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Title: Saturday jaunts one-day holidays spent near the city by the Ledger Monastery
Description: Volume composed of reprinted "Saturday Jaunts" columns (spring and summer 1891) and 25 photographs documenting the one-day excursions of the "Saturday Jaunters," employees of the Public Ledger in Philadelphia. Saturday Jaunters (identified with "monkish" pseudonyms) referenced in and authors of the columns include Bonifacius (William E. Meehan), Benedict (Addison B. Burk), Chrysostum (Joel Cook), Angelo (John J. Mckenna), Damon (Charles S. Spangler), Photius (Edmund Stirling), Friar Tuck (Edward Robinson), Constantius (Stephen J. Burke), Pius (Israel F. Sheppard), Sacristan (C. Johann), Fabian (Dr. William H. Burk), Medicus, Ananias (Collins W. Walton), Titian (John A. Johann), Cephas (Peter J. Heborn), and Brother Alban (Captain Robert C. Clipperton). Contains the columns: I. Marble Hall and Spring Mill. II. A Visit to the Coal Fields of Pottsville. III. A Trip along Cresheim Creek and the "Happy Valley." IV. A Roundabout Journey to Edge Hill. V. A Pilgrimage through the Gulf and to Belvoir. VI. A Pilgrimage through the Gulf and to Belvoir (Continued). VII. A Pleasant Pilgrimage into New Jersey. VIII. A. Walk Up the Wissahickon Valley. IX. A Trip to Reading and Its Grand Environs. X. The Soapstone Quarries and Rockdale. XI. Villanova and Its Vicinity. XII. Glimpses from a Car window of a Picturesque Country. XIII. A Trip to Mount Gretna and the Cornwall Ore Banks., Columns, signed by the author, reference the attending jaunters; describe their routes taken by foot, train (Reading Railroad), elevated rail, and coal cars; and provide stories, myths, and histories of the botany, geology, fauna, and architecture of the locales and sites visited. Specific sites and landmarks described in detail include Marble Hall marble pit; Spring Mill (Schuylkill Valley); Reading Coal and Iron Company; Livezey's meadow and Devil's Glenn (Wissahickon Valley); the "Great Valley," i.e., Chester, Plymouth, and Whitemarsh valleys; George Bullock's former land and mill (Gulf Creek); Plymouth Quaker Meeting House; Belvoir Estate on the summit of Sandy Hill; "Crystal" and Cold springs (Laurel Springs, Camden County, N.J.); Norristown Railroad Bridge; John Kelpius's log cabin and caves (Germantown); Rittenhouse Mill on Monoshone Creek; McKinney’s Quarry (Wissahickon); Neversink Mountain; Bear Inn (Reading); Rockdale picnic grounds; Barren Hill; Augustinian College (i.e., Villanova University); monastery and church of the Augustinian Fathers at Villanova; Berks, Lebanon, Schuylkill, Columbia, Northumberland and Union counties; Port Carbon; and Cornwall Ore Bank Company. Columns also report about the railroad and industrial officials who provided tours and served as guides; "Photius"'s photographs; jaunter's scientific, philosophical, and literary discussions, including the plant life, flora, and fauna of the Wissahickon, the geology and landscapes of the Schuylkill and Lebanon valleys, and Potsdam sandstone; and jaunter's activities including fishing, collecting arrowheads, and playing baseball. Columns also report about the jaunters more colloquial conversations, including the three different Indian Rock hotels and Joseph “Rooty” Smith root museum on the Wissahickon and the Mt. Gretna Farmer’s Encampment Association annual encampment (August 16-22, 1891)., Photographs taken by "Photius," (i.e., Edmund Stirling) a photographer by avocation, depict group portraits of the "jaunters" and their families during excursions; a summer home in Chestnut Hill; a Marble Hall pit; Pottsville coal mine; a tree in the Plymouth Meetinghouse yard; a Germantown cave where Johann Kelpius or his followers resided; cascades, creeks, and streams in "Happy Valley," Laurel Springs, and the Wissahickon; Mt. Gretna train station; and a portrait of "jaunter" Alban, i.e., Robert C. Clipperton, attired in walking gaiters, and a handkerchief under his hat during the Villanova jaunt., Tan leather binding stamped "Saturday Jaunts" on spine., Includes illustrated title page containing the figure of a plump monk, in his robes, and holding a pipe., Names of jaunters supplied from unillustrated edition in the collections of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (Vd. 503)., Photographs annotated: H [number]., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Edmund Stirling, born September 13, 1861 in Philadelphia, began his career in the newspaper trade as a reporter in his later teens. By the 1890s, he started his avocation of photography and worked as an editor at the Public Ledger. Stirling was also active in the Photo-Secession Movement and a member of several other clubs in addition to the "jaunters," including the Photographic Society of Philadelphia, the Pen and Pencil Club, and Manufacturer's Club. He was married to Anne J. Biddle, who also practiced photography. The couple had one son, Charles Biddle, who died in infancy.
Date: [MDCCCXCVIII. [1898]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums - Saturday [79214.O]

