Call Number:

01

Repository:

Philadelphia History Museum

Extent:

3.75 linear feet

Language:

English

Date:

circa 1800-1989 (bulk 1935-1985)

Creator:

Wetherill, Reeves, 1912-1992

Abstract:

Reeves Wetherill (1912-1992) was a Philadelphia socialite who served as the Vice President for Public Relations at Wanamaker's department store from 1960-1987. He descended from Samuel Wetherill, a textile manufacturer involved in founding the Free Quakers during the American Revolution, and Christopher Wetherill, an early settler in Burlington County, New Jersey. The Reeves Wetherill scrapbooks, circa 1800-1989 (bulk 1935-1985), consist of about a dozen scrapbooks that document the activities of members of Philadelphia's upper class, including the lives of Reeves Wetherill and his wife, Sally Ann, as well as a small amount of 19th century documents relating to Reeves Wetherill's ancestors.

Reeves Wetherill (1912-1992) was a Philadelphia socialite and Vice President for Public Relations at Wanamaker's department store from 1960-1987.

Reeves Wetherill (whose full name was Biddle Reeves Wetherill) was born in 1912 to Abel Proctor Wetherill and Sarah Reeves Mullen and grew up in Lower Merion, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Graduating from University of Pennsylvania in 1936, Reeves had originally planned on working in his family's paint business, which they had run for six generations. When his father sold the business during the Great Depression, Reeves went to work for Strawbridge and Clothier in Philadelphia. After serving in World War II as a lieutenant commander in the Unites States Navy, Reeves returned to Philadelphia and worked at Gimbels department store in public relations and as the director of special events, where he helped plan the store's annual Thanksgiving Day parade. Later, he was briefly the manager of the Philadelphia branch of Saks Fifth Avenue. In 1953, Reeves began working at Wanamaker's department store and served as its Vice President for Public Relations from 1960 to 1987. As part of his duties, Reeves hosted, interviewed, and entertained celebrities who visited Philadelphia. Reeves married Sally Ann Chapman (1918-1990) in 1939. They had one child, Reeves Jr. Reeves Wetherill passed away in 1992 in Bryn Mawr, Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

The Wetherill family descended from Christopher Wetherill, an early settler of Burlington County, New Jersey in the 17th century. Another ancestor, Samuel Wetherill (1736-1816), owned a textile and chemical manufacturing business that supplied clothing to Continental troops during the American Revolutionary War. Samuel is considered to be the founder of the Religious Society of Free Quakers, a group who separated from the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) to support the American colonists' fight for independence from Britain during the Revolutionary War.

Bibliography:

Wallace, Andy. "Reeves Wetherill, 79; He Gave Stars Their Introduction to Brotherly Love." Philadelphia Inquirer, April 11, 1992. Accessed September 25, 2014. http://articles.philly.com/1992-04-11/news/26005945_1_celebrities-mill-grove-samuel-wetherill.

This collection consists primarily of scrapbooks, 1935-1985, that document the lives of members of the upper class in Philadelphia, including the lives of Reeves and Sally Ann Wetherill and Reeves' role at Wanamaker's department store. The scrapbooks, of which there are about a dozen, contain newspaper clippings, photographs, invitations and other ephemera. There is also a small amount of 19th century documents, including some relating to Reeve's ancestors Samuel Wetherill (1736-1816) and his son, Samuel Wetherill Jr. (1764-1829), who owned a textile manufacturing and chemical production business, and later a white lead paint factory, in Philadelphia in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The 19th century documents include: a few lithographs and engravings; letters; government petitions and other political related papers; minutes and resolutions from the Society of Constitutional Republicans, a short-lived (March-December 1805) organization established by Samuel Wetherill Jr. and others who opposed altering Pennsylvania's state constitution; and other documents. An item-level inventory of this collection is available on-site.