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SFHL/FHL/RG5. Family and Personal Papers

 Record Group Term
Identifier: SFHL/FHL/RG5
The largest category of collections in Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College is that of Personal and Family Papers. These materials include correspondence, journals and diaries, and property records of Quaker individuals and family groups they date from the mid 17th century to the present.

Found in 9 Collections and/or Records:

Gidley and Carter family papers

 Collection — Othertype RG5-309
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-309
Overview

Contains correspondence of Job Scott Gidley, Wilburite minister, of New England Yearly Meeting, (2) notebooks of notes taken by Jessie Gidley Carter during London Yearly Meeting and Friends Service Council in 1938, and miscellaneous Carter property records and family papers.

Dates: 1843 - 1938; Majority of material found within 1892 - 1938

Howland-Kirby Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-067
Overview Howland and Kirby families were Quakers of Dartmouth, Fairhaven, and New Bedford, Mass. The collection contains primarily transcripts and photocopies of their papers. Of particular interest are dairies of Weston Howland, Jr., with notes on the arrival of whaling ships in New Bedford and details of a controversy over the New Bedford-Fairhaven bridge; those of Abby S., and Rachel, which describe a trip taken by Abby to New York, N.Y., and Washington, D.C. (1888) and women preaching at Friends...
Dates: circa 1790-circa 1973

Howland-Shearman Family Correspondence,

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-303
Overview The collection is composed of correspondence of the family of David Sands Shearman and his wife, Hepsa Hathaway Howland Shearman of New Bedford, Massachusetts, and Poughkeepsie, New York. The Shearman and Howlands were prominent New England Quaker merchant and whaling families, intertwined by business and marriage. Much of the correspondence is directed to Hepsa, largely from her children who pursued a range of careers. Early correspondence is with her husband Captain David Sands...
Dates: 1800 - 1916; Majority of material found within 1832 - 1899

Kite-Bassett Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-080
Overview The Kite and Bassett families were Orthodox Quakers from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Lynn, Massachusetts, respectively. James Kite was born in 1808, the son of Benjamin and Rebecca Kite of Philadelphia. In 1837 he was granted a certificate to Salem Monthly Meeting in Massachusetts to marry Lydia B. Rodman, widow of Caleb Rodman and daughter of Isaac and Ruth Bassett of Lynn. James and Lydia had eight children, viz. Ruth, James Rodman, Eliza B., Rebecca, Isaac C. Bassett, Hannah B., Lydia...
Dates: 1837-1930

Rodman-Rotch Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-132
Overview The Rodman and Rotch families were New England Quakers. Samuel Rodman (1753-1835) married Elizabeth Rotch (1757-1856) in 1780. He was a successful Nantucket and New Bedford, Massachusetts, whaling merchant and clerk of New England Yearly Meeting. Elizabeth (Rotch) Rodman was a birthright member of the Society of Friends, also from a family involved in the whaling business, and active in philanthropic and reform causes. They had nine children. The Rodmans and Rotches were closely intertwined...
Dates: 1763-1865

Benjamin Sharp Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-136
Overview Benjamin Sharp (1858-1915), a zoologist who was primarily affiliated with the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, attended Swarthmore College (1876) and earned a M.D. and Ph. D. from the University of Pennsylvania. A birthright member of the Society of Friends (Quakers), Dr. Sharp was the son of Benjamin and Hannah B. (Leedom) Sharp of the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Pa. He was married to Virginia May of Ridley, Mass. The family moved to Massachusetts in the early 20th...
Dates: 1809-1915

T. Noel (Thomas Noel) Stern Writings

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-249
Overview

The collection contains the writings of T. Noel Stern and his wife, Katherine. The writings document his professional and volunteer activities, from his work with the U.S. Forestry Service (1941) to his involvement with Dartmouth town government (1990s). Also reviews of his autobiographical novel, Secret Family (published privately in 1988). The autobiography concerns his life as the child of parents born out of wedlock in early 1910's America.

Dates: 1939-1995

Wilbur K. (Wilbur Kelsey) Thomas Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-149
Overview Wilbur K. Thomas (1882-1953), a Quaker born in Indiana, was executive secretary of the American Friends Service Committee from 1918 to 1929. He graduated from Friends University in 1904, served as pastor of various Quaker churches, graduated from Yale Divinity School in 1907, earned a Ph.D. from Boston University in 1914, and was a member of Boston Friends Meeting after 1909. He was director of the Carl Schurz Memorial Foundation in Philadelphia from 1930 to 1946. The collection contains...
Dates: 1914-1933

Samuel Wetherill Correspondence

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-257
Overview Samuel Wetherill (1736-1816), a Philadelphia manufacturer of cloth, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals, was a birthright Quaker born in Burlington, N.J. During the Revolutionary War, he actively supported the military effort and was disowned from Philadelphia Monthly Meeting in 1779. In 1781, he, along with other disowned Quakers, founded an independent Quaker meeting, called the Society of Free Quakers. This collection contains correspondence primarily from another group of disowned Quakers...
Dates: 1780-1816