The Watt & Shand Collection contains materials related to the Watt & Shand Department Store in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Series 1 includes employee handbooks, job description, beauty salon price list, bridal registry information, a history of the store, a Christmas catalog, a Historic Preservation Trust calendar, and children's books.
Series 2 is a record of the property at the downtown location and at Park City Mall beginning in 1880 with deeds, legal agreements, a building inspector's permit, and insurance policies.
Admin/Biographical History
On 22 February 1878, Peter Watt, James Shand and Gilbert Thompson advertised the opening of a new store, The New York Store, featuring new lines of foreign and domestic dry goods as well as fancy goods and notions. The New York Store opened on 9 March 1878 and was an immediate success focusing on customer service. The owners had an unwritten policy stating that they remained open until the last customer left. During that first year, partner Gilbert Thompson died. Watt and Shand purchased a building located at 8-10 East King Street and changed their name from The New York Store to Watt, Shand and Company. Then during 1885, the store name was shortened to Watt & Shand even though the business was expanding to acquire 6 East King Street. The Ladies' Ready-To-Wear Department was added in 1889 which included coats, suits, dresses, and underwear. The owners proceeded to expand the business over several decades and procured Appel & Weber jewelry store and Hager's Department Store during the 1950s and 1960s. The branch store opened in 1970 at Park City Mall. The Bon-Ton Stores purchased Watt & Shand in 1992 and the store officially closed in March of 1995
Preferred citation: Title or description of item, date (day, month, year), Collection Title (MG#), Series #, Folder #, (or Object ID), LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. URL if applicable. Date accessed (day, month, year).
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Folder 2 contains restricted items. With the exception of Folder 2, the items in this collection may be used by researchers--contact Research@LancasterHistory.org prior to visit or request at Reference Desk.
Copyright
Collection items 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.
Other Numbers
MG-237
Classification
MG0237
Description Level
Fonds
Custodial History
Scrapbook cataloged by CB, 2008. Series 2, Folder 1-48 cataloged by ML, Summer 2014. Added to database 13 January 2022.
The Watt & Shand Department Store scrapbook was cataloged and preserved with funding from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. ME60112.
Historical Marker at Ephrata Academy. Wording: "Ephrata Cloister - Surviving restored buildings of the Seventh Day Baptist community founded by Conrad Beissel. Original buildings erected between 1735 and 1749. Administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission."
Provenance
Donated by Deanna M. Nolder.
Loose pages from photo album belonging to donor's late grandfather, G.Ross Bond of York, PA.
The attached images have been provided for research. The original items are restricted for preservation purposes. The digital images of the manuscript and printed material are 300 dpi JPGs; the photographs are 600 dpi JPGs.
Please contact Moores Memorial Library for a high resolution image and permission to publish:
Moores Memorial Library
9 West Slokom Avenue
Christiana, PA 17509
chrlib@christianalibrary.org
610-593-6683 or 610-593-6687
The digital master files are stored at LancasterHistory.
LancasterHistory
230 N. President Ave
Lancaster, PA 17603
archives@lancasterhistory.org
(717) 392-4633
Funds for this project were provided by the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) in 2001.
Credit
Christiana Resistance Collection, Series 2, Folder 5, Moores Memorial Library
"At '19 Mile Stone' on York Road built in 1810 by Capt. Joshua Gorsuch, a shipbuilder. The tavern was the meeting place of the Baltimore Countians who went to Pennsylvania to reclaim their slaves. Thus bringing on the Christiana Riot of 1851."
The attached images have been provided for research. The original items are restricted for preservation purposes. The digital images of the manuscript and printed material are 300 dpi JPGs; the photographs are 600 dpi JPGs.
Please contact Moores Memorial Library for a high resolution image and permission to publish:
Moores Memorial Library
9 West Slokom Avenue
Christiana, PA 17509
chrlib@christianalibrary.org
610-593-6683 or 610-593-6687
The digital master files are stored at LancasterHistory.
LancasterHistory
230 N. President Ave
Lancaster, PA 17603
archives@lancasterhistory.org
(717) 392-4633
Funds for this project were provided by the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) in 2001.
Credit
Christiana Resistance Collection, Series 2, Folder 14, Moores Memorial Library