Darlington Family Papers
Scope and Contents
This collection contains the papers of the Darlington family of Delaware County, Pa., and Woodstown, NJ. Quakers with strong ties to Swarthmore College, the family was involved in education, social and peace concerns, and businesses in the Philadelphia area. Charles J. Darlington (1894-1966) served as Clerk of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends during the reunification of the two Philadelphia Yearly Meetings. The collection includes family correspondence relating to the Darlington, Shortlidge, Gause, and Palmer families as well as genealogical research and 20th century Quaker activities.
Dates
- Creation: 1831-2012
Creator
- Darlington, Esther (Person)
- Darlington, Charles J. (Charles Joseph), 1894-1966 (Person)
- Darlington family (Contributor, Family)
- Gause family (Contributor, Family)
- Shortlidge family (Contributor, Family)
- Darlington, Esther (Contributor, Person)
Conditions Governing Access
The 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
The Darlingtons were a Quaker family of Pennsylvania and New Jersey with strong ties to Swarthmore College. Charles J. Darlington (1894-1966) was the son of Jared Darlington and Marian Shortlidge Darlington. Jared Darlington (1864-1929) operated a well-known creamery with his brothers in Delaware County, and the Shortlidges operated the Maplewood School in Concord, Delaware Co.
Charles Darlington was born on the family dairy farm and graduated from Swarthmore College in 1915, earning a Master’s degree in Chemistry in 1916. He was a long-time executive at the Dupont Company in Deepwater, N.J. In 1918, he married a fellow graduate of Swarthmore College, Marie Sanford Bender. After her death in 1929, he married secondly Eleanor Collins of Purchase Monthly Meeting in 1932. Both the Darlingtons were deeply involved with Quaker activities and dedicated to social service through a variety of organizations. Four of his children attended Swarthmore College, and his daughter, Esther Collins Darlington continued his interest in family and local history and working with Quaker organizations.
Extent
28 linear ft. (57 boxes (and photographs))
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
This collection contains the papers of the Darlington family of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and Woodstown, New Jersey. Quakers with strong ties to Swarthmore College, the family was involved in education, social and peace concerns, and businesses in the Philadelphia area. Charles J. Darlington (1894-1966) served as Clerk of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends during the reunification of the two Philadelphia Yearly Meetings. The collection includes family correspondence relating to the Darlington, Shortlidge, Gause, and Palmer families as well as genealogical research and 20th century Quaker activities.
Arrangement
The papers were separated into three series:
- Series 1: Charles Darlington Family: Includes Eleanor Collins Darlington
- Series 2: Darlington Family: Includes Palmer, Gause, Shortlidge
- Series 3: Esther Collins Darlington
Physical Location
For current information on the location of materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Amy Rosenberg and Eleanor Rosenberg
Accession: FHL 2014.032, 2015.013, 2015.033, 2016.012, 2017.033, 2018.013, 2020.004, 2021.022.
Gift of Esther Collins Darlington
Accession: FHL 1997.016
Separated Materials
General genealogical and local history research by Esther Darlington were added to FHL reference files.
Quaker meeting printed brochures collected by Esther Darlington added to PG 1, Quaker Meetings reference.
Books added to FHL stacks or duplicate books, 2016.
Photographs of Charles and Marie Darlington, Catharine Bender Darlington, print of Harned Cottage, group photographs of Darlington Reunion (1946) and Bryn Mawr College class of 1920 added to PA 81, Darlington family photographs.
Photo album of 1953 Workcamp in Bad Godesberg, Germany, transferred to PA 81. Photographs not labeled. Loose scrapbook pages and tourist memorabilia of 1953 workcamp/1954 Berlin studies added to PA 81.
Esther Darlington's scrapbook of clippings concerning 1969 College sit-in transferred to College Scrapbooks with note in Ref. file.
Sarah Willets journal, 1853-1854, transferred to MSS 003/Journal. Sarah Willets, who married Richard Smith Collins, was the great-grandmother of Esther Collins Darlington.
Processing Information
The papers were delivered in various housings and intermixed groups. They were sorted into categories by staff. The papers of Charles J. Darlington, RG5/230, received earlier from his daughter, Esther Collins Darlington, were integrated with additional papers received from his granddaughters.
Source
- Darlington, Esther (Person)
Subject
- Darlington, Charles J. (Charles Joseph), 1894-1966 (Contributor, Person)
- Shortlidge family (Family)
- Sharpless family (Family)
- Brinton family (Family)
- Darlington family (Family)
- Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends Library (Organization)
- Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends (Hicksite : 1827-1955) (Organization)
- Woodstown Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Organization)
- Five Years Meeting (Society of Friends: U.S.) (Organization)
- American Friends Service Committee (Organization)
- Swarthmore College (Organization)
- Title
- Darlington Family Papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Susanna Morikawa
- Date
- 2015
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- 2024: This finding aid was reviewed in order to change or contextualize any outdated, harmful terminology related to Indigenous Peoples, except where it appears in a title, quotation, or subject heading.
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