The Mayor James H. Ross Collection documents Ross's political career from 1933-1937. James Ross, a businessman and civic leader, served as mayor of Lancaster from 1934-1938. The collection consists primarily of correspondence and a scrapbook. The letters are related to his mayoral election and responsibilities, the James H. Ross Ready to Wear Department Store, and personal matters. The scrapbook, compiled by his wife, contains information about his political career, the department store, and other local merchants, and provides a good background on the housing issues that threatened Lancaster City. The collection gives a fragmented picture of life in Lancaster in the 1930s, including commercial transactions, the Depression, religious charitable organizations, politics, and the Democratic Party.
Admin/Biographical History
James H. Ross was born in Green County, Ohio. When he was six, Ross's family moved to Monroe County, West Virginia where he attended school until he was seventeen. His family moved back to Ohio where he finished his schooling at Bowersville High School. After graduating, Ross moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania and began working for M. T. Garvin & Co. Ross left M. T. Garvin & Co. in 1928 and established his own store, James H. Ross Ready to Wear Department Store, in December of that same year. James H. Ross was elected Mayor of Lancaster as a Democrat in 1934.
Please make an appointment with the Research Center staff at Research@LancasterHistory.org to view the scrapbook.
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-58
Classification
MG0058
Description Level
Fonds
Custodial History
Scrapbook, Career of James Ross, Former Merchant and Mayor, was previously housed in the Scrapbook Collection, Book 121. Scrapbook, Career of James Ross, Former Merchant and Mayor, was cataloged and preserved with funding from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, ME60112, 2007-2008.
Scrapbook of Grace Anna Brosius. This scrapbook contains newspaper clippings, invitations, photographs, programs, and correspondence. The newspaper clippings supplement the invitations, reception mementos, and prizes received. Receptions include euchre parties, gatherings at the Elsmere and Swarthmore, and annual banquets in Washington, D.C. Programs for theater performances correspond to magazine clippings of actors and actresses. Grace accompanied her father, Hon. Marriot Brosius, to many society events and banquets.
Admin/Biographical History
Grace Anna Brosius was the daughter of Hon. Marriott Henry Brosius and Elizabeth Jackson Coates Brosius of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She attended Swarthmore College from 1895-1897. She married Clement Miller Biddle (1876-1959) on 28 November 1900 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Swarthmore College Photograph Albums (SFHL-PA-010)
Biddle Family Papers (SFHL-RG5-177)
Related Item Notes
Scrapbooks:
1911-1926; 1926-1937 (MG0434_Box097)
1935-1959 (MG0434_Box098)
Photograph albums and loose photographs (Grace Anna Brosius Biddle Collection)
Album 1, 1900s-1940s (GB-01-01-001 to GB-01-01-111)
Album 2, 1900-1907 (GB-01-02-01 to GB-01-02-41)
Notes
Preferred Citation: Title or description of item, date (day, month, year), Scrapbook Collection (MG0434), Box #, Object ID, 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 for permission for reproduction and/or publication must be obtained in writing from LancasterHistory.
Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Scrapbook of Grace Anna Brosius Biddle, 1911-1926. This scrapbook chronicles the social life of Grace and the political, service, and religious life of her husband, Clement M. Biddle. The volume contains newspaper and magazine clippings, church bulletins, event programs, photographs, and correspondence. The newspaper clippings, from French and American publications, pertain to YMCA/YWCA campaigns, World War I volunteer and post-war relief efforts, travel overseas, and local and national events. The ephemera includes announcements of Swarthmore College alumni events in Mount Vernon, New York.
Admin/Biographical History
Grace Anna Brosius was the daughter of Hon. Marriott Henry Brosius and Elizabeth Jackson Coates Brosius of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She attended Swarthmore College from 1895-1897. She married Clement Miller Biddle (1876-1959) on 28 November 1900 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Swarthmore College Photograph Albums (SFHL-PA-010)
Biddle Family Papers (SFHL-RG5-177)
Related Item Notes
Scrapbooks:
1898-1900 (MG0434_Box096)
1926-1937 (MG0434_Box097_It02)
1935-1959 (MG0434_Box098)
Photograph albums and loose photographs (Grace Anna Brosius Biddle Collection)
Album 1, 1900s-1940s (GB-01-01-001 to GB-01-01-111)
Album 2, 1900-1907 (GB-01-02-01 to GB-01-02-41)
Notes
Preferred Citation: Title or description of item, date (day, month, year), Scrapbook Collection (MG0434), Box #, Object ID, 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 for permission for reproduction and/or publication must be obtained in writing from LancasterHistory.
Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
This collection contains the scrapbook of Mathias Zahm (1760-1844). Mathias Zahm kept this scrapbook of journal entries and clippings from Lancaster's German language newspapers from 1800 to 1833.
Preferred Citation: Title or description of item, date (day, month, year), Zahm Family Collection, 1800-1831 (MG0914), Box #, Folder #, (or Object ID), LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. URL if applicable. Date accessed (day, month, year).
Access Conditions / Restrictions
No restrictions. Please request at the Reference Desk or contact Research@LancasterHistory.org prior to visit.
Copyright
Collection may be photographed. Please direct questions to Research Center Staff at Research@LancasterHistory.org.
Permission for reproduction and/or publication must be obtained in writing from LancasterHistory. 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.
Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
On 10 January 1950, Marian L. Baker was brutally murdered by Edward Lester Gibbs. This collection contains W. Hensel Brown's copies of the clerk's file, transcripts, appeal briefs, and other court records from the murder trial of Edward L. Gibbs, 1950. Newspaper articles report on the 1950 trial and his 1951 electrocution.
Admin/Biographical History
Edward Lester Gibbs (1924-1951), veteran (98th Bombardment Group, 15th Air Force) and husband of Helen Woodward, was from Gloucester County, NJ. In 1950, he was a student at Franklin and Marshall College. (1)
Marian Louise Baker (1928-1950), the daughter of Walter M. Baker and Helen Beatrice Soule Britcher, was originally from New Bloomfield, Perry County, PA. (2) She had spent much of her childhood in Conestoga, PA with her aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. LeRoy O'Donel. (3) In 1950, she worked as a cashier and secretary in the treasurer's office at Franklin and Marshall College (4) and was engaged to Edward Rankin. (5)
W. Hensel Brown was the attorney chosen to defend Gibbs.
"On January 10, 1950, Marian Louise Baker was brutally slain by being
beaten to death with a lug wrench. Eight days later Edward Lester
Gibbs, defendant, confessed the killing. Thereafter, he was indicted in
Lancaster County, tried by a jury, and convicted of murder in the first
degree with the penalty fixed at death. Prior to his bringing this appeal, his motion for new trial was denied and sentence was imposed in accordance with the verdict.
At the time of the killing, defendant, a married war veteran twenty-five years of age, was a student at Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. *185 In the early afternoon of January 10, 1950, he was in downtown Lancaster when he saw Miss Baker, an employee of the college. He offered to drive her back to the campus in his car and she accepted. However, instead of returning directly to the college, they rode out of town and into the open country. When they reached an isolated spot several miles from the city she commented on the view and defendant stopped the car so that they both might enjoy it. While sitting there he suddenly reached over and began choking her. She broke away and got out of the car. He followed her and after choking her again, he returned to the car, unlocked and opened the luggage compartment, removed the lug wrench, and beat her over the head with it until she was dead. He then left but later returned to hide the body and remove any incriminating evidence. The body was not discovered until four days later.
On January 18, 1950, defendant admitted committing the crime and on that same day he signed a statement setting forth the facts as we have synopsized them here. Neither at the trial nor at any other time did he deny the truth of that confession and substantially all of the facts contained in it were verified by the independent investigation of the Pennsylvania State Police." (6)
1 "Edward Lester Gibbs," Find A Grave, accessed November 27, 2018, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/76555590/edward-lester-gibbs.
2 "Marian Louise Baker," Find A Grave, accessed November 27, 2018, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/76632108/marian-louise-baker.
3 "Vintage photos, the 1950 murder of an F&M secretary," PennLive.com, last modified January 8, 2016, https://www.pennlive.com/news/2016/01/vintage_photos_the_1950_murder.html.
4 "Marian Louise Baker," Find A Grave, accessed November 27, 2018, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/76632108/marian-louise-baker.
