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University Archives and Records Center Guide to the
Archives General Collection UPA 3 Introduction
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Constitution and Charter Collection Matriculation and Class Records Matriculation and Lecture Tickets Diploma and Certificate Collection Typescripts of Other Documents Photocopies of Other Documents Architectural Drawings and Plans
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Preface to the Guide
to the Archives: Note: This preface, written by University
of Pennsylvania Archivist James Dallett, appeared in the Guide
to the Archives of the University of Pennsylvania from 1750
to 1820 published in 1978) In the summer of 1975 Rheva Ott Shryock, alumna of the University
of Pennsylvania and longtime Chairman of its Alumnae Bequest
Committee, asked the University Archivist to suggest a project
which members of her committee might support as an appropriate
Bicentennial contribution to the University. The proposal made was for the publication of a guide to
materials in the University Archives dating from the years
1740 to 1820. Extending from the year in which was established
the educational trust considered the forerunner of the University
to the beginning of the decade which largely witnessed the
end of the Revolutionary generation, this eighty-year time
frame seemed most suitable for a Bicentennial-connected endeavor.
Since the plan called for student researchers to assist the
compiler, the project would be accomplished entirely on a
part-time basis. By limiting the period to be covered, it
was thus hoped that the work involving one of the largest
university archival collections in the country, would be completed
within a reasonable time. Mrs. Shryock enthusiastically approved the suggested project
and it was given the warm backing of University President
Martin Meyerson. At the end of the year a number of friends
were asked to support the proposed Guide, described at the
time by Mrs. Shryock as "a one hundred page descriptive catalogue
printed in booklet form." An enclosure to her letter listed
some of the material eligible for inclusion: key documents
of the establishment and governance of the institution such
as the "Constitutions of the Publick Academy;" the Trustees’
Oath book of 1755-1776; the proprietary Charters of 1753 and
1755; the long series of financial records beginning in 1749;
the papers of Perkasie Manor in Bucks County (the gift of
Thomas Penn and the University’s first major landholding);
the rough minutes of the Trustees commencing in 1782, and
the Curriculum collection containing student lecture notes
for courses in the College from 1760 and in the Medical School
from 1765. Items from the "Archives General" collection of
individual manuscripts would include: letters and reports
from and to University-linked Signers of the Declaration of
Independence among them, Hopkinson, Rush, McKean, Clymer,
Morris - and of the Constitution notably FitzSimons, Ingersoll
and Mifflin, as well as papers in the hand of such eminent
Americans as Dr. John Morgan, Medical Director General of
the Continental Army and of Dr. William Shippen, a Chief Physician
to the Army, artist Charles Willson Peale, Dr. Benjamin Smith
Barton, advisor to the Lewis & Clark expedition, astronomer
David Rittenhouse, mathematician Robert Patterson, architect
William Strickland and of that man for all seasons, Benjamin
Franklin, founder of the University. The favorable response to Mrs. Shryock’s letter made
it possible for work on the Guide to the Archives of
the University of Pennsylvania from 1740 to 1820 to
get underway. Two doctoral candidates in history, Scott M.
Wilds and Deborah B. Thomas, worked intermittently but with
great effect during 1976 and 1977 preparing a large number
of the preliminary entries. Both have now gone on to responsible
positions in their profession. In the spring of 1978 Eloise
F. Sanchez undertook with considerable skill the proofreading
and creation of the index. Successive drafts have been typed
by Archives secretary Mrs. Maryellen Cook Kaminsky. Her dedication
to a tedious task, repeatedly interrupted and deferred by
daily demands, has been outstanding. Less than half the estimated cost of the Guide was raised
during 1976 with the result that work had to be suspended
during part of 1977. Fortunately, support grew thereafter
and work continued into 1978. Contributions to tile enterprise
were received from fifty-nine individuals, from the Association
of Alumnae, the Alumnae Club of Philadelphia and the Colonial
Dames of America, Chapter 11, as well as through an allocation
from the Archives’ own negligible operating budget. We
are grateful for the special generosity of the Association
of Alumnae and that of Rheva Ott Shryock (Mrs. Richard H.
Shryock), Kathryn Porter Wehner (Mrs. Charles J. Wehner),
Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, Esq. (Mrs. Raymond Pace Alexander)
and Margaret Redfield Mainwaring (Mrs. A. Bruce Mainwaring),
all alumnae, and of Mrs. Edward S. Lower, widow of an alumnus. The Guide could not have been produced without
the interest of the Society of Colonial Dames of America,
Chapter II, and that of Dr. Adolph G. Rosengarten,
Jr., Mrs. George B. Dyer, then President, and the late Mrs.
William Weightman Phillips, Chairman of the Scholarship Committee
of the Dames, encouraged their society last year
to contribute a scholarship stipend for the student research
assistants to the Guide. Alumnus Rosengarten,
member of the University Library board and former Associate
Trustee, who also came to our aid in 1977, as he did a second
time this year, was the most generous contributor. Although labeled a "Bicentennial project," this publication
should be of permanent usefulness to scholars long after the
national anniversary is forgotten. The friends whose commitment
made it possible are indeed deserving of our thanks. Francis James Dallett July, 1978
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