphia Canoe Club (PCC) is one of the oldest and most distinguished paddling organizations in the United States. Headquartered in an 18th-century mill at the confluence of the Wissahickon Creek and Schuylkill River in the Manayunk section of Philadelphia, PCC counts among its members more than 200 canoeists and kayakers who take scores of trips every year on local rivers and streams as well as numerous waterways throughout North America.
“Chartered in 1905, Philadelphia Canoe Club is the third oldest paddling club in the United States. It began as a men’s social club situated on the picturesque banks of the Schuylkill River. Early members engaged in all forms of boating including canoeing and power-boating. Canoe racing was popular in the early days of the club and a number of members raced on an international level, including Russ McNutt, who competed in the 1936 Olympics held in Berlin. Other members competed in the Olympic Games in 1952, 1956 and 1972.
“PCC, an affiliate of the American Canoe Association (ACA), is an active teaching club, training new paddlers with a robust schedule of courses in flat-water and whitewater canoeing, whitewater kayaking, and sea-kayaking. Additionally, the club offers excellent training courses in river safety and swift-water rescue. Each year more than 300 people are introduced to paddling through PCC training courses. The ACA presented Philadelphia Canoe Club with its prestigious Stroke of Achievement Award for superior performance and program development in 2000 and 2005.
“The mill serving as the venerable home of PCC is a fascinating stone structure that was in commercial operation for many decades. Located on Fairmount Park property, the building, formerly known as Colony Castle, houses many fine examples of hand-crafted wooden canoes and kayaks built by members over the years. On display is a restored 34-foot 1911 Old Town War Canoe, which is taken out a few times a year and paddled on the Schuylkill River.
“Philadelphia Canoe Club members lead trips on a diverse selection of rivers throughout the region and continent. On any given weekend during the paddling season there may be as many as a half-dozen trips scheduled on both flat-water and whitewater destinations. Local rivers and streams paddled include the Schuylkill, Delaware, Lehigh, Tohickon, Nescopeck, Batsto, Mullica, Wading, Oswego, Maurice, Toms, Great Egg Harbor, Cedar Creek, Brandywine Creek, and Westecunk Creek. Other popular destinations include the Hudson, Potomac, New, Gauley, Ottawa, Black, Salmon, Youghiogheny, Cheat, Tygart, Big Sandy, and Deerfield. Canoe camping trips include excursions on the Upper Delaware, the many rivers of the Adirondacks, the rivers and lakes of Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, the rivers of the New Jersey Pine Barrens and Florida Keys.
“The club publishes a monthly newsletter, the CaNews, which highlights events and people.”
Bibliography: Philadelphia Canoe Club. “History.” Accessed November 27, 2013. http://www.philacanoe.org/history
The Philadelphia Canoe Club (PCC) Collection, 1905 to 2013, contains records relating to the functions of the organization. Primary subjects documented in the PCC Collection include: administrative records and financial records, activity records, newsletters, and photographs and 3D objects. The types of materials found in the collection include minutes, reports, ledgers, and logbooks.
As one of the third oldest paddling clubs in the United States, the Philadelphia Canoe Club Collection can provide a wealth of information for researchers looking to document the transition from a men’s social club to an active teaching club, to find specific members in financial ledgers, member registers or activities logbooks, or to look at the minutes that documented the changes. The well-documented photographs offer another intriguing view into the world of the PCC as well, documenting a number of locations in and around the Delaware Valley back to 1912.
The collection consists of several ongoing accessions. To maintain distinctions between the accessions based on how the collection is often used as well as the existing Chestnut Hill Historical Society PastPerfect collections management database records, each accession has been organized following the subsequent arrangement of series so as to parallel each other intellectually: “Administrative Records,” “Activities,” “Photographs,” and “Newsletters.” “Administrative Records” contains the subseries “Board of Directors Records,” “Secretary Records,” “Membership Records,” “Financial Records,” and “General Administrative Records.” Not all of the accessions contain all of the series or subseries and those that do contain the same series/subseries do not necessarily have the same type of records. Also, folders may contain a mix of types of records, including correspondence, logbooks, and unbound financial ledger pages.
