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The digitized papers of Charles J. Pennock consist of a small number of letters, most by or addressed to Charles J. Pennock; two bird log books; more a manuscript copy of a bird book by Charles L. Bonaparte; and a notebook of geology notes. Materials date from 1791 to 1927, with the bulk of the collection dating from 1860 to 1927. Charles John Pennock was an ornithologist who lived most of his life in Kennett Square, Chester County, Pennsylvania. Pennock was born to a Quaker family in 1857, the son of Deborah Yerkes and Samuel Pennock. He was married twice, and had two sons and two daughters. He was a tax collector, magistrate, and businessman in Kennett Square, but his chief love was for birds. Pennock collected specimens and took notes on the birds he spotted around Chester County. He was a member of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club, serving as president 1901-1903; the American Ornithologists’ Union (A.O.U.); and the West Chester Bird Club. He also studied birds in Delaware and was named its state ornithologist. He amassed a significant collection of books about North American birds, and his collection of birds and eggs was given to the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. After attending an ornithological meeting in Philadelphia on May 15, 1913, Pennock did not return home. Police were alerted and a search for him was instigated, but he was not located. However, in 1919, Dr. Witmer Stone, curator of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, believed that notes various ornithologists were receiving from a John Williams in St. Marks, Florida were similar to notes Pennock had written. Stone’s suspicions were enough aroused that he alerted one of Pennock’s relatives, Dr. Richard J. Phillips. Phillips journeyed to St. Marks to investigate and discovered that John Williams was indeed Pennock. With his identity discovered, Pennock returned to his wife in Kennett Square and died there in 1935. less

The two digitized diaries of Lewis White Williams consist of 102 scanned pages and date from July to August of 1857. Found within the diaries are more descriptions of geologic formations, plants, animals, rivers, and minerals sighted during a wagon road survey of the southwest commissioned by the U.S. Government and under the command of Lt. Edward Beale. Lewis White Williams (1804-1873) was born to Richard and Martha Good Williams in East Goshen Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. A teacher by profession, Williams was also a well-regarded expert in local geology and mineralogy, and was one of the earliest members of the Chester County Cabinet of Natural Sciences. In amassing mineral samples for his personal collection, Williams traveled widely at home and abroad, arranging personal expeditions to all fifty states and territories, as well as China and Japan. In addition, Williams is credited with discovering corundum deposits near Unionville in Newlin Township, Chester County. A variety of Serpentine gemstone, named Williamsite, is also named for him. In 1857, Williams was appointed by President Buchanan’s administration to join a survey expedition organized by Lt. Edward Fitzgerald Beale to reconnoiter a wagon trail from New Mexico to California. As the Assistant Geologist and Naturalist for the “Camel Expedition,” White was tasked with noting the geologic formations encountered during the expedition, which used 77 camels to carry gear to Fort Tejon, California. Upon the successful completion of the survey, the Beale Road was used by the U.S. Army and settlers traveling west, and portions of the route’s corridor have been incorporated into Route 66 and Interstate 40. The first diary notes the expedition’s departure from the Gulf city of Indianola, Texas on June 6, and covers the group’s first 35 days of northwest travel to Leon Springs, Texas, just north of San Antonio. Entries in the second diary cover the expedition from July 15 to August 12 as the surveyors continued towards Las Cruces, New Mexico, and ends on Day 63 when the party passes through Albuquerque, New Mexico. In both volumes, Williams notes the daily activities of the camp, miles traveled per day, and the distinct geologic and botanical features of the rivers and valleys the group travels through. In addition, he includes notes on fossil and native plant specimens, local news, Native Americans, and individuals the party encounters during the journey, including rangers and local townspeople. The entirety of the Lewis White Williams Diary Collection is housed and available for research use at the Chester County History Center. less

