Skip to main content

SFHL/FHL/MSS. Assembled Collections

 Record Group Term
Identifier: SFHL/FHL/MSS
Included in this record group are manuscript collections that were assembled by the Friends Historical Library or assembled by other collectors (not the creator of the material). Major genre collections include: Account Books (MSS 001), Albums (MSS 002), Journals (MSS 003), and Miscellaneous Manuscripts (MSS 004). In this section you will also find topical collections assembled over time to document prominent Quakers like Lucretia Mott.

Found in 19 Collections and/or Records:

Collection of Bringhurst Family Correspondence

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-MSS-046
Overview Contains the collected correspondence of the Bringhurst family, largely compiled by C. Marshall Taylor. It includes correspondence, 1780-1806, of Philadelphia Quaker businessman James Bringhurst and his letters received from John Murray of New York City. Bringhurst corresponded with family and prominent friends including John Dickinson, Job Scott, Nathan Hunt, James Pemberton, Jesse Kersey, Lindley Murray and Moses Brown. Of particular interest are descriptions of life in Philadelphia and...
Dates: Majority of material found within 1780 - 1811; 1780 - 1941

Thomas Chalkley letter book

 Collection — Othertype MSS-071
Identifier: SFHL-MSS-071
Overview

Letter book of Thomas Chalkley (1675-1741), Quaker minister and businessman. Primarily business correspondence, most copied by his assistant, it also includes some personal references and provides insight into early 18th century maritime trade, particularly the Quaker relationships involved in trade with the West Indies.

Dates: 1720-02-14 - 1737-01-15

Friends Historical Library collection of disownments

 Collection — Othertype MSS-055
Identifier: SFHL-MSS-055
Overview A disownment is the involuntary termination of membership in a meeting, when a member of a meeting acts contrary to established discipline. Reasons for disownment have changed over time, often reflecting contemporary societal mores. Today, very few people are disowned. This collection consists of miscellaneous minutes of disownment, from various meetings and regarding various Friends, collected by the Friends Historical Library over time. It contains a mix of original documents and...
Dates: 1770 - 1890

Edward Hicks Manuscript Collection

 Collection — Othertype MSS-016
Identifier: SFHL-MSS-016
Overview This collection is composed of the draft manuscript of the memoirs and journal of Edward Hicks and related miscellaneous papers. Included are his drafts of the first pages of the memoirs, photocopies of letters and sermons of Hicks relating to the Hicksite Separation, abolition, and Quaker spirituality. Also included are a typescript copy of Samuel Johnson's letter to Edward Hicks on slavery, the original of Hicks' responses, and a letter from Isaac Parry to Benjamin Ferris after the death...
Dates: 1836 - 1952; Majority of material found within 1836 - 1849

Elias Hicks Manuscript Collection

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-MSS-044
Overview Elias Hicks (1748-1830) was an eminent Quaker minister from Jericho, Long Island, N.Y. In the 1820s, a religious controversy within the Society of Friends which focused on Hicks' ministry led to the Hicksite-Orthodox Separation of 1827-1828. The collection includes correspondence written and received by Elias Hicks, sermons, surveyor's drawings, family correspondence, and other papers. Also includes the original 1748-1822 manuscript journal of Elias Hicks (in three parts) and the 1828 Ohio...
Dates: 1779 - 1948; Majority of material found within 1779 - 1830

John Greenleaf Whittier Manuscript Collection

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-MSS-063
Overview

John Greenleaf Whittier was a New England Quaker poet, journalist, and abolitionist. His poetry, inspired by his religious and moral beliefs, was well regarded during his lifetime, and he was respected by both Orthodox and Hicksite Quakers. The collection contains Whittier correspondence, manuscript poetry, books, photographs and miscellaneous material.

Dates: 1708-1896

Joseph Smith manuscripts of four bibliographies, 1890

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-MSS-041
Overview

Manuscripts for: A Catalogue of Friends Books; Bibliotheca Antiquariana; Bibliotheca Quakerestica; Bibliography of literature relating to bees, and Miscellaneous notes for his catalogs.

Dates: 1890

Friends Historical Library collection of memorials

 Collection — Othertype MSS-056
Identifier: SFHL-MSS-056
Overview Memorials are brief biographical essays which testify to the spiritual values of a Quaker's life. Early meetings only wrote memorials for ministers, but today some meetings continue the practice to memorialize all deceased members. In the 19th century, in particular, some Yearly Meetings periodically published compilations of memorials. This collection consists of miscellaneous memorials, from various meetings and regarding various Friends, collected by the Friends Historical Library over...
Dates: 1760 - 1920

Mott Manuscripts

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-MSS-035
Overview Lucretia Mott was a prominent Philadelphia Quaker minister and a leader in reform movements, especially antislavery, education, peace, and women's rights. She was born in 1793 in Nantucket, Mass., the daughter of Thomas and Anna Coffin, and educated at Nine Partners Boarding School in Dutchess Co., N.Y. In 1811, she married James Mott and they settled in Philadelphia, Pa. The Motts were active Hicksite Quakers, and Lucretia served as clerk of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and traveled in the...
Dates: 1831-1898

Pemberton Manuscripts

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-MSS-039
Overview The collection contains primarily family correspondence of the three Pemberton brothers -- Israel, James, and John, prominent members of the Society of Friends in Philadelphia who were exiled to Virginia during the Revolutionary War for their pacifism. It also includes a small number of correspondence from Edward Stabler and Alexander White, an account on the life of James Pemberton, and the will of his wife, Phebe Lewis Pemberton. Topics include the Pembertons' exile to Winchester, Va.,...
Dates: 1756-1812