The Frank R. Diffenderffer Collection contains documents collected by Mr. Diffenderffer. These documents are primarily from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and include letters, legal and court papers, indentures, receipts, property and probate records, and financial and military papers. The people and businesses represented include George Ross, Jasper Yeates, A. Herr Smith, Timothy Matlack, Mount Hope Furnace, and the Lancaster, Elizabethtown & Middletown Turnpike Road Company.
The Temperance Collection includes convention programs of the Lancaster County Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.); a history of the group from 1884-1959; Pennsylvania State W.C.T.U. function programs; and a minute book from the Bart Chapter. Included are handwritten notes on some of the conventions, pro-temperance booklets and newspapers (Moral Reformer and American Reformer), and miscellaneous addresses and articles. Of special interest is a booklet "Operation Interview" in which 36 prominent Lancastrians comment on the question, "Is social drinking necessary for success?", and a newspaper article reminiscing on the temperance movement in Columbia, Pennsylvania.
Collection consists of records of the Grand Army of the Republic and allied organizations. Most papers are from G.A.R. Post 478 (Mount Joy) and Post 84 (Lancaster). Included are minute books, burial records, membership applications, correspondence, national and state G.A.R. orders, encampment information, and Post correspondence. Many records are in book form.
Soldiers and sailors honorably discharged from the Army, Navy or Marine Corps of the U.S. who fought in the cause of the Union from Apr. 12, 1861 to Apr. 9, 1865 were eligible to become members of the Grand Army of the Republic. Allied Orders include: Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic, Woman's Relief Corps, Sons of Veterans U.S.A. (later Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War) and their Auxiliary, as well as the Daughters of Veterans (later Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War).
Collection consists of records by Cassius Emlen Urban, a Lancaster architect. He supervised the construction of the Lancaster Post Office at 120 N. Duke St., Lancaster. Many letters from James H. Windrim, supervising architect of the Treasury Department, Washington, D. C. Book of correspondence contains details of the construction. Also includes letters he wrote to his son, Rathfon, dated February 14-29, 1939, while on the Italian liner, Roma.
Admin/Biographical History
C. Emlen Urban
Throughout Downtown Lancaster numerous iconic buildings make up the city's landscape giving it its unique and ornate character. Landmark buildings such as the Greist Building, the Watt and Shand Department Store, Hager Building, Southern Market, along with many more churches, residential units including the facade of the Fulton Opera House were the design of Cassius Emlen Urban. Urban was Lancaster's first architect and one of the most significant influences on the city. 1 Urban modernized the city's landscape as he designed buildings in a new era where technologies never before available to architects made it possible for himself to leave such a grand impression.
Urban was born on February 20, 1863 in Conestoga Township to a Civil War veteran Amos Urban, a distinguished citizen known for his modesty and community service. Urban finished high school in 1880 and would get his architectural training through an apprenticeship with Scanton, PA architect E.L. Walter. Later in 1884 Urban would move to Philadelphia where he served as a draftsman to Willis G. Hale. Upon returning to Lancaster roughly a year later Urban would open his own practice in Lancaster.2
Only a few years after Urban opened his practice through a family connection he would receive a commission to design Lancaster's Southern Market. Urban's career would take off leading him to design many more iconic buildings in Lancaster and Hershey as well. Urban, through his membership at the Hamilton Club made acquaintance with Milton Hershey who hired him to design such buildings as Hershey Chocolates original company offices and even his own mansion.3
Urban spent the majority of his life in Lancaster with the exception of his time studying as a young man. Urban is remembered for his buildings designed in Queen Anne and Beaux style architecture.4 Shenk in his A History of Lancaster County wrote of Urban, "Few men of Lancaster county can point to a finer array of useful and beautiful work than can Cassius Emlen Urban."
Nicole O. Sturla, "Cassius Emlen Urban: Lancaster's First Native Architect," Susquehanna Monthly Magazine, September 1980.
2 History of Lancaster County, ed. E.M.J. Klein (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company Inc., 1924), 443.
3 "Urban, C. Emlen; 1863-1939," Hershey Community Archives, accessed September 30, 2014. http://www.hersheyarchives.org/essay/details.aspx?EssayId=34&Rurl=%2Fresources%2Fsearch-results.aspx%3FType%3DBrowseEssay.
4 "Introduction," To Build Strong and Substantial: The Career of Architect C. Emlen Urban, (2009): 2-3.
This collection of Steinman Family Business Records contains ledger and account books for George M. Steinman, J. P. Hale, Hale Lumber Company and the Steinman Hardware Store. There are also stock certificate and ledger books from Lancaster Broadcasting Service, Inc. and Kirk Johnson and Company.
Preferred Citation: Title or description of item, date (day, month, year), Steinman Family Business Records (MG0563), Folder/Book #, LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Restricted access for Books 19-23. Please contact Research@LancasterHistory.org prior to visit.
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.
Other Numbers
MG-563
Classification
MG0563
Description Level
Fonds
Custodial History
Cataloged by HST, 4 February 2010. Added to database 31 August 2017.
Records of an organization founded by business and church leaders to overthrow commercialized vice in Lancaster by sending agents into the community to check for prostitution, obscenity, drinking, and gambling. Collection includes by-laws, minutes, annual reports, treasurers' reports, agents' expenses, reports on findings, correspondence, newspaper clippings, 25 books of agents' on-duty reports, and investigative reports. The Rev. Clifford G. Twombly was identified with this movement, as was the late William H. Hager, department store merchant.
Collection consists of personal, legal, and business-related letters and documents concerning the life and affairs of J. Houston Mifflin. Also, similar documents to, from, and about other members of the extended Houston and Mifflin families. Contains typed copies of two letters from J. Houston Mifflin to his son, Lloyd Mifflin, containing an eye-witness account of the June 1863 Confederate advance into Wrightsville. Also, a legal document signed by John Passmore.
In September 1854, a devastating cholera epidemic struck Columbia. This collection contains correspondence with and records of actions taken by Sanitary Committee, including minutes, accounts, donations, and bills.
The Mechanics' Society Collection contains the constitution and by-laws for the organization, a minute book, lists of the society's library books, and a library subscription book.
Admin/Biographical History
The Mechanics' Society of the City and County of Lancaster was formed "for the purpose of promoting the improvement of the Mechanic Arts, elevating the character of those concerned in them to their just standard, and advancing their general interest and welfare."
Preferred Citation: Title or description of item, date (day, month, year), Mechanics' Society Collection (MG0285), Folder #, LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Access Conditions / Restrictions
No restrictions.
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.
The McCaa Collection contains the papers of and collected by the family of James McCaa in northeastern Lancaster County. Among the items are account and ledger books, a physician's visiting book, legal papers, deeds, certificates for commissions, receipts, letters, and estate papers.