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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 30 Collections and/or Records:

Alice Hall Paxson Papers on Scattered Seeds

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-119
Overview Alice Hall Paxson (1868-1955) was a Quaker author and editor, of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of Thomas Heston and Lydia H. (Cox) Hall of Chester County. The family moved to Swarthmore, Pa., about 1889, and Alice graduated from Swarthmore College in 1888. In 1897, she married Charles Paxson. The family had close ties to Swarthmore College, including many graduates. Lydia (Cox) Hall was founding editor and editor for forty years of the periodical Scattered Seeds, a position...
Dates: 1930-1936
Found in: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

Mary Williams Shoemaker Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-139
Overview Mary Williams Shoemaker (1861-1953) was a Quaker philanthropist from Germantown, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of Franklin and Mary (Williams) Shoemaker. The collection contains chiefly journals (1934-1945) and correspondence (1914-1953) relating to Shoemaker's support of Quaker historical, educational, and social service agencies; together with correspondence of her brother, Thomas Howard Shoemaker (1851-1936), relating to his historical interests and civic activities. Includes deeds...
Dates: 1860-1957
Found in: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

Smedley Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-319
Overview The collection contains correspondence, journals and other writings, business and legal papers, and miscellaneous items of the Smedley family, a large and prominent Quaker family of Penncrest Farm, Middletown Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The family was related to the Kite and Sharples/Sharpless families of Chester and Delaware Counties. The papers include significant correspondence of the Kite family, especially Thomas Kite (1785-1845) and Mary Kite (1792-1861), both prominent...
Dates: 1751 - 1996; Majority of material found within 1821 - 1950
Found in: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

Florence E. Taylor Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-145
Overview Florence E. Taylor was the descendant of a Quaker family whose roots went back to the settlement of Pennsylvania. Her parents were Frederick W. Taylor (1848-1919) and Emily Hunt Taylor (d. 1942). Fred Taylor, a wealthy Philadelphia businessman and philanthropist to the Society of Friends, was the son of Charles Maus Taylor and Anna E. W. Sterling Taylor. His grandfather was Israel Taylor (1782-1850). The collection includes correspondence of Israel Taylor (1782-1850) and Charles M. Taylor...
Dates: 1806-1995
Found in: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

Thomas Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-156
Overview

This small collection contains chiefly short manuscripts concerning women's issues, in particular suffrage and temperance. Most of the material, including essays on prominent Quakers and piece books, are by Ellen L. Thomas (1853-1925), a birthright member of Radnor Monthly Meeting and president of Montgomery County Suffrage Association

Dates: ca. 1867-ca. 1919
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

Underwood Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-153
Overview

The Underwood family was a Quaker family, of Millville, Pennsylvania, and Woodbury, New Jersey. The collection contains chiefly papers of Warner Underwood (1851-1941), Quaker businessman and philanthropist, and his wife, Tamar Eliza John Underwood (1848-1932), including personal correspondence, financial and legal records (1876) relating to a sawmill in Centre County, Pa., student copy work, memorabilia, and historical material relating to Millville.

Dates: 1833-1927
Found in: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

Walker-Conard-Cowgill Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-155
Overview The Walkers, Conard, and Cowgills were Quaker families of Frederick County, Virginia, and Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The collections contains papers of the Walker and allied Coates, Cowgill, and Conard families, including general correspondence (1792-1912), Civil War correspondence and diaries (1893-1900) of Union soldier Edward B. Conard (ca. 1844-1917), diaries (1896-1898) of Jacob Walker, ledger (1847-1887) of David Walker (1818-1889), journals, financial and legal papers,...
Dates: 1699-1912 [bulk 1792-1912]
Found in: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

Margaretta Walton Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-159
Overview

Margaretta Walton (1829-1904), eminent Quaker minister of Ercildoun, Chester County, Pennsylvania. The collection contains diaries and correspondence of Walton and her husband, Jesse Pusey Walton; business papers and memorabilia; sermons; and related papers. Also included in the collections are journals (1836-1853) of her father, Joseph Shoemaker Walton, who was companion to several Quaker ministers.

Dates: 1812-1961
Found in: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

Hannah Wilson papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-344
Overview Primarily manuscript letters addressed to Hannah Wilson of Plymouth Meeting, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, a member of Gwynedd Monthly Meeting. Most of the correspondents were family and friends of the Wilson, Schofield, and Williams families. The letters contain family news with reference to social and political concerns including slavery and abolition. The letters were transcribed and published with annotations. The collection also contains photographs of the Mills family (Hannah's...
Dates: Majority of material found within 1836 - 1860; 1795 - 1920
Found in: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
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