Swarthmore College Friends Historical Library

United States Pennsylvania  Archives and Libraries  Swarthmore College Friends Historical Library

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Contact Information
E-mail: [mailto:friends@swarthmore.edu friends@swarthmore.edu]

Address:


 * Friends Historical Library
 * McCabe Library, Swarthmore College
 * 500 College Avenue
 * Swarthmore, PA 19081

Telephone: 610-328-8496 Fax:  610-690-5728

Hours: Monday-Friday, 8:30am-4:30pm; Saturdays 10:00am-1:00pm when school is in session.

Directions and map:


 * Directions by plane, car, bus, or train.
 * Campus Map (pdf)

Internet sites and databases:


 * Friends Historical Library accessing the collections, Quaker history and genealogy, Swathmore College Archives, Swarthmore Hisorical Society Archives, copies and permissions, and catalog search.
 * Tripod Catalog Tri-College catalog searchable by keyword, author, title, subject, or call number.

Collection Description
The Friends Historical Library documents the history of the Society of Friends (Quakers) from their origins mid-1600s to the present. It has 45,000 books, 60,000 photos, and 9,000 volumes of original Quaker meeting records, plus local history of the Mid-Atlantic states. Founded by Hicksite Quakers, Swarthmore dropped its religious affiliation and became officially non-sectarian in 1933. Quakers were historically involved in major reform movements such as abolition, Indian rights, women's rights, temperance, prison and mental health reforms, and in the fields of science, technology, education, and business in Britain and America.

Tips

 * Library researchers are asked to complete a registration form.

Guides

 * Genealogy Research Guide Quaker specific, and more general genealogy.
 * Tripod Research Guides List of class research guides.

Alternate Repositories
If you cannot visit or find a source at the , a similar source may be available at one of the following.

Overlapping Collections


 * National Archives at Philadelphia records of federal agencies and courts for Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, censuses, ships lists, naturalizations, and military records.
 * Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg, indexes and original sources of, such as vital records, military records, naturalization, prisoners, land records, censuses, and ships lists 1728-1808. Also, unfilmed transcripts from many historical societies and courthouses.
 * State Library of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, indexes and surname files, histories, atlases, land records, maps, ship lists, church and cemetery records, censuses, regimental histories, ethnic and religious groups, newspapers, obituaries, naturalizations, and city directories.

Similar Collections


 * Haverford College Library, Haverford, Quaker Collection of diaries, photos, family papers, meeting and organizational records; 35,000 books, 2,400 linear feet of manuscripts.

Neighboring Collections

Delaware County


 * Delaware County Archives, Lima, births 1852-1855, 1893-1907, deaths 1852-1855, 1893-1906, marriages 1852-1855, 1855-1930, civil and criminal cases, natualizations 1795-1990, prisoners 1873-1917, wills 1789-1940.
 * Delaware County Historical Society, Chester, birth, marriage, burial, census, church, court, genealogical, and land records, maps, newspapers, telephone books, city directories, yearbooks.
 * Rachel Kohl Library, Glen Mills, genealogy programs and collection.


 * Repositories in surrounding counties:  Pennsylvania:  Chester, Montgomery, Philadelpia, New Jersey:  Gloucester, and Delaware (State):  New Castle.

Chester County


 * Chester County Archives and Records Services, West Chester, online indexes and births 1852-1855, 1893-1907, deaths 1852-1855, 1893-1906, marriages 1852-1855, 1855-1930.
 * Chester County Historical Society, West Chester, genealogy, local history, family papers, records of businesses, organizations, churches and schools, maps, newspapers, censuses, and databases.

Lancaster County


 * Evangelical and Reformed Historical Society (ERHS), Lancaster, Reformed Church records and genealogy resources including parish registers.
 * Franklin and Marshall College Library, Lancaster, "Hessian" (German) soldiers in the American Revolution, history, government, Pennsylvania-German culture, U.S. Civil War.
 * Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, card index to over 800,000 persons, genealogies, local histories, biographies, directories, passenger lists, census, deeds, obituaries, surname files.

Philadelphia County


 * Pennsylvania Division of Vital Records, Philadelphia, birth and death records 1906-present. Order in-person, order online through VitalChek, or order births by mail, or order deaths by mail.
 * Philadelphia City Archives births 1860-1915, marriages 1860-1915, divorces 1851-1975, deaths 1803-1915, naturalizations 1800-1933 (except 1905-1913), house deeds 1683-1952, tax lists, prisoners, mayors' warrants, cemeteries, constables, streets and city directories.
 * Clerk of the Orphans' Court, Philadelphia, marriages 1885-present.
 * Office of the Prothonotary, Philadelphia, divorces 1875-present, and Court of Common Pleas records, Municipal Court records, and Orphans Court records since 1874.
 * Register of Wills, Philadelphia, wills 1692-present, and marriages records.
 * City of Philadelphia Department of Records deeds 1952-present, mortgages, and partnerships.
 * Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, has early Quakers, Germans, Scots-Irish and other ethinc groups in PA, NJ, DE, and states east of the Mississippi River, Balch Institute passenger arrival lists, huge manuscript collection including many indexes, and Philadelphia neighborhood records.
 * Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, has great online indexes to books, periodicals, family folders, genealogies, and research aids for Pennsylvania and surrounding states.
 * Library Company of Philadelphia has huge German-American collection, Pennsylvanians in the Civil War, and early Philadelphia documents as if it were a second city archives.
 * Free Library of Philadelphia very large book collection, periodicals, genealogies, city directories, maps, family folders, vertical files, manuscripts, and Pennsylvania histories.
 * University of Pennsylvania Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center, Philadelphia, many manuscripts, newspapers, county records, ethnic sources, denominational records, and county histories.
 * Temple University Urban Archives, Philadelphia, churches, fraternal groups, unions, guilds, clubs, businesses, and societies especially related to the growth of Philadelphia and vicinity.
 * U.S. District Court Clerk, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, court records.
 * American Swedish Historical Museum, Philadelphia, Swedish heritage in the Delaware Valley.
 * Chestnut Hill Historical Society, images, maps, real estate atlases, deeds, diaries, genealogies, and oral histories of the western-northern most part of Philadelphia.
 * German Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, church history, genealogy, immigrants, immigrant aid records, German newspapers, old GSP memberships, and German-American periodicals.
 * Germantown Historical Society (Germantown, Mt. Airy, Chestnut Hill) manuscripts, maps, deeds, business records, newspapers, church and cemetery records, oral histories, and photos.
 * Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Philadelphia, Melrose Park, Jewish genealogy research manuals, society newsletters, regional cemeteries, and resource guide for south PA, NJ, and DE.
 * Lutheran Archives Center at Philadelphia ELCA archives for Eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Upstate New York (excluding New York City) and New England. Includes clergy and synod papers, and some parish registers (baptisms, marriages, funerals, confirmations) (some in German).
 * Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, national archives of the Presbyterian Church (USA).


 * Repositories in other surrounding states: Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, and Ontario.
 * Historical Society of Delaware Library, Wilmington, colonial records, newspapers, church records, state records, Revolutionary War records, Civil War records, Delaware histories, and genealogies.
 * Handley Regional Library, Winchester, VA, records of Germans and Scots-Irish who traveled the Great Valley Road from Penn. to Virginia, including manuscripts, newspapers, biographies, and histories.
 * Archives of Ontario, Toronto, births, marriages, deaths, wills, land, naturalizations, passenger lists, maps, cemeteries, church, court, military, hospital, schools, city directories, and voters’ lists.