This collection contains documents and record books from the Elizabethtown Insurance Company. Items include records of new policies issued, policies cancelled, reinsurance policies, and books documenting taxes owed to the Elizabethtown Insurance Company. The collection also contains receipt books, personal agent books, and various notes and documents inserted into the lager record books. All documents are handwritten by multiple individuals and some books have missing, or broken spines. Many items are fragile, and caution should be used when turning pages to avoid further tearing and damage.
Admin/Biographical History
The Elizabethtown Insurance Company was formally chartered on December 23, 1843 as Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company. They started doing business January 31, 1844 and by June 1844 had applications from prospective policy holders for enough insurance to issue their first policy. The company was originally developed to insure against loss or damage by fire, but eventually began insuring other types of property damage. Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company moved multiple times; finding homes in Lampeter and Conestoga Townships, as well as Lancaster City. The company moved to Elizabethtown in 1925, and in July of 2009, Farmers' Mutual changed their name to Elizabethtown Insurance Company. In 2011 Elizabethtown Insurance Company stopped accepting new applications, and in 2012, the company relocated to Delaware.
George and Rhonda Andreadis Collection of Lancaster City Records, Series 5 Lamps and Lighting
Description
The documents in MG0545 Series 5 pertain to providing street lighting around Lancaster City. Series begins in 1834 with the City Council receiving bids for oil to burn in street lamps and concludes in 1895 with an invoice from the Citizens' Electric, Heat and Power Co. This series also includes invoices for parts, payment receipts for various labors connected to the city power system, petitions to have lamps installed or removed, and bids from companies to receive the city contract to provide citizens of Lancaster with light.
System of Arrangement
This collection is organized into series by subject:
George and Rhonda Andreadis Collection of Lancaster City Records, MG0545
Access Conditions / Restrictions
No restrictions. Original documents may be used. 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-545, Series 5
Other Number
MG-545, Series 5
Classification
MG0545
Description Level
Series
Custodial History
Note: These documents are mostly administrative records, not permanent records, and were likely purged by the city offices when they were no longer needed. We are fortunate that they survived as they contain details about Lancaster's past.
The collection was organized and rehoused by JP, Summer 2011; finding aid typed by KR, April 2012.
James Buchanan Family Papers, Part 1 Papers of James Buchanan, Series 6 Miscellaneous Materials
Description
James Buchanan Family Papers, Part 1, Papers of James Buchanan, Series 6 is arranged into three subseries of miscellaneous materials.
Subseries 1 is sheet music dedicated to James Buchanan, including the Wheatland Polka, The Schottisch, and Buchanan's Union Grand March.
Subseries 2 is published and print materials, including newspaper cartoons and illustrations, pamphlets for the 1824 election of John Quincy Adams, a tourist card, and meeting minutes.
Subseries 3 includes government documents, an act to alter and amend the several acts imposing tariffs, commercial treaties, supplementary acts, a document signed by Secretary of State William L. Marcy, a passport signed by James Buchanan, land grants, and other government documents, including some in French, Spanish, English, and German.
Admin/Biographical History
James Buchanan was born on April 23, 1791 to James Buchanan and Elizabeth Speer. He was the second child born out of ten children, and he would go on to outlive all but one of his siblings. Most popularly remembered as Pennsylvania's only President and as a lifelong bachelor, Buchanan committed a lifetime to politics. In 1821, he left his law practice and embarked on his political career after having been voted into the U.S. House of Representatives. He would remain in the House for five consecutive terms before serving as the U.S. Minister to Russia, a Senator in the U.S. Senate, the U.S. Secretary of State, the U.S. Minister to Great Britain, and finally, the 15th President of the United States. He died in his bedchamber at Wheatland at 8:30 AM on June 1, 1868. He was 77 years old. [https://www.lancasterhistory.org/about-wheatland, accessed 10/24/2019]
James Buchanan Papers, Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections http://archives.dickinson.edu/collection-descriptions/james-buchanan-papers
James Buchanan and Harriet Lane Johnston Papers, Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/collections/james-buchanan-and-harriet-lane-johnston-papers/
James Buchanan Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, http://www2.hsp.org/collections/manuscripts/b/Buchanan0091.html
James Buchanan Papers, Penn State University Libraries, https://libraries.psu.edu/findingaids/1458.htm
Related Item Notes
James Buchanan Family Papers
James Buchanan Collection, MG0096
Historical Society of Pennsylvania microfilm
Photograph collections
Curatorial collections
Wheatland Mansion
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Please use digital images and transcriptions when available.
