Archival Adventures in Small Repositories
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Archival Adventures in Small Repositories
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Initially earning his living by farming and cattle droving, Newtown Square resident William T. Davis (1830-1916) decided to purchase the Newtown Square Inn in 1868.
Some of the historical societies/ historic sites that Celia and I have recently visited are located in fairly rural areas of Bucks and Delaware Counties. So, it's not surprising that we've come across several collections that relate to local general stores, which had played a significant role in the life of these small towns and villages.
The Colonial Georgian structure of the Johnson House looks beautiful today, but imagine how good it must have looked in the early 19th century to enslaved African Americans on a harrowing trek northward. The Johnson House was a stop on the Underground Railroad for many Freedom Seekers passing through Philadelphia.
The first store in Haycock (Bucks County, Pennsylvania), and the only store in the area for the latter half of the 19th century, was the Frankenfield Store. It was built in 1868 by Henry Frankenfield and carried on by family members including M. D. Frankenfield, Abel Frankenfield, John Bergstresser, E. A. Frankenfield, and A. H. Frankenfield. In 1872, M. D. Frankenfield began operating the Haycock Run Post Office from within the store. The post office and store shared the space for several decades until the store went out of business in the early 1900s.
Celia and I recently visited the Concord Township Historical Society, headquartered at the Pierce-Willits House. Frank Willits was an important figure in establishing the mushroom industry in America.
I am a big fan of the TV show "Friday Night Lights," so when Faith and I found a set of scrapbooks about high school sports at the Quakertown Historical Society, my first thought was, "Go Panthers!" Of course, this collection pertains to the Quakertown Panthers, not the Dillon Panthers; and the "molder of men"--and creator of the scrapbooks--is Coach John O. Barth, not Coach Eric Taylor.
For over 330 years, the Richard Wall House and surrounding Eastern Montgomery County, Pennsylvania have been a place of sanctuary--for Quakers, slaves, and birds--but not for horse thieves!
The Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories is gearing up to begin surveying in Chester and Delaware counties.
Last week, Celia and I returned to the behemoth that is the Old York Road Historical Society to finally complete the surveying that she and Michael began during the fall of 2011 which was documented in an earlier blog post.
The Society of American Archivists (SAA) focuses on disaster preparedness every May 1st by promoting "MayDay: Saving Our Archives."
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