The digitized copybook of William Darlington consists of 170 scanned pages and dates from 1845 to 1851. Found within the bound volume are handwritten ink-on-paper transcriptions more of Darlington’s outbound correspondence to family, friends, acquaintances, institutions, and businesses. William Darlington (1782-1863) was born to a Quaker family near Dilworthtown, Chester County and spent his childhood on his family’s farm. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with a medical degree, Darlington served as a surgeon on a merchant ship for several years before returning to Chester County to practice medicine. A prominent member of the community, Darlington served as a major in the War of 1812, was the president of the Bank of West Chester for thirty-three years, and served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for two terms (1815-1817 and 1819-1823). After studying medical botany under Professor Benjamin Smith Barton at the University of Pennsylvania, Darlington continued to nurture a lifelong interest in botanical studies. In 1826, he published Florula Cestrica, a catalog of the plants native to West Chester, and that same year, was one of ten original members to establish the Chester County Cabinet of Natural Sciences. In 1837, he published an expanded volume of his catalog, Flora Cestrica, which contained a complete classification for every known plant in Chester County. Other works of note include Agricultural Botany (1847) and Memorials to John Bartram and Humphry Marshall (1849). The copybook covers Darlington’s outbound correspondence from 1845 to 1851. Correspondents include his sister, Jane Hough, and friends in the community, including the Batchelder and Jeffrey families. With these correspondents, Darlington shares thoughts on his family, women’s interest in science, and appreciation for condolence letters received upon the death of his son. A significant portion of correspondence relates to Darlington’s interest in botany, including detailed descriptions of plant specimens and their classification, and the exchange of printed publications with other botanists, plant collectors, and naturalists. Frequent correspondents include Dr. F. Boott, Anna Maria Collinson, Asa Gray, and H.W. Richardson. Additional correspondence to institutions and businesses relate to personal accounts, invitations to speak, society memberships, and other academic topics. The William Darlington Letterpress Copybook is housed and available for research use at the Chester County History Center. less

This collection contains maps of Erie County, PA. which have been scanned from the collection at the Erie County Public Library's Heritage Room. We have selected more maps that are not readily available elsewhere online through places like The Library of Congress or the National Archives. less

Cascade Park is a former amusement park which now serves as a recreational nature park; it is located 2 ½ miles from downtown New Castle in more Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. This collection contains materials in various formats related to Cascade Park and the Old Timer’s Picnic – an event that has taken place annually at the park since 1907. Included in this collection are the following items: - Cascade Park souvenir booklet circa 1915 containing photos of the park. - Photos and postcards of Cascade Park circa 1915. - An invitation card to a ladies event at the park from 1912. - Old Timer’s Picnic souvenir books from 1907, 1908, 1909, 1911, and 1915 which include photos of notable citizens of New Castle, Cascade Park, and the city of New Castle. - A button/pin from the 1910 Old Timer’s Picnic with a photo of the Shenango Bridge. - An invitation card for the 51st Old Timer’s Picnic in 1958. The location of the park was originally part of Donation Lands set aside for veterans of the Revolutionary War. Two hundred acres were given to Robert McWilliams who, circa 1816, constructed a gristmill and dam in what was then known as Big Run Falls. Col. Brinton purchased over 70 acres of the land from McWilliams in 1891. He re-named the area Brinton Park and added a dance platform and amusements, including a steam-powered merry-go-round, to attract residents to the already beautiful environment which features natural waterfalls. The spot was a popular place for fishing, swimming, picnics, dancing, and other recreations of the time. In 1897, the New Castle Traction Company (later Penn Power) purchased the park, installed streetcar tracks for accessibility and renamed the area Cascade Park in reference to the natural waterfalls. Due to declining attendance and the resulting financial loss, Penn Power transferred the title to Cascade Park in perpetuity to the city of New Castle in the early 1930s. Since its opening, Cascade Park has been home to a number of amusements including: rides, midway games, baseball fields, restaurants, horseshoe and bocce courts, outdoor theater productions, swimming pools, a lake for boating, fishing, swimming and ice skating, picnic areas, zoological gardens, and a bathhouse. It also boasted the largest dance pavilion in Pennsylvania, built in 1898, which still stands today. By the early 2000s, the swimming pool had closed, the lake had dried up, and the amusements had been removed. From the 1970s to today, various local non-profit organizations from around the city have been integral in repairing and maintaining the site and assisting in its transition back to a natural park. Cascade Park remains a popular nature recreation area and offers picnic areas, playground areas, food stands, hiking trails, a dog park, and is the host to a number of community events which occur throughout the year. less

