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NOTES AND DOCUMENTS
Newly Available and Processed Collections at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania
| What follows is a list of some of the collections at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania that are either now available to researchers for the first time or that have been recently reprocessed to make them more accessible than they have been in the past. In an effort to keep readers informed of the many wonderful collections held by the Historical Society, the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography plans to make this update an annual feature.
Newly Available Collections
Catharine Franklin Sharples Family Papers, 1709–1866 (bulk 1790–1840)
3 boxes, 3 vols.
HSP Collection 3062
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1
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| Catharine Franklin Wistar was born in 1768 to Caspar and Mary Franklin Wistar. In 1804 Catharine married Abraham Sharples of Aston (now Thornbury), Chester County. The Wistar and Sharples families were active in the founding and early years of the Westtown School, a Quaker school founded in 1799 near West Chester, Pennsylvania. While this collection contains papers from four generations of Wistars (who include Dr. Caspar Wistar, namesake of the Wistar Institute), the central figure is Catharine Franklin (Wistar) Sharples. Her papers include correspondence with fellow Quakers, commonplace books, assorted writings, and financial records for the Westtown School. Both Catharine and Abraham served on the school's committee, and Abraham oversaw the school's operation beginning in 1796.
Emilie Davis Dairies, 1863–1865
3 vols.
HSP Collection 3030
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2
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| Emilie Davis was a young African American woman who lived in Philadelphia during the Civil War. Although the year of her birth is unknown, she was most likely in her teens or early twenties when she wrote these diaries, which detail her day-to-day activities as well as wartime news and events. She appears to have lived alone, but frequently visited her father in Harrisburg. Davis wrote regularly about her employment situation and appears to have been a skilled seamstress. Entries indicate that she traveled to Germantown to work for a Mrs. Powell and that she also worked for a Mrs. Wister. Davis had two brothers in the military and was particularly concerned about her brother Alfred, who died shortly before Christmas 1865. Her wartime entries contain passages about colored troops, the draft, parades, and units marching off to war. In 1865, Davis wrote about attending a lecture by Frederick Douglass and witnessing Lincoln's funeral procession through Philadelphia.
Margaret B. Howell Diaries, 1865
3 vols.
HSP Collection 3065
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3
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| Born in 1849, Margaret (Margie) B. Howell kept a diary from January 1 through August 22, 1865. Howell's diary provides a vivid and sensitive portrayal of the life of a teenage girl growing up in comfortable, but not lavish, circumstances in Philadelphia during the last throes of the Civil War. She recounts daily activities such as household chores, family gatherings, music lessons, and Sunday church, but also reflects upon the tumultuous events of the wider world. Howell's ruminations about life, death, scripture, and her ongoing battles with poor health paint a rich portrait of her inner life. She avidly followed and commented upon the last days of the Civil War, Lincoln's assassination, and the capture of Jefferson Davis. Her April 9 entry describes the uproarious celebrations that erupted in Philadelphia upon news of Lee's surrender; on April 23 she records her reflections upon Lincoln after attending his funeral procession and viewing in the Pennsylvania State House.
Samuel S. Kapp Family Papers, 1861–1862
33 items
HSP Collection 3066
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