First Junior Bal Masque held at the Iris Club, December 23, 1914 or 1916. Names listed on the back of photo are: ? Weaver, Katherine Bidlack; ? Smith, Caroline Steinman; ? Schroeder, Dorothy Miller; ? Slaymaker, Katherine Evans; ? Rohrer, Elizabeth Long; ? Schutte, Laura Watt;? Barry, Mary Brown; Hayward Smith, Alice Barry; William Brown, Levit Wickersham; Donald Brown, Kitty Brown; James Schutte, Rhoda Becker; Eddie Weaver, Margaret Crawford; John Hartman, Loenita Straub; Lewis Hartman, Julia Straub; Bob Rohrer, Dorothy Hartman; Billy Kinzer, Dorothy Livingston; Robert Willer, Margaret Shertzer; Carrel Willer, Deldie Groff; Henry Porterfield, Margaret Sneider; Bill Brown, Max Craymon ? and Rodney Eshelman
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.
Ellmaker Homestead farm. "At Aunt Julia's", Bloomsburg, Columbia County, PA. Mrs. Julia Ellmaker Waller, Mrs. Louisa Ellmaker white, Miss Laura Pettit Waller.
Robert Barlow Fulton and Julia Fulton, oldest children of Robert and Harriet Livingston Fulton, painted by Robert Fulton Owned by Robert Livingston Cammann
Photograph- Copy of a photograph of Julia Ann Stover. Written on back: "Julia Ann Stover, 1823, Lancaster Co. Pa., 19 Feb. 1873, Lynville Iowa, Wife of Samuel Good".
Photograph- Copy of a photograph of Julia Ann Stover. Written on back: "Julia Ann Stover, 1823, Lancaster Co. Pa., 19 Feb. 1873, Lynville Iowa, Wife of Samuel Good".
Description
Copy of a photograph of Julia Ann Stover. Written on back: "Julia Ann Stover, 1823, Lancaster Co. Pa., 19 Feb. 1873, Lynville Iowa, Wife of Samuel Good".
Two carte de visite images glued to notebook paper. Photo at top is Lillie Moore, at bottom is Julia Moore. The two were sisters and teachers at the Mount Joy Soldiers' Orphans Home in the early 1870's. Their father, John Moore, was steward of the Mount Joy Soldiers' Orphans Home.
Provenance
From the Sixteeners information file in the LCHS Library.
