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Fred Muscella film negatives
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Held at: Delaware County Historical Society [Contact Us]408 Avenue of the States, Chester, Pennsylvania, 19013
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Delaware County 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
Alfred L. Muscella, Sr. was a professional photographer who lived and worked in Chester, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. A graduate of the Antonelli School of Photography in Philadelphia, Muscella opened Muscella Studios (located at 3rd St. and Pusey) in Chester in 1946. He was well known as an excellent portrait and wedding photographer. In 1967, Muscella worked for the Delaware County Court House in Media as the county photographer.
Muscella was the son of Oreste Ernest Muscella (1896-1957) and Adelina Calvarese Muscella (1899-1941), and the brother of William Muscella (1922- 1968) and Joseph Muscella. He married Rose Ann Moore with whom he had several children.
A U.S. Army veteran, Muscella served in World War II as a chaplain's assistant. He was a member of the 1918 Club, Sons of Italy 12th of October Lodge, and the Columbus Memorial Society. Muscella spent the last three years of his life at the Residence of Glen Riddle, PA.
Bibliography:
"Alfred L. Muscella Sr., 89, Former Professional Photographer." Delaware County Daily Times. Obituary found on ancestry.com.
This collection consists primarily of 4"x5" film negatives, with some film strip negatives and 4"x5" prints from later years. The collection is organized into series by year, and then in alphabetical order by client. The negatives are stored in sleeves that are labeled with the date, client last name, and sometimes client first name and/or event type.
An item-level inventory up to 1983 is available on site.
Gift of Fred Muscella, circa 2002.
Summary descriptive information on this collection was compiled in 2012-2014 as part of a 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 Delaware County Historical Society directly for more information.
People
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- Delaware County Historical Society
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Celia Caust-Ellenbogen and Faith Charlton 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 Delaware County Historical Society for information about accessing this collection.