It should be noted that despite the size of this collection there are a few gaps. The most significant gap for anyone doing research is a clear lack of records from the 1960s compared to other decades, although the accessions do overlap in some areas. Researchers can expect to have to look through several disjointed boxes of files in order to ensure that they have thoroughly searched likely sections of the collection.
Some general notes on how the series are arranged: There were multiple labels for the minutes in the “Membership Records” series that have been maintained: “regular meeting minutes,” “monthly meeting minutes,” “general membership meeting minutes,” and “general meeting minutes.”
The series “Administrative Records” contains the subseries “Board of Directors Records,” “Secretary Records,” “Membership Records,” “Financial Records,” and “General Administrative Records.”
The subseries “Board of Directors Records” spans from 1911-2011. These records were created as a result of the activities of the Board of Directors, also known as the Board of Trustees for the first 50 years of the Club’s history. The foldered records consist of Board of Directors meeting minutes, pertinent correspondence, and related records (occasionally general meeting minutes are mixed in); Board of Directors minute books (also labeled as Board of Trustees minute books), which are housed separately from the rest of the Board of Directors records, cover the years 1911-1955.
The subseries “Secretary Records” covers the years 1907 to 1943, 1947 to 1955, and 1977 to 1986. The foldered records include the years 1909 to 1945 and 1977 to 1986 and are divided into folders titled “Secretary’s Report Binder.” These “binders” include various combinations of the following records: monthly membership status reports; by-laws; Board of Directors meeting minutes; CaNews; correspondence; club directories; preliminary membership directories; General meeting minutes; membership information; news clippings; press releases; PCC rental policy; information on special events; trip schedules. The secretary minute books, which are housed separately from the rest of the Secretary records, cover the years 1907 to 1943 and 1947 to 1955. Although labeled “secretary’s minute books,” these minutes appear to be monthly meeting minutes as well.
The subseries “Membership Records” were created as a result of member activity in the club throughout the years and to make information available to members. Records are from 1907 to 2012. Included in the foldered records are letters of resignation, member lists, membership proposals, meeting notice cards, membership dues, membership information, membership cards, club directories, the Club Constitution and by-laws, the “Report of the Special Committee on Membership Issues to the Board of Directors of the PCC,” membership correspondence, and minutes: “regular meeting minutes and pertinent correspondence,” “monthly meeting minutes,” “general membership meeting minutes,” and “general meeting minutes.” Member registers are housed separately and cover the years 1907 to 1911, 1924 to 1929, and 1999 to 2008.
The subseries “Financial Records” spans the years from 1905 to 1965, 1970 to 1989, and 1984 to 2006 and is the result of the Club’s financial dealings. The foldered records include Auditing Committee reports, the Treasurer’s annual and monthly reports, receipts for rental of the Club, unemployment compensation, tax information, informal income reports, and Boat Shop financial statements, dues, balance sheets, and assorted financial and related records. Unbound ledger pages are mixed in with these records. This subseries also includes financial ledgers that are housed separately and cover the years 1905 to 1929. The ledgers include information such as locker rentals, membership dues, etc. Yearly summaries may be included at the back of the ledger.
The subseries “General Administrative Records” includes records from 1909 to 2011. These records are those that do not fit into the other series/subseries by definition. Examples of some records are: accession acquisition files, a photocopy of the 1905 PCC founding document, records concerning Club archival materials, records relating to the “Dragon Boat War,” Club grants, a letter regarding the Club’s entry on the Philadelphia register of historic places, PCC stationary, flood watch information, insurance policies, workmen’s compensation policies, PCC advertisement samples, American Whitewater Journal, caretaker employment contracts, a list of Club projects, proposal for sewer installation, the Constitution and by-laws, Quartermaster and Fleet Captain reports, records from the Boat Shop, various newsletters from other clubs, news clippings and articles about PCC, floppy discs (“back-ups,” minutes, membership, Commodore’s book), history of the Club, and property records. The bulk of these records are from the 1970s and 1980s. General correspondence and related records span from 1909 to 2002.
