Main content
Patriotic Order Sons of America Washington Camp No. 667 records
Notifications
Held at: Historical Society of Frankford [Contact Us]1507 Orthodox St., Philadelphia, PA, 19124
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Historical Society of Frankford. 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 Patriotic Order Sons of America was organized by Dr. Reynell Coates of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December 10, 1847. Originally named the Junior Sons of America, the group was open to native born or naturalized American young men aged 16 to 21. After reaching the age of 21, one's membership was transferred to the Junior Sons of America's parent organization, the United Sons of America. The purpose of the organization was to educate young men about American ideals and inspire them to uphold and defend the "American way of life." Soon after its inception, the organization expanded throughout the state of Pennsylvania with various local chapters called "camps." Each local chapter was named "Washington Camp" with a number designating the chapter. Just over a decade later, the organization had chapters in twenty states.
Although the United Sons of America disbanded in the 1850s, the Junior Sons of America endured. Since many members enlisted as soldiers in the American Civil War, the number of active camps dwindled, and many camps located in the southern states disbanded completely. After the war, the remaining members decided to reorganize the Junior Sons, renaming it the Patriotic Order Sons of America and getting rid of the age limit requirement. The group was officially incorporated on February 27, 1867. The Order expanded throughout the United States from 1870 to 1900, especially along the Eastern Seaboard. As of 2014, the Order is still active nationally although almost all of the remaining camps are located in Pennsylvania. Women as well as men are currently eligible for membership.
Patriotic Order Sons of America, Washington Camp Number 667 was established in Frankford, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1892. Frankford's Washington Camp 667 became inactive in approximately 1946.
Bibliography:
Patriotic Order Sons of America. "Information." 2013. Accessed August 1, 2014. http://posofa.org/information/.
Patriotic Order Sons of America National Camp. "History." 2014. Accessed August 1, 2014. http://www.nationalposofa.org/History.html.
This collection consists of meeting minutes, account books, correspondence, reports, receipts, and other organizational records. A preliminary inventory of the collection is available below.
Also included in the collection are several objects: a pair of ornamental metal brackets, a wooden gavel, a wooden voting box (along with a set of black and white voting balls), and several ornamental ribbons.
Preliminary Inventory
Minutes, 5 volumes and 1 set of folded papers (Minutes from 1910-1932 appear to be missing) Volumes:
Papers:January 1896-September 1899
October 1899-December 1904
January 1905-July 1910
September 1932-June 1938
June 1938-December 1944
Set of papers folded into a brown wrapper labeled “Minutes Camp # 667 June 30 – Dec 31 ’45 (but they appear to be notes and correspondence, not minutes)
Financial Records, 5 volumes and many loose items Account Books
1892-1893? (includes name indexes)
1892-1906? (includes name indexes; inserted into this book are a large number of loose items – receipts, correspondence, reports, and other papers)
July 1906-September 1911
1912-1944
Receipt Book, January 1942-January 1944
Annual & Semi-Annual Reports, set of loose papers
Annual Reports, 1892-1902
Semi-Annual Reports, 1892-1902
Other Records
1 set of membership application cards – some filled out, but most unused
1 set of rolled 1946 materials, including correspondence, reports, receipts, and other items
1 set of rolled 1947 materials, including correspondence, reports, receipts, and other items
Multiple copies of booklets entitled “Local Laws of Washington Camp No. 667,” published in 1917
1 booklet entitled “Ritual of the Patriotic Order Sons of America,” published in 1936
1 box of unused membership payment forms
Small group of unused envelopes with organization’s return address printed on them
Non-archival Items:
a pair of ornamental metal brackets
1 wooden gavel
1 wooden voting box (along with a set of black and white voting balls)
several ornamental ribbons
These materials were discovered in the basement of a building at 1811 Orthodox Street by Mr. Nathan Meles, who rented the building for his business, Knorr Glass Company, which he ran from 1949 to 1999. Mr. Meles donated the records to the Historical Society of Frankford on October 25, 2006.
Summary descriptive information on this collection was compiled in 2014-2016 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 the Historical Society of Frankford directly for more information.
Organization
- Patriotic Order Sons of America. Washington Camp No. 667 (Philadelphia, Pa.).
- Patriotic Order Sons of America.
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- Historical Society of Frankford
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Sarah Leu and Anastasia Matijkiw 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 Historical Society of Frankford for information about accessing this collection.