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Borough of Conshohocken records
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Held at: Conshohocken Historical Society [Contact Us]120 E. 5th Avenue, Conshohocken, PA, 19428
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Conshohocken 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 borough of Conshohocken, incorporated in 1850, is located on the east bank of the Schuylkill River, thirteen miles northwest of Philadelphia, on one square mile of land in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Its proximity to major transportation links, natural resources, and markets created a favorable environment for the rise of a virtually self-contained industrial, commercial, residential, civic and religious community. Perhaps best known for its great industrial firms, such as the Alan Wood Iron and Steel Company, whose roots date back to the early 1800s, and "Lee of Conshohocken," the automobile tire company founded in the early 1900s, Conshohocken played a major role in the industrial development of southeastern Pennsylvania. The growth of the town's industries brought together wealthy Quaker mill and landowners with immigrant laborers from Ireland, Poland, Italy, and other European countries to give the borough its distinctive character. As the town's industries expanded and moved outside the borough limits in the early twentieth century, Conshohocken evolved from an industrial leader into a primarily residential community."
Bibliography:
Quoted text from: Conshohocken Historical Society. "Conshohocken Historical Survey." Accessed May 18, 2012. http://www.conshohockenpa.org/visitor/history.
This collection is comprised of three groups of records: minute books of Town Council of the Borough of Conshohocken, borough financial records, and School Board of Conshohocken records.
The minutes of the Borough of Conshohocken Town Council date from 1850 to 1986. The minute books have been digitized, and are available through the Access Pennsylvania Digital Repository at http://www.accesspadr.org/cdm4/about.php?CISOROOT=%2Fpcofl-mtc1.
The financial records consist of Borough of Conshohocken bonds and bond coupons (1921-1940) and a cash account ledger (circa 1930s-1960s).
The School Board of Conshohocken records are comprised of the group's first minutes and attendance records (1850-1861), and three minute books (1897-1909, 1910-1919, and 1929-1936)
The School Board volumes were acquired by the Historical Society circa 1970 (source unknown). The Conshohocken Borough Town Council records were put in the Conshohocken Historical Society's stewardship in 1999.
Summary descriptive information on this collection was compiled in 2011-2012 as part of a pilot project conducted by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania to make better known and more accessible the largely hidden collections of small, primarily volunteer run repositories in the Philadelphia area. The Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories (HCI-PSAR) was funded by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
This is a preliminary finding aid. No physical processing, rehousing, reorganizing, or folder listing was accomplished during the HCI-PSAR project.
In some cases, more detailed inventories or finding aids may be available on-site at the repository where this collection is held; please contact Conshohocken Historical Society directly for more information.
Organization
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- Conshohocken Historical Society
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Celia Caust-Ellenbogen and Michael Gubicza through the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories
- Sponsor
- This preliminary finding aid was created as part of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories. The HCI-PSAR project was made possible by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
- Access Restrictions
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Contact Conshohocken Historical Society for information about accessing this collection.