Details
Contributor Knor, Jacob, builder.
Swayne, Robert, former owner.
Title Cliveden 1911 [graphic].
Publisher [Philadelphia]
Publisher PA. Philadelphia. 1911
Date 1911
Physical Description 13 photographs: gelatin silver mounted on board; sheets 21 x 26 cm (8 x10 in) or 13 x 17 cm (5.25 x 6.75 in) or smaller on mount 28 x 36 cm (11 x 14 in.)
Description Series of exterior and interior views of the Germantown estate Cliveden built 1763-1767 by master carpenter Jacob Knor for Philadelphia attorney Benjamin Chew at 6401 Germantown Avenue. Benjamin Chew (1722-1820), the patriarch of an influential Quaker family, was one of Pennsylvania’s largest enslavers. Images depict front, front oblique, and "rear" views of the façade of the residence, including outbuildings and landscaped lawns and grounds; the front "doorway" with steps and sculptures; the "pump" near an ivy-covered wall; the "barn" near which a horse-drawn cart loaded with hay rests across from a cow out to pasture; a cracked "fireback" resting against a tree; "servant’s quarters," i.e. quarters for enslaved persons; and multiple views of the "hall at Cliveden" modestly furnished with chairs, a desk, side table, a long rifle, and framed prints and a painting. Hall views also depict columns fronting a hallway and stairway.
Chew House, also known as Cliveden, was the site of the turning point in the Battle of Germantown in 1777. The Chew family enslaved people of African descent in the city of Philadelphia and in Germantown during the 18th and 19th centuries. The estate was the Chew family residence until 1972 when it was acquired by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Notes Series title from manuscript note on mounts.
Date from title.
Many of the images accompanied by captions written on the mounts.
Two of the mounts (P.2017.88.4.2-5 and P.2017.88.4.6-9) contain manuscript note: Cliveden 11-7-1911.
Verso of mount P.2017.88.44.1 contains manuscript note: New York Public Library 1911.
Copies of images included in “Pictorial Archives of Early American Architecture” (PAEAA), PAEAA PA 51-Germ, 64D-1, assembled by the Library of Congress during the 1930s.
Three of images (P.2017.88.4& 7 &11) published in Harry M. Tinkom, Margaret Tinkom and Grant Miles Simon, Historic Germantown: ... (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1955).
RVCDC
Description revised 2022.
Access points revised 2022.
Subject Chew, Benjamin, 1758-1844 -- Homes and haunts.
Cliveden of the National Trust (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Barns -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Cows -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Dwellings -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Halls -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Enslaved persons -- Dwellings -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Slavery -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelpha.
Enslaved people -- Structures -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Geographic subject Germantown (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Germantown Avenue (Philadelphia, Pa.) -- 6401.
Genre Gelatin silver photographs -- 1910-1920.
Associated name Knor, Jacob, builder.
Provenance Swayne, Robert, former owner.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| Swayne Collection [P.2017.88.4.1-13]
Accession number P.2017.88.4.1-13

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