Original documents may be used by appointment. Please contact archives@lancasterhistory.org at least two weeks prior to visit.
Copyright
Images have been provided for research purposes only.
LancasterHistory retains the rights to the digital images and content presented. The doctrine of fair use allows limited use of copyrighted material without permission from the copyright holder. Fair use includes comment, criticism, teaching, and private scholarship. Any images and data downloaded, printed or photocopied for these purposes should provide a citation. All other uses beyond those allowed by fair use require written permission.
Permission for reproduction and/or publication must be obtained in writing from LancasterHistory. Some items are photocopies from other collections--researchers must obtain permission for reproduction and publication from the owner of the original material. Persons wishing to publish any material from this site must assume all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright or other use restrictions. Publication fees may apply.
Please contact archives@lancasterhistory.org for a high-resolution image and permission to publish.
Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Description Level
Series
Custodial History
The James Buchanan Family Papers were collected by the James Buchanan Foundation for the Preservation of Wheatland. This collection was relocated from the Wheatland mansion to the LancasterHistory archives in the Spring of 2009. Digitization of the James Buchanan Family Papers was funded by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, PHMC Appl ID # 201808013051, 2019-2020.
James Buchanan Family Papers, Part 2 Papers of Harriet Lane Johnston, Series 2 Financial and Legal Documents
Description
James Buchanan Family Papers, Part 2 Harriet Lane Johnston, Series 2 contains the financial and legal documents of Harriet Lane Johnston. The series is divided into three subseries.
Subseries 1 contains lists, bills, receipts, ledgers, and accounts. Subseries 2 contains legal papers concerning stock in the Baltimore and Ohio Rail-Road Company, as well as an acknowledgement of George B. Willson's purchase of Wheatland.
Subseries 3 contains the last will and testament and codicils of Harriet Lane Johnston and a broadside advertising of the 340 items from Wheatland to be auctioned by Davis & Harvey Auctioneers in 1884.
Admin/Biographical History
Born on May 9, 1830, Harriet Lane was the youngest surviving child of Elliot Toll Lane and Jane Buchanan Lane. When both of her parents died of consumption, now known as tuberculosis, Harriet went on to be her Uncle James Buchanan's ward in 1841. A well-educated lady, Harriet attended several boarding schools before graduating from the Georgetown Academy of Visitation Convent at the age of 18. When James Buchanan served as the U.S. Minister to Great Britain, Harriet Lane joined him for a time and served as a hostess. During her time in England, which she noted as "the realization of a beautiful dream," she befriended none other than Queen Victoria. When her Uncle assumed the presidency, Harriet Lane assumed her role as hostess. She is considered the first First Lady, as the title had initially been given to the president's hostess during Harriet's time in Washington.
After Buchanan's presidency, Harriet Lane married Henry Elliot Johnston, a banker from Baltimore, on January 11, 1866. She was 35 years old. The couple went on to have two sons, both of whom would pass away from rheumatic fever in their early teenage years. Two years after losing her youngest son, Harriet lost her husband to pneumonia. By 1884, Harriet was a childless widow. She would go on to leave a legacy for generations to come, including establishing a children's hospital in Baltimore called The Harriet Lane Home for Invalid Children (today the Harriet Lane Clinic at the John's Hopkins Children's Hospital), preserving her Uncle's letters and manuscripts, bestowing her art collection to the Corcoran Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., and constructing the St. Alban's School, a school for choir boys. She died on July 3, 1903. [https://www.lancasterhistory.org/about-wheatland/, accessed 10/24/2019]
System of Arrangement
JBFP Part 2 Series 2 Financial and Legal Documents
James Buchanan Papers, Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections http://archives.dickinson.edu/collection-descriptions/james-buchanan-papers
James Buchanan and Harriet Lane Johnston Papers, Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/collections/james-buchanan-and-harriet-lane-johnston-papers/
James Buchanan Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, http://www2.hsp.org/collections/manuscripts/b/Buchanan0091.html
James Buchanan Papers, Penn State University Libraries, https://libraries.psu.edu/findingaids/1458.htm
Related Item Notes
James Buchanan Family Papers
James Buchanan Collection, MG0096
Historical Society of Pennsylvania microfilm
Photograph collections
Curatorial collections
Wheatland Mansion
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Please use digital images and transcriptions when available.
Original documents may be used by appointment. Please contact archives@lancasterhistory.org at least two weeks prior to visit.
