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Swarthmore Tree Committee Records, 1977-2004 (inclusive)

Extent:

0.5 linear ft. (1 box)

Abstract:

The Swarthmore Tree Committee was mandated by the borough of Swarthmore to fulfill the responsibilities of a Shade Tree Commission. The Tree Committee was created in 1971. The records include the mandate from the Borough of Swarthmore, minutes, and miscellaneoous papers.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

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Irma E. Zimmer Papers, 1960-2004 (inclusive)

Extent:

1.75 linear ft.

Abstract:

Irma Elizabeth Zimmer was a life-long Swarthmore resident who taught at Swarthmore High School from 1946 to 1976. After her retirement, she was active in groups that attempted to prevent the merger into the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District. After these efforts were unsuccessful, she participated in projects to start a charter school, reopen the Swarthmore K-8 School, and develop a senior community center on Wallingford-Swarthmore School District property. She also served on Borough Council from 1974-1984 and was a member of the Swarthmore League of Women Voters, Swarthmore Womans Club, and Swarthmore Republican Committee. This collection contains her papers, largely her post-retirement projects pertaining to school protest groups.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

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Jennings-Clark-Eldridge Family Papers, 1768-1871 (inclusive)

Extent:

0.5 linear ft. (1 box)

Abstract:

Hannah A. Jennings was the daughter of Phebe (Glover) and John Clark of Gloucester, N.J. She married Levi Jennings, a bricklayer, in 1832. The collection contains correspondence (1805-1861), household accounts, and miscellaneous papers of Hannah A. Jennings, her husband, Levi Jennings, and her mother, Phebe (Glover) Clark Eldridge. Includes a manuscript account of a sermon by Priscilla Hunt at Merion in 1823, the renunciation of Maria Emily (Imlay) by Ann Jones in 1826, and letters discussing the Hicksite controversy.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

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Friends World College Records, 1958-2001 (inclusive)

Extent:

10 linear ft. (8 boxes and 35 volumes)

Abstract:

Friends World College was conceived as an accredited, co-educational, degree-granting liberal arts college combining a residence program with the opportunity for foreign travel and study. Planned as a "college without walls," it was sponsored by the New York Yearly Meeting and opened in September 1965. The College flourished in the 1960s counterculture environment, but ran into financial difficulties in the 1970s. While much of its support came from Quakers, in 1975 it became officially non-sectarian. It was merged into Long Island University in 1991. The collection contains the records of Friends World College, 1958-1992, compiled for New York Yearly Meeting by George Nicklin; correspondence and legal papers concerning the transfer and sale of assets and the resulting lawsuits; topical files of George Nicklin; and his records on Pax Amicus, the group which opposed the merger and loss of College assets. Also included the records of Friends World College Association, a Quaker...(see more)

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

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Friends Boarding Home of the Burlington Quarterly Meeting, 1898-1985 (inclusive)

Extent:

3 linear ft. (6 boxes)

Abstract:

The Friends Boarding House in Trenton, New Jersey, was established in 1898 by the Burlington Quarterly Meeting, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (Hicksite). Its purpose was to provide an inexpensive, permanent home for aging Quakers and others. The Friends Boarding House in Trenton, New Jersey was laid down by the Quarterly Meeting in 1985. This collection contains the records of the Friends Boarding Home, established by the Burlington Quarter. It includes Board minutes, financial records, and miscellaneous papers.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

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Friends' Employment Society Record, 1862-1948 (inclusive)

Extent:

1 linear ft. (2 boxes)

Abstract:

The Friends Employment Society was founded in 1862 in New York City by Hicksite women as the Women's Association of Friends for the Employment and Relief by Clothing of the Suffering Poor. Incorporated in 1902, it provided employment for the working poor by providing sewing projects. In 1948 it revised its charter to state its purpose of giving help to needy people, through contributions to other charitable organizations. This collection contains minutes and financial and other records from 1862 to 1948.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

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Lightfoot Family Manuscripts, 1737-ca. 1948 (inclusive)

Extent:

1.5 linear ft. (3 boxes)

Abstract:

The Lightfoot family was a Pennsylvania Quaker family descended from Thomas Lightfoot, a Quaker minister who emigrated from Ireland to Kennett Monthly Meeting in 1716 with his family. The collection includes three journals which have been attributed to his grandson Thomas on the basis of contextual detail. These accounts document visits to meetings in the mid Atlantic region, New Jersey to Virginia, from 1757 to 1760. Jacob Lightfoot, a son of Thomas and Sarah Lightfoot, married Mary Bonsall, a prominent Quaker minister. The journal of her 1757 religious visit with Grace Fisher to Quaker meetings in the Concord Quarter is included in the collection. Mary and Jacob's grandson, Thomas Lightfoot, was an Indian Agent in southeastern Nebraska during the period of Quaker involvement in President U.S. Grant's "peace policy." Another descendent, Thomas Montgomery Lightfoot, did extensive genealogical research on the Quaker families that settled in Maiden Creek. The papers of Thomas and Mary...(see more)

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

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Fisher-Warner Family Papers, 1684-1924 (inclusive)

Extent:

7 linear ft. (17 boxes)

Abstract:

Miers Fisher (1748-1819), a birthright Quaker, was a prominent lawyer, legislator, philanthropist, merchant, and scientist in early Federal Philadelphia. Benjamin Warner, publisher and bookseller, married Fisher's daughter, Lydia, in 1814. Born in 1748 in Philadelphia, the son of Joshua and Sarah Rowland Fisher, Miers Fisher married Sarah Redwood in 1774. He was among a group of prominent Quaker merchants who were temporarily exiled to Winchester, Virginia, during the Revolution. Miers and Sarah had sixteen children, only five of which survived him. Their youngest son, Jabez Maud Fisher, was trained as an Engineer, and worked for a railway company and as a Naval Officer for the port of Providence; he moved to Denver, Colorado, in the early 1860's to be with his sons who had built a ranch. The collection includes journals, correspondence, and financial records of Miers Fisher, his daughter, Lydia Fisher Warner, his son, Jabez Maud Fisher, and their respective families.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

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Bliss Forbush Papers, circa 1915-1945 (inclusive)

Extent:

11.5 linear ft. (8 boxes (and 49 volumes))

Abstract:

Bliss Forbush (1896-1987), Quaker educator, administrator, and author, served as the Headmaster of Baltimore Friends School, Chairman of Friends General Conference, and Executive Secretary of Baltimore Monthly Meeting. The collection contains many of his scrapbooks, including "A Forbush Chronicle" is the three volume manuscript 1896-1976, with additions to 1979, of his autobiography. Also in this collection are the manuscripts of Elias Hicks, Quaker Liberal, and A History of Baltimore Yearly Meeting of Friends, and notes for Moses Sheppard, Quaker Philanthropist of Baltimore. Also includes a small collection of correspondence and papers of his wife, La Verne Hill Forbush.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

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World Council of Churches Collected Papers, 1941-1961 (inclusive)

Extent:

1.5 linear ft. (3 boxes)

Abstract:

Bliss Forbush (1896-1987), Quaker educator, administrator, and author, was born in 1896 and died in 1987. Bliss Forbush served as a member of the American Section of the World Council of Churches, 1941-1951, representing Friends General Conference and as a delegate to the first Assembly of the World Council of Churches in 1948. This collection contains primarily minutes, leaflets, and articles printed in Quaker and other periodicals, relating to the World Council of Churches and possible relationship of Quaker bodies to it; together with correspondence of Bliss Forbush and others on behalf of Friends General Conference, with the council's secretariat regarding council membership.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]