Call Number:

21

Repository:

Historical Society of Frankford

Extent:

300.0 linear feet

Language:

English

Date:

circa 19th century-1940s (bulk 1860s-1940s)

Creator:

Lodge, J. Friend (John Friend), 1870-1944

Abstract:

John Friend Lodge (1870-1944) was the proprietor of a cotton yarn manufacturing company in the Frankford neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lodge invented a device for removing kinks from yarn and threads and was granted a patent for the device in 1911. Lodge was also a collector of Lincolniana, Civil War memorabilia, and signatures of well-known Americans, amassing a large collection before his death in 1944. The J. Friend Lodge collection on Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, and Americana, circa 19th century-1940s (bulk 1860s-1940s), consists primarily of published books on the topics of Abraham Lincoln, the American Civil War, and well-known Americans. Also in the collection are sixteen volumes with signatures and some images of famous Americans, pamphlets and booklets relating to Abraham Lincoln or the American Civil War, photographs, newspaper clippings, Civil War and Americana artifacts, and other materials.

John Friend Lodge (1870-1944) was the proprietor of a cotton yarn manufacturing company in the Frankford neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lodge invented a device for removing kinks from yarn and threads and was granted a patent for the device in 1911. Lodge was also a collector of Lincolniana, Civil War memorabilia, and signatures of well-known Americans, amassing a large collection before his death in 1944.

This collection primarily consists of hundreds of published books on the topics of Abraham Lincoln, the American Civil War, and well-known Americans collected by J. Friend Lodge. A listing of the published books in the collection organized first by topic and then alphabetically by author is available on-site. Most of the books contain one or more autographs from either the author or the persons mentioned in the book such as military figures, politicians (including several presidents of the United States), authors, and others. A sampling of signatures includes Ulysses Grant, General George Meade, Robert E. Lee, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Seward, John Brown, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Thomas Jefferson, and Walt Whitman.

In addition to the published books, there are sixteen large autograph volumes containing signatures of well-known individuals with an accompanying illustration or photograph of the individual. Civil War figures are highly represented, but also included are political and government figures (including every United States president from George Washington through Franklin Roosevelt) and other public individuals. Also included in this collection are several large framed items relating to the American Civil War such as collages of photographs and signatures of military personnel associated with the battles of Gettysburg and Appomattox Court House. Other collages consist of photographs of Abraham Lincoln and collections of Confederate money. Other photographs in the collection depict a Civil War soldier, a building where a Civil War solider died, and an artist who painted a portrait of Lincoln.

There are two boxes of printed materials in the collection: one is organized alphabetically by individual and contains newspaper and magazine articles and prints, photographs, and other items related to related to famous people. The other box contains the same type of materials as in the first box, but also has letters and signatures.

A small number of facsimiles of primary source documents such as the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, and other significant documents are present in the collection, as well as a small amount of pressed flowers and wood chips.

There is a large portion of pamphlets relating to Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, and related topics.

A number of Civil War artifacts and objects are also included in the collection such as canteens, uniform buttons and sashes, and fragments of military shells and bullets.