This collection is comprised of images created sometime between 1928 and 1950 by Philadelphia photographer, Ida W. Pritchett. A 1914 graduate of Bryn Mawr College, Pritchett more received her doctorate from Johns Hopkins University, and held an appointment at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York where her work focused on pathology and bacteriology. She left the Rockefeller Institute in 1930 to pursue a professional life in photography. In 1928, Pritchett's photograph titled the "Luminous Globe" was included in the Royal Photographic Society's Annual Exhibition. Following on, she exhibited her work in the 1930 International Photographic Exhibition, Tokyo, and the Philadelphia International Salon of Photography sponsored by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. As a working photographer, Pritchett provided photographic illustrations for various publications, for example, "A Viking Drinking Cup--Birch Knob" for inclusion in Sir Wilfred Grenfell's The Romance of Labrador. With her friend, Marjorie LaMonte Thompson, she co-published a book of photographs documenting the buildings, interior spaces and grounds of Bryn Mawr College. Pritchett retired in the early 1950s and she and Thompson divided their time between their homes in Haverford and Sandwich, New Hampshire until her death in 1965. This digital project is supported in part by a 2022 National Endowment for the Humanities Sustaining the Humanities Through the American Rescue Plan (SHARP) grant. less

James Lawrence Dillon (1859-1942) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Irish immigrants James and Annie Eleanor Dillon. His mother died when he was 4, and his more father when he was 11. In 1886, James married Mary Beck Fisher. They had two children, Florence Hazel Dillon Jacoby (1887-1986) and Theodore Fisher “Jack” Dillon (1890-1979). James Dillon was proprietor of a successful photography business in Philadelphia, James L. Dillon & Co., Inc, Photographers, located at 1017 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. Among other subjects, Dillon’s photography company documented many architectural projects in and around Philadelphia including churches, private residences, banks, government buildings, cultural institutions, commercial enterprises, factories, and area hospitals. The business continued after his death (April 6, 1942) at least into the 1960s. This lantern slide collection of approximately 277 images, mostly executed in the 1920s, captures another, more artistic side of Dillon’s photography. Images in this collection include many plant portraits, fruit and flower studies, garden images, friends and family in gardens, and Philadelphia views such as Logan Square, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Fairmount Park and the Wissahickon. The collection also contains views of the William Hinckle Smith garden in Bryn Mawr, the Widener estate Lynnewood Hall in Elkins Park, and Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Views of national parks in the United States and Canada and images of the Bermuda Islands are also represented. Many of the lantern slides were produced using the Autochrome Lumière color photography process, giving the carefully composed images a luminous beauty and dream-like quality. The lantern slide collection was given to PHS McLean Library & Archives by Dillon family descendant Ginger Hankins in 2021. This digital project is supported in part by a National Endowment for the Humanities Sustaining the Humanities Through the American Rescue Plan (SHARP) grant. less

