History of Hospital Train no. 52 and its personnel : American Expeditionary Forces, France, 1917-1919 (Pennsylvania, From 1917 to 1919)
A locally produced history of one hospital train and its crew, and its origins in Pennsylvania. Contains many photographs.
Continue reading State Library of Pennsylvania: History of Hospital Train no. 52 and its personnel
Autograph Album of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg (Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and Great Britain, From 1737 to 1742)
Autograph album of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg containing messages, prayers, and biblical quotations from German friends and acquaintances in Gottingen, Leipzig, Grosshennersdorf, Polzig, Hannover, Weissefels, Kostritz, Langendorff, Halle, Einbeck, and Kensington.
Diary of Charles Ashmead Schaeffer (1843-1898), chemist, United States Civil War veteran, and president of the University of Iowa, 1887-1898. In this diary, he keeps a nearly-daily record of his life and involvement in the United States government’s Civil War efforts. Description of daily chemical work for the Treasury in Boston, Massachusetts, travel, and military combat in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Entries from Alexandria, Virginia; Washington, District of Columbia; Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Germantown, Harrisburg, and Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Continue reading The Lutheran Archives Center at Philadelphia: Journal of Charles Ashmead Schaeffer
The history of London, from its foundation by the Romans, to the present time. Containing a faithful relation of the publick transactions of the citizens; accounts of the several parishes; parallels between London and other great cities; its governments, civil, ecclesiastical and military; commerce, state of learning, charitable foundations, &c. With the several accounts of Westminster, Middlesex, Southwark, and other parts within the Bill of Mortality. In nine books. The whole illustrated with a variety of fine cuts. With a compleat index.
This is a stately folio volume covering the history of London “from its foundation by the Romans, to the present time” illustrated with twenty five splendid plates. To this volume Peter Collinson (1694-1768), botanist and London purchasing agent for the Library Company, added manuscript notes and engravings from other sources over a period of time ranging (judging from those notes that are dated) from the mid-1750s almost up to his death. The most extensive annotations are on blank leaves inserted at the front of the book. At the head of one of these leaves he wrote: “Peter Collinson, F.R.S., S.A.S., [etc.] observes more remarkable publick edifices, buildings & inlargements has happened in his memory from the year 1702 (I was then eight years old) to the year 1759 then in any era of that number of years before.” At the head of another leaf he wrote, “Stow the indefatigable antiquary [whose 1598 Survey of London is the precursor to Maitland’s History] remarks how much the ground has been raised in Leaden Hall Street. I have taken notice of the same in laying the foundation of St. Katharine Coleman [when it was rebuilt in 1741] in Fenchurch Street was 17 feet before they came to the virgin soil.” These were the two most common themes of Collinson’s notes: the inconceivable antiquity of London and its transformation in his lifetime.
Other notes are more personal, such as his account of the horrifying experiences of his grandmother Hall during the great plague of 1665 and the great fire of 1666. This is supplemented by his insertion of a large folding plate from the mid-18th century showing a plan of London in Queen Elizabeth’s day contrasted with a view of the ruins of the city after the fire of 1666.
Continue reading Library Company of Philadelphia, The History of London…
The third of three diaries by Emilie Davis, a young African-American woman who lived in Philadelphia during the Civil War. The three diaries, 1863-1865, contain memories of her day-to-day life with mention of some wartime events, including the fall of Vicksburg and draft riots in New York City during 1863. Davis was likely in her late teens or early twenties when she began writing her diary in 1863. Although a great deal of information is recorded, typical diary entries are not very detailed. Daily entries provide a glimpse of the life of a young woman in Philadelphia, including her visits with family and friends and her experiences attending weddings, funerals, lectures, school, and church fairs. Most of the news Davis recorded in her diary focuses on the Civil War. National events, such as National Fast Day (April 1863), the 1863 New York draft riots, and the 1864 presidential election, are mentioned. In July 1863, she observed that people in the Harrisburg area were fleeing that part of the state and moving towards Philadelphia as a result of the Battle of Gettysburg. Emancipation was also recorded in Emilie’s diary , as was the fall of Vicksburg and President Lincoln’s assassination.
