Skip to main content
Header image

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:

Clendenon Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-339
Overview The collection contains correspondence, journals, and other papers of the Robert and Elizabeth Clendenon family who served as Quaker missionaries to the Native Americans in Tunesassa, Cattaraugus County, New York, in 1812-1816 and were early settlers of Ceres, McKean County, Pennsylvania. Of special note are the diary and correspondence of Robert Clendenon. The bulk of the correspondence was received by Lydia Clendenon Chevalier and includes two letters dictated by Jacob Johnson, a member...
Dates: 1789 - 1975
Found in: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

Ferris Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-040
Overview The collection contains correspondence, journals and other writings, business and legal papers, and miscellaneous items of the Ferris family of Wilmington, Delaware, a prominent Quaker family. Of particular note are the correspondence and writings of Benjamin Ferris concerning the Separation in the Society of Friends, as well as the journals and diaries of Anna M. Ferris, David Ferris, Matilda Ferris, Benjamin Ferris, and Henry Ferris. Correspondents include William Lloyd Garrison, William...
Dates: 1737-1940
Found in: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

Isaac Hicks Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-197
Overview Isaac Hicks (1767-1820) was a New York Quaker merchant. He established a large fleet of international trading vessels and financially helped to support his cousin, Edward Hicks (1780-1849), the Pennsylvania Quaker folk artist. Isaac Hicks traveled extensively with his cousin, Elias Hicks (1748-1830), the New York Quaker minister. The collection contains primarily the correspondence of Isaac Hicks, including letters from Isaac Hicks to his wife describing religious journeys taken with Elias...
Dates: 1798-ca. 1956 (bulk 1798-1818)
Found in: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

Samuel M. Janney Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-183
Overview Samuel McPherson Janney was a Virginia Quaker minister, author, educator, and reformer. In 1839 he opened a boarding school for girls in Loudoun County. He traveled widely in the ministry, meeting with other denominations as well as being immersed in the contemporary issues facing the Society of Friends. Among his activities were establishing schools for African Americans and women, creating public schools in Virginia, and the abolition of slavery. In 1869 he was appointed Superintendent of...
Dates: 1815-1880
Found in: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

Sarah Hopper Palmer Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-115
Overview Sarah Hopper Palmer (1796-1885) was the eldest child of Isaac T. Hopper (1771-1852), noted Hicksite Quaker abolitionist and social reformer. The collection was apparently compiled as a basis for Lydia Maria Child's Life of Isaac T. Hopper, which was first published in 1853. The original manuscript of the published book is included in the collection. The collection contains material on the Palmer, Hunn and Jenkins families, family correspondence, legal and...
Dates: 1705-1883
Found in: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

Aaron M. (Aaron Macy) Powell Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-122
Overview

Aaron M. (Aaron Macy) Powell, 1832-1899, was a Quaker social reformer. The collection contains correspondence, much of it letters of condolence following the death (1867) of Powell's daughter Elizabeth, biographical materials and tributes, and mss. of his biographies of George Fox and Wendell Phillips.

Dates: 1858-1915
Found in: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

Charles and Priscilla Townsend Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-350
Overview

Members of the Charles and Priscilla Townsend family were active in the Society of Friends in Philadelphia and in Quaker concerns, especially penal reform, abolition, and the natural sciences. The collection includes journals, correspondence, and writings in addition to transcripts and reference material on family members. Much of the material is available in published form.

Dates: Majority of material found within 1811 - 1858; 1793-2020
Found in: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

Turner Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-152
Overview This collection centers around the family and descendants of Joseph Turner, Jr., (1790-1850) and his wife Rebecca (Sinclair) Turner (1787-1877), members of Baltimore Monthly Meeting-Western District. They raised eight children and had fifty-four grandchildren. As a young man, Joseph left the family plantation near Still Pond, Kent County, Maryland, and became a lumber merchant in Baltimore. He served as Clerk of the Lombard Street Meeting. Rebecca was a recorded minister and traveled widely....
Dates: 1776-1954
Found in: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

Wood Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-192
Overview

The Wood Family Papers contains papers from a Quaker family active in 19th century New York City Friends affairs, compiled by M. S. (Mary Sutton) Wood. Included are business correspondence concerning the printing house founded by Samuel Wood and his sons, correspondence from prominent Friends concerning work for social causes including abolition, freedmen, prisoners, First Day schools, and peace, and genealogical material, writings, and reminiscences by Mary S. Wood.

Dates: 1784-1874
Found in: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
trico lib
Bryn Mawr College Special Collections
Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections