WPA and New Deal Records - Manuscript Groups
Manuscript Group 9: Pennsylvania Writers Collection, 1899-1970 (4 cubic feet)
Materials written or published during the era of the New Deal include manuscripts and lyrics authored by Lois Miller, Christopher Morley, Mark Sullivan, Nelia Gardner White, Will George Butler, Charles Wakefield Cadman, Elizabeth Fay, and Amelia Reynolds Long.
Manuscript Group: 11 Map Collection, 1681-1973 (48 cubic feet)
A number of forest maps and tourist maps in this collection were created during the era of the New Deal as well as some aeronautical, highway, county, and topographical maps.
Manuscript Group 85: J. Horace McFarland Papers, 1859-1866, 1898-1951 (20 cubic feet)
J. Horace McFarland (1859-1948) was born in McAlisterville, Juniata County, on Sept. 29, 1859 but resided in Harrisburg for most of his life. During the opening decades of the Twentieth Century he emerged as an articulate advocate of the "City Beautiful" movement that resulted in such progressive improvements as paved streets in Harrisburg, the City Island water filtration plant, Riverfront Park, Wildwood Lake and associated flood control projects. A noted early conservationist, McFarland also campaigned vigorously for the preservation of Niagara Falls, the development of national parks, roadside beautification and against the blight of billboards. Together with Mira Lloyd Dock, McFarland was a seminal figure in the growth the national "City Beautiful" movement. As a founder of the American Civic Association, he took the "Harrisburg Plan" on the road to cities all across the United States. Among the records that continue through the era of the new Deal are those relating to McFarland's leadership in the American Civic Association (1901-1950), the National Conference on City Planning (1920-1946), and the American Planning and Civic Association, 1920-1951.
Manuscript Group: 160 Arthur H. James Papers, 1937-1943 (36 cubic feet)
A native of Plymouth in Luzerne County, Arthur H. James (b. 1883, d. 1974) graduated from Dickinson School of Law in 1904 and was elected as a district attorney of Luzerne County on the Republican ticket in 1919, as Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania in 1926, and Judge of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania in 1932. He subsequently served as Governor of Pennsylvania from January 1939 to January 1943. These papers were originally kept by Gubernatorial Secretary J. Paul Pedigo and Assistant Secretary LeRoy V. Greene. They contain materials relating to the anthracite coal industry, the State Athletic Commission, the Department of Banking, proposed flood control projects, departmental and legislative investigations, the Interstate Commission on the Delaware River Basin, the Department of Highways, state hospitals, labor relations, regulation of milk in Pennsylvania, penal institutions, the Department of Public Instruction, the Public Utility Commission, relief and welfare, the Shenandoah Mine Cave-In, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, and the Works Progress Administration.
Manuscript Group: 184 Reading Labor Advocate Records, 1917-1958 (1.5 cubic feet)
The Reading Labor Advocate was the official organ of the Socialist Party of Berks County and of the Federated Trades Council of Reading. Among the items present are minutes of the Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of Pennsylvania from 1932 to 1934 and 1936 to 1937, reports of the Socialist Party of Pennsylvania for 1932 featuring a report of the executive secretary and a report on organizational work in the anthracite region, correspondence from the period 1919 to 1946 representing such figures as George W. Hartman, Daniel W. Hoan, Jesse Holmes, Sarah Limbach, Jasper McLevy, James Oneal, Clarence Senior, and Norman Thomas, legal papers for the period 1917 to 1938, and undated photographs and accounts from 1918 to 1958.
Manuscript Group: 186 Francis A. Pitkin Papers, 1933-1966 (1.5 cubic feet)
Minutes, reports, correspondence, addresses, and newspaper clippings pertaining to the state planning career of Francis A. Pitkin (b. 1899, d. 1969), executive director of the State Planning Board from 1936 to 1964, except for the period 1955-59, when he served as director of the Bureau of Community Development in the Department of Commerce. Included is an 18-page manuscript entitled "A History of the South Pennsylvania Railroad," dated 1935, author unknown.
Manuscript Group 200: Poster Collection, 1854-1972 and undated (36 cubic feet)
Most of the posters concern wars and political campaigns.
Manuscript Group 213: Postcard Collection [ca. 1880-1974] (10 cubic feet)
A significant number of these postcards were created during the era of the New Deal.
Manuscript Group 214: Warren J. Harder Collection, 1928-1968 (10 cubic feet)
Approximately 7 cubic feet consists of photographic prints and negatives, ca. 1941-63, depicting Harrisburg personalities, community activities, bridges and streams, industrial and commercial facilities, parks and cemeteries, public and private buildings, and railroads. Also present are photographic copies of portraits of U. S. presidents and governors of Pennsylvania.
