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Naomi Wood Papers
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Held at: Woodford Mansion [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Woodford Mansion. 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
Naomi Wood (June 12, 1871 – June 21, 1926) was born in Philadelphia, PA in her parents’ home and business at 1322 Chestnut St. Naomi’s father, Caleb Wood Jr., owned and operated “David Wood Ladies & Childrens Furnishing Goods” on the ground floor of 1322 Chestnut St. with his father David until Caleb’s death in 1897. Afterwards, the building was rented until 1920 at which point Naomi took an offer to sell the property. The profit from this sale was used to establish the Naomi Wood Estate, and after her death, the Naomi Wood Trust.
Naomi Wood met her close friend Daniel T.V. Huntoon, Jr. sometime between 1900-1905. Both were collectors of 18th century furniture, art, and decorative arts. Early in their relationship they decided to locate a suitable 18th-century home to use as a house museum to display their collections. A year after Wood’s death, Huntoon realized this goal when he reached an agreement with the City of Philadelphia for the Naomi Wood Trust to operate Woodford Mansion in Wood’s hometown of Philadelphia, PA. Woodford opened its doors to the public in 1930.
Records in this collection are from the latter of half of Naomi Wood's life. They predominently are related to her collecting of decorative arts, estabishment of her estate, and a number of Will and Estate records. This collection is arranged into five series: Financial Records, Appraisals & Inventories, Will & Estate Records, Publications, and General. Where logical, files are organized chronologically. Collection mediums include paper, bound, and photographic records.
Series: Financial Records Records in this series include receipts of antiques/objects purchased, insurance records, and records related to the sale of her family property at 1322 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia. Records range from 1904-1923. Series: Appraisals and Inventories This series includes a 1914 inventory of a home Naomi Wood owned for a brief period from approximately 1908-1915 in Paoli, PA. Wood furnished the Paoli house with decorative arts from both her and Daniel Huntoon’s personal collections. The home and it’s collection were featured in M. Rodman Street’s article ""A Dutch Colonial House at Paoli"" in the October, 1909 issue of Philadelphia Suburban Life.
Series: Court Records This series contains will and estate records of Naomi Wood’s parents Caleb and Susan, as well as those of Naomi. Records range from 1895-1926. Series: Publications This series includes a few articles related to objects owned by Wood, a brochure from the cemetery where she was buried, and personalized Naomi Wood bookplates. Records range from 1904 to 1928 Series: General This series contains a single file that offers information related to a relative of Naomi Wood, Naomi Wood Watson. There are related records in the Woodford Photo Collection that include images of Naomi Wood Watson.
Records in this collection were left to the Naomi Wood Trust by Naomi Wood (1871-1926). They were likely collected by Daniel T.V. Huntoon, Jr. (1870-1943) following Wood's death, and added to his own collection, which in turn was left to Woodford following his death in 1943. It is unknown whether the records are in original order. The records were refoldered through previous processing attempts through the house museum's history. Previous file names were maintained in an attempt to keeep original order. Some files were discovered in loose piles of unprocessed materials and integrated into the collection.
- Publisher
- Woodford Mansion
- Finding Aid Author
- Tom Kuipers
- Access Restrictions
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Contact Woodford Mansion for information about accessing this collection.