Initially proposed by Peter Legaux at a meeting of the American Philosophical Society in 1793, the Vine Company of Pennsylvania was a stock company that encouraged the domestic production of grapes, wines, and brandy, and dissemination of knowledge about viticulture. After its incorporation in 1802, the Company operated vineyards on Legaux's farm at Spring Mill, 13 miles northwest of Philadelphia, until it failed in 1822. The three volumes of Journals of the Vine Company of Pennsylvania record the daily operations of America's first commercial vineyard bewteeen 1803 and 1814. Kept by the superintendent, Peter Legaux, the journals provide careful records of weather, planting, harvesting and other field work, as well as some of the doings of the officers and shareholders of the Company. The fourth volume is essentially a weather diary kept by Legaux at Spring Mill from 1822 until his death in 1827. The last volume of Vine Company records covering the last eight years of its operation, 1814-1822, has been lost.

These forms apply to York and Franklin counties. They are printed and the blanks filled in by hand.

This collection of letters, while tiny, is actually quite rich in content. Cadwalader wrote to Samuel Meredith, a politician and fellow Revolutionary War soldier, concerning the war, his real estate holdings in Philadelphia, and the local political climate. The seven items are dated from October 5, 1779 to March 9, 1798, during which Cadwalader served in the military, reentered politics, got married, and then retired from public service.

Beginning in about 1830, John F. Fenton began a thriving business as a wheelwright in Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He married Mary Ann Ring, also of Newtown, on November 26, 1834, and was elected a County Commissioner in the late 1850s. These Day Books provide a detailed record of work performed by Fenton between 1830 and 1844, primarily the manufacture or repair of wagons and wheels (double trees, wagon tongues, sideboards, spokes, rims), with very occasional reference to carriages.

This collection contains applications to possess and operate stills and to retail spirits and liquors, receipts for distilled liquors, accounts of monies collected by Lawrence Erb and James Brice. Pennsylvania counties covered are Berks, Fayette, Franklin, Philadelphia, and York.

A collection of letters, legal papers and financial records of three generations of the prominent Philadelphia family. Spanning 1745-1955, detailed are the legal cases and political advocacy work of John Kintzing Kane (1795-1858), Robert Patterson Kane (1827-1906), and Francis Fisher Kane (1866-1955). Also includes correspondence, architectural drawings, and photograph albums of the Cope family. Robert Patterson Kane's daughter Eliza Middleton Kane (1863-1952) married the Philadelphia architect Walter Cope (1860-1902) in 1893. The APS papers of Elisha Kent Kane are in call no. B K132.

James Burd (1726-1793) was well-known in colonial Pennsylvania through his role in the French and Indian War, as well as his connections to many of the colony's leading families (most notably the Shippen family). Initially starting out as a merchant in Philadelphia, Burd became increasingly involved with colonial affairs after moving to Lancaster County with his family in 1752. It would be on the frontier where Burd would make his mark first as a soldier, and later as a magistrate. The Burd-Shippen Papers consist mainly of letters and business documents sent to James Burd, with the bulk of the collection relating to the French and Indian War, 1754-1763, in which Burd served as an officer commanding troops at Fort Augusta and elsewhere. The collection reflects all aspects of Burd's life in Pennsylvania as a merchant, soldier, and magistrate; as well as his involvement with the Shippen family professionally and personally. Intermixed with items sent to Burd are receipts to his wife Sarah Shippen Burd, and correspondence between Edward Shippen and James Hamilton regarding land matters and Indian affairs in Lancaster.

The transactions of Binny and Ronaldson's Philadelphia type foundry are recorded in the volumes.

This volume is a listing of Philadelphia individuals claiming bankruptcy, with a corresponding list of their creditors.

This volume contains the names of the indentured and to whom bound, the length of time, and the occupation to be learned or performed. An alphabetical index of names follows page 839.

These are receipts from tradesmen, mechanics, and storekeepers for sewing, carriage work, the making and repair of shoes, madeira, fabrics, sugar, hair-dressing, and clothing.

George Clymer was a successful merchant, well-known politician, and a generous philanthropist, but is today most famous for being a signer of the Declaration of Independence. As a proponent of independence, he joined various local political committees including six of the seven Philadelphia resistance committees. From there, he entered the national political arena and in 1776 was elected to the Second Continental Congress where he signed the Declaration of Independence. The George Clymer Collection is a small one and not reflective of his varied pursuits. There are twenty-seven documents, most of which are not signed by Clymer; those that are signed by Clymer are dated between May 3, 1800 and January 22, 1813. The items represent not Clymer's political activities but his ordinary legal and real estate transactions.

The two volumes consist of a daybook and ledger. The first volume, a daybook, is a chronological record of sales, with names of purchasers.

This item contains entries about prominent people (primarily accounts of their deaths); Philadelphia events and gossip; the Pennsylvania Hospital; questions for Meriwether Lewis on Indian physical history, medicine, morals, and religion; and his views on marriage, religion, physicians, etc. Also includes meeting with Captain Wells and Little Turtle; speculations on Indian skin color at the equator.

Personal and professional correspondence of the chemist Robert Hare, including drafts of letters to editors of journals on such varied topics as fish guano, slaughterhouses, paper money, and the meaning of the term "Yankee annexations." The collection originally contained over 300 scrolls, since disbound, which contained drafts of letters, essays, and lectures, composed by Hare on ordinary sheets of paper, then pasted end to end, and rolled up. The essay and lecture topics include: chemistry, storms, slavery, currency, fire-fighting, capital punishment, railroads, the Smithsonian Institution, Michael Faraday, religion and Spiritualism, riots in Philadelphia, epidemics, underwater blasting, and Ralph W. Emerson; there is some verse. The collection also contains an account book of Hare and his wife, 1806-1829 (180 pp.; B/H22#3); a volume by Hare on Cyclones (tornadoes), n.d. (ca. 60 pp.; B/H22#4); and Samuel Powel, Jr.'s "Short notes on a course of antiquities at Rome... under M. Byre Antiquarian," 1764. (60 pp.).

This collection includes certificates issued primarily by railroad companies, banks, and industrial companies. There are some bonds issued by the City of Philadelphia. Also of interest are the scenic engravings of railroads on the certificates.

This account book records Royale's printing business transactions in Williamsburg (Va.).

This collection includes letters, deeds, receipts. There are several letters concerning the ordering and delivery of scales and weights to various banks, including the Farmers Bank of Virginia, and the U.S. Bank in Savannah, Georgia. There are numerous documents relating to the Voights, namely deeds, real estate transactions, and indenture contracts. There is also a copy of a letter from Elias Boudinot of the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia concerning directions for closing the Mint in case of a yellow fever outbreak (1803).

This volume is the account book of a Philadelphia machine shop ("screws, taps and dies") operated by Winner and N. Barrows, which made such items as bolts, iron rods, pins, and rivets. Also included are charges and time requirements for the work done.

These are accounts of expenditures for various legal services rendered as magistrate, as well as some miscellaneous personal accounts.