Manuscript Group 215: Ethnic Studies Collection, 1789-1975 (50 cubic feet)
A collection of ethnic newspapers, photographs of immigrant workers, and church anniversary histories pertaining to such Pennsylvania ethnic groups as African-Americans, Germans, Hungarians, Italians, Lithuanians, Polish, Slovene-Windish and Welsh.
Manuscript Group 218: Photograph Collections [ca. 1853-ongoing] (20 cubic feet)
A significant number of photographs in this collection were created during the era of the New Deal.
Manuscript Group 254: Audio-Visual Collection [ca. 1920-ongoing]
The New Deal era is represented by films taken by Sherm Lutz as a trainer for the Civilian Pilot Training Program at Boalsburg Air Field, ca. 1935-1941. Scenes show trainees checking planes, practicing take-offs and landings, etc. Also included are scenes at the State College Air Depot, ca. 1945-1955, most notably showing the landing at that airport of the first DC-3. There are a total of seven 16mm silent color reels running 1,800 ft. Also present is the Jerry Brinser Collection, 4 reels, ca. 1920-ca. 1936, pertaining to Harrisburg and Harrisburg area activities and events
Manuscript Group 281: Samuel W. Kuhnert Papers, [1897-1976] (30 cubic feet)
Samuel W. Kuhnert (b. 1890 - d. 1978) was born in Steelton and grew up on a farm near Halifax. He operated a photography processing business from his home in Camp Hill, and later on North Third Street in Harrisburg. Having a special interest in aviation, in 1919 he became interested in aerial photography and began building a small airplane powered by a motocycle engine. Unable to get this machine to fly, he took his first aerial photographs of Harrisburg on June 7, 1920 from a Curtiss "Jenny" biplane. In 1921 he bought some government surplus aviation equipment including a two-cylinder 30hp Lawrence engine and finally succeeded in building a wire-braced monoplane, his third effort, that finally flew. During the succeeding two decades he made and sold oblique aerial views of towns and landscapes in central Pennsylvania and his brother, Walter Kuhnert, distinguished himself as a balloonist. Samuel Kuhnert's last flight at the age of 86 is well documented by photographs in this collection. Following his death, Samuel Kuhnert's children donated his photographs to the State Archives and gave his flight suit and aerial cameras to the State Museum of Pennsylvania.
The collection consists of over 6,000 photographic prints and negatives, motion picture films, miscellaneous business and personal records, and newspaper clippings. Special subjects include the 1936 flood in the Harrisburg region, a 1932 snowstorm in Camp Hill, the destruction of the Last Raft at Muncy, various airplane crashes, automobile accidents, natural disasters, autopsies, and funerals. There are also a large number of professional and family portraits and depictions of local buildings and structures. Communities for which aerial views will be found include Amity Hall, Andersonburg, Bloomsburg, Boiling Springs, Brookville, Camp Hill, Carlisle, Chambersburg, Clarks Valley, Dauphin, Duncannon, Elizabethtown, Emmitsburg, Enola, Gettysburg, Good Hope, Hagerstown, Halifax, Hanover, Harrisburg, Hershey, Hummelstown, Fort Indiantown Gap, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lemoyne, Lewisburg Federal Prison, Lewistown Mountains, Liverpool, Marysville, Mechanicsburg, Middletown, Milroy, Milton, Mount Gretna, Mount Pleasant, Mount Zion, New Berlin, New Bloomfield, New Cumberland, Perdix, Rockville, Powell's Valley, Safe Harbor, Selinsgrove, Shippensburg, Shiremanstown, State College, Summerdale, Sunbury, Wellsville, Wertzville, Williamsport, and York.
Among the aircraft depicted are the American Eagle Eaglet, Barling NL-1 triplane bomber, Bellanca WB-2 monoplane, Bellanca TES Chicago "Blue Streak," Boeing P-12 biplane, Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress" bomber, Pitcairn-Cierva PCA-2 Autogyro, Cox-Klemin XA-1 hospital biplane, Curtiss-Wright Condor biplane bomber, Curtiss 5N Amphibian biplane bomber, Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" biplane, De Haviland DH-4B biplane, Douglas DC-3, Fokker C-2 trimotor, Fokker D-7 biplane, Ford 5-AT trimotor, Kreider-Reisner Challenger biplane, Lockheed Vega monoplane, Loening Amphibian biplane, Mono Aircraft Monocoupe, New Standard D-25 J6 biplane, Vought VE-7 biplane, and Waco 9 biplane. Among the balloons and dirigibles depicted are Walter Kuhnert's hot air balloon, the Goodyear Mayflower blimp, the Goodyear Vigilant blimp, the Graf Zeppelin dirigible, the Hindenburg dirigible, and the Navy dirigibles ZR-1 and ZR-2. Pilots, parachutists, and aviation mechanics depicted include Johnny Abiuso, Johnny Betz, Andy Body, Pat Brooke, Paul Charles, Dick Cooper, Alton Eaton, Tim Fink, Walter Hallowell, Raymond Aldridge Hartman, Martin Jenson, Jesse Jones, "Colonel" Herbert Julian, Samuel Kuhnert, Walter Kuhnert, Billy Leonard, Charles Lindburgh, Shennon Lutz, Jimmy Mattern, John McFarlane, Hany McGee, Fred "Shorty" Nelson, Charles Oberdorf, Paul Setizinger, Walter Shaefer, Murray Shuman, George "Jack" Spaid, and Paul Strickler.