Jay Veeder Hare (1878 -1953) was born in Schodack, New York. He attended the Peirce School in Philadelphia and graduated from Temple University Law School. He more began his long career with the Reading Company in 1897 as a junior clerk who rose through the ranks, retiring from the railroad in 1945 as secretary and treasurer of the Reading Company, parent company of the Reading Railway System. He wrote the first in-depth history of the Reading Company. He was an avid gardener and a founder of the Trevose Horticultural Society in Trevose, Pennsylvania, where he lived at Hareacres with his wife Jean (Weber) Hare and daughters Jean and Nancy. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s executive council from 1929 to 1949. Mr. Hare gave many illustrated lectures on plants and gardens based on his extensive world travels. He obtained lantern slides from commercial photography houses such as Williams, Brown & Earle and the William H. Rau Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; T.Takagi Photo Company in Kobe, Japan and T. Ikeda in Tokyo, Japan; Lévy et Neurdein Réunis in Paris, France; and Arxiu Mas in Barcelona, Spain. His lectures were supplemented by his own photography. The collection is strong in images from Japan, Italy, Spain, the United States and Switzerland, with representation from Bermuda, England, Ireland, France, Monaco, Germany, New Zealand, and South Africa. The images, many of which are hand-colored, depict typical or famous gardens, well-known city parks, tourist views of areas of spectacular natural beauty such as waterfalls and picturesque coastlines, as well as individual plant portraits. Many of the gardens and much of the landscape have changed significantly in the past 100 years or have disappeared entirely. For example, the views of Japan include chrysanthemum festivals, Japanese gardens, flower arranging for tea ceremonies, tea gardens, farmers picking tea leaves, and men, women and children in traditional Japanese dress – all evoke a time that no longer exists. In addition to an avid interest in gardens and plants, Jay V. Hare was also a birder and member of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club. The lantern slide collection was given to PHS McLean Library & Archives by daughter Nancy Veeder Koltes in 2008.This digital project is supported in part by a National Endowment for the Humanities Sustaining the Humanities Through the American Rescue Plan (SHARP) grant. less

The Joseph Ascenzi Collection consists of 64 color and black-and-white glass lantern slides, most were produced by the J. Horace McFarland Company, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Williams, more Brown & Earle Inc. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, between approximately 1920-1940. Many of the Williams, Brown & Earle slides focus primarily on trees in-situ and include images of Sycamores, Poplars, and Oaks among others. In addition, the William, Brown, & Earle slides contain images from three series titled “Spring’s Awakening” featuring woodland plants, “Botany,” and “A Summer’s Ramble.” The J. Horace McFarland slides in the collection typically center on foundation plantings around entryways and corner plantings around suburban houses. The collector, Joseph M. Ascenzi, is the horticulturist and president of Laurel Hill Gardens (Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia). This digital project is supported in part by a National Endowment for the Humanities Sustaining the Humanities Through the American Rescue Plan (SHARP) grant. less

This collection documents the history of the Neighborhood Garden Association of Philadelphia founded in 1953 by noted horticulturist, activist, author and educator Louise Bush-Brown. The images more depict the earliest collaborative efforts of the Association, neighbors, garden clubs, and settlement houses who worked together to green and beautify neighborhoods and vacant lots throughout the City beginning with the first garden block on Mercy Street sponsored by St. Martha’s Settlement in Southeast Philadelphia and the now lost Ken-Watt Court a collaboration with the storied United Neighbors Association in 1953 to its partnership with the Penn State Extension to establish the first demonstration garden in the Mantua section of West Philadelphia in 1965. Louise Carter, born in 1897, graduated from the Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women in 1916. After a variety of jobs, Carter came back to the school in 1924 as their director. In 1925, she married James Bush-Brown, the school’s landscape design instructor. Louise Bush-Brown went on to direct the school for 28 years, retiring in 1952. She was an integral part of the school’s success. She also authored and co-authored several books with her husband, most notably America’s Garden Book written in 1939. In 1953, she founded the Neighborhood Garden Association of Philadelphia, and won the National Recreation Award for the Neighborhood Garden Project in 1959. Later, in 1967, she was invited to the White House to speak at the Natural Beauty and Citizen Participation Conference about her work. She died in 1974. The formal perennial gardens at the Ambler Arboretum are named in her honor. This digital project is supported in part through a 2020 NEH Cares Grant, National Endowment for the Humanities. less

This collection consists of documentation related to the Philadelphia Flower Show from 1829 to the present including tickets, advertisements, posters and high-quality photographs to exhibits and more promotional events. Some of the images include buildings that no longer exist, such as Philadelphia's Commercial Museum and Civic Center. less