Continue reading Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Emilie Davis Diaries, 3 (1865)
The second of three diaries by Emilie Davis, a young African-American woman who lived in Philadelphia during the Civil War. The three diaries, 1863-1865, contain memories of her day-to-day life with mention of some wartime events, including the fall of Vicksburg and draft riots in New York City during 1863. Davis was likely in her late teens or early twenties when she began writing her diary in 1863. Although a great deal of information is recorded, typical diary entries are not very detailed. Daily entries provide a glimpse of the life of a young woman in Philadelphia, including her visits with family and friends and her experiences attending weddings, funerals, lectures, school, and church fairs. Most of the news Davis recorded in her diary focuses on the Civil War. National events, such as National Fast Day (April 1863), the 1863 New York draft riots, and the 1864 presidential election, are mentioned. In July 1863, she observed that people in the Harrisburg area were fleeing that part of the state and moving towards Philadelphia as a result of the Battle of Gettysburg. Emancipation was also recorded in Emilie’s diary , as was the fall of Vicksburg and President Lincoln’s assassination.
Continue reading Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Emilie Davis Diary, 2 (1864)
The first of three diaries by Emilie Davis, a young African-American woman who lived in Philadelphia during the Civil War. The three diaries, 1863-1865, contain memories of her day-to-day life with mention of some wartime events, including the fall of Vicksburg and draft riots in New York City during 1863. Davis was likely in her late teens or early twenties when she began writing her diary in 1863. Although a great deal of information is recorded, typical diary entries are not very detailed. Daily entries provide a glimpse of the life of a young woman in Philadelphia, including her visits with family and friends and her experiences attending weddings, funerals, lectures, school, and church fairs. Most of the news Davis recorded in her diary focuses on the Civil War. National events, such as National Fast Day (April 1863), the 1863 New York draft riots, and the 1864 presidential election, are mentioned. In July 1863, she observed that people in the Harrisburg area were fleeing that part of the state and moving towards Philadelphia as a result of the Battle of Gettysburg. Emancipation was also recorded in Emilie’s diary , as was the fall of Vicksburg and President Lincoln’s assassination.
Continue reading Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Emilie Davis Diary, 1 (1863)
Frederick J. Sorber pocket diary while serving as Sergeant, then Captain, in Company E, 29th Pennsylvania Infantry. Sorber’s service brought him throughout Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Tennessee. He includes recollections of the Battles of Harper’s Ferry (September 12-15, 1862), Chancellorsville (April 30-May 6, 1863), and Lookout Mountain (November 24, 1863). He frequently tracks the miles he marched with his troop. He also notes two instances when he witnessed executions of deserters; the first on June 19, 1863, involving three men, William Grover (Gruver), William McKee, and Christopher Krubert; the second on September 18, involving two men, William Smith and another man. The diary entries are not all Sorber’s; there are frequent entry in another hand. Transcription available. Provenance given in cover letter to transcription.
George R. Snowden diary, July – December 1862, with Company I, 142nd Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, gives an account of the difficulties of recruiting the regiment, the politics of getting elected as officer, camp life while building Fort Massachusetts (later Fort Stevens), at the Frederick, MD, hospital, at Warrenton and Acquia Creek, and action in Battle of Fredericksburg and its aftermath. Transcript excerpts by Snowden.
John M. Butler Civil War diary, 1862-1863, during his first year of service with the Ohio 101st Volunteer Infantry and his capture and imprisonment (transcription available), with letters, 1862-1864; Allen Butler pocket diary and scrapbook with letters home, 1918, while serving with 313th Infantry, 79th Division, military papers, and photographs; Frederick Y. Butler military papers, 1940’s-1950’s, photographs. Jay Cooke snapshots, and other family objects and ephemera. John M. Butler joined the Union League on November 19, 1866.
Continue reading Union League Heritage Center, Abraham Lincoln Foundation, John M. Butler Diary