Manuscript Group 286: Penn Central Railroad Collection [ca. 1835-1968] (4,800 cubic feet)
The bulk of this collection consists of the: Records of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, [ca. 1847-1968]. The PRR was incorporated on April 13, 1846 and became by the turn of the century the "standard railroad of the world" and the largest single employer in the United States. Sometimes referred to as the world's first modern corporation, the PRR handled more business transactions and raised more capital than any other public or private sector organization of its time.
The collection contains materials relating to business, transportation and labor history. Included are the administrative and financial: Records of the PRR Comptroller, Presidents, Secretary (including: Records of the Board of Directors and PRR Library), Vice President of Finance (including: Records of the Treasurer), Vice President of Real Estate, other Vice Presidents, Voluntary Relief Department and hundreds of Subsidiary Lines. Also included are over 1,000 cubic ft. of technical and engineering: Records of the Vice President of Operation, including registers, historical cards and specification books of the Chief of Motive Power and Supervisor of Motive Power Expenditure; mechanical engineering drawings (tracings and blueprints) of the Mechanical Engineer, and architectural drawings of the Chief Engineer. The photographs are arranged into three series: the General Office Library Photograph File, donated to the State Archives in 1976, which includes a historical reference file of PRR photographs, ca. 1850-1960; Conrail Mechanical Engineering Department Photograph File was acquired by the State Archives in 1981 and includes nearly 2,000 prints, ca. 1930, primarily builders' views of locomotives and rolling stock interior views; the Penn Central Auction Photographs, obtained by the State Archives in 1972 when Penn Central began divesting its holdings, includes: PRR locomotives, snow and ice conditions, and suburban views.
Manuscript Group 287: Agnes James Spry Collection of Arthur James Memorabilia, 1938-1969 (.5 cubic feet)
Arthur H. James (b. 1883 - d. 1973) was governor of Pennsylvania, 1939-1943. Born in Luzerne County in 1883, James graduated from the law school of Dickinson College, was admitted to the bar and began to practice law in Plymouth, Pa. in 1904. In 1912, he married Ada Morris, who died in 1935. In 1941 he married Emily Radcliffe Case. He was elected District Attorney of Luzerne County in 1920 and reelected in 1923. From 1926 to 1930, he was Lieutenant Governor of the state and also served as Judge of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania from 1932 to 1939, when he became Governor of Pennsylvania. As governor, he created the state's Department of Commerce and the Anthracite Emergency Commission, extended the Pennsylvania Turnpike, strengthened the civil service, and reinforced liquor control laws. Mobilizing the state's efforts during World War II, he created the State Council of Defense and the Selective Service Board, set up the Pennsylvania Reserve Defense Corps for home defense, and organized the Citizens' Defense Corps. James left office in 1943 and returned to his private law practice.
The collection consists of both handwritten and typed copies of a biography of Governor James written by his sister, Mrs. Agnes James Spry, in the mid to late 1950s. Also present are typed and handwritten speeches given by her brother, including his inaugural address, his campaign keynote speech, and others concerning taxes and the New Deal. One speech was given on December 10, 1941 following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Miscellaneous items include a photograph of Governor James, a newspaper clipping of his 1941 wedding to Mrs. Emily Radcliffe Case, and a 1938 campaign brochure from his tenure as a Superior Court judge.
Manuscript Group 297 Mary Sachs Collection, 1929-1970 (2 cubic feet)
Correspondence, writings, photographs, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks and philanthropic memorabilia of Mary Sachs, a Harrisburg philanthropist, owner of successful Harrisburg and Lancaster retail stores, and founder of Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University. Mary Sachs (1888-1960) was active in the United Jewish Appeal and Israel Bond Campaign. The collection includes in addition to personal papers and photographs, business records covering the years 1932-1960 that contain correspondence from Eleanor Roosevelt and a 1933 letter from President Franklin Roosevelt. The photographs include both exterior and interior views of the Lancaster store taken in 1938, 1954, and 1956. The unpublished autobiographical articles, newspaper clippings and a paper by Milton Bernstein entitled, "Study of a Creative Woman," (undated) provides historical background.
