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Dr. J. Elmer Porter family papers
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Held at: Pottstown Historical Society [Contact Us]568 High Street, Pottstown, PA, 19464
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Pottstown 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
J. Elmer Porter (1865-1961) was a prominent doctor, businessman, and local politician in Pottstown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1886 and practiced as a physician and surgeon in Pottstown for 64 years. He served as the first Chief of Surgery of Pottstown Hospital and taught surgery at the University of Pennsylvania. Porter was involved in many local businesses and clubs, taking leadership roles in the Security Company of Pottstown, the Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Pottstown, Pottstown Gas Company, and March-Brownback Stove Company, to name a few. Porter was a politically active Democrat and served as Burgess of Pottstown.
Porter married twice and had four children. His wives were Ada Elizabeth Kehl (1866-1902) and Annilla Newborn (born 1880). His father was a farmer in Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Bibliography:
Roberts, Ellwood, ed. "Dr. Elmer Porter." Biographical Annals of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania." Volume I. New York: T. E. Benham and Company, 1904. p. 400-401 Accessed April 27, 2012. http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/montgomery/roberts/roberts118.html
The bulk of this collection is comprised of family photographs from the Porter and Newborn families. Many of the photographs are identified. The collection also includes a scrapbook of newspaper clippings (1903-1951), several deeds, cancelled checks, receipts, Dr. Porter's will, and the marriage certificate of Dr. Porter and his second wife (Annilla Newborn).
Summary descriptive information on this collection was compiled in 2011-2012 as part of a pilot 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 Pottstown Historical Society directly for more information.
People
- Kehl, Ada Elizabeth, 1866-1902
- Newborn family
- Newborn, Annilla
- Porter family
- Porter, J. Elmer, 1865-1961
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- Pottstown Historical Society
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Celia Caust-Ellenbogen and Michael Gubicza 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 Pottstown Historical Society for information about accessing this collection.