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Old York Road Historical Society scrapbooks collection
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Held at: Old York Road Historical Society [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Old York Road 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
Montgomery County, situated in southeastern Pennsylvania, was established in 1784 out of the western portion of Philadelphia County. Part of the Welsh Tract, an area of Pennsylvania settled by Quakers from Wales, it is located along the Schuylkill River. Montgomery County has played an important role in U.S. history, including being the site of such Revolutionary War events as the dramatic reshaping of Washington's Army at Valley Forge and the lesser-known engagement of General Lafayette at Barren Hill. Among its significant residents are military figures Winfield S. Hancock, John F. Hartranft (also Governor of Pennsylvania), and Henry "Hap" Arnold; abolitionist Lucretia Mott; inventors David Rittenhouse and Thaddeus Lowe; and artist Thomas Hovenden. Since its founding, Montgomery County has experienced "booming industry and manufacturing, rich farm fields, advanced transportation, artistic endeavors and unique religious beliefs."
The Old York Road Historical Society studies and preserves the history and folklore of the communities along and adjacent to Old York Road from Philadelphia to New Hope. In particular, the Society's collection documents the area of eastern Montgomery County including the townships of Abington (incorporated 1704), Cheltenham (established 1682), Lower Moreland (incorporated 1917) and Upper Moreland (incorporated 1916) and the boroughs of Bryn Athyn (incorporated 1916), Hatboro (established 1740), Jenkintown (incorporated 1874) and Rockledge (incorporated 1893).
Bibliography:
Historical Society of Montgomery County. "Home." Accessed May 7, 2013. http://www.hsmcpa.org/
This collection consists of both scrapbooks created by Old York Road Historical Society (OYRHS) and scrapbooks that were created by individuals and acquired by OYRHS. The scrapbooks created by OYRHS number some 21 volumes and contain clippings, memorabilia, photographs, and other types of ephemera that date from 1890 to 2000 and pertain to eastern Montgomery County. The scrapbooks created by individuals include:
Frank T. Boutcher, Abington and surrounding areas, 1911-1945, 1 vol. Richard Fetter, Abington and Jenkintown, 1975-1993, 2 vols. Joseph MacMahon, Abington Civil Defense, 1942-1944, 1 vol. William H. McCann, general interest including eastern Montgomery County, 1930-1939, 8 vols. Florence Ridpath, eastern Montgomery County and adjoining areas, 1905-1948, 18 vols. Seltzer scrapbooks
Subject and/or name indexes exist for some of the scrapbooks. Photocopy "access copies" exist for several volumes (including the Ridpath and some OYRHS scrapbooks).
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 Old York Road Historical Society directly for more information.
People
Organization
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- Old York Road Historical Society
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Celia Caust-Ellenbogen and Faith Charlton 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 Old York Road Historical Society for information about accessing this collection.