Manuscript Group 303: G. Brognard Okie Architectural Papers, 1793, 1828-1949 (85 cubic feet)
Richardson Brognard Okie (b. June 26, 1875, d. December 25, 1945) was a Devon, Pa. architect who specialized in designing colonial revival style homes in the greater Philadelphia area. After studying mechanical engineering at Haverford College, he graduated from University of Pennsylvania in 1897. In 1896 he studied with the architect William L. Price and subsequently worked with Arthur S. Cochran. In 1898 he joined with H. Louis Duhring and Charles Ziegler to organize the office of Duhring, Okie and Ziegler in which he worked through 1918. Okie continued in independent practice until his sudden death in an automobile accident. In the year prior to his death a few projects were completed having the name Okie and Okie on the title block, marking the partnership with his son, Charles Okie.
Duhring, Okie, and Ziegler specialized in the then popular Cotswold and Pennsylvania farmhouse styles. After he began working independently, Okie specialized in the restoration and reconstruction of Pennsylvania colonial era buildings, restoring such landmarks as the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia and the Paxton, Silver Spring, and Winchester Presbyterian Churches. In 1925 he was appointed by the Women's Committee of the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial Exposition to design the reconstruction of High Street and eleven years later the Philadelphia Chapter selected him as the architect for the reconstruction of Pennsbury Manor. In the latter project, he was guided only by the fragmentary remains of foundations, scraps of pavement and William Penn's letters of instruction to his steward James Harrison at Pennsbury. Okie designed many new colonial style residences along the Main Line and other Philadelphia suburbs and restored and expanded numerous colonial era dwellings throughout southeastern Pennsylvania. Hallmarks of his designs included undressed fieldstone walls having either pointed or struck joints, doors and window frames made out of solid oak or cypress, flat lintels having three stones including the center key, and segmental arches of the same undressed fieldstone. Particularly distinctive features of his work included prominent chimneys and spacious well-proportioned fireplace openings.
This series contains extensive correspondence and detailed architectural drawings for all of his major commissions including particularly the reconstruction of the manor house and ancillary buildings at Pennsbury Manor. Also present are detailed sets of specifications and photographs for many of his most important projects, historical pints and engravings used as research materials, a postcard file, records of accounts, and catalogs of architectural parts. The Edward R. Barnsley Papers contain correspondence and contracts relating primarily to the reconstruction of Pennsbury Manor. (Edward R. Barnsley was one of the commissioners of the Pennsylvania Historical Commission responsible for monitoring the progress of the Pennsbury Manor project.) The correspondence and architectural drawings are for most part arranged alphabetically by name of the client.
Manuscript Group 317: Mary Barnum Bush Hauck Papers, 1931-1979 (3 cubic feet)
Mary B.B. Hauck was a Harrisburg piano teacher and Pennsylvania State Supervisor of Music for the Emergency Education Program under the Works Progress Administration, 1937-1942. She organized the Dauphin County Folk Festivals, 1935-1961; and was director of USO program services at Fort Indiantown Gap, 1943-1946. Included are business correspondence, memoranda, lecture notes, music books, festival posters, newspaper clippings, photographs and materials acquired by Hauck during her career, 1931-1979. WPA materials also include original drawings by Edward C. Michener and printed posters by other artists of the WPA Art Project.
Manuscript Group 321: Charles T. Douds Papers, 1920-1978 (1 cubic foot)
Charles T. Douds (b. 1899, d. 1982) distinguished himself as a nationally recognized labor relations arbitrator with state and local governments. Beginning his career in 1933 as a labor compliance officer with the National Recovery Administration (NRA) in Pittsburgh, he served as a field agent with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from 1937 to 1958, a director of the Bureau of Mediation for the State of Pennsylvania, 1958-1969; and president of the Association of Labor Mediation Agencies of the United States and Canada, 1958-1969. He also served on the Executive Board of The Pennsylvania State University's Alumni Association where, with his wife Ella, he established a scholarship fund for Penn State students having physical disabilities. The papers consist primarily of business correspondence, reports, publications, newspaper articles, brochures and other documentation of the Industrial Relations League for Social Justice, the Pennsylvania Security League and the League for Social Justice, the Pennsylvania State Mediation Board, and the Committee on Labor Management Relations and General Welfare. Also found are biographical materials; personal and professional correspondence; diaries, 1920-1980; photographs of National Labor Relations Board conferences, 1942-1943; and two papers authored by Douds. These are "The Douds NLRB Case" (April, 1980) and a Senior Honors Paper entitled "The Organized Unemployed, A Brief Study of the Nature and Activities of Unemployed Organizations with Special Emphasis on Those in Pennsylvania" that was co-authored with Katherine Naomi Monori in 1936.
