| Author: | Wistar family. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Eastwick Collection, 1746-1929
| | | Dates: | 1746-1929 | | | Abstract: | This large and rich collection contains a range of documents including travel journals, diaries, business records, and personal correspondence. The largest portion of the collection is of correspondence among members of the extended Wister family and their network of friends in the early nineteenth century, which provides insight into early nineteenth century Germantown and Philadelphia culture and society. These often long letters lend insight into all aspect of nineteenth century life, including politics, courtship, friendship, family, and manners. Poetry of Elizabeth, Sarah, and Charles Wister is included, as are daybooks and journals of Sarah.
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| | | Call #: | Mss.974.811.Ea7 | | | Extent: | 3.5 Linear Feet | | | Topics: | American Revolution | Business and Skilled Trades | Land and Speculation | Literature, Arts, and Culture | Marriage and Family Life | Social Life and Custom | Surveying and Maps | Women's History | | | Genre: | Diaries | Family Correspondence | General Correspondence | Literature | Maps and Surveys | Travel Narratives and Journals | | | Subjects: | Agriculture -- United States. | Bees. | Gardening -- United States. | |
| Author: | Hazard, Ebenezer, 1744-1817 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Ebenezer Hazard papers, 1766-1813
| | | Dates: | 1766-1813 | | | Abstract: | The Ebenezer Hazard Collection contains a range of documents relating to the early history and establishment of the postal service in the new American nation. Ebenezer Hazard was a New Yorker who served as a deputy postmaster general during the American Revolution and early republic.Included in the collection are two letters from Benjamin Franklin, one appointing him to the post and another advising him to quickly establish a post to Albany. There are a series of military passes issued to Hazard, lending insight into how the postal service operated during the war years. Other correspondents include Thomas Jefferson, who wrote a letter to Hazard in 1775 endorsing a proposed public papers project, and George Washington, who corresponded with Hazard as General of the Army during the war and as President.
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| | | Call #: | Mss.B.H338 | | | Extent: | 1 volume(s) | | | Topics: | American Revolution | Government Affairs | Military History | | | Genre: | Institutional Records | Military Records | Official Government Documents and Records | Political Correspondence | | | Subjects: | Postal service -- United States. | |
| Author: | Anonymous | Requires cookie* | | Title: | [Eclipses of the sun and moon, 1820-1838], n.d.
| | | Dates: | Circa 1820-1838 | | | Abstract: | This collection of astronomical calculations from 1786-1838 consists of various loose notes on eclipses and solar/lunar calculations, including information on an eclipse as witnessed in Canton and Philadelphia. The collection also has a folio size bound volume that diagrams (sometimes with color added) eclipses for the years 1818, 1820, 1822, 1823, 1824, 1829, 1838, as observed in Philadelphia.
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| | | Call #: | Mss.521.8.Ec6 | | | Extent: | 1 volume(s) | | | Topics: | Science and technology | | | Genre: | Scientific Data | | | Subjects: | Astronomy. | Eclipses. | |
| Author: | Kane, Elisha Kent, 1820-1857 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Elisha Kent Kane Papers
| | | Dates: | 1810-1953 | | | Abstract: | This large collection contains the papers of Elisha Kent Kane, a prominent Philadelphian who led the U.S. Exploring Expedition.
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| | | Call #: | Mss.B.K132 | | | Extent: | 6.75 Linear Feet | | | Topics: | Americans Abroad | Exploration. | International Travel | Marriage and Family Life | Social Life and Custom | | | Genre: | Family Correspondence | General Correspondence | Travel Narratives and Journals | | | Subjects: | Abolition, emancipation, freedom | Africa | Arctic Indians | Arctic regions-Pictorial works | China -- Foreign relations -- United States | Colonization, repatriation | Exploration | Explorers -- United States | Geometry -- Study and teaching | Grinnell Expedition, 1st, 1850-1851 | Grinnell Expedition, 2d, 1853-1855 | Hospitals -- Pennsylvania | Indians of North America -- Nunavut | Inuit -- Canada | Inuit -- Greenland | Inuit -- Nunavut -- Baffin Island | Medicine -- Practice -- Pennsylvania | Medicine -- Study and teaching -- Pennsylvania | Meteorology -- Arctic Regions | Mineralogy -- Study and teaching | Northwest Passage | Obstetrics | Plantations | Slave trade -- Africa | Slaves, slavery, slave trade | United States -- Foreign relations -- China | United States. Navy | |
| Author: | Ferguson, Elizabeth Graeme, 1737-1801 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Elizabeth Ferguson commonplace book, [ca. 1780s]
| | | Dates: | Circa 1780s | | | Abstract: | This is a microfilm of an early American collection that may be of interest to researchers at the APS and may complement an original manuscript collection at the APS.
