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Charles and John D. Fridy lantern slides

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Held at: Philadelphia History Museum [Contact Us]15 South 7th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19106

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Philadelphia History Museum. 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

"Charles Duhring Fridy [(1910-2004)] was born in Philadelphia [Pennsylvania], the son of Ella Swift Duhring and medical doctor Cyrus Ward Fridy. Charles and his older brother, and future business partner, John D. Fridy [(1908-2000)], [both attended Episcopal Academy in Merion, Pennsylvania and] studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania at the same time, earning...[bachelor's degrees in architecture] in 1932 and...[master's degrees in the same field] in 1933. Both Charles and John Fridy then entered the office of their relative, H. Louis Duhring, with Charles working as a draftsman and John working as a draftsman and designer. The brothers remained with Duhring until 1935, when they joined the engineering firm of Remington & Goff, where they worked as draftsmen and designers. They then worked for William A. Goff, Inc., from the point he left that partnership [Remington & Goff] in 1937 until 1946. In 1947, they [Charles and John Fridy] formed their own partnership, Fridy & Fridy, which became Fridy, Gauker, Truscott & Fridy, Inc., architects and engineers, in 1948. This firm was succeeded by Fridy, Gauker & Fridy in 1958 and then acquired by Betz, Converse Murdoch, Inc. [Charles] Fridy [stayed on with Betz and] retired in 1980.

"Charles Fridy joined the national AIA [American Institute of Architects] in 1936; he was a member of Philadelphia Chapter and of the National Society of Professional Engineers. He contributed technical articles to the periodical Consulting Engineer and designed lighting for Main Line Playhouse productions...[a traveling acting troupe based out of the Main Line area just outside of Philadelphia]."

Bibliography:

Quoted text from: Philadelphia Architects and Buildings. "Fridy, Charles Duhring (1910-2004)." 2014. Accessed October 29, 2014. http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/ar_display.cfm/23097.

Philadelphia Architects and Buildings. "Fridy, John Duhring (1908-2000)." 2014. Accessed October 29, 2014. http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/ar_display.cfm/18745.

This collection consists of about 215 lantern slides, most of which are hand colored, primarily depicting images from vacations taken by Charles D. Fridy and his brother, John. The collection is organized into five series based on location: I. Washington D.C. and Virginia, circa 1920; II. New Jersey, circa 1920-1928; III. Florida, circa 1927-1930; IV. Pennsylvania and Maryland, circa 1920; V. Lancaster Research Laboratories (Hackensack, New Jersey), circa 1930. An application to the Kodak Correspondence College is also present in the collection.

Series I. Washington D.C. and Virginia contains approximately thirty-one images of historic and government sites such as the United States Capitol, Mount Vernon, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, as well as fishing scenes from Oyster, Virginia.

Series II. New Jersey contains approximately thirty-four images of scenery, buildings, people, and recreational activities in Southern New Jersey shore towns such as Ocean City, Stone Harbor, Egg Harbor, and others.

Series III. Florida contains approximately seventy images of scenery, buildings, people, and recreational activities from two cruises, one from New York, New York to Miami, Florida and the other from Jacksonville, Florida to New York, New York. Other cities in Florida are depicted as well such as East and West Palm Beach, Tampa, and St. Augustine.

Series IV. Pennsylvania and Maryland contains approximately forty-five images of scenery, buildings, and historic sites such as the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Episcopal Academy (Merion, Pennsylvania), the battlefield at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the Kitty Knight House (Georgetown, Maryland), and other places.

Series V. Lancaster Research Laboratories (Hackensack, N.J.) contains approximately fifty-four images of a research facility, possibly a place that was associated with Fridy's work as an engineer and architect.

An item-level inventory is available on-site. The Philadelphia History Museum also owns objects associated with this collection.

Gift of Charles D. Fridy, 1995 (accession 95.2)

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 Philadelphia History Museum directly for more information.

Publisher
Philadelphia History Museum
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.
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