Manuscript Group 342: George Howard Earle Papers, 1932-1939 (23 cubic feet)
George H. Earle III served as Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania from 1935 to1939. Born in Devon, Chester County on December 5, 1890, Earle attended Harvard University and served as a private in the Second Pennsylvania Infantry under General John J. Pershing during the Mexican Border Campaign in 1916. Earle enlisted in the United States Navy during World War I and after the war he distinguished himself in a number of businesses in Philadelphia including the Flamingo Sugar Mills, which he founded, and the Pennsylvania Sugar Company. During the 1930s he entered politics, supporting Franklin Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential election. His support won him appointment as United States Minister Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Austria in 1932, which post he resigned to run for Governor of Pennsylvania in 1934. During his term as governor, Earle obtained passage of the Equal Rights Act in 1935 prohibiting racial discrimination in hotels, restaurants, and places of amusement. After an unsuccessful bid for the United States Senate in 1938, he served as United States Minister to Bulgaria in 1940 and Assistant Naval Attache to Turkey and Assistant Governor of Samoa from 1940 to 1945. He returned to private life in 1945 and died on December 3, 1974. The papers consist primarily of personal correspondences, transcripts of speeches, press releases and accounts.
Manuscript Group 355: Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra Records, 1931-1969, 1980 (3 cubic feet)
The Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra was established in 1929, along with the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra Corporation. The two organizations merged in 1949 creating the Harrisburg Symphony Association. The Association provides the Harrisburg area with a symphony orchestra and promotes the advancement of music and young artists. The records consist primarily of scrapbooks, 1931-1969, and notebooks, 1936-1942, documenting the Symphony's history. Included are newspaper clippings of concerts and fundraising events from local newspapers; concert programs; minutes of the women's committee; etc. Promotional materials are also found for famous artists appearing with the Symphony over the years, including Eugene List, Szymon Goldberg, Ian Davis, Irene Jordon and conductor William Steinberg. Also included is a publication The Fiftieth Anniversary History of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra: 1930-1980, by Robert W. Fink.
Manuscript Group 367: Lawrie and Green Collection, [ca. 1922-1960] (10.4 cubic feet)
In 1922 Harrisburg architect M. Edwin Green (1896-1985) joined with Pittsburgh engineer Ritchie Lawrie (1890-1962) to form the Harrisburg architectural firm of Lawrie and Green. Disbanded in 1972, the firm designed several hundred buildings in central Pennsylvania and throughout the state including the North Office Building, the State Farm Show complex, the Dauphin County Courthouse, and the William Penn Memorial Museum and Archives Building in Harrisburg.
The collection consists primarily of black and white photographic prints and mixed media layout and design boards of Lawrie and Green's proposed or completed jobs in central Pennsylvania, especially Harrisburg, between 1922 and 1960. The firm specialized in the design of university and college campus buildings, churches, elementary and high schools, hospitals, and hotels. In addition to numerous public buildings in Harrisburg, the firm also designed the Lycoming County Courthouse, Williamsport; the Sunbury Hospital, Sunbury; the Hunt Library and Student Union Building at Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh; the Warren Municipal Building, Warren; and the Williamsport YWCA Building, Williamsport.
Manuscript Group 388: William A. Schnader Papers, 1922-1940 (4 volumes)
William A. Schnader (1886-1968) was Attorney General of Pennsylvania from 1930 to 1935. Admitted to the Bar in 1914, he served as Special Deputy Attorney General from 1923 to 1930 and was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for governor in 1934. In 1939, Schnader became a partner in the law firm of Schnader and Lewis (later known as Schnader, Kentworthey, Segal and Lewis). Schnader was active in representing Pennsylvania and in creating the Uniform Commercial Code. These papers consist of scrapbooks, 1922-1940 (primarily 1935-1940) containing newspaper clippings, black and white photographs of various sizes and memorabilia relating to Schnader's tenure as Special Duty Attorney General and Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and unsuccessful run for governor. Subjects include political campaigns, State Uniform Commercial Code Committees and activities, testimonials, greeting cards, banquet programs, ticket stubs and telegrams.
Manuscript Group 395 Donald H. Kent Collection, [ca. 1937-1975] (12 cubic feet)
Donald Harris Kent (b. May 2, 1910-d. July 6, 1986) was the Director of the Bureau of Archives and History of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission from 1961-1975. Dr. Kent was born May 2, 1910 in Erie, Pennsylvania and received a B.A. in History from Allegheny College, in 1931. He was an instructor in history at Allegheny College, Meadville from 1934 to 1935, a teacher of teacher of history at East High School in Erie from 1936 to 1937, a historian for the Frontier Forts and Trails Survey from 1937 to 1940, an Assistant State Historian for the Pennsylvania Historical Commission from 1940 to 1945, Associate State Historian of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission from 1945 to 1956, and Chief of the Division of Research and Publications of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission from 1956 to 1961. His other professional activities included Assistant Executive Secretary of the Pennsylvania Federation of Historical Societies, Editor, of Pennsylvania History; member of Council and of the Publications Committee for the Pennsylvania Historical Association, Member of the Board of Directors and Treasurer of the Pennsylvania Folklore Society and he was also an expert witness for the Government in May 1958, in cases entitled Seneca Nation v. United States, Docket No. 342-A, Tonawanda Band of Senecas v. United States, Docket No. 368-A, and Six Nations v. United States, Docket No. 344, before the Indian Claims Commission. His correspondence covers the period 1931-1986 and the Research Materials and Publications date from 1894 through 1984.