5 "Vintage photos, the 1950 murder of an F&M secretary," PennLive.com, last modified January 8, 2016, https://www.pennlive.com/news/2016/01/vintage_photos_the_1950_murder.html.
6 "Opinion by Mr. Chief Justice Drew, November 20, 1950," Justia, accessed November 27, 2018, https://law.justia.com/cases/pennsylvania/supreme-court/1950/366-pa-182-0.html.
The Bucher-Ortmann Pharmacy Collection contains memorabilia from the Bucher Pharmacy and Ortmann Pharmacy in Columbia, including an account book and prescription formula books.
Admin/Biographical History
The pharmacy began with the Bucher family in 1895 and continued when Werner Ortmann purchased the business in 1953.
This collection contains records of the Wheatland Diner, including correspondence, advertising, menu, recipe cards, blueprints and documents for the sale of the property. Newspaper articles report the plan for and delivery of the diner ,fires, 1956 fatal accident, problems with teenage customers and the sale of the property.
This scrapbook was originally the ledger of Charles' brother, Henry L. Frailey, for the Lancaster Home Mutual Fire Insurance Company. Henry may have also used it as journal for personal records and scrapbook.
Charles R. Frailey turned this ledger into a scrapbook in the 1890s with newspaper articles of noteworthy events and stories that related to crime and justice in Lancaster County. More importantly, the edges of the pages of the scrapbook contain notes, quotations and signatures, many of which relate to the various stories he collected.
Frailey's notes in the margins of the scrapbook provide an enormous amount of first-hand opinions and information about Lancaster events that are not captured in newspaper articles or in other official documents. The scrapbook provides a look at crime and crime prevention in the 1890s in Lancaster through the eyes of a former Police Chief. It is an important part of the history of the Lancaster City Bureau of Police.
This scrapbook and ledger also contain sketches of historic houses in Lancaster and a list of surviving members of the Lancaster Fencibles, 1898.
Admin/Biographical History
Charles R. Frailey was born in Lancaster in 1825. He married Sarah A. Baer in 1850, raised a family in Lancaster, and was a member of Friendship Fire Company. He was employed as a clerk and scrivener and taught penmanship. In 1865, Charles was elected city alderman and became the City of Lancaster's first Chief of Police.
In 1865, Mayor George Sanderson established the Lancaster City Police force. A man named Charles Frailey was the first Chief of Police. Officer Frailey oversaw 21-night policemen who successfully restored order. https://www.epsagents.com/security-guards/armed-unarmed-security-guards-lancaster-pa/
Lancaster City Archives Collection (Records of Arrests; Police Dockets; Police Logs)
Notes
A few of the stories contained in the Frailey Scrapbook:
Murder of David Buckwalter Landis: Landis was president of Lancaster's Conestoga National Bank. The murderer, Ralph W. Wireback, was the tenant of a house that was owned by Landis. As part of the lease agreement, Wireback was allowed to occupy the house until Landis sold it. When Landis did sell the house and attempted to dispossess Wireback, Wireback sent his family away from the house and boarded it shut. A final confrontation between the tenant and the landlord on April 7, 1898 resulted in the murder. On August 24th, 1899, Wireback was found guilty of 1st degree murder and sentenced to death. His execution was set for June 7, 1893.
William E. Martin's escape: Although the LCPD began to use patrol wagons in 1892, officers often escorted criminals to the local prison on foot. This proved to be disastrous in the case of William E. Martin. On October 27, 1898, Martin haplessly attempted to sell a team of horses he had stolen to a city constable and was promptly arrested. As he was being taken to jail, Martin managed to overpower Constable Jacobs on East Walnut Street, and, threatening the constable with his (Constable Jacob's) own gun, he bolted.
Burglary at Lime Rock: A burglary was committed on December 9, 1898 in Lime Rock, a settlement at the intersection of the Reading and Columbia Railroads between Manheim and Lititz. The burglars entered the home of Albert Longnecker and demanded that he surrender his valuables to them. Longnecker, despite being rather elderly, attempted to fend off the intruders, but he along with his four other family members were bound. While the burglars rummaged through the house, one of the female family members wrestled free and ran to one of their neighbor's homes. She rang a bell which caused the burglars to flee, taking with them only $3 that they had found in the Longneckers' coat pockets.