The series “Activities” includes records related to Club training, competitive events, and Club social functions. It covers the years 1907 to 1955, 1971 to 2005, 2008, and 2010. Foldered records, which span the years 1907 to 1955 and 1975 to 1986, include news clippings, Entertainments Committee reports and records, records relating to races and regattas (programs, schedules, results, reports), local and national tournaments, paddling activities, Pool Room, Paddling, and Tennis Committee reports, trip schedules, Club fleet records, the war canoe, several trip report notebooks, training programs, Flat Rock Dam, Dragon Boat records, and social function programs. Original titles for folders on races have been kept, but the folders may contain records for more than just the race listed as the folder title as well as related records.
Activity logbooks (housed separately) cover the years 1934, 1936 to 1940, 1949 to 1978, 1980 to 1985, and 1992 to 1997. The logbooks may be associated with training, camping, social functions, or an informal combination of both.
The “Photographs and 3D Objects” series contains photographs and albums that span from 1906 to 1986. Subjects of the photographs include: PCC Members at Club social functions, in training, at competitive events, Club renovations, etc. Written commentary and identification are included for a portion of the photographs. The 3D objects include a rubber, stamp, a seal press, Philadelphia Canoe Club t-shirts, two Club badges, and an envelope of keys for the bulletin board. These date from the 1970s and the early 2000s.
The Chestnut Hill Historical Society’s PastPerfect collections management database records contain more in depth information about the photographs for this collection.
Photographs include the following locations in and around the Delaware Valley (in alphabetical order):
Beaver Hole; Bellefonte, Pennsylvania; Boyer Street; Bowers Beach; Brown’s Mills; Canada; Catfish Dam; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Columbia Bridge; Catskill Mountains; Chesapeake City; Colony Castle American Canoe Association Encampment; Conshohocken; Davis Island; Delaware Breakwater; Delaware River; Delaware River Club; Dennings Point; East Falls, Midvale Avenue; Elkton, Maryland; Fairmount Park, the Wissahickon; Fairmount Dam; Fairmount Locks; Flat Rock Basin; Flat Rock Dam; Flat Rocks Locks, Dam; Fort Mifflin; Hainesport; Lehigh River; Lackanoo Canoe Club, Burlington, New Jersey; Lower Black Eddy; Maurice River; Milford, Pennsylvania; Norristown; Norristown Island; Oaks Canal, Island; Oaks Island; Pawlings Dam; Perkiomen Creek; Philadelphia Canoe Club; Philadelphia Canoe Club Colony Castle; Philadelphia Swimming Club; Phoenixville; Plymouth Dam; Port Clinton; Port Indian; Raymonds Kill Falls; Rancocas Creek; Reading Railroad; Red Bank, New Jersey; Ridge Avenue Bridge; Saint Georges; Schanno’s; Schuylkill River; Sea Side Park; Spring Mill; Stone Harbor, New Jersey; Tohickon Creek; Trenton Yacht Club; University of Pennsylvania; Valley Forge; Valley Green Inn; Wetherill’s Dam; Wilmington; Wissahickon Creek; Wissahickon (Forbidden) Drive; Youghiegheny River
Photographs include the following people (in alphabetical order):