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| | | Call #: | Mss.Film.1238 | | | Extent: | 1 microfilm_reel(s) | | | Genre: | Microfilm Collection | |
| Author: | Day, Sherman,1806-1884. | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Ephraim Dyer IV Collection, ca. 1842, of the sketches of Sherman Day
| | | Dates: | Circa 1842 | | | Abstract: | This collection contains the proofs of images for Historical Collections of the State of Pennsylvania. The book is over 700 pages long with more than 200 images. The book and images capture Pennsylvania life past and present and can provide insight into the customs of the period. Days' engravings provide detailed images of towns and areas of Pennsylvania circa 1840. Some of the over 250 images included in this collection are: Pittsburgh with steamboats traveling up the rivers and smoke spouting in the sky from factories, a redoubt at Fort Pitt, a vista of Reading, mines in western Pennsylvania, Native American engravings found on a rock, the public squares at Chambersburg, Lancaster and Erie, and Ephrata's houses.
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| | | Call #: | Mss.917.48.D33 | | | Extent: | 0.5 Linear Feet | | | Topics: | Literature, Arts, and Culture | Pennsylvania History | Social Life and Custom | | | Genre: | Art | General Correspondence | Sketchbooks | | | Subjects: | Architecture -- Pennsylvania. | Delaware Indians | Indians of North America -- Pennsylvania | Landscape -- Pennsylvania. | Seneca Indians | |
| Author: | Bruno, M. de | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Essai metaphysique, physique et phisiologistique relativement à la découverte de M. Mesmer, 1786
| | | Dates: | 1786 | | | Abstract: | This is a handwritten essay on Franz Mesmer and his claims to have healing and other metaphysical powers. Mesmer is today thought of as an early user of hypnosis. Throughout the 1770s and 1780s, he captivated French society. Marie Antoinette was particularly interested in his abilities. Finally, King Louis convened a scientific body in 1784 to examine the claims of Mesmer and his disciples. Benjamin Franklin, still in France as an American envoy, headed the committee, which debunked Mesmerism. The report can be found in the Papers of Benjamin Franklin and in the Diary of Benjamin Franklin Bache, both of which are at the APS.
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| | | Call #: | Mss.134.B83 | | | Extent: | 1 volume(s) | | | Topics: | Beyond Early America | Medicine | Natural history | Science and technology | | | Genre: | Manuscript Essays | | | Subjects: | Animal magnetism. | Hypnotism. | Mesmerism. | |
| Author: | Priestley, Joseph, 1733-1804 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Experiments relating to phlogiston and the conversion of water into air, 1783
| | | Dates: | 1783 | | | Abstract: | This tall, slender volume details Joseph Priestley's experiments with the principles of fire, specifically inflammability, in 1783. The volume contains an essay laying out the theory of and debate surrounding "phlogiston" and then describes the experiments he took to prove its existence.
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| | | Call #: | Mss.540.1.P93 | | | Extent: | 1 volume(s) | | | Topics: | Science and technology | | | Genre: | Manuscript Essays | Scientific Data | | | Subjects: | Phlogiston. | |
| Author: | Unidentified | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Extract of a letter from London, May 19, 1770
| | | Dates: | 1770 | | | Abstract: | This rich letter dated May 19, 1770 contains a detailed report on the state of affairs in London. The author, writing to friends in the colonies, relays the political machinations inside of Parliament and out of doors. The author focuses on the debates surrounding the crisis developing between Parliament and their North American colonies. The author discusses the content of some speeches, the alignment of factions in Parliament, and the opinion of merchants and manufacturers relating to laws and imperial policies. The letter is an "Extract" and was likely copied from a longer letter. This manuscript copy was probably forwarded to interested parties throughout the colonies to disseminate news. The letter is bound. The last page contains the signature of Robert Smith, although it is not clear if this is the author of the letter, the owner of the letter, or simply an autograph.
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| | | Call #: | Mss.973.3.Ex7 | | | Extent: | 1 item(s) | | | Topics: | American Revolution | Americans Abroad | Colonial Politics | International Affairs | | | Genre: | Political Correspondence | | | Subjects: | Stamp Act, 1765 | Taxation. | |
| Author: | Ord, George, 1781-1866 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Extracts from letters on John James Audubon, [n.d.]
| | | Dates: | n.d. | | | Abstract: | This single volume serves as George Ord's indictment of Audubon's work. The volume contains twenty-two letters likely written by Ord between 1831 and 1838 that highlight deficiencies and mistakes in Audubon's work. There is also a manuscript copy of a review of Audubon's work that details Audubon's history in Philadelphia and the origins of the rivalry between Ord and Audubon.
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| | | Call #: | Mss.B.Au25o | | | Extent: | 1 volume(s) | | | Topics: | Natural history | Science and technology | | | Genre: | Manuscript Essays | Scientific Correspondence | |
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