Skip to main content

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 4 Collections and/or Records:

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

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

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