Manuscript Group 396: Milford H. Patterson Architectural Designs, [ca. 1940-1980] (90 cubic Feet)
Milford H. Patterson (b. 1910, d. 1983) was a registered Pennsylvania architect, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Architectural School, 1932, a charter member of the Pennsylvania Society of Water Color Painters, and a member of the American Institute of Architects. Before opening his own architectural practice in 1945, he was associated with J.A. & F.G. Dempwolf of York, H.R. Lenker of York, Granville E. Paules of Columbia, B.E. Starr of Harrisburg, Lawrie and Green of Harrisburg, James L. Minnich of Harrisburg, and W.L. Murray of Harrisburg. Patterson specialized in the design of churches, small businesses, apartment buildings, private residences, in addition to the alteration and additions to existing structures. Clients include UTZ Potato Chip Co., Hanover; Bethlehem Steel Co., Steelton; West Shore Country Club, Camp Hill; Hershey Chocolate Corp., Hershey; Zion Luthern Church, Harrisburg; and St. Paul's Lutheran Church, New Cumberland.
Contains primarily blueprints, drawings, and tracings of Patterson's proposed or completed jobs in South Central Pennsylvania, especially the Harrisburg area, and related business correspondence, ca. 1940-1980. Architectural drawings are arranged by Job Number, and related correspondence, specifications and accounts for architectural projects designed by Patterson are arranged alphabetically by project.
In addition there are artist conceptions or elevation drawings grouped by churches, synagogue, and social organizations; commercial buildings; public buildings; or residential buildings. Also present are architectural drawings arranged alphabetically, for proposals or projects in the preliminary stage, prospects with other architects, and miscellaneous projects. Of special interest are Patterson's designs as a student at the Architectural School of the University of Pennsylvania and matted or oversized drawings, which are stored separately.
Manuscript Group 397: M. Harvey Taylor Collection, 1896, 1901-1902, 1905, 1911, 1913-1917, 1929-1982 (1.1 cubic feet)
Maris Harvey Taylor (1876- 1982) was a Pennsylvania State Senator from 1941 to 1964 and served as President pro tem of the Senate from 1947 to 1964. Taylor was elected to Harrisburg City Council in 1907, held numerous Dauphin County offices from 1920 to 34, and chaired the Pennsylvania State Republican Party from 1934 to 1937. This collection is mainly comprised of personal correspondence (1902-1905, 1935, 1943, 1963-64, 1972-1982), newspaper clippings and photographs. Items of a political nature (correspondence, etc.) were lost in the 1972 flood that devastated Harrisburg.
Manuscript Group 400: Works Progress Administration Records, 1935-1943 (5 cubic feet)
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was created by President Roosevelt in 1935 as a New Deal program to provide direct federal relief during the depression. This was a federally structured program, organized hierarchically by state, region, county, and finally, project-foremen. The WPA was a significant program which served to bind the region to the nation and that spent more than $10.5 billion between 1935 and 1943, employing over eight million people. The intent of the WPA was to provide work relief for the able-bodied unemployed. The WPA operated so that it covered the labor costs while a sponsor paid for the cost of material. The sponsors were usually state and federal agencies, counties, cities, boroughs, and towns. Some of the larger projects that were sponsored included large street and highway projects, construction of sidewalks and paved streets, as well as the development of storm sewers. Other less costly projects were also sponsored: abandoned mines were sealed; textbooks were cleaned and rebound; employees copied and catalogued ordinances for towns; buildings were remodeled; women operated sewing machines and produced clothing and blankets for the needy; murals were painted on business walls; and some groups presented dramas and musicals.
In the 1930's and 1940's the Historic Commission of Pennsylvania oversaw several WPA projects in Pennsylvania, including the Federal Writers Project and the Museum Extension Project. The Federal Writers Project, 1935-1943, was designed to employ white collar workers during the Great Depression. One project they worked on was the publication of comprehensive guides for each state (refer to RG-13 and also transcripts of official documents). Project workers in Pennsylvania published Pennsylvania: A Guide to the Keystone State, 1940, and Philadelphia: A Guide to the Nation's Birthplace, 1937, and many guides on individual counties and historical subjects.
