Sales catalogue from Panter and Company for the French ship Marquis de la Fayette which was captured by six British warships (HMS Endymion, Egmount, Suffolk, Grafton, Trident, and Bristol) while in passage to Boston. The catalogue provides a complete listing of the ship's cargo and its value.

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

Correspondence and petitions to Henry Seymour regarding canal routes in northern New York, personnel, etc. Mentions David Thomas, Wells Hatch.

These documents are principally of Pennsylvania interest, 1757-1809, including letters to Richard I. Manning from John C. Calhoun, Marquis de Lafayette, George McDuffie, and William Wirt. There are also letters of Clement C. Biddle, James Buchanan, Francis J. Grund, James Madison, Timothy Pickering, and William H. Seward. In addition, there are several musical scores (n.d.) and 19 cancelled checks (1861-1871) drawn by Ticknor and Fields in Boston, to the order of various American authors.

These papers include correspondence, marriage settlements, legal papers, genealogical tables, and memoranda of William Montgomerie of Brigend, Scotland, who emigrated to East Jersey, ca. 1701. Also includes the pedigree of Alexander Forbes of Balogie; correspondence (to 1755) of John Burnet, who was a merchant of Edinburgh, London, and New York, and of John Burnet, Jr., of Perth Amboy, N.J., with Elizabeth Forbes; genealogy of the Montgomery family in the United States, prepared by Thomas H. Montgomery (1853); and a seventeenth-century copy of documents, accounts, and patents of East Jersey.

The papers include: minutes, 1794, 1802-1942; minutes of the Managing Committee and Committee of Seven, 1791-1950; rough minutes of the Managing Committee, 1819-1857; minutes of the Wardens, 1769-1919 (with some gaps); roll of members, 1841-1875; price books, 1786, ca. 1804, 1827, 1852; Price Book Committee minutes, 1786-1791, 1827-1897; price book of the Second Carpenters' Company, 1784; cash books, 1889-1952; treasurer's account, 1874-1907; ledgers, 1801-1896; record of certificates granted to measurers of carpenters' work, 1827-1889; account book, 1763-1834; minutes of the Building Committee, 1810 11; minutes of the Committee on fitting up the Old Hall, 1857; minutes of the Committees of Accounts and Rents, 1780-1784; minutes of the Library Committee, 1853-1889; receipts for books and library record of borrowers, 1846-1890; by-laws and rules and regulations and standing resolutions, ca. 1866-1869; minutes of the Friendship Carpenters' Company, 1770-1775; account of the Friendship Carpenters' Company, 1769-1799; rules and regulations of the Friendship Carpenters' Company and specifications for building, 1769; relief given to 12 widows, 1818; scrapbook, 1887-1892; Antiques, Curiosities, and Memorabilia, 1683-1855; autographs, pictures, etc., relating to the Centennial Anniversary, 1874; Trustees' minute book, 1895 1941; book of "Dementtions" of carpenter's work by Samuel Jones, 1784; real estate record, 1905-1918; receipt books, 1795-1918; and other materials. The whole collection has been filmed by APS. Recent deposits include: Miscellaneous bills, and bills and receipts relating to widows relief (1800-1854), Managing Committee minutes (1857, 1859, 1860), library bills (1795-1854). There are also more contemporary records on deposit (1952-1980s), relating to all aspects of the Company's activities (with restrictions on the use of some of this material).

This collection contains minutes of the Society, 1781-1975; minutes of the directors of the Corporation, 1929-1947; membership book (with signatures of early members), 1785; and names of later members. There are also deeds to the meeting house and burying ground; treasurers' accounts; reports of officers and committees; bills and receipts for constructing, maintaining, and repairing the meeting house; cancelled checks; and letters to the Society and its officers, especially Samuel Wetherill, 1883-1884.

Containing over 4 linear feet of letters and documents, the Franklin-Bache Papers comprises the second largest collection of letters and documents relating to Benjamin Franklin in the APS Library. Although the scope of the collection is broad, including materials from the time of Franklin's arrival in Philadelphia to his death, the heart of the collection documents the period of Franklin's ministry in France (1776-1785) and his diplomatic efforts to win financial and military support for the revolutionary cause, as well as less intensive coverage of his ministry in England before the Revolution. Franklin's correspondence with American and French officials, financiers (personal and otherwise), and savants provides tantalizing details on the social context of Franklin's ministry in France, his intellectual life, and his growing celebrity. Much of the correspondence documents the efforts to convince French officials early in the war to support the American cause, but there is valuable material relating to the peace negotiations as well. The collection is equally rich in personal correspondence, including a rich set of letters from Mary Stevenson Hewson, Georgiana Shipley, Catherine Ray Greene, Jane Mecom, Deborah Franklin, and a number of Franklin's other relatives. The collection is arranged chronologically.

