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Hannum family papers
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Held at: Kennett Township Historical Commission [Contact Us]801 Burrows Run Road, Chadds Ford, PA, 19317
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Kennett Township Historical Commission. 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 Hannum family were members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) based in and around Kennett Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Charles Beverly Hannum was born in Chester County in 1861. At times he was employed as a railroad agent and owner of a general store. He married Caroline Darlington in 1890, and the couple had three sons: Edward Darlington Hannum (1892-1977), William T. Hannum (born 1895), and Charles Beverly Hannum, Jr. (born 1900).
Edward Darlington Hannum (1892-1977) married Sarah B. Cloud circa 1915, and the couple had two sons together: Joseph C. and Edward T. He was a graduate of Cedarcroft School in East Marlborough Township. At various times, he listed his occupation as postmaster, greenhouse manager, florist, and mushroom grower. Mushrooms became a dominant force in the local economy over the course of the 20th century; by the turn of the 21st century, well over half of the mushrooms consumed in the United States were produced in southern Chester County.
This collection consists of various papers of the Hannum, Cloud, and Darlington families, including photographs, scrapbooks, financial records, and other documents. Best represented are Charles B. Hannum and Edward D. Hannum; there are also papers from Mary Matilda Cloud (1850s), Carrie D. Hannum (1890s-1910s), Eva L. Hannum, and others. Of interest are: a diary from J. Frank Hannum, 1871-1872 (transcription available on-site); postal account records from E. B. Darlington, postmaster of Norway (later renamed Rosedale, Kennett Township), 1887-1889; and store ledgers, presumably from the Hannum's general store, dating from the 1870s-1890s and from the 1940s.
Gift of Sara Hannum Meadows, 2014.
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 Kennett Township Historical Commission directly for more information.
People
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- Kennett Township Historical Commission
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Celia Caust-Ellenbogen and Sarah Leu 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 Kennett Township Historical Commission for information about accessing this collection.