Manuscript Group 408: Theodore A. Huntley Papers, 1920-1972 (6 cubic feet)
Theodore A. Huntley was a distinguished Washington newspaperman, journalist, and author. Born in Greenville, Michigan in 1888, Huntley spent his childhood and youth in Pittsburgh. After gaining newspaper experience in several western states, he returned to Pittsburgh as a reporter and editor for several Pittsburgh newspapers. In 1917 he went to Washington, D.C. to serve as secretary to Pittsburgh Congressman Guy E. Campbell and also worked as a Washington correspondent for the Pittsburgh Post and several other newspapers from 1918 to 1928. He worked as a political and special writer for the Washington Times from 1937to1938. Huntley's career included jobs as Information Specialist and Assistant to the Regional Administrator of the Federal Works Administration, Army Officer on active duty from 1943 to 48, Publicity Director of the Veterans Division of the Republican National Committee, Editorial Consultant, and journalist and freelance writer. He also served as Information and Editorial Specialist for the International Press Service of the Office of International Information and as Chief Congressional Correspondent of the Press and Publications Service, U.S. Information Agency. Huntley retired from the U.S. Information Agency in 1961. The papers include correspondence, newspaper clippings, diaries, notebooks, reports, and scripts.
Manuscript Group 409: Oral History Collection, 1970-1990 (1,038 audio tapes)
The Oral History Collection consists of taped interviews conducted throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by staff members and Friends of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. These interviews shed light on the lives of southern-born African-American migrants, European immigrants, Hispanics, Jews and other ethnic minorities working in the coal, steel, and electrical industries.
Manuscript Group 416: Aero Services Corporation Photographs, [ca. 1926-1948] (over 4,000 items)
The Aero Service Corporation began in 1919 in Philadelphia and was a pioneer in aerial photography. Directed by Virgil I. Kauffman, a World War I veteran pilot who joined the company in 1924, the firm obtained lucrative government and private contracts including those with the United States Geological Survey and the Tennessee Valley Authority that involved some of the first aerial surveys of the country. Kauffman retained the original negatives of the firm until his death in 1985 and thereafter his survivors permitted the dispersion of the negatives to appropriate historical agencies throughout the country. In 1988 the Pennsylvania State Archives received those pertaining to Pennsylvania. The photographs include approximately 2,200 glass plate and film negatives in varying sizes, usually 8 x 10", 7 1/2" or 9" or 9 x 9", roughly dated between 1926 and 1939. There are very few original prints present. All are oblique aerial views primarily of the Philadelphia area and Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey towns. They are arranged numerically and feature factories, businesses, individual homes, housing developments, golf courses, sports arenas, etc.
Manuscript 422: Herbert Broadbelt Collection of Baldwin Locomotive Works Records, 1890-1940 (6 cubic feet)
Herbert L. Broadbelt was an employee of the Baldwin Locomotive Works who collected these materials that include approximately 17,500 negative and positive photographs, 3,500 statistical cards, menus, drawings, leaflets, circulars, rosters and indices created for marketing locomotives. The M.W. Baldwin Company was founded in Philadelphia 1831 as a jewelry firm and later manufactured, in partnership with David Mason, bookbinder's tools and steam-driven cylinders used for printing calico cloth. In 1883 Franklin Peale of the Philadelphia Museum asked Baldwin to construct a miniature locomotive for exhibition at his museum. The success of this model, and the subsequent construction of a full scale locomotive for the Philadelphia, Germantown, & Norristown Railroad, led to further requests for locomotives from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Reading Railroad Company, and the Philadelphia & Trenton Railroad Company, among others. Baldwin also constructed numerous engines for railways in Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico, Germany, Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand. By the time construction was phased out in the early 1950s, Baldwin had built more steam locomotives than any other institution in the world. Late in the 1890s, in conjunction with Westinghouse Electrical Manufacturing Company, Baldwin also built small electric locomotives for mining and industrial use. By the mid-1920s, the company started experimenting with diesel engines, and by 1939, was producing diesel electric locomotives. In the early 1950s, Baldwin merged with the Lima-Hamilton Company and the Austin-Western Dump Car Company and became the Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton Company which continued in operation until 1972. The bulk of the records pertain to operations in the twentieth century and include bound books of photographs, locomotive specification drawings, correspondence, menus, histories of various railroads, leaflets, pamphlets, and specification note cards.
The collection is housed at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, 300 Gap Road, Route 741 East, Strasburg, PA 17579 and inquiries should be directed to either the Site Administrator or Curator at (717) 687-8628.