Title: Reading's Sesqui-Centennial, Reading, Pa. Jubilee Week June 5th to 12th, 1898. 150th Anniverary
Description: Pictorial envelope designed by Sesqui-centennial committee members Samuel Dilbert, W. Morris Deischer and Howard L. Boas containing a menagerie of imagery bordering two vignettes. Vignettes depict a view of the Reading "Court House, 1782-1841" and a view captioned "1748" showing Native Americans near a teepee watching a traveling Conestoga wagon from across a river. Other images show a locomotive, factories, train shed, and a winged female allegorical figure holding a trumpet and bolt of lightning, probably representing progress. An anvil, gear, and angle rest at the figure's feet. Over 700, 000 envelopes were printed and distributed nationally. The sesqui-centennial celebration included band concerts; civic, firemen, and industrial parades; grand illuminations; fireworks; and an equestrian and bicycle day., Addressed in manuscript to: Ronalds & Johnson Co., 139 N. 7th St., Philadelphia, Pa., Printed in red ink on recto: Return to E. S. Summons' Plumbing & Heating Co., 209 N. 6th St., Reading, Pa., Ink-stamp postmark on verso: Received Philadelphia, PA Mar 31, 1898 6 30 PM., Publication information from Morton Luther Montgomery, History of Reading, Pennsylvania: and the anniversary proceedings of the sesquice-centennial, June 5-12, 1898 (1898)., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Gift of Helen Beitler and Estate of Helen Beitler.
Date: [c1897]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Helen Beitler Graphic Ephemera Collection - Envelopes [P.2011.10.89]

Title: The Pennsylvania cyclone
Description: Verse in four unnumbered stanzas; first line: The shadows of death are upon us, and a calamity has occurred,., On Jan. 9, 1889, a tornado swept over Reading, Pa., destroying the Grimshaw Silk Mill and the Reading Railroad paint shop, killing 17 and injuring more than 100 people., Printed area, including mourning border, measures 25.3 x 19.8 cm., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
Creator: Bessel, Fred
Date: [1889?]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare sm # Am 1889 Bessel 112042.O (Roughwood)

Title: Views from the Reading Railroad near Reading, Pa
Description: Views of the rocky landscape adjacent to railroad tracks near Reading, Pa., including the Lebanon Valley Railroad Bridge spanning the Schuylkill River. Includes a man standing in front of a steep, rocky hill and a horse-drawn coach resting near the river. The bridge, completed in 1857, was burned down during the Great Railroad Strike of 1877., Yellow cardboard mounts with rounded corners. Photographer's printed labels pasted on versos., Manuscript note on versos of P.8484.19 and P.8484.21: Bartlett & French; William C. Darrah coll., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Bartlett & French was a partnership between Philadelphia photographers George O. Bartlett and William French circa 1867-1869.
Creator: Bartlett & French
Date: [ca. 1868]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - Bartlett & French - Views [P.8484.19-21; P.8731.1; P.9462.7]

Title: Second lock above Reading, Union Canal
Description: View of canal lock with water flowing from a gate in the foreground. Also shows a frame shed and an elevated frame dwelling spanning part of the canal in the background. Another body of water, probably the Schuylkill River, is partially visible (right). Completed in 1828 to connect Philadelphia with the Susquehanna River, the Union Canal had a total of ninety-three locks., Title from photographer's printed label on verso., Yellow mount with rounded corners., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Bartlett & French was a partnership between Philadelphia photographers George O. Bartlett and William French circa 1867-1869.
Creator: Bartlett & French
Date: [ca. 1868]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - Bartlett & French - Transportation [P.8484.22]

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