The Congo Free State was formally established in 1885 under the Belgian King Léopold II. With the use of forced labor, the governors rapidly developed agriculture and mining during their repressive twenty year administration, making the Free State the world's largest exporter of rubber by 1903. However due in part to international opposition to the abuses of power, the Free State was annexed to Belgium by act of parliament in 1908. The essay L'État Indépendant du Congo was written by an unknown Belgian some time during the period 1895-1908. Apologetic in tone, it discusses the political and social organization and religion of the Congolese natives, the geography and productions of both Bas Congo and Haute Congo, and the civil administration.

The physicist W.F.G. Swann was a pioneer in high energy physics and the study of cosmic rays. Climbing the academic ranks from the University of Sheffield to the Universities of Minnesota, Chicago, and Yale, Swann was selected as the first director of the Bartol Research Foundation of the Franklin Institute in 1927, and remained there until his retirement in 1959. An able administrator and excellent mentor, he was best known for his popular work on the new physics, The Architecture of the Universe (1934) and for his research on cosmic rays. Avocationally, he was an accomplished cellist and in addition to performing, he helped organize and support the Swarthmore Symphony Orchestra and other local groups. He died at his home in Swarthmore in 1962. The Swann Papers consist of 41 linear feet of correspondence, class notes, lectures, and photographs documenting Swann's career at the Bartol Research Foundation from 1927 until the end of his life. The collection is wide ranging, touching on atmospheric electricity, particle acceleration, atomic bomb defense, atomic energy, electrets, electrodynamics, magnetism, music, quantum theory, radiation, relativity and Einstein, science and civilization, stratospheric flights (by balloon and airplane), thermodynamics, psychic science, and wave mechanics. It is particularly rich for study of the history of cosmic ray research and the Bartol Institute, and for study of the popularization of modern physical sciences.