Manuscript Group 427: Baldwin-Hamilton Company Records, [ca. 1834-1962]
The Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, founded in 1832, built more steam locomotives than any other institution in the world by the time construction was phased out in the early 1950s. Late in the 1890s, in conjunction with Westinghouse Electrical Manufacturing Company, Baldwin built small electric locomotives for mining and industrial use. By the mid-1920s, the company started experimenting with oil and diesel engines, and by 1939, was producing diesel electric locomotives. In the early 1950s, Baldwin merged with the Lima-Hamilton Company and the Austin-Western Dump Car Company and became the Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton Company, which continued until 1972. The collection consists primarily of the engineering drawings for the locomotives produced, as well as various related indexes, registers, order books and specification books. The indexing system is incomplete and complicated and some gaps exist in the collection.
Manuscript Group 430 Paul Knepper Collection, 1941-1942, 1990 (1.8 cubic feet)
Paul Knepper, of Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, began working with airplanes at an early age, earning his pilot's license at the age of 16. Before graduating from high school, Knepper helped barnstorming pilots from 1928 to 1930, later completed an apprenticeship as a mechanic at Hometown Airport and Hazelton Airport from 1930 to 1935, and worked as a pilot, mechanic, and field manager at Schuylkill Airport from 1935 to 1936. Knepper worked for Douglas Aircraft Corporation in California from 1936 to 1938 when he accepted a position as Assistant Instructor at the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics. He was appointed Head Instructor several months later and while at the Institute he drew the plans for his new plane, the KA-1 Crusader. In 1941 he established a factory in Lehighton, Pennsylvania. to market his plane commercially but with the advent of World War II commercial aviation ceased and factory workers found jobs in war industries. Knepper became supervisor of the NYA and National Defense Training School at the Airport, and joined the Civil Air Patrol for anti-submarine missions off Suffolk County, Long Island. The effort to produce the KA-1 commercially was never revived.
A group of pilots and mechanics who helped to build the plane in 1940 secured approval from Knepper's widow to restore the KA-1 Crusader. They began work in the fall of 1989 and completed the plane one year later. The aircraft and papers describing its history were donated to the State Museum in memory of Paul Knepper. All records relate to the construction and restoration of aircraft built by Paul Knepper.
Manuscript Group 439: Edward K. Barnsley Papers, 1932-1986 (2 cubic feet)
Edward K. Barnsley was a lawyer in Newton, Bucks County and Head of the Furnishing Committee of the Pennsbury Manor Reconstruction Project. The papers are of significance because they relate to Barnsley's early association with Pennsbury Manor from its inception as a historic site in the 1930s. For more information and records relating to Pennsbury Manor, Manuscript Group 394, the Pennsbury Manor Collection and MG-303, the G. Brognard Okie Architectural Papers.
Manuscript Group 481: Records of the Pennsylvania Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, Inc., 1919-2002 (8 cubic feet)
The Pennsylvania Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs is one of the charter members of the National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, Inc., which was founded in 1919. Business and Professional Women's Clubs promote legislation and public policy issues of concern to working women and provide a variety of services and training to their members. In May 1918 the War Department invited two representatives from each state to meet in New York to plan for a national business women's committee. Lena Madison Phillips was elected as executive secretary of this group. Though the war ended, funding was nonetheless granted and in July 1919 the first National Convention was held in St. Louis, Missouri where the National Federation was established. The new Federation sponsored the first national survey of business and professional women and their status, opportunities and qualifications. The Federation established scholarship funds in professional schools, was the first women's organization to present a legislative tax bill to congress, and began publishing the magazine Independent Women. BPW was influential in passing child labor laws and in 1928 established the first "National Women's Business Week." In 1937, the BPW endorsed passage of an equal rights amendment and during the Second World War supported the establishment of women's branches in the service. During the 1960s, BPW led the fight for the Equal Pay Act, and in the 1970s also fought for passage of Title IX, equity in education and credit, prohibition of sexual harassment, and the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).
Manuscript Group 495: Landis Family Papers, 1840-1945 (80 cubic feet) - Housed at the Pennsylvania Farm Museum at Landis Valley
Originally created as a private museum during the 1930s by the brothers Henry Kinzer Landis and George Diller Landis who were noted collectors, the Farm Museum was eventually acquired by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in 1953. In the words of Henry K. Landis penned in 1941, "...Here we find tools, artifacts, implements, vehicles, things actually made and used by the early inhabitants, presented for study rather than entertainment. Although there is much to amaze and surprise the novice, study and research is preferred." This is accomplished through preservation and interpretation of the largest collection of Pennsylvania German agricultural artifacts in the country and through the demonstration of: authentic traditional farming techniques, portrayals of rural village and industrial life, skilled craft demonstrations, historical breeds of animals, and historical plants. Landis Valley Museum is today a nationally recognized living history museum that collects, conserves, exhibits, and interprets Pennsylvania German material culture and heritage from the period 1740 through 1940. (The collection is located at Landis Valley Museum at 2451 Kissel Hill Road, Lancaster, PA 17601. To make arrangements to view these records contact the Site Administrator at 717-569-0401).