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- Title
- Binny & Ronaldson Papers, 1805-1822 (inclusive)
- Description
- The Binny & Ronaldson Papers contains correspondence relating to their type-founding firm, including letters from the noted publisher John Binns, and author Joel Barlow, as well as to their ceramics factory, the Columbian Pottery. The financial records hold material documenting both business and the pair's personal lives, such as invoices for the funeral and burial of Binny's first wife Elizabeth (d. 1812)., The Library Company holds copies of A Specimen of metal ornaments cast at the letter foundery of Binny & Ronaldson (Philadelphia: Printed by Fry and Kammerer) in 1809, and their Specimen of printing types from the foundery of Binny & Ronaldson, Philadelphia in 1812., On deposit at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1300 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. For service, please contact the Historical Society at 215-732-6200 or http://www.hsp.org., Archibald Binny (1762-1838), type founder, was a native of Portobello, near Edinburgh, Scotland, and immigrated to the United States in 1796. James Ronaldson (1768-1842), also born near Edinburgh, arrived in America in spring 1794, and opened a bakery in Philadelphia in 1795. After losing his business in a fire in 1796, he joined Binny in partnership as Binny & Ronaldson type founders. Binny and Ronaldson were also partners in another endeavor, the Columbian Pottery, which was located on Cedar (now South) Street in Philadelphia, and operated from 1808 through about 1814. Binny retired to St. Mary's County, MD, in 1815, and Ronaldson continued in the type founding business through 1831.
- Creator
- Binny & Ronaldson
- Date
- 1805
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | MSS McA MSS 006, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A64353#page/1/mode/1up
- Title
- Committee to Attend to and Alleviate the Sufferings of the Afflicted with the Malignant Fever minutes
- Description
- This collection consists of one volume containing the minutes of the "Proceedings of the Committee, Appointed on the 14th of September, 1793, by the Citizens of Philadelphia, the Northern Liberties, and the District of Southwark." The collection dates from 1793 to 1794 and includes an appendix. The minutes include a list of Bush Hill patients and records of their convalescence or death.
- Creator
- Committee to Attend to and Alleviate the Sufferings of the Afflicted with the Malignant Fever
- Date
- 1793
- Title
- Civil War Manuscripts, 1854-1868 (inclusive)
- Description
- The collection holds disparate letters and documents pertaining to both military and naval officials, and civilians, active during the Civil War. There are small groups of material relating to the careers of five Union men who functioned at various levels in the war: an army colonel, William Watts Hart Davis; a navy surgeon, James McClelland; a soldier from Philadelphia, J. Ridgway Moore; an army general, Lovell Harrison Rousseau; and a Union spy, Richard Wilcox. There are also ten prisoner-of-war letters written by Confederate soldiers being held in Indianapolis, IN, and Columbus, OH. Much of the material was removed from military office files during the war and sent to the collector, John A. McAllister in Philadelphia., Additional Civil War-related autographs, clipped from letters and documents, are in the McAllister Autograph Collection (McA MSS 022)., On deposit at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1300 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. For service, please contact the Historical Society at 215-732-6200 or http://www.hsp.org., Some of the items in this collection were previously assigned accession numbers 5786.F, 5787.F, and 5795.F., John A. McAllister was an antiquarian collector living in Philadelphia.
- Creator
- McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector
- Date
- 1854
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | MSS McA MSS 024, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A64502#page/1/mode/1up
- Title
- Bank of the United States Records, 1790-1842 (inclusive)
- Description
- The Bank of the United States Records contains correspondence and documents primarily related to the second Bank of the United States in Philadelphia, with a small collection of material from the first bank, and from several of the second bank's branches in other American cities. There is correspondence with officers of the banks and its patrons John Sergeant, Basil Hall, Nathaniel Silsbee, and William Henry Harrison, as well as documents relating to the construction of the second Bank building designed by William Strickland. Papers relating to the duties of the Commissioners of Loans in the states of Georgia, Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania are filed at the end of the collection., The early national period of the United States was marked by two attempts at central banking, the first and second Bank of the United States, both headquartered in Philadelphia. The first bank was chartered in 1791 with a twenty-year term that was allowed to expire in 1811. Its first president, serving from 1791 through 1807, was Philadelphia merchant Thomas Willing (1731-1821). The bank established offices of discount and deposit in 1792 in Baltimore, Boston, Charleston, and New York, after which it opened offices in Norfolk (1800), Washington and Savannah (1802), and New Orleans (1805)., Plagued by financial troubles during and after the War of 1812, Congress authorized a second bank in 1816, also with a twenty-year renewable term. The acting treasury secretary and Philadelphia native William Jones (1760-1831) was appointed the second bank's first president, succeeded in 1819 by Langdon Cheves (1776-1857), and in 1823 by Nicholas Biddle (1786-1844). The second Bank of the United States opened in Philadelphia in 1817 with seventeen branches in twelve states and the District of Columbia; by 1830 there were twenty-five branches in operation. The bank was not renewed by Congress, and ceased operation in 1836.
