Call Number:

03

Repository:

Germantown Historical Society

Extent:

1.7 linear feet

Language:

English

Date:

1901-1912 (bulk) and 1849-1912 (inclusive)

Creator:

Ployd, Naaman Keyser, 1840-1918

Abstract:

Naaman K. Ployd (1840-1918) was a Civil War veteran, newspaper columnist, and local historian who lived in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Naaman K. Ployd scrapbooks, 1849-1912, consist of ten scrapbooks relating largely to the Civil War and Germantown history.

"Naaman Keyser Ployd was a newspaperman and Germantown historian, who was born July 20, 1840. His great-great-grandfather was Captain John Miller, who fought under George Washington in the Revolution. Ployd was born on East Haines Street, which was then known as Old Methodist Lane. He was a member of Company B of the 119th Pennsylvania Volunteers and was, for many years, active in the affairs of Ellis Post Six, Grand Army of the Republic, of which he was a past commander. Ployd was also a Mason and a member of the Odd Fellows. He used the pseudonyms "Mr. Mosby" and the "Man on the Corner," among others, for his newspaper articles. Ployd died April 8, 1918, at his home, 6337 Baynton Street, and is interred in Ivy Hill Cemetery."

Bibliography:

Stackhouse, Eugene G. Germantown in the Civil War. Chicago: The History Press, 2010. Pages 10-12.

All but one of the ten Naaman K. Ployd (1840-1918) scrapbooks are composed entirely of newspaper and magazine clippings. The clippings relate to Civil War soldiers from Germantown, the Grand Army of the Republic, and general Germantown history; there are also many obituaries and personality profiles. Some clippings of political cartoons, housekeeping tips, and items from ladies' magazines are featured in some of the scrapbooks. (Ployd's wife died around the time he began creating the scrapbooks.)

Volume I is unique among Ployd's scrapbooks for including a significant amount of original materials. It features a large amount of correspondence, mostly with members of Ellis Post 6, Grand Army of the Republic. There are also a few family photographs and documents in the front of the volume, and some needlepoint samplers (attributed to his wife and dated 1900) in the back.

An index to the scrapbooks is available on-site.