The Athenaeum

The Historical Society of Pennsylvania Location: 1300 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107 Hours/Access Policy: Library Hours: Monday, closed; Tuesday 12:30-5:30 (last admittance at 4:45 p.m.); Wednesday 12:30-8:30 (last admittance at 7:45 p.m.); Thursday 12:30-5:30 (last admittance at 4:45 p.m.); Friday 10:00-5:30 (last admittance at 4:45 p.m.). Contact Information: Phone: 215-732-6200, general information email: [email protected]. Website: http://www.hsp.org/default.aspx Overview: Founded in 1824 in Philadelphia, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania is one of the oldest historical societies in the United States and holds many national treasures. The society's building, designed by Addison Hutton and listed on the City of Philadelphia's Register of Historical Places, houses some 600,000 printed items and over 19 million manuscript and graphic items. The society is one of the largest family history libraries in the nation, has preeminent printed collections on Pennsylvania and regional history, and offers superb manuscript collections renowned for their strength in 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century history. With the addition of the holdings of The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies in 2002 (and those of The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania in 2006 through a Strategic Alliance Agreement), the society has become a chief center for the documentation and study of the ethnic communities and immigrant experiences shared by people whose American history began more recently-between the late 19th century century and our own times. In 2009 HSP formally transferred ownership of its museum collection to the Atwater Kent Museum of Philadelphia. Together these holdings, old and new, make the society one of the nation's most important special collections libraries--a center of historical documentation and study, education, and engagement. Civil War Collection: Forces that led up to the Civil War are documented in the Society's collections. Resources include the papers of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, the Underground Railroad records of William Still, and letters of radical John Brown. Just weeks after the Confederacy adopted its constitution, a Southern woman sent a printed edition to the librarian of the Historical Society. The James Buchanan and Salmon P. Chase collections comprise papers, correspondence and other documents on political trends, economic conditions, and social history before, during, and after the war. The Society has a Civil War Collection distinct from its other Civil War resources. This collection contains primarily Union Army muster rolls, consolidated reports, returns, enlistment certificates, some correspondence, reminiscences, miscellaneous manuscripts and memorabilia covering the 1861-78 period. Among the major groups of regimental papers are enlistment certificates for Eastern Shore Maryland Volunteers, 2nd Regiment, Company G; muster rolls for New York Volunteers, 67th Regiment, Company K; and morning reports for Pennsylvania Volunteers, 96th and 98th regiments. The Civil War in all its aspects, military and political, is reflected in General George Gordon Meade's letters written between 1861 and 1872. The letters describe leadership, plans of campaigns, strategies of the Army of the Potomac, accounts of the battle of Gettysburg, controversies among commanding officers, and issues before the American public. The War of the Rebellion Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies was published serially between 1881 and 1900. Gleaned from millions of pieces of information, its publications--bound in 128 volumes at the Society--contain tens of thousands of documents including general orders, dispatches and correspondence of commanding officers in the field, casualty reports, telegrams, and records of discontinued commands. Published in 1901, the index alone to this monumental work contains over 1,100 pages and more than 100,000 listings. Civil War period graphics housed at the Society comprise prints, drawings, cartoons, maps, and photographs. The Society's copy of The Official Military Atlas of the Civil War, 1983 edition, contains 821 maps, 106 engravings, and 209 drawings. Women’s Civil War Collection For overviews of the war, the Society offers a large selection of published general histories, and back issues of periodicals such as Civil War Times. Collection Highlights: Guide to Civil War Manuscript & Newspaper Collections by Daniel N. Rolph, Ph.D., Head of Reference Services. Revised 12/2010 Civil War collections at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania are excellent primary resources which offer eyewitness accounts and reveal the fears, prejudices, and heroism of the individual soldier, as well as the deprivation and destruction of civilian life, in America's most devastating conflict to date. The following list is an in-house guide to the various Civil War related manuscripts and newspapers available at HSP. This guide is not an every-name index, since the Simon Gratz and Ferdinand J. Dreer autograph collections alone contain letters from hundreds of