- Date
- 1790
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | MSS McA MSS 012, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A64307#page/1/mode/1up
- Title
- William Trent Papers, 1763-1789 (inclusive)
- Description
- The William Trent Papers describe some of Trent's land holdings and business dealings in Pennsylvania, upstate New York, Maryland, and the Ohio Valley, with several investors including John Swift, Joseph Morris, George Campbell, George Croghan, Joseph Simon, David Franks, and Thomas Smallman, among others. Among the documents is an undated “List of Books, Papers, &c being the contents of a Black Trunk, belonging to the estate of William Trent deceased” describing fifteen items and bundles of papers (none of which are contained in the McAllister Collection). Another undated document is Trent's copy of a list of twenty-eight parcels sold to Campbell, Mitchell, and Davis, which includes six tracts along Jennings Run in Maryland., On deposit at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1300 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. For service, please contact the Historical Society at 215-732-6200 or http://www.hsp.org., William Trent (1715-1787), soldier, Indian trader, and land speculator, was a prominent figure in the development of Western Pennsylvania during the second half of the eighteenth century.
- Creator
- Trent, William, 1715-1787?
- Date
- 1763
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | MSS McA MSS 016, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A64400#page/1/mode/1up
- Title
- Thomas Wilkey journal on board the U.S.S. Delaware
- Description
- This collection consists of a single journal, written by Thomas Wilkey, that contains daily records of the U.S.S. Delaware's voyages in 1798, including weather conditions, courses set, latitude and longitude, daily activities, and encounters with other ships including privateers.
- Creator
- Wilkey, Thomas
- Title
- Gratz-Franks-Simon Papers, 1752-1831 (inclusive)
- Description
- The Gratz-Franks-Simon Papers contains correspondence and documents concerning the lives of two generations of three families of merchants living and working in eastern Pennsylvania. The material is primarily related to their business transactions, with some personal and family topics also present. Among the correspondents are Levy Andrew Levy, who worked with Joseph Simon in Lancaster, the trader and speculator George Croghan, and the Gratz's cousins Jacob and Solomon Henry., The Edwin Wolf 2nd Collection of Jewish Historical Documents at the Library Company holds many letters by and to members of the Gratz, Franks, and Simon families., Barnard Gratz (1738-1801) and his brother Michael (1740-1811) immigrated to Philadelphia in the 1750s. They were merchants active during the Revolutionary period, and who formed partnerships with the merchants David Franks (1720-1794) of New York and Philadelphia, and Joseph Simon (ca. 1712-1804) of Lancaster, PA. Michael Gratz's two sons, Simon (1773-1839) and Hyman (1776-1857), inherited their father's business.
- Creator
- McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector
- Date
- 1752
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | MSS McA MSS 011, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A64563#page/1/mode/1up
- Title
- Peter S. Du Ponceau Papers. 1787-1844 (inclusive)
- Description
- The Peter S. Du Ponceau Papers holds both incoming and outgoing correspondence with friends and business associates. Most of the letters in the collection, however, are in the second subseries: twenty-six letters written to Du Ponceau by the Marquis de Lafayette, and two by his secretary Auguste Levasseur. They range in date from January 1825, during their tour of America, until just prior to Lafayette's death in 1834. Lafayette's correspondence deals partly with personal and family topics, but also raises contemporary political issues., On deposit at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1300 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. For service, please contact the Historical Society at 215-732-6200 or http://www.hsp.org., A noted linguist, Peter Stephen Du Ponceau was born in St Martin de Ré, France, on June 3, 1760. In 1777 he came to the American colonies as secretary to Prussian military officer Friedrich Wilhelm Augustus, Baron von Steuben, during the American Revolution. Du Ponceau served as a captain in the American army until 1781 when illness forced him to resign; afterward, he remained in America, eventually settling in Philadelphia and becoming a lawyer. He was an active member of Philadelphia's cultural organizations, serving as president of the American Philosophical Society (elected to membership in 1791), the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. He was a founding member of the French Benevolent Society of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Bar Association.