In 1899, a bill was passed "to fix, regulate, and establish the fees to be charged and received by constables of this commonwealth." These fees covered such services as levying fines, serving executions, executing search warrants, etc.
In July 1882, George "Tid" Brimmer, who is associated with the infamous Buzzard Gang, allegedly set the Lancaster County Almshouse on fire on the same afternoon that the gang burned the barn of Samuel Ranck. The Almshouse had burned down three times previously, and was later rebuilt and burned down once again in 1900.
An article entitled "Changes of 40 Years: What an Old City Report Showed" from February 20, 1900 details how the LCPD transformed since 1860: "From one High Constable and four Ward Constables and night-watchmen, at an expense of $2,674, we now have a Chief of Police, 2 Sergeants, 18 policemen, and three patrol drivers and a turnkey, costing $19,820, supplemented with police patrol, patrol call boxes, police station house, etc…improvements scarcely dreamed of 40 years ago…"
James Burns, who was convicted of complicity in the Jacobs-Kendig revenue stamp counterfeiting conspiracy, was freed from the Eastern Penitentiary in 1900 after serving a period of one year and six months.
Access Conditions / Restrictions
This scrapbook may be used by appointment--contact Research@LancasterHistory.org prior to visit.
Copyright
This scrapbook may be photographed without flash. 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.
Letters and articles from John Edmund Rutherford to W. W. Griest
Description
Letter. John Edmund Rutherford, Harrisburg, to W. W. Griest, Lancaster. Discusses enclosed newspaper clipping as well as E. L. Moore's career, contacts with Thaddeus Stevens, and connections to Rutherford. 26 December 1913.
Letter. John Edmund Rutherford to W. W. Griest. Thanks Griest for letter of 5 January and its enclosed newspaper clipping, as well as invitation to visit Griest's office and see Stevens' cane. 6 January 1914.
Sheet of newspaper clippings. Descriptions of E. L. Moore, reproducing and summarizing contents of Rutherford's 26 December 1913 letter to Griest. (photocopy) 1914.
Preferred Citation: Title or description of item, date (day, month, year), Thaddeus Stevens Collection (MG0115), Part 1, Folder # or 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. Please contact Research@LancasterHistory.org prior to visit.
Copyright
Images have been provided for research purposes only. Please contact Research@LancasterHistory.org for a high-resolution image and permission to publish.
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. 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.
Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Other Numbers
MG-115
Other Number
MG-115, Part 1, Folder 19, Insert 2
Classification
MG0115
Description Level
Item
Custodial History
Added to database 10 July 2023.
Digitization of this document was funded by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, PHMC Appl ID # 202010016624, 2020-2023.
Letters between Rev. C. H. Forney and W. W. Griest
Description
Letter from Rev. C. H. Forney, Harrisburg, to W. W. Griest. Discusses E. L. Moore's career Forney's relationship with him. Makes note of a cane presented to Forney by Moore, which Forney carried at Stevens' funeral. With photocopy of transcription. 30 December 1913.
Letter. W. W. Griest to Rev. C. H. Forney. Thanks Forney for letter, possible similarities between canes, and enclosed newspaper clipping. 3 January 1914.
Newspaper article and transcription. "Give Stevens' Cane to Griest," discusses Stevens' cane and Griest's receipt of it. Photocopy. 25 December 1913.
Date Range
1913-1914
Creation Date
30 December 1913, 3 January 1914, 25 December 1913
Preferred Citation: Title or description of item, date (day, month, year), Thaddeus Stevens Collection (MG0115), Part 1, Folder # or 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. Please contact Research@LancasterHistory.org prior to visit.
Copyright
Images have been provided for research purposes only. Please contact Research@LancasterHistory.org for a high-resolution image and permission to publish.
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. 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.
Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Other Numbers
MG-115
Other Number
MG-115, Part 1, Folder 19, Insert 3
Classification
MG0115
Description Level
Item
Custodial History
Added to database 10 July 2023.
Digitization of this document was funded by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, PHMC Appl ID # 202010016624, 2020-2023.