Altenater, Ted; Altenader, Ted; Alteneder, Ted; Barinov, Lev; Bell, Carrie; Bell, Cary; Burke, Colleen; Burnard, Anne; Burnard, Jack; Carr, Debbie; Cass, Ben; Cass, Debbie; Cass, Gray; Cass, Graydon; Cass, Mary; Cass, Tracey; Childs, Linda; Coleman, Brenda; Czar Nicholas II, son Alexis; Dannenberg, David; Dannenberg, Sue; Dannenberg, Susan; Davies, George; Dyer, Wally; Feltz, Kathy; Fieldwider, Chip; Fulwider, Chip; Gossen, Phyllis; Gunther, Dave; Gutzait, Lou; H, Charlene; Harrison, Brad; Hartenstine, Bob; Hastenstein, Jack Barnard; Hawthorne, Byron; Herdman, Dave; Herdman, Susie; Herrman, Jane; Horistern, Pauly; Hortenstine, Charlene Falcone; Hughes, Ned; The Keenys; King, Don; Knight, Dave; Knight, Krystina; Krook, Bob; Leebman, Paul; Lieberman, Len; Marvin, Rich; Miller, Lena; Morgan, Judy; Moss, Elaine; Moyer, Janet; Natali, Paul; Niefeld, Joyce; Ogden, Ralph F.; Pitts, Carol; Pitts, Paul; Potts, Luke; Potts, Lurken; Reese, Dave; Rogers, Gary; Sands, Rick; Schnarr, Dawn; Shaffer, Marilyn; Smith, Harry D.; Stahl, Herb; Sopp, Conrad; Stahl, Joe; Stansbury, Wm B.; Stopford, Jeff; Stopfford, Jeff; Susie; Swart, Charles M.; Wallridge, Charlie
“The club publishes a monthly newsletter, the CaNews, which highlights events and people.” The series "Newsletters" includes copies of the PCC newsletter from 1973 to 2013; it should be noted that not every copy of the newsletter is included in this series for the dates covered. It is not known if missing issues are truly missing or if there was no printing for a given month. This series also includes some records of the layout of The Beaver, drafts of articles, and related records.
Information about accessions
The accessions that make up this collection map onto the following boxes
Accession 2000.91: Boxes #21, 22
“Photographs” (1906 to 1986)
Accession 2000.103: Boxes #1-8, 13, 14, 18
“Administrative Records” (1907 to 1986) “Board of Directors Records” (1911-1986) “Secretary Records” (1907-1943, 1947-1955, 1977-1986) “Membership Records” (1907-1986) “Financial Records” (1909-1952, 1970-1979, 1984-1985) “Activities” (1907 to 1955, 1973 to 1986, and 1992 to 1997)
Accession 2005.127
This accession contains a group of records that appear to have been merged with other accessions prior to the creation of this finding aid. There is now no distinction of a 2005.127 accession in the physical collection.
Accession 2008.99: Boxes #9-16, 18-20
“Administrative Records” (1917, 1950 to 1957, 1970 to 1978, and 1981 to 2005, 2008 to 2013) “Board of Directors Records” (1950-1957, 1974-1978, 1987, 1990-2005, 2008-2013) “Membership Records” (1926-1962, 1984-2006) “Financial Records” (1908-1912, 1920, 1923-1935, 1938-1965, 1975, 1982, 1989, 1990-2006) “Activities” (1911, 1946, 1948, 1951 to 1953, 1971 to 2005, 2008) “Photographs” (1912 to1936, probably 1950, and 1971 to 1984) “Newsletters” (1973 to 2013)
Accession 2013.14: Boxes #17
“Administrative Records” (1991 to 1992, 2000 to 2001, 2005 to 2006, and 2009 to 2011) “Board of Directors Records” (2009-2011) “Membership Records” (1990-1992, 2007-2012) “Activities” (1990-1993, 1996-1997, 2005, 2010)
This collection was processed as part of the HCI-PSAR Internship Pilot Program, facilitated by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories (HCI-PSAR) in fall of 2013. The HCI-PSAR project was funded by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The HCI-PSAR Intern who processed this collection, Claire (Tracy) Ulmer, received guidance and supervision from professional archivists at the Drexel University College of Medicine Archives and Special Collections.
Organization
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- Chestnut Hill Historical Society
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Claire (Tracy) Ulmer
- Finding Aid Date
- 12/16/2013