- Creator
- Du Ponceau, Peter Stephen, 1760-1844
- Date
- 1787
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | MSS McA MSS 019, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A64517#page/1/mode/1up
- Title
- Episcopal Clergy Manuscripts Collection, 1765-1867 (inclusive)
- Description
- The Episcopal Clergy Manuscripts Collection primarily contains letters written by ordained leaders of the Episcopal Church to their peers. Nearly all of the authors of the letters and documents were then, or became, bishops in the church. Some letters hold notable content, while others simply ask for, or reply to, a request. Several of the correspondents wrote from or of the American Midwest, chiefly Ohio, and describe conditions in their dioceses, churches, and communities. Most of the letters are unrelated to each other and were most likely acquired for their signatures. The collection also holds two eighteenth-century autograph manuscript sermons by Rev. Edward Bass (1726-1803), the rector of St. Paul's Church in Newburyport, MA., The Library Company's Print Department holds portraits of American clergymen, both in prints and photographs. The John A. McAllister Papers (McA MSS 001) contain several letters to McAllister from clergymen of all denominations, including Episcopal., On deposit at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1300 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. For service, please contact the Historical Society at 215-732-6200 or http://www.hsp.org., John A. McAllister was an antiquarian collector living in Philadelphia.
- Creator
- McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector
- Date
- 1765
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | MSS McA MSS 029, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A64530#page/1/mode/1up
- Title
- Pierre Eugène du Simitière collection
- Description
- The Library Company of Philadelphia purchased this collection of Pierre Eugene Du Simitière's manuscripts at the auction of Du Simitière's American Museum after his death on March 10, 1785. The books and pamphlets bought at the same auction have been dispersed through the Library Company's collections. Du Simitière gathered or copied these manuscripts during his travels in the West Indies, Boston, New York, and while he lived in Philadelphia, where he was a member of and one of the curators of the American Philosophical Society. After the Library Company of Philadelphia purchased the manuscripts, they were bound together. The Historical Records Survey of the Works Progress Administration described the manuscripts in "Descriptive Catalogue of the Du Simitière Papers in the Library Company of Philadelphia" (1940), from which many of the following series and records descriptions have been abstracted. Since the Historical Records survey, many of the bound volumes have been unbound and foldered by the Library Company of Philadelphia. The unbound volumes in the series descriptions contain folder level description; however, the bound volumes are described only as an overall work. For more detail on the bound volumes, see the "Descriptive Catalogue of the Du Simitière Papers in the Library Company of Philadelphia" (1940). Researchers should be aware that the series titles are drawn from the title of the bound volume. It is important to read the entire scope note for each series, because the volumes often contained additional topics than are listed in the title.
- Creator
- Du Simitière, Pierre Eugène, ca. 1736-1784
- Date
- 1492
- Title
- John Smith Papers, 1802-1819
- Description
- The collection contains correspondence and documents covering the government and military careers of John Smith; they primarily related to his career as the United States marshal for the district of Pennsylvania during the War of 1812., John Smith was appointed United States Marshal for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by Thomas Jefferson on March 28, 1801, replacing John Hall. He was reappointed by James Monroe on November 27, 1818, for a four-year term, but in January 1819 he was removed from office and replaced by Samuel D. Ingram. Smith was listed in the Philadelphia city directories as “late marshal” from 1819 to 1822, and was not listed thereafter. He married Elizabeth Turner on October 15, 1795, at St Michael and Zion Lutheran Church, Philadelphia. No date of death is known. Smith also had a long military career, serving almost continuously from 1776 until 1814, when the 1st Regiment of the Pennsylvania Cavalry, which he commanded, was disbanded., United States Marshals were public servants appointed by the President; their primary function was to provide local support for the operation of federal courts. The post involved a wide range of duties including procuring witnesses, serving subpoenas and warrants, and paying the fees and expenses of court clerks, judges, federal attorneys, and jurors. Marshals advertised seized property and oversaw its sale. In addition, until 1870, marshals conducted the federal census, and collected a variety of statistical information on behalf of the federal government., In time of war, such as the War of 1812, the marshal's duties expanded to include keeping track of enemy aliens living in the U.S., issuing passports for their domestic travel, and guarding and providing for British prisoners of war.
- Creator
- Smith, John, marshal
- Date
- 1793
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | MSS McA MSS 026
- Title
- Thomas Leiper and family business records
- Description
- The Thomas Leiper family business records include “Letterbooks;” “Estate records;” “Paper, lumber and wood business records;” “Quarry business records;” “Tobacco business records;” and “Miscellaneous and household accounts and receipts,” dating from 1771 to 1947. These volumes document the business efforts of Thomas Leiper and his descendants, including the businesses of Thomas Leiper and Sons, Tobacconists; several quarries; a lumber yard and stable; and the Caldwell and Crosby estates. In addition to his other businesses, Leiper bought and sold real estate.
