Pennsylvania Photos and Documents

Test collection for HSLC and DGI Staff.

The Phil Bennett Collection is a collection of photographs provided by a patron. It contains photos of people and places in the Ulysses and surrounding Potter County area.

Isaac Meason, known for his grand Georgian mansion in Fayette County, deserves greater recognition for his contributions to the advancement of iron manufacturing that lead to the growth of the coal, coke and steel industries in Western Pennsylvania. Isaac Meason built Union Furnace, the first successful iron furnace west of the Alleghenies, in 1791. Meason also operated a foundry and grist mill in connection with the furnace. The associated forge provided iron sugar and salt kettles, Dutch ovens and other wares that were shipped by local keelboats for Louisiana. These wares were purchased by both western Pennsylvania businesses and families, and by settlers traveling west down the Ohio River. The furnace and forge passed through several hands until the company failed in 1922. Meason also sponsored the first iron suspension bridge in Pennsylvania, and financed and collaborated with Thomas Lewis on the first rolling mill producing bar iron in 1817. At his death, Isaac Meason owned interests in the Mount Vernon Forge, Maria Forge, Union Forge, Union Furnace, Grist Mill, and the Middletown Iron Works. The Meason ledgers will provide a broad history of the iron industry in Western Pennsylvania. These ledgers, containing over 2,800 pages of entries, provide important documentation of the raw materials, workforce and supplies necessary to operate an iron forge and furnace in the early 19th century. It holds seven Isaac Meason Union Furnace Ledgers covering the years 1801-1822, with the years 1803-1808, and 1818-1820 missing. In addition, there is a Union Forge Time and Team Ledger for 1809-1811, an original index book, and ledgers for the Union Grist Mill and the Mount Vernon, Centre, Mount Braddock, Dunbar, Warren, and Pallofax Furnace operations. These records are unique, unpublished primary documents of the iron furnace industry. Documenting not only the historical significance of the rise of the coal, coke and steel industries in Western Pennsylvania, it also provides records of use to genealogists and family historians whose ancestors worked or traded with the furnace. The records list payments to local farmers, laborers and businesses for supplies and raw materials, and income from boarding individuals. Specifically, these ledgers contain information about local workers who transported the wares from the Dunbar Creek area and payments to individuals for coal supplies and to local potters for their wares. This collection is dedicated to the memory of JOAN PEAKE, a professional genealogist and long-time volunteer, who dedicated her time and expertise to the Pennsylvania Room at the Uniontown Public Library and to the wider research community for nearly 20 years. Her dedication to this project, along with Linda Jennings, helped make it possible.

Annie Evaline Sanford was born on February 4, 1873 in Springfield, Illinois and graduated from Carthage College in 1894. Annie Sanford completed five missionary terms in India from 1895-1902, 1904-1911, 1913-1920, 1922-1929, and 1931-1938. Primarily stationed at the Guntur Girls' School in Guntur, India, Miss Sanford assisted in hospital duties, taught Sunday school, and completed local missionary work during her service. During travel and work, Miss Sanford kept a journal that she would write for several months, then would send back to her family as a letter. For consistency purposes, this finding aid refers to the documents as letter journals to express their dual function in Miss Sanford’s life. In her letters, she chronicles her experiences spreading education and Christianity with communities in India. She also highlights local customs, the rigid Indian caste system, the weather, traveling throughout India, and current events in India and in the U.S. Each time Miss Sanford would travel between the U.S. and India, she would take a different route to tour parts of North Africa, Asia, and Europe, and this is reflected in her letters.

Books and manuscripts published or created by the various Lutheran Women's Missionary Societies of the General Synod, General Council, and United Synod of the South. Included here are both published materials from all three communities and manuscript minutes for the General Council's Women's Missionary Society. The “In Her Own Right” project has been made possible in part by a Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Foundations Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Celebrating 50 Years of Excellence. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in site do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Digital Version of Upper Merion Area High School (King of Prussia, PA 19406) yearbooks 1934-2013 (some missing).

This collection consists of glass lantern slides and syllabuses for the course “The Materials of Engineering Construction.” It was the first in a series of four courses in Civil Engineering, developed by Samuel Tobias Wagner and taught at the Wagner Free Institute of Science between1893 and 1950. The course discussed the properties, mining, and manufacturing of the various materials used in civil engineering, including stone, brick, cement, concrete, wood, iron, and steel. Of note in the collection are photographs of quarries and furnaces in Swedeland, PA and photos of the Phoenix Iron Co., Phoenixville, PA.

An archive of papers examining historical flood control and new proposals under construction during the 1930's and 40's.

Three scrapbooks full of photographs, postcards, newspaper clippings, etc. pertaining to Kinzua and Corydon townships, the Cornplanter Grant and the Seneca Nation, the Kinzua Dam, the Allegheny Reservoir, etc.

The Carnival was a weeklong fundraiser event of the First Presbyterian Church of Warren, PA, featuring internationally and hobby themed booths, meals, and a daily publication. It was held from September 23-29th, 1899 to help with debt resulting from a new building which had been built to facilitate recent church growth. The special edition souvenir newspaper was titled, The Carnival, and was published by members of the Ladies Aid Society, who also coordinated the Carnival event.