Collection contains correspondence, poetry, and newspaper articles.
Admin/Biographical History
Blanche Nevin (1841-1925), artist and poet, was born in Mercersburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of John Williamson Nevin, a theologian, teacher, and minister, and Martha Jenkins, daughter of the politician and iron master at Windsor Forges, Robert Jenkins. When Dr. Nevin became the president of Franklin & Marshall College in 1855, he moved the family to Lancaster. They moved to Windsor Forges (or Windsor Place) from 1856 to 1858, while Dr. Nevin acted as executor of his mother-in-law's estate, and then moved permanently to Caernarvon Place on Columbia Avenue (the present site of Degel Israel Synagogue). The Nevin children were well-educated and cultivated for society, as their parents had been.
Blanche was the nation's first noteworthy sculptress. In 1889, she sculpted the statue of Revolutionary War General Peter Muhlenberg, which stands in the National Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol. She also sculpted the bust of President Woodrow Wilson. Lancastrians are most familiar with her Lion in the Park (1905) at Reservoir Park and her horse drinking fountain (1898) at the intersection of Columbia Avenue and West Orange Street. Blanche composed a number of poems and set several to music; many were inspired by Lancaster County, her travels, and family and friends. Her poems include: "Great-Grandma's Looking-Glass" (1895), "One Usual Day" (1916), and "To My Door" (1921).
She bought Windsor Place in Caernarvon Twp. in 1897, restored the mansion house and the name Windsor Forges, and added a studio. Furniture and other influences from her travels adorned the house and grounds. She also owned a house in Manasquan, New Jersey; spent time with friends in New York and Philadelphia; and traveled a great deal, especially during the winter.
Her obituary in a Lancaster County newspaper states, "The simple, unpretentious neighbors of Miss Nevin never questioned her foreign ideas and eccentricities, but accepted her for the true, human qualities which she so abundantly possessed."
Transcription of letter from John B. Lebkicher to brother
Description
Typed transcription of a letter from John. B. Lebkicher to brother from Camp near Murfreesboro, providing a detailed description of a battle near Murfreesboro and their limited rations of corn and horse meat.
Lebkicher Family Civil War Letters and Discharge Papers (MG0258) https://collections.lancasterhistory.org/en/permalink/4b929d84-1c6a-4e1f-8bc2-523672636170
Notes
Preferred Citation: Title or description of item, date (day, month, year), Collection Title (MG#), Object ID, LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. URL if applicable. Date accessed (day, month, year).
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Please use digital images and transcriptions when available. Original documents may be used by appointment--contact research@lancasterhistory.org prior to visit.
Copyright
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Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
The Phyllis Brubaker Collection contains notes, photocopies of articles and images and research of Phyllis Brubaker in the writing of her book The Lion in the Park. Published in 1997, the book describes the life and works of Lancaster County poet and artist Blanche Nevin.
Admin/Biographical History
Phyllis Brubaker was a guidance councelor for Solanco School District and Ephrata Area School District. She published "The Lion in the Park", a biography of the life and works of Blanche Nevin, in 1997.
Page 22: "Wednesday, May 21, 1902 - Dining Party" - Windsor Forge, home of Miss Blanche Nevin; Crowd on lawn at Windsor Forge; Windsor Forge built 1735; Windsor forge dining room; Little Conestoga Creek near Windsor Forge; Dining room fireplace at Windsor Forge.
Provenance
First of two Diffenderfer family albums. Compiled by Frank Reid Diffenderfer, a former member of LCHS and an editor of a Lancaster city newspaper. Album documents his family as well as that of his neighbors on North Duke Street, Lancaster, between 1901 and 1903. Neighbors include Charles Fondersmith, Robert Slaymaker, and his daughter, Ida, who married Frank Fondersmith.
Page 28: "Drive over Welsh Mountains from Churchtown Road Railroad Station"; "Miss Nevin on porch, June 30, 1902"; "Family on the lawn, Windsor Forge, June 30, 1902"; "Snap shot of Amish boys near Morgantown"; Group of people on the lawn at Windsor Forge; large mansion with a cannon on the front lawn - Windsor Forge?; Windsor Forge.
Provenance
First of two Diffenderfer family albums. Compiled by Frank Reid Diffenderfer, a former member of LCHS and an editor of a Lancaster city newspaper. Album documents his family as well as that of his neighbors on North Duke Street, Lancaster, between 1901 and 1903. Neighbors include Charles Fondersmith, Robert Slaymaker, and his daughter, Ida, who married Frank Fondersmith.
Page 29: Back view of Windsor Forge, June 30, 1902; "Miss Blanche Nevin, Windsor Forge, June 30, 1902"; "Scene on Conestoga Creek, Windsor Forge, June 28, 1902"; Blanche Nevin and horses at the Constoga Creek, "Miss Nevin and her pets, Conestoga at Windsor Forge"; "I. M. S. F. - Windosr Forge, June 30, 1902"; Headwaters, Conestoga Creek, Windsor Forge, June 28, 1902.
Provenance
First of two Diffenderfer family albums. Compiled by Frank Reid Diffenderfer, a former member of LCHS and an editor of a Lancaster city newspaper. Album documents his family as well as that of his neighbors on North Duke Street, Lancaster, between 1901 and 1903. Neighbors include Charles Fondersmith, Robert Slaymaker, and his daughter, Ida, who married Frank Fondersmith.
