Main content
Fellowship House (Philadelphia, Pa.) Records
Notifications
Held at: Temple University Libraries: Special Collections Research Center [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Temple University Libraries: Special Collections Research Center. 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
Fellowship House grew out of the Philadelphia Friends' Young People's Interracial Fellowship of Philadelphia which Marjorie Penney Paschkis (1908-1983), had been directing since 1932. Fellowship House was not a Quaker organization, although it had Quaker roots and stood for non-violent solutions to social problems. Its efforts were directed toward inclusiveness and it reached out especially to groups abused by society as a whole.
Paschkis opened the first Fellowship House at 1431 Brown Street in 1941, to provide an everyday life setting where people of all colors and creeds could meet, cook and eat, play, pray and study together. Working with extremely modest means, and almost entirely on a volunteer basis, Paschkis and the people of Fellowship House published newsletters, coordinated regular inter-faith meetings and social gatherings, and created and conducted numerous lecture series and courses which emphasized learning about and understanding differences, and which encouraged cooperation and inclusiveness. Many of these programs were directed toward school-age children and were given at local schools. Fellowship House also acted in the larger city, state, and national communities on such concerns as a federal anti-lynching law, anti-Semitism, integrated recreational facilities and open housing.
Fellowship House was one of the earliest non-profit education centers in human relations and social change, and it continues today as Fellowship Farm, situated on a 120-acre farm five miles from Pottstown, PA. During its more than fifty years, its scope of activities and interests steadily widened to encompass all areas of social concerns, especially as these emerged with increased urgency during and after the late 1960s. Paschkis remained Director until 1968, and was succeed by the Rev. Amos Johnson (tenure 1969-1973), Helen Slater Tomkins (1973-1979) and David P. Tulin (1979-1988).
The first House on Brown Street was sold in 1956 and the operations moved to 1521 W. Girard Avenue. In 1963, Little Fellowship House was opened at 1710 N. 27 Street. In 1951, the Farm was purchased; all other buildings were divested and it became Headquarters in 1973.
This collection contains correspondence, administrative records, Board of Directors' minutes, agenda, reports, committee records, staff and personnel records, records related to activities and projects, financial records, scrapbooks, memorabilia, and case records. Also included are day books, correspondence, notebooks, and some sketches and illustrated works of Marjorie Penney Paschkis, as well as some papers of Elizabeth Penny, Marjorie's aunt. This collection includes preserved versions of the organization's website, available through Archive-It.
The collection is arranged into 4 series as follows:
- Series 1: Accession 723, 1921-1989
- Subseries 1.1: Administration and Organization, 1931-1986
- Subseries 1.2: Individuals, 1921-1988
- Subseries 1.3: Correspondence, 1935-1985
- Subseries 1.4: Activities, 1937-1989, undated
- Subseries 1.5: Financial, between 1921-1989
- Subseries 1.6: Publications, between 1921-1989
- Subseries 1.7: Branch Offices, 1943-1967
- Subseries 1.8: Other Organizations, 1949-1986
- Subseries 1.9: Miscellaneous, between 1921-1989
- Subseries 1.10: Scrapbooks, between 1921-1989
- Subseries 1.12: Memorabilia, between 1921-1989
- Subseries 1.13: Case Records (RESTRICTED), between 1921-1989
- Series 2: Accession 1026, circa 1952-1994
- Series 3: Accession 2016-45, Fellowship Farm records, circa 1940-2010
- Series 4: Fellowship Farm website versions in Archive-It, 2016
Additions to this collection are expected. Websites are captured using Archive-It periodically, and the latest additions may not yet be included in this finding aid. For information on material–physical and digital, including captured websites–that may have been added since the last finding aid update, please contact the Special Collections Research Center.
Accession 723 received on February 7, 1991 from Esther R. Miller, Assistant Director, Fellowship Farm. Accession 1026 received August 11, 2005 from Fellowship Farm. Accession 2016-45 donated by Fellowship Farm, a division of Child Guidance Resource Centers, via Colleen McNichol, CEO, October 5, 2016.
Finding aid revised according to contemporary archival standards in June 2015. Finding aid revised to include Accession 1026 and captured website information in June 2017 by Katy Rawdon, Coordinator of Technical Services.
Photographs from Accession 723 have been removed to the Miscellaneous Photograph Collection, PC-49, Box 7.
Originally part of this accession was the Keystone View Company Stereopticon Views Photograph Collection (PC-14).
People
Organization
Subject
- Housing -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
- Integration -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
- Civil rights movements -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
- Community life -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
- Community activists -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
- Education -- Social aspects -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
- Labor -- Social aspects -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
- Race relations -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
Place
- Publisher
- Temple University Libraries: Special Collections Research Center
- Finding Aid Author
- Machine-readable finding aid created by: Rajkumar Natarajan, Sky Global Services India (P) Ltd.
- Finding Aid Date
- March 2025
- Access Restrictions
-
This collection is open for research. Subseries 1.12, Case Records, is restricted. Please contact the Special Collections Research Center for more information.
- Use Restrictions
-
The Fellowship House (Philadelphia, Pa.) Records are the physical property of the Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries. Intellectual property rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. Researchers are responsible for determining the identity of rights holders and obtaining their permission for publication and for other purposes where stated.
Collection Inventory
Series 1 contains administrative records, minutes, reports, personnel records, history files, financial records, publications, correspondence, personal files of various individuals related to Fellowship House, particularly Marjorie Penney Paschkis and Helen Slater Tomkins, scrapbooks, some records related to Fellowship Farm, and photographs. About one third of the series is comprised of records related to Fellowship House activities and programs. Case records in Subseries 1.13 are restricted. Please contact the Special Collections Research Center for more information.
No inventory is available. Please contact the Special Collections Research Center for more information.
Series 2 contains 11 boxes of materials. No inventory is available.
Series 3 contains 37 boxes of materials. No inventory is available.