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Wagner Free Institute of Science Actuary and Librarian records
Notifications
Held at: Wagner Free Institute of Science [Contact Us]1700 W. Montgomery Ave., Philadelphia, PA, 19121
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Wagner Free Institute of Science. 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
Thomas Lynch Montgomery was born on March 4, 1862. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1884, where he had his first experience with library work at a local Sunday school. Montgomery was hired at the Wagner as actuary in 1886, and later assumed responsibilities of librarian. Over the course of his 17-year career at the Wagner, his duties ranged from collecting rents from tenants on properties owned by the Institute and obtaining estimates for work to be done on the building to dealing with the publication of the Transactions of the Wagner Free Institute of Science (WFIS) and working with the branch of the Free Library attached to the Institute. He was instrumental in the founding of the Pennsylvania Library Club in 1890 (Box 3, Folders 35 and 36), was President of the Photographic Association of the Wagner in 1891 (Box 3, Folder 28), helped to organize the first branch of the Philadelphia Free Library in 1892, and served as chairman of the American Library Association's (ALA) "Library Editions of Popular Books" committee in 1898 (Box 4, Folder 50). Several letters seeking advice indicate that Montgomery was well-respected in the library world at the turn of the 20th century when the public libraries were still relatively new (see, for example, Flora A. Lindsay's letter in Box 3, Folder 35 and Susan F. Chase's letter in Box 4, Folder 58).
Montgomery left the Wagner in 1903 for an appointment as Pennsylvania State Librarian, a position in which he served for 18 years. During that time, he helped to establish a Legislative Reference Service to improve the quality of bills written by legislators and fostered the growth of historical and genealogical collections. He was also at the forefront of the trend to collect visual materials, beginning an innovative lantern slide collection for educational use. He edited thirty volumes of the Pennsylvania Archives. As State Librarian, he also served as curator of the State Museum, where he expanded collections and public service activities. Outside of his official duties, he was involved in several historical and library associations, and served as president of the ALA from 1917 to 1918.
From 1921 to 1928, Montgomery was librarian at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, where he edited The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. In 1913, he received an honorary doctorate from Muhlenberg College.
Montgomery died in 1929.
Sources
Much of this information comes from two sources, photocopies of which can be found in Montgomery's file in the Biographical Files of the Archives. They are:
Krash, Ronald D. "Montgomery, Thomas Lynch (1862-1929)." Dictionary of American Library Biography. ed. Bohdan S. Wynar, Littleton, CO: Libraries Unlimited Inc., 1978.
"Montgomery, Thomas Lynch." The National Cyclopedia of American Biography, Vol. 24. New York: James T. White & Co., 1935.
This collection consists of 4 boxes (1.3 linear feet), 1 of administrative files and 3 of correspondence, of the records of Thomas Lynch Montgomery, librarian and actuary of the Wagner Free Institute of Science (WFIS) from 1886 to 1903. The Administrative Files series is made up of such items as water rent receipts, distress for rent certificates, and legal documents.
Many of the records in the Correspondence series deal with rents paid or past due, or renovations to be done to properties owned by the Institute; many have to do with renovations, repairs or upgrades on the Institute building itself, or with new museum cases or shelves needed. Many letters deal with details of publishing the Transactions of the WFIS, specimens bought or exchanged for the Institute, and customs for materials shipped to the Institute. From 1890 on, there are a fair number of library-related letters that speak to Montgomery's role as librarian and his involvement in library affairs.
Montgomery's most frequent correspondence throughout the years is with Samuel Wagner and Joseph Willcox. There is a significant amount from William H. Dall, Henry Leffmann, Joseph Leidy, and Lippincott Publishers in various years. The folder list gives a brief description of each letter in each folder, pointing out the most prominent subjects of that letter. Where there was something particularly interesting, or too obscure to summarize, parts of the letter are quoted directly. Some letters were not addressed to Montgomery, but were included in these files, presumably because they were matters with which he would have dealt. Where that occurs, the addressee is noted; otherwise, no addressee is listed. There are some drafts of copies of letters written by Montgomery included here; these are clearly noted as well, along with to whom (if anyone) they are addressed.
See the "Biography" section for items of particular interest in Montgomery's career at the Wagner. The letters in the collection are so varied in subject matter as to make it hard to pull out anything of particular significance -- it will depend largely on the researcher. There is a good deal of information on a dispute over the "Allen Collection" with J.M. Mintzer (Box 1, Folder 15; Box 2, Folders 12, 16 and 21) and a lot of correspondence with Lippincott Publishers about publishing Volume 3, Part 4 of the Transactions in the late 1890s (Box 4, Folder 61). In 1897 and 1898, Montgomery corresponded with Senator Boies Penrose and, indirectly, the Superintendent of Documents about getting some Census documents for the Library (Box 4, Folders 53 and 62).
Accession 91-040, first processed in 1991, was originally called "Actuary's Records: 1855-1890." This collection consisted of one box of mainly administrative files, with some correspondence. In October of 2003, 91-040 was combined with an unprocessed box of records labeled "Thomas L. Montgomery," consisting mainly of correspondence to Montgomery from 1886-1894. The accession was renamed with Montgomery's name and arranged into two series: administrative files and correspondence. Ten folders were moved from the original 91-040 box, which makes up the "Administrative Files" series, to the "Correspondence" series. Administrative files were arranged chronologically; correspondence was arranged chronologically by year, and then alphabetically by sender's name within each year. After this had been done, Accession 99-111, "Thomas L. Montgomery, Correspondence," was discovered when looking through the archives for more information on Montgomery. 99-111 consisted mainly of correspondence from 1895-1901, with some from 1889-1894. Letters from 1889-1894 were combined with the correspondence already processed; the later dates were added to the "Correspondence" series in new folders.
Ripped or fragile documents were encased in Mylar for protection. Items damaged by mold or otherwise in danger of becoming unreadable (ink fading, for example) were photocopied for use copies. It is indicated in the folder list and on the folders themselves which folders are not to be used. The majority of this collection was in excellent condition. Acid-free paper was inserted between letters to preserve their quality.
The creation of the electronic guide for this collection was made possible through generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources’ “Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives” Project.
Finding aid entered into the Archivists' Toolkit by Garrett Boos.
People
- Dall, William Healey, 1845-1927
- Leffmamn, Henry, 1847-1930
- Leidy, Joseph, 1823-189
- Montgomery, Thomas Lynch, 1862-
- Wagner, Samuel
- Willcox, Joseph
Organization
Subject
- Publisher
- Wagner Free Institute of Science
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Diane Skorina
- Finding Aid Date
- 2003
- Sponsor
- The creation of the electronic guide for this collection was made possible through generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources’ “Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives” Project. Finding aid entered into the Archivists' Toolkit by Garrett Boos.
- Access Restrictions
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This collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
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Copyright restrictions may apply. Please contact the Wagner Free Institute of Science with requests for copying and for authorization to publish, quote or reproduce the material.
Collection Inventory
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All correspondence is addressed to Thomas L. Montgomery unless otherwise noted. General correspondence is arranged by year, and within the year by sender’s last name. Letters that were originally [i.e., by Montgomery] separated out from the general correspondence and labeled as a group were archived in different folders, with the year(s) of the letters and the name of the label noted (see, for example, Box 2, Folders 1 & 2). These precede the General Correspondence folders for the given year.
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