The Garden Club of Philadelphia was established in 1904 by Mrs. J. Willis Martin and Miss Ernestine Goodman to promote an interest in gardens, their design, more and management. The garden club held meetings, conducted horticultural research, attended lectures, and participated in civic endeavors. In 1913, several members of the Garden Club of Philadelphia joined with several women from other local gardening associations to form the larger Garden Club of America. This collection, comprised of more than 300 views on glass, most hand-tinted, focuses on individual private gardens in and around Philadelphia, eastern Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The images provide unique documentation of gardens that are either “lost” or have been significantly altered during the last half of the 20th-century and include multiple views of the estate gardens of Andalusia, Stenton, Highlands, and Ludington among many others. This digital project is supported by a grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. less

The noted scholar, horticulturist, and landscape architect John Caspar Wister (1887-1982) focused on eastern Pennsylvanian climate and ecology through his work as first director of both more the Tyler Arboretum (Media, Pennsylvania) and the Scott Arboretum (Swarthmore College). This collection, comprised of more 400 views on glass, most hand-tinted, illustrated Wister's popular lectures, which he delivered to garden club members, college and university audiences, and horticultural societies in Philadelphia and throughout the United States from 1920s through the 1930s. The slides depict approximately 100 sites--primarily Philadelphia public and private gardens, parks and landscapes, and individual views of plant specimens. Geographically, the slides feature the American East and West, with Europe represented by Switzerland, Germany, France and England, and includes an unattributed subset devoted to China, Japan and Hawaii. This digital project is supported in part by a grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. less

This collection is comprised of photographic images documenting designed landscapes both private and public in and around Philadelphia. Digitized materials include early-twentieth century views of private, more public, and corporate gardens documented in the collection of the Society of Little Gardens of Philadelphia. In addition, the PHS Collection Portfolios document the activities the Rittenhouse Square Flower Market as well as materials connected to the School Gardens Movement in Philadelphia through the Perla A. Matthews photograph collection. Included are photographs taken by noted Canadian photographer Clara Sipprell (1885-1975) and Philadelphia photographer, Ida W. Pritchett of the Alba B. Johnson estate “Castana,” in Rosemont, Pennsylvania.  In addition, are the images of Edge Hill, the estate of Samuel W. Morris that depict the gardens designed by landscape architect Ellen Biddle Shipman (1869-1950) and photographed by "Mrs. Gillingham" [Mrs. C. Stratton Howe Gillingham] and Mattie Edwards Hewitt (1869-1956). This digital project is supported in part by a grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. less

This collection documents activities and projects undertaken by or in partnership with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society from its inception in 1827 to the 21st Century (apart more from Philadelphia Flower Show documentation, which is in a separate collection). The bulk of the material is from originals dating from 1940 - 2010. Consisting of scanned documents and photographic images, born-digital images, and digitized video and audio clips, this collection documents Philadelphia-area horticultural activity including:  WWII Victory Garden Harvest Shows; PHS’s work from 1970s forward on urban greening projects created in concert with community leaders and activists; major projects on public landscape revitalization; and vacant land stabilization. This collection traces the trajectory of PHS’s urban greening initiatives starting in the 1970s as its Philadelphia Green program, which, over time, helped Philadelphians create hundreds of community gardens, plant thousands of trees to beautify and cool the city’s streets, to revitalize Philadelphia’s neighborhood parks and to bring new life to iconic public landscapes. Additionally, the collection includes digital images of Meadowbrook Farm a 25-acre property in Abington, Pennsylvania, bequeathed to PHS in 2003 and material related to PHS’s first Pop Up Garden in 2011.  The collection is supported in part through a 2020 NEH Cares Grant, National Endowment for the Humanities. less

Items related to the care, management and supervision of natural resources in order to preserve and protect them through prudent management. General and specific topical texts more in the natural and industrial sciences, such as paleontology and engineering. less

A collection of handwritten lectures on Conchology, consisting of an Introductory lecture followed by 15 topical lectures. They were written and delivered by William Wagner, founder more of the Wagner Free Institute of Science, between 1852 and 1884. Conchology was one of Wagner's favorite topics and this was the first lecture series he wrote. He delivered it for the first time in 1852, prior to opening the Institute in 1855. The lectures' inconsistent paginations and paper sizes, along with many notations throughout, are signs of the many alterations he made to his lectures throughout the years. less