Copyright
Images have been provided for research purposes only.
LancasterHistory retains the rights to the digital images and content presented. The doctrine of fair use allows limited use of copyrighted material without permission from the copyright holder. Fair use includes comment, criticism, teaching, and private scholarship. Any images and data downloaded, printed or photocopied for these purposes should provide a citation. All other uses beyond those allowed by fair use require written permission.
Permission for reproduction and/or publication must be obtained in writing from LancasterHistory. Some items are photocopies from other collections--researchers must obtain permission for reproduction and publication from the owner of the original material. Persons wishing to publish any material from this site must assume all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright or other use restrictions. Publication fees may apply.
Please contact archives@lancasterhistory.org for a high-resolution image and permission to publish.
Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Description Level
Series
Custodial History
The James Buchanan Family Papers were collected by the James Buchanan Foundation for the Preservation of Wheatland. This collection was relocated from the Wheatland mansion to the LancasterHistory archives in the Spring of 2009. Digitization of the James Buchanan Family Papers was funded by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, PHMC Appl ID # 201808013051, 2019-2020.
James Buchanan Family Papers, Part 5 Papers of Other Members of the Buchanan Family, Series 2 Financial, Legal and Family Documents
Description
James Buchanan Family Papers, Part 5 Papers of Other Members of the Buchanan Family, Series 2 Financial, Legal and Family Documents contains papers from members of the Buchanan Family, excluding James Buchanan, Harriet Lane Johnston, James Buchanan Henry and Edward Young Buchanan. Series 2 is divided into four subseries: Subseries 1 has bills, receipts, ledgers and accounts; Subseries 2 has speeches, certificates, and diplomas; Subseries 3 has legal papers; and Subseries 4 has estate and family records. The items span from the 1830s to 1900.
The series includes pages from family Bibles and a transcript from a family Bible that records the births and deaths of the family, from 1853 and 1997. There are also numerous items that do not have dates or the date has faded to a point of illegibility. There are a couple of diplomas for James (Jacobium) Buchanan, Edward Young Buchanan's son, and Gulielum (William) Buchanan, most likely William Speer Buchanan, James' younger brother, from Trinity College in Hartford Connecticut and New Ceasar College. The remaining items are school certificates to Maskell Ewing, Jr., Edward Y. Buchanan's grandson, and Andrew Jackson nomination and appointment of George W. Buchanan as the United States Attorney.
Admin/Biographical History
Many additional members of James Buchanan's family are included in this part of the collection. Including the following relations: William Speer Buchanan (1805-1826), James' brother; George W. Buchanan (1808-1832), James' brother; James Buchanan (1834-1871), Edward Young Buchanan's son; James Buchanan Lane (1814-1863), Harriet's older brother, and his wife, Martha Armor Jenkins Lane and their children; James Buchanan Lane, Jr. (1854-1906), James and Martha Lane's fourth son, and his wife, Thomasine Thomas, and their children; John Newton Lane (1852-1929), James and Martha Lane's third son, and his wife, Louise K. Sands Lane and their children. James Buchanan (1834-1871) attended Trinity College in Hartford, graduating in 1853. He also wrote one of the school songs "Good Old Trinity"1
Please use digital images and transcriptions when available.
Original documents may be used by appointment. Please contact archives@lancasterhistory.org at least two weeks prior to visit.
Copyright
Images have been provided for research purposes only.
LancasterHistory retains the rights to the digital images and content presented. The doctrine of fair use allows limited use of copyrighted material without permission from the copyright holder. Fair use includes comment, criticism, teaching, and private scholarship. Any images and data downloaded, printed or photocopied for these purposes should provide a citation. All other uses beyond those allowed by fair use require written permission.
Permission for reproduction and/or publication must be obtained in writing from LancasterHistory. Some items are photocopies from other collections--researchers must obtain permission for reproduction and publication from the owner of the original material. Persons wishing to publish any material from this site must assume all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright or other use restrictions. Publication fees may apply.
Please contact archives@lancasterhistory.org for a high-resolution image and permission to publish.
Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Description Level
Series
Custodial History
The James Buchanan Family Papers were collected by the James Buchanan Foundation for the Preservation of Wheatland. This collection was relocated from the Wheatland mansion to the LancasterHistory archives in the Spring of 2009. Digitization of the James Buchanan Family Papers was funded by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, PHMC Appl ID # 201808013051, 2019-2020.
