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Cooper-Richardson Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-032

Scope and Contents

Includes correspondence and family memorabilia of the children and grandchildren of William Evans and Sarah Cooper. William E. Cooper was the son of William and Sarah (Morgan) Cooper. Correspondence focuses on family matters and includes general family news. Two family chronologies log the births, deaths, and travels of the Coopers. The latter part of the collection stresses the lives of the daughters of Nathaniel and Mary K. (Cooper) Richardson, Elizabeth C. and Anna, neither of whom married. Of special interest is the Anna's journal of a two month trip to California in 1904. Anna and two companions traveled to Los Angeles and then north into Canada. The journal includes interesting descriptions of the slums and opium dens of Chinatown in San Francisco and notes prominent sites along the route. Photographs and postcards have been glued into the journal and are commented on extensively.

Dates

  • 1863-1977

Creator

Limitations on Accessing the Collection

Collection is open for research.

Copyright and Rights Information

Some of the items in this collection may be protected by copyright. The user is solely responsible for making a final determination of copyright status. If copyright protection applies, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder or their heirs/assigns to reuse, publish, or reproduce relevant items beyond the bounds of Fair Use or other exemptions to the law. See http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/.

Biographical / Historical

The Cooper family were Quakers of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, attending meetings in the Woodbury and Byberry areas. Materials in this collection focus on the children of William E. and Elizabeth Roberts Cooper, their spouses and children. William Evans Cooper (1812-1856) married Elizabeth Matlack Roberts (1815-1902) at Woodbury Monthly Meeting in Gloucester County, N.J., in 1836. They had 8 children: Annie who married Ezra Lippincott, Sarah, Mary Kaighn who married Nathaniel Richardson, Elizabeth Roberts, Joseph Morgan, Lucy who married Elisha Hunt Walker, William Alfred who married Mary Bagg, and Henry R. Cooper who married Jessie Bagg. Sarah and Anna C. Richardson, daughters of Mary K. and Nathaniel Richardson, were both teachers and active Friends. Their father was an acknowledged minister.

Extent

0.75 Linear Feet (2 boxes)

Language

English

Overview

The Cooper-Richardson collection contains correspondence and family memorabilia from the Cooper family (William Evans and Sarah Matlack Roberts Cooper). The Cooper family were Quakers of New Jersey, attending meetings in the Woodbury and Byberry areas. The collection includes correspondence and family memorabilia. Of particular interest is the journal of their granddaughter, Anna C. Richardson, written on her trip to California in 1904, and the writings of Sarah Cooper.

Arrangement

The collection is divided into five series

  1. Biographical and genealogical
  2. Correspondence
  3. Family Memorabilia
  4. Journals
  5. Publications

Physical Location

For current information on the location of materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donor: Caroline D. Bain, 1987, 2006.004, 2009.018

The collection was given by Caroline Dwight Bain, descendant of the Cooper family through Henry R. and Jessie (Bagg) Cooper.

Related Materials

See also:

  1. RG 5/031, Cooper Family Papers

Separated Materials

The following pamphlets donated to collection and removed:

  1. Religious Views of the Society of Friends, Howard M. Jenkins, 1893.
  2. The Book of the Street [High Street]. Sarah Lowrie and Mabel Ludlum, J.B. Lippincott, 1926.

The following photographs, listed by individual and group family names are cataloged in PA 100 and meeting house photographs:

  1. Cooper
  2. Richardson
  3. Bagg
  4. Stiles
  5. Matlack
  6. Roberts
  7. Meeting Houses, including: (General meeting house File)
  8. Abington
  9. Woodbury
  10. Byberry
  11. Cecil (MD)
  12. Cooper and Richardson residences, New Jersey. (Residences)
  13. Album, “Cooper.” (PA 48)
  14. Photographs. (PA 118: separate finding aid)

Processing Information

The collection was initially processed in 1987 as Cooper-Bain Family Papers. The name was subsequently corrected to Cooper-Richardson Family Papers.

In 1987 photographs removed from the collection were placed in Individual Portraits and meeting house files. The album was placed in PA 48 and pamphlets in FHL reference. In 2013, photographs were removed to PA 118 with a separate inventory.

In 2015 additional oil and watercolor paintings were added to the collection (FHL 2009.018) and the finding aid revised and updated.

Title
An Inventory of the Cooper-Richardson Family Papers, 1863-1977
Author
FHL staff
Date
1987
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English
Sponsor
Encoding made possible by a grant by the Gladys Kriebel Delmas Foundation to the Philadelphia Consortium of Special Collections Libraries

Find It at the Library

Most of the materials in this catalog are not digitized and can only be accessed in person. Please see our website for more information about visiting or requesting reproductions from Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College Library

Contact:
500 College Avenue
Swarthmore Pennsylvania 19081 USA