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).

The Smith-Houston-Morris-Ogden Family Papers document the history of the Houston, Smith, Ogden, Morris and allied families, beginning in the late 17th century, and continuing through to near the end of the 20th. Among the many treasures in this vast collection are the papers of Pennsylvania Railroad executive Henry Howard Houston (1820-1895), his son, Samuel Frederick Houston (1866-1952), and of Pennsylvania attorney and treasury official, William Meredith (1752-1816). Although the collection contains a great deal of interest with respect to land speculation, commerce, and trade emanating from Philadelphia, the bulk of the Smith Family Papers consists of personal and family correspondence and other papers. Among the largest and most interesting bodies of papers are those of L.M.C. Smith and Eleanor Houston Smith, daughter of Samuel F. Smith. These document the family's progressive attitudes regarding and resource conservation, historic preservation, and their social activism. This very large collection includes much material that is not itemized below.

Born in Boston and educated there and in France, Samuel Breck (1771-1862) was a major figure in the mercantile, philanthropic, and political life of Philadelphia during the first hald of the nineteenth century. With an interest in historical and literary affairs, Breck was an active member of the Library Company of Philadelphia, the Phialdelphia Athenaeum, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and the American Philosophical Society (elected 1838). The Breck Collection is comprised of two manuscripts written by Samuel Breck. The first, "Historical Sketch of the Continental Bills of Credit, from 1775 to 1781, with Specimens Thereof" (1840), includes an essay and 153 specimens of Continental Currency. The second essay, "Recollections of My Acquaintance and Association with Deceased Members of the American Philosophical Society" (1862) includes the 92 year-old Breck's reminiscences of his personal relationships with the nationally and internationally prominent membership of the APS.

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.

One of the oldest houses in Philadelphia, Wyck is now a non-profit museum listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Nine generations of the Jansen-Wistar-Haines family owned the Wyck property from 1690 until 1973. The last family owner deeded 2.5 acres of land, the house and its contents, several outbuildings, a landscaped garden, and a small endowment to the Wyck Charitable Trust. The Wyck Charitable Trust and the Wyck Association now administer the preservation of the property and its educational services to the public. This collection contains diaries, letters, accounts, bills and receipts, deeds, and photographs. The collection as a whole is deepest for the period 1770-1970. Items of particular note include accounts of household expenses at Wyck from ca. 1790-1970; papers pertaining to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Quaker schools, and social reform groups; agricultural and horticultural practices; and correspondence to and from cultural leaders of 18th and 19th century Philadelphia. The papers of the John S. Haines family (Ms. Coll. 52A) form part of the Wyck Papers. The papers cover the years 1845 to 1949 and are arranged into eight series.

This is a collection of letters, letterbooks, account books, scrapbooks, etc., concerning the families of Robert Hare and Thomas Willing. The letters and other documents include early family material, as well as documents written by numerous family relations, and some obviously only collected by them. The Willing family letters (1744-1901) are diverse, concerning family matters, business, society, comments on the Civil War, etc. There are numerous letters from Thomas Willing, many concerning his banking career, as President of the Bank of North America and later at the first Bank of the U.S. The Hare family letters (1724-1965) are more extensive and diverse, including much on travel in the U.S. and elsewhere. There is a letter from Robert Hare Jr. concerning steam engines, and letters from Horace Binney Hare concerning his education at Harvard, 1860, his trip to San Francisco and the west, 1862, and numerous letters written while a soldier in the Civil War. There are many letters from Horace Binney (1780-1875, DAB) to his daughter Esther, who was married to John Innes Clark Hare (1816-1905, DAB), concerning family travel and court cases. There are also letters from outside the family, such as those from Dorothea L. Dix. The bound volumes include, among others: Robert Hare letterbooks (1824-1825, 1841-1857), estate records, and laboratory expense accounts (1818-1860); G. H. Hare's journal or log of cruises aboard the U.S. United States (1841) and U.S. Flint (1845); Horace Binney Hare's 1862 journal of his trip to San Francisco. There are account books and accounts (1754-1795) kept by Thomas Willing; accounts of the controversy over the estate of John Innes Clark; and records of the First Colored Wesley Methodist Church of Philadelphia (receipt book, 1820-1848; minute book, 1827-1844). There are also Philadelphia court records, and minutes of the Common Council of the city, 1832.