This collection contains ephemera related to Alice Potter Fordney, antiques dealer and rugmaker. Items in the collection include business correspondence with Armstrong, F. Schumacher & Co., and the Montclair art museum; personal correspondence with friends and family; hooked rug patterns; and antiques sale flyers from the early 20th century. Also included in the collection are newspaper clippings, including the obituary of Fordney's sister Ellen Franklin; reference material for rug making and interior design (informational sheets, books and patterns); several items related to the Yeates School, which Fordney's brother William Bush Fordney attended; several photographs of unidentified persons; and a statement related to the will of William J. Fordney, her uncle.
Admin/Biographical History
Alice Potter Fordney was born June 21, 1887 in Lancaster, the daughter of Ida Cox and Thomas Potter Fordney. A prominent antique dealer from the late 1920s to her retirement in 1965, Fordney also made and sold hooked rugs.
Fordney's family features prominently in Lancaster County history. Her maternal great-grandfather was John Michael, who owned the historic Grape Hotel from 1805-1839. Fordney's paternal great-grandfather William Jenkins built Wheatland in 1828 and later sold the property to President James Buchanan. Colonel William Bush Fordney, her paternal grandfather, was a prominent lawyer in Lancaster. He served as district attorney from 1839-1845 and negotiated for the loan that enabled Lancaster city to build the "water works" in the 1830s. Sarah Cox, her maternal grandmother, was a known philanthropist and for years helped to manage the Home for Friendless Children in Lancaster. Her sister, Ellen Fordney Franklin, was a "pioneer" in the industry of women's knit suits, opening her first shop in 1929 in Philadelphia.
Fordney never married. She kept in contact with her nieces and nephews, as evidenced by letters in the collection. According to notes provided by Wendell Zercher, Sarah Ellmaker McIlvaine Muench, her niece and the donor of the collection, recalled her as "warm and artistic," and "a character." She died April 17, 1973, at the age of 85.
Works Cited:
"Mrs. Franklin, pioneer of women's knit suits, dies." Daily Intelligencer Journal [Lancaster, PA], 10 May 1963, p. 2.
"Accident Fatal to Mrs. Sarah A. Cox." Daily Intelligencer Journal [Lancaster, PA], no date, page unknown.
"Miss Fordney, Antique Dealer, 85, Succumbs." Daily Intelligencer Journal [Lancaster, PA], 18 April 1973, p. 2.
"One of Lancaster's Most Prominent and Venerable Citizens Passes Away." Daily Intelligencer Journal [Lancaster, PA], 29 July 1889, p. 1.
3 boxes, 37 folders, 333 items, 1,015 pages to scan, 4.5 cubic ft.
Object Name
Archive
Language
English
Object ID
HC0001
Location of Originals
LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Associated Material
Sarah McIlvaine Muench Family Papers, MS 44 at Archives and Special Collections, Shadek-Fackenthal Library, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA.
Related Item Notes
See photograph collection.
See curatorial collection for examples of rugs.
Fordney Family Diaries (MG0539)
Notes
Preferred Citation: Title or description of item, date (day, month, year), Archive of Alice P. Fordney (HC0001), Box #, Folder #, LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Access Conditions / Restrictions
The kraft paper patterns in Folders 33-37 are restricted. Please make an appointment with the Director of Archival Services to view these items.
Copyright
Collection may not be photocopied. Please direct questions to Research Center Staff at research@lancasterhistory.org. Permission for reproduction and/or publication must be obtained in writing from LancasterHistory.
Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Accession Number
G.04.23.52
Classification
HC0001
Description Level
Fonds
Custodial History
From the Heritage Center of Lancaster County collection, G04.23.52.
Processed and finding aid prepared by MJ, June 2018.
Located on road leading from Lancaster to Manheim, four miles from Lancaster.
April Term.
Petition allowed.
Signers of Petition: Henry Pickel, Jacob Frick, Lenard Fidler, Jacob Kauffman, John Swar, Christian Huber, Christian Strenge, Jacob Mayer, John Bachman, and one other.
1 item, 1 piece
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Request at Reference Desk; photocopy made by staff member.
Collection consists largely of information on the descendants of Edward Hand and on the Hand Family Reunion. Contains correspondence, genealogical materials, family charts, photographs, and commemorative booklet 1912, on Lancaster County in the Revolutionary War. Also, three documents concerning the settling of the Hand estate.
Petition for the court to grant more tavern licences.
Signers of Petition: John F. Steinman, Hugh Wilson, Henry Huffnagle, John Biddle, John Brown Jr., Israel Lloyd, Thomas Evans, Isaac Kauffman, Christian Seidenbender, John Burg, and two others.
1 item, 1 piece
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Request at Reference Desk; photocopy made by staff member.
Located in town of Woodstock, near the Susquehanna.
Petition allowed.
Signers of Petition: Andrew Kaufman, Charles S. Sewell, John Wissler, Jacob Whittmer, Jacob Whitmer Jr., Christian Herr, Joseph Kinsh, Isaac Kauffman, Jacob Berg, Michael Bender, and four others.
1 item, 1 piece
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Request at Reference Desk; photocopy made by staff member.
Signers of Petition: George Ziegler, Jacob Fehl, Tobias Stayman, Joseph Charles, John Bletz, Henry Krebiel, Christian Stauffer, Godfried Klugh and one other.
1 item, 1 piece
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Request at Reference Desk; photocopy made by staff member.
Located in Safe Harbor on the west side of Conestoga Creek.
Formerly occupied by Adam Fogle.
Petition allowed.
Signers of Petition: Jacob Goodman, Frederick Fentsrmacher, Isaac King, Adam Titzenberger, Christian Stauffer Jr., Lewis Urbon, Jacob Yentzer, George Hoffman, Adam Fogle, Edward O'Brien, George Urban, Abraham Witmer, John Lintner, Christian Rorer, Christopher Brennen, Jacob Baughman, Hugh Wilson, and several others.
1 item, 1 piece
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Request at Reference Desk; photocopy made by staff member.
Signers of Petition: Jacob Gentzer, Abraham Warfel, Christian Kindig, John Miller, John Hekman, George Urban, Christian Groff, George Hoffman, Adam Fogle, William McMillan, and six others.
1 item, 1 piece
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Request at Reference Desk; photocopy made by staff member.
