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Highlands Historical Society architectural drawings collection

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Held at: Highlands Historical Society [Contact Us]7001 Sheaff Lane, Fort Washington, PA, 19034

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Highlands 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 Highlands was originally built for Anthony Morris (1766-1860), a lawyer and politician who served as speaker of the Pennsylvania Senate from 1793-1794. The home was built by Morris to escape the yellow fever epidemic of 1793 in Philadelphia. The estate served as a farm and summer house for Morris and his family until it was sold to the Sheaff family in 1813. The Sheaff family resided in the home year-round until 1917 when it was sold to the Sinkler family. The Sinkler family donated the remaining estate to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which took ownership in 1970. The estate is currently administered by The Highlands Historical Society.

Bibliography:

Signs displayed at The Highlands, November 14, 2011.

This collection consists of blueprints and architectural drawings of The Highlands estate and grounds. The bulk of the collection is of the landscape/grounds of the property. The vast majority of the drawings were commissioned by the Highlands Historical Society, although some were commissioned by the Sinkler/Roosevelt family.

The bulk of this collection was commissioned by The Highlands Historical Society.

Publisher
Highlands 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

Contact Highlands Historical Society for information about accessing this collection.

Collection Inventory

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