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Title: Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of the Cruelty to Animals. [membership certificate]
Description: Membership certificate containing four vignettes depicting people interacting with animals. Shows a deer carcuss dropped in the street from the back of a speeding game wagon; a dog lying, on guard, next to a baby sleeping in a cradle; a soldier's horse nuzzling its fallen rider; and a woman feeding seed to fowls in a pasture. Scroll, floral, and horticultural elements border the text and vignettes. Also contains the seal of the society, the Pennsylvania coat of arms, and the motto "The Merciful Man Regardeth the Life of his Beast." Society seal shows an angel raising her hand in protest of a wagon driver beating his work house. The PSPCA was organized by Philadelphia businessman Colonel M. Richards Mucklé in 1867 and incorporated in 1868. It was the second humane society in the country with horse abuse as the organization's initial primary concern., Not in Wainwright., Issued to John T. Morris, ca. 1873. Signed Pliny E. Chase, Secretary and Al[fred] Elwyn, President., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 563, Historical Society of Pennsylvania: Certificates - Pennsylvania Society Cruelty, Free Library of Philadelphia: Philadelphiana - Societies - Certificates, P. S. Duval, Son & Co. operated as a firm 1867-1869., Elwyn, a trained physican and philanthropist, served as president of the PSPCA 1871-circa 1875.
Date: [ca. 1868]
Location: Historical Society of Pennsylvania HSP Certificates - Pennsylvania Society Cruelty

Title: The Wagner Free Institute of Science of Philadelphia. [membership certificate] Incorporated March 9th 1855
Description: Life membership certificate containing a montage of plants, animals, minerals and fossils to represent different fields of the natural sciences, i.e., natural history, taught at the institute. Iconography encircles an oval containing the certificate text. Includes a bat for "Mammalia"; a human skull for "Anatomy"; an eagle for "Ornithology" perched on a slab with rocks and minerals for "Mineralogy"; a butterfly for "Entomology"; stems of flowers and plants for "Botany"; a thorny fish for "Ichtheology"; pre-historic crustaceans for "Palaeonotolgy"; the skeleton of an elephant for "Comparative Anatomy"; a shell for "Conchology"; a rattlesnake for "Herpetology"; a horseshoe crab for "Crustacea"; and Fossils - "Botany," Entomology," "Crustacea," and "Zoology" showing a fossilized plant, fish, dragon fly and lobster. Filigree adorns the corners. Wagner Free Institute was founded in 1855 by philanthropist and professor William Wagner to provide free public education in the sciences. Wagner donated his large collection of specimens and his science library in addition to monetary support to establish the institution., Not in Wainwright., Philadelphia on Stone, POSP 266, Historical Society of Pennsylvania: Certificates - Wagner Free, P. S. Duval & Co. operated as a firm 1851-1857., Inscription lower left corner torn: Est. C. J. [ ?].
Date: [ca. 1855]
Location: Historical Society of Pennsylvania | Print Department | HSP at LCP HSP Certificates - Wagner Free

Title: Pennsylvania Industrial Home for Blind Women. [membership certificate]
Description: Membership certificate containing a biblical scene in an oval frame embellished with filigree. Depicts the New Testament passage John 9:6 under the verse "For the Lord God Giveth them light. Rev. XXII. 5.V." Shows Jesus laying his hands upon a blind man in a lush setting. A village is visible in the distant background. The Pennsylvania Industrial Home for Blind Women, established 1868, provided housing and paid work for blind women, who performed handicrafts including basket weaving, chair caning, and lacemaking., Not in Wainwright., Issued to Mr. & Mrs. John F. Smith on April 1, 1881. Signed Fannie K. Atwood, Secretary and Susan P. Lloyd, President., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 559, Historical Society of Pennsylvania: Certificates - Pennsylvania Industrial, Inscribed on verso: Smith 1250 N. Broad., Inscribed on verso: Presented by Mrs. John F. Combs Feb. 12, 1912.
Date: [ca. 1868]
Location: Historical Society of Pennsylvania | Print Department | HSP at LCP HSP Certificates - Pennsylvania Industrial

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