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Richard Humphreys Foundation Records

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG4-059

Scope and Contents

The collection contains charters and bylaws, minutes of the Corporation and Board of Managers, annual reports, financial records, correspondence, and other papers.

Dates

  • Creation: 1837-1982

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Access is through microfilm when available. Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Some of the items in this collection may be protected by copyright. The user is solely responsible for making a final determination of copyright status. If copyright protection applies, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder or their heirs/assigns to reuse, publish, or reproduce relevant items beyond the bounds of Fair Use or other exemptions to the law. See http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/.

Biographical / Historical

Richard Humphreys was a Quaker who was born on the Island of Tortola in 1750. As young men he and his brother, Thomas, were sent to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as apprentices, Richard as a goldsmith and silversmith, Thomas as a tanner.

Richard Humphreys became a well-known and successful silversmith whose shop was at 54 High Street, Philadelphia. At his death in 1832, he left an estate of over $90,000, $10,000 of which he bequeathed to 13 members of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends for the purpose of establishing a school for "...instructing the descendants of the African Race in school learning, in the various branches of the mechanical arts and trades and in Agriculture...in order to prepare and fit and qualify them to act as teachers in such of those branches of useful business as in the Judgment of the said society they may appear best qualified for..." In 1922, the State of Pennsylvania assumed control of the School, and the corporation changed its name to Richard Humphreys Foundation, with funds from the endowment to be used for promoting education of African-Americans to become teachers.

Chronology:

2/25/1837:
TestPreamble and Constitution drawn up for an association of Friends to be called The African Institute; its object: ...the education and improvement of the Children and youth, of the African race, by instructing them in literature, Science, Agriculture, and the Mechanical Arts.
April 1837:
The name of the Association was changed to The Institute for Coloured Youth.
1839:
A 136 acre farm on Old York Road, about 7 miles from the City of Philadelphia, was purchased as the site for the school and farm.
1840:
School opened with 5 pupils from the Shelter for Coloured Orphans.
1846:
Farm/school failed and the school was closed, the farm sold.
1848:
Apprenticing committee was named to set up a program for an evening school for apprenticed African American youth.
1849-52:
Evening school for apprenticed youths held in one room, Barclay St.
1852:
Lombard Street School was completed. Day school for both boys and girls, tuition-free. Evening school continued until 1857.
1863:
A lot on Shippen Street (now Bainbridge) above 9th St. was purchased and plans for 400 students made.
1866:
Bainbridge Street School opened. Continued in operation until 1903.
1902
George Cheyney's farm, 25 miles from Philadelphia, was purchased as the site for the new school/farm. Cornerstone laid in 1903.
1904
Institute for Colored Youth reorganized, opened at Cheyney in 1904, the formal opening was 5-9-1905.
1905
Summer sessions for African American teachers held at Cheyney. Andrew Carnegie gave $10,000 for a library which was dedicated in 1910.
1914
Association for the Care of Coloured Orphans (the Shelter) moved to five acres of the Cheyney farm.
July 1914
Name of the Institute for Coloured Youth changed to Cheyney Training School for Teachers.
1920
Cheyney became State (of Pennsylvania) Normal School, with graduates receiving a State teaching certificate.
1-1-1922
Management of Cheyney Training School for Teachers taken over by the State of Pennsylvania. The State paid $75,000 to the Corporation.
1923
Home for Destitute Colored Children (later Sunnycrest Farm for Boys) moved to the Cheyney site.
1932
Cheyney became a State Teachers College, granting Bachelor degrees.

Extent

6 linear ft. (13 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The Richard Humphreys Foundation was created as the result of a bequest of Richard Humphreys (1750-1832), a Philadelphia Quaker who left funds for the establishment of a school for African Americans in Philadelphia. The school was founded as the Institute for Colored Youth. A group of Quakers, known first as the Association and after 1842 as the Corporation, oversaw the Institute. Actual management was performed by a board of managers who reported to the Corporation. The Corporation was successively known as the Corporation of the Institute for Colored Youth at Cheyney and the Corporation for Cheyney Training School for Teachers. In 1922, the State of Pennsylvania assumed control of the School, and the corporation changed its name to Richard Humphreys Foundation, with funds from the endowment to be used for promoting education of African Americans to become teachers. The collection contains charters and bylaws, minutes of the Corporation and Board of Mangers, annual reports, financial records, correspondence, and other papers.

Physical Location

For current information on the location of materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Custodial History

Deposited by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 1975. Additional material from Richard Humphreys Foundation and Charlotte Tinker, 1978, 1983.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Deposited by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 1978, 1983;

Gift of Richard Humphreys Foundation, 1978, 1983

Existence and Location of Copies

Parts of the collection have been microfilmed and are available in the repository:

Film Org.-R1
Board of Managers Minutes, 1922-77; Corporation Minutes, 1923-65; Annual Reports (bound), 1856-1900
Film Org.-R2
Board of Managers Minutes, 1866-1914
Film Org.-R3
Trustees Minutes, 1823-1838; Board of Managers Minutes, 1914-1922
Film Org.-R4
Corporation Minutes, 1837-59; Apprenticing Committee Minutes, 1848-1851; Corporation Minutes, 1860-1922; Discipline and Instruction Committee Minutes, 1871-1884; Board of Managers Minutes 1837-66

Related Materials

RG 4/043 Sunnycrest Farm for Negro Boys (Cheyney, Pa.);

SG 3 Cheyney Training School

Title
An Inventory of the Richard Humphreys Foundation Records, 1837-1982
Author
FHL staff
Date
2001
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English
Sponsor
Encoding made possible by a grant by the Gladys Kriebel Delmas Foundation to the Philadelphia Consortium of Special Collections Libraries

Revision Statements

  • 2020: Updated outdated terminology referring to African American people except where it appears in a title, quotation, or subject heading.

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