- Creator
- Leiper, Thomas, 1745-1825
- Date
- 1771
- Title
- Dillwyn and Emlen family correspondence
- Description
- This collection consists of five disbound volumes of letters written to and from William Dillwyn of London and his daughter Susanna Dillwyn in America from 1770 to 1795; and thereafter until 1818, to and from Susanna and her husband Samuel Emlen, Jr. of Burlington County, New Jersey. Although Susanna lived almost her entire life apart from her father, their letters are frequent and deal primarily with family matters and kin. However, there is frequent comment concerning such topics as yellow fever; abolitionism and slavery; and American and European politics, including the Napoleonic wars and the embargo, as well as their effects upon trade and merchants in Philadelphia and London. Moreover, events such as the Federal Convention of 1787 and topics such as the health of Benjamin Franklin, the popularity of President Washington and the trials of a new republic are addressed throughout the correspondence.
- Creator
- Dillwyn, William, 1743-1824
- Date
- 1770
- Title
- Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson papers
- Description
- This collection consists of six volumes of writings by Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson who is considered to be the outstanding female poet of her place and time, and a leader in the literary world of colonial Pennsylvania. These volumes, which date from 1752 to 1799, are arranged alphabetically by title.
- Creator
- Fergusson, Elizabeth Graeme, 1737-1801
- Date
- 1752
- Title
- Library Company of Philadelphia publications
- Description
- This collection consists of printed material created by the Library Company of Philadelphia. Included are brochures; information about institutional resources and services; event brochures, announcements, exhibit catalogues, and conference programs; and published works regarding the Library Company of Philadelphia or the materials held by the Library Company of Philadelphia.
- Creator
- Library Company of Philadelphia
- Date
- 1834
- Title
- Thomas FitzSimons Papers, 1784-1811 (inclusive)
- Description
- The Thomas FitzSimons Papers spans the period from 1784 to 1811, covering the years when he was closely involved in the bankruptcy proceedings of Robert Morris (1734-1806). The collection mainly holds documents relating to Morris's assets, particularly his land holdings, and their management., On deposit at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1300 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. For service, please contact the Historical Society at 215-732-6200 or http://www.hsp.org., Thomas FitzSimons, a merchant and a prominent member of Philadelphia's Irish-Catholic community, was born in Ireland in 1741, and immigrated to the United States with his family in the 1750s. FitzSimons entered politics after the American Revolution, representing Pennsylvania in the Continental Congresses of 1782 and 1783, and as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. After serving three terms in the Pennsylvania legislature, he was elected to the United States Congress in 1789 and remained there through 1795.
- Creator
- FitzSimons, Thomas, 1741-1811
- Date
- 1793
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | MSS McA MSS 020, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A64544#page/1/mode/1up
- Title
- John Dickinson papers
- Description
- This collection documents John Dickinson's roles in politics, business, law, nation building, and the American Revolution. The collection is arranged in two series: "John Dickinson" and "Mary Norris Dickinson," with the bulk of the collection contained within the "John Dickinson" series. This collection was organized into its current arrangement, probably in 1978. Prior to that, the collection was described to an item level in a calendar created by John H. Powell. While the 1978 re-arrangement has resulted in the physical order of the calendar being unusable, the information contained therein is of the utmost value and a pdf version of the calendar is attached to this finding aid.
- Creator
- Dickinson, John, 1732-1808
- Title
- Read family papers
- Description
- This collection contains the papers of four generations of the Read family of Philadelphia, consisting of John Read, Judge John Meredith Read, General John Meredith Read, and Harmon Pumpelly Read. The materials date from 1736 to 1896, with the bulk dating from 1792 to 1896, and include extensive correspondence, bills and receipts, genealogical notes, legal documents, newspaper clippings, photographs, scrapbooks and ephemera. The majority of the collection consists of General John Meredith Read's papers relating to his family history and genealogy, correspondence, and political materials. The collection is particularly valuable in illustrating Philadelphia social life, global and local politics, as well as Civil War experiences, as it includes extensive correspondence describing first-hand accounts of war activities as well as with several key political figures during the Civil War era.
- Creator
- Read, John Meredith, 1797-1874
- Title
- Samuel George Morton papers
- Description
- This collection contains the papers of Samuel George Morton of Philadelphia, a physician, ethnologist, and professor of anatomy at Pennsylvania Medical College. The papers date from 1832 to 1851, when Morton devoted his research efforts almost exclusively to ethnology and to the collecting of human skulls for comparative studies. The bulk of the papers consist of incoming correspondence, relating to ethnology and other related interests such as anthropology, craniology, paleontology and Egyptology. His collecting efforts in the field of crania resulted in extensive correspondence on the subject, which is also included here. The collection is particularly valuable in illustrating the publication process of Morton's technical publications, as it includes extensive notes, annotations, sketches, research and reviews of his published work. There is also a small grouping of documents related to Morton's son, James St. Clair Morton. The collection is arranged into six series: “Correspondence,” “Notes,” “Pennsylvania Medical College,” “Writings,” and “James St. Clair Morton.”
- Creator
- Morton, Samuel George, 1799-1851
- Date
- 1832