individual Union and Confederate officers. Each of these soldiers is alphabetically listed within HSP’s manuscript card catalog (PC-1). However, those soldiers with a significant number of letters have been included within this guide. The purpose of the Civil War Guide is to function as a research tool, for both scholar and laypeople alike, to all diaries and large letter collections. It is also intended to direct researchers to miscellaneous Civil War related manuscripts, such as muster rolls, bounty papers, and organizations such as the Volunteer Refreshment Saloons, etc. Regrettably, this is not an annotated guide to the Civil War collections at HSP. To facilitate research, this list includes the following data (where known): Collection name, collection dates, collection numbers, and (when known) soldier's name, rank, company, regiment, and branch of service. The Civil War Guide is not exclusionary, restrictive, nor elitist in its approach to which individuals are contained within the list. All soldiers, regardless of rank, both Confederate and Union, are included. Samuel P. Bates’s 10-volume History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers: 1861-65 (Wilmington, NC: Broadfoot Publishing Company, 1993) was utilized to verify each soldier's military record. In many cases, only by examining each individual collection could identification of soldier and his service be proven. The Civil War Guide should be used in conjunction with HSP’s online catalog, finding aids, and card catalog entries. Various published works such as individual unit regimental histories and the multi-volume set known as the Official Records of the Union & Confederate Armies, should also be utilized. For a fairly comprehensive listing of published Civil War resources available at HSP, consult our online Military Records resource guide. Also, for a general introduction to Civil War research, see the hand-out, “Civil War History at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.” Home Front/Civilians 1. Soldier’s Relief Association. See Katherine Johnson Brinley Wharton under Diaries 2. Union Benevolent Association 1858-1871. Coates Family Papers. Collection No. 2169. This organization, created and run by women, provided for others in the local community of Philadelphia. This association was organized three years before the war broke out and remained in existence for seven years after it ceased. They donated necessary items such as coal, groceries, and garments to needy families. Through donations they were able to provide these necessities. They also visited the sick and dying and prayed with them to help them find God before death. Those who visited were paid a sum of money, usually a dollar per visit. The war did not appear to affect their work, as there was absolutely no mention of it in the minutes of the organization. They continued to help those in need in the community rather than turn their attention to the soldiers. There did appear to bemore needy people in the city during the war years, which indicated that the war’s impact on the civilian population increased the need for community relief organizations. This material is mainly comprised of lists of donations and visitations to needy; there are no named leaders of the organization and few other names mentioned. 3. Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon: newspaper clippings, notes, flyers, and minutes of meetings. Call No. Am .67040. The Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon, begun in May 1861, had a list of duties, as described in a newspaper article pinned to the front of the book, including devotion to soldiers, benevolent and patriotic duties, entertainment, meals, nursing, and hospital care for those needing it. Between May 1861 and November 1862, nearly half a million men came through their doors. All of this was done in one building on lower Washington Street in Philadelphia. There were two committees that comprised this organization: one for men and the other for women. The notes in this book were solely from the women’s committee, known as the Ladies Volunteer Refreshment Committee. They had weekly meetings, at which they discussed what to do for the soldiers away from home. The women cut out and sewed many articles of clothing to be sent to soldiers in need. The items they sent included soap, tea, drawers, and slippers and went to various locations, including Virginia, Missouri, and Kentucky. The minutes reflect a division of responsibilities in many different sub-committees of women serving different purposes. The volume includes several lists. One pertained to regiments that stopped at the Refreshment Saloon each day and how many men were in each. There was another listing of prisoners that were released from Richmond who stopped in Philadelphia on their way home. Also, a list of dead soldiers with information on their company, age, and location of death is included in the back of the volume. After the war had ended, many of the regiments came through the city on their way north and west. Many of these regiments were also listed, next to a small patch from their regimental flags pinned into the volume.

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