Main content
Upper Moreland Historical Association subject files
Notifications
Held at: Upper Moreland Historical Association [Contact Us]117 Park Avenue, Willow Grove, PA, 19090
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Upper Moreland Historical Association. 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 Upper Moreland Historical Association was established in 1996 by local residents. "The role of the Upper Moreland Historical Association in the community is the collection, preservation and stewardship of [Upper Moreland, Pennsylvania] history, folklore, and culture. [The Upper Moreland Historical Association's] mission includes the commitment to foster an appreciation for local history, to promote an interest in the area's past events, people and unique cultures, and to instill a sense of pride in the heritage of [its] community." (Upper Moreland Historical Association)
"William Penn presented the tract of land including present day Upper Moreland to Nicholas More in 1682. At the time, the area was referred to as the "Manor of Mooreland." Moreland Township was first used to describe the tract in the 18th century but the present day boundaries were not fixed until 1916 when a line was drawn through the valley of the Pennypack Creek and two municipalities were created: Upper and Lower Moreland Townships. In 1930, Upper Moreland was formally organized as a Township of the First Class." (Upper Moreland Township)
Bibliography:
Upper Moreland Historical Association. "The Association." Accessed July 5, 2012. http://www.umha.com/pages/association.html.
Upper Moreland Township. "About Our Township." Accessed July 5, 2012. http://www.uppermoreland.org/information/about.aspx.
This collection is comprised of materials collected by the Upper Moreland Historical Associations related to the history of the township. The bulk of the materials are organized into vertical files, but there are also binders, boxes of materials, and framed items on display throughout the building.
The vertical files are organized by subject, and include newspaper clippings, ephemera, pamphlets/brochures, original and reproduction photographs, photocopies of primary source documents, and research notes and genealogies. There are files on geographic locations (Pennsylvania, Montgomery County, and Montgomery County townships), business and industry, culture, government, military, people, public buildings, historic sites/addresses, social history-organizations, social history-events, and transportation. There is a large amount of material relating to Willow Grove Amusement Park.
The collection includes a number of reports by various groups on Upper Moreland history and development. These reports include: Upper Moreland Township Building Specifications, 1965; Upper Moreland Zoning Board, 2004; and Willow Grove redevelopment, 2004-2006. Of special interest is a Historic Resources Survey done by the Upper Moreland Historical Association, circa 1997-1998.
Additional materials relating to specific groups and sites include: research on Willow Grove Park Log Book, 1906-1925; Upper Moreland School District Grade Pattern Advisory Committee records, 1950; Upper Moreland Public Library minutes and guest register, circa 1957; and the Upper Moreland Women's Association records.
The Friends of the Nathaniel Boileau Farmstead, Inc. is a non-profit dedicated to preserving historic farm structures on the property known as Boileau Park in Upper Moreland. There is strong overlap between membership in the Friends of Boileau and the Upper Moreland Historical Association. This collection includes a significant amount of materials relating to the Friends of Boileau, Boileau Park, and the Boileau family, including genealogy, copies of primary sources, research notes, meeting minutes, photographs of the Boileau site, and other papers relating to their operations.
The collection also includes county maps, blueprints of local historical sites, atlas plates, and various items on display throughout the building.
Materials collected at various times by the Upper Moreland Historical Association.
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 Upper Moreland Historical Association directly for more information.
Organization
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- Upper Moreland Historical Association
- 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
-
Contact Upper Moreland Historical Association for information about accessing this collection.