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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 8 Collections and/or Records:

Ash-Schofield Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-004
Overview Samuel Shinn Ash and his wife, Sarah Jane Schofield Ash, were prominent Quakers, active in a variety of philanthropic activities, including anti-slavery, peace, temperance, women's rights, and education. Samuel Shinn Ash was apprenticed as an engineer and machinist and worked in manufacturing. This collection consists of family papers, manuscript letters and memorabilia, largely of a domestic nature. Includes some descriptions of Meetings and religious journeys, of the early struggles of...
Dates: 1796 - 1933; Majority of material found within 1833 - 1912

Balderston Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-299
Overview The collection contains correspondence of the family of C. Canby Balderston, a prominent Quaker and businessman. He served with the Friends Relief Service and the Relief Commission for Belgium during WWI and both of his sons, Frederick Emery Balderston and Robert W. Balderston, were COs in WWII, working as ambulance drivers. Frederick E. Balderston (1923-2007) married Judith Braude (1926-1993) in 1949. A significant part of the collection consists of her childhood and college...
Dates: 1853-1949

Dora Anne Gilbert Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-050
Overview

Dora Ann Gilbert (1869-1964), was Quaker librarian and genealogist from Chester, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Swarthmore College in 1893. The collection contains chiefly biographical and genealogical materials relating to the Gilbert, Strickland, Trego, and allied families, together with memorabilia relating to Swarthmore College Class of 1893, of which Gilbert was a member.

Dates: 1893-1958

Jesse Herman Holmes Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-064
Overview Jesse Herman Holmes (1864-1942), was a Quaker philosophy professor at Swarthmore College, 1900-1937. Holmes was an active participant in AFSC relief after World War I, travelling to oversee work in reconstruction throughout Europe. Holmes was the president of the National Federation of Religious Liberals and an active member of the Socialist party. Collection contains correspondence, biographical data, writings, and sermons. Also audio cassettes of reminiscences of friends, former students,...
Dates: 1905-1973

Charles Palmer Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-112
Overview Charles Palmer (1863-1966) was a Quaker teacher, lawyer, and real estate broker from Chester, Pennsylvania. The collection includes family correspondence, including that of Palmer as a student at Swarthmore College, diaries of Palmer's father, Lewis Palmer (1837-1917), mother, Hannah H. Palmer (1836-1917), and other family members in Chester and Delaware counties, Pa., account books, business and legal papers, essays, poetry, clippings, memorabilia, and other papers. Includes material...
Dates: 1829-1942

Samuel C. (Samuel Copeland) Palmer Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-114
Overview Samuel Copeland Palmer (1874-1961) was Professor of Botany at Swarthmore College, Pa., from 1909 to 1942 and a lifelong member of the Society of Friends. In 1929, he served as botanist in Bowdoin-Baffin Land expedition under the command of Donald B. MacMillan, and after his retirement from teaching, he worked on a project to illustrate all plant species in Delaware County, Pa. This collection contains biographical material, writings, correspondence, and Swarthmore College memorabilia. It is...
Dates: 1895-1957

David Hutchinson Scull Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-135
Overview David Hutchinson Scull (1914-1983) was a Quaker businessman and civil rights activist in Virginia. He graduated from Swarthmore College in 1936, joined the Society of Friends while a student, and served on the Swarthmore College Board of Managers from 1974-1977. He was president of Turnpike Press, a family publishing company, and an insurance executive. He also was clerk of Baltimore Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends and a founder of Partnership for Productivity, a Quaker...
Dates: 1931-1936

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