The David B. Landis Collection consists primarily of his personal and business correspondence, as well as his poetry and writings. Of special interest are a booklet with a synopsis autobiography of his life and his picture. There are also family papers, genealogy, membership cards, and obituaries.
Admin/Biographical History
David Bachman Landis was born in Landisville, Pennsylvania on 12 February 1862, the son of Israel C. and Mary M. Landis. As a school boy, he worked in his father's dry goods store and published a paper for boys titled Keystone Amateur. He began his printing career by apprenticing at the Inquirer Printing and Publishing Company in Lancaster in 1878, and in 1883 he opened his own job printing office in Landisville where he published the Village Vigil.
Mr. Landis moved to Lancaster in 1888 and started Pluck Art Printery. He started out in Lancaster by publishing Pluck, a magazine dedicated to the fields of printing and photography, but soon devoted his business to commercial and society printing. The name was changed in 1914 to Landis Art Print.
Printing, however, was not his only passion. He was an avid bicyclist and belonged to the Lancaster Cycling Club and the League of American Wheelmen. Through these organizations, he helped to improve the condition of roads in Pennsylvania. He was active in the Lancaster County Historical Society, the Pennsylvania German Society, the Ben Franklin Club, and Grace Lutheran Church. He wrote poetry and essays, and dedicated many pieces to friends and family.
David B. Landis married Nora K. Baker of Landisville in 1885. They had four children. Nora passed away in 1910. David married his second wife, Bertha L. Cochran, in 1914.
The Denues Family Papers contain documents related to the professional and military career of Charles Denues, as well as information about the Denues family. This collection also contains Civil War era items, including a $20 South Carolina note, and a presidential ticket from the 1864 election.
Admin/Biographical History
Charles Denues was born on 28 August 1923 in Shrewsbury Pennsylvania. He married Fannie Haines on 21 August 1859, and the couple had 8 children. Before enlisting to fight with the Union Army, Denues was a lawyer and a school teacher. In 1862 he enlisted, and became captain of the 135th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, Company E on 12 August 1862. On 24 May 1863 he was honorably discharged with the rest of his company.
The Frank R. Diffenderffer Collection contains documents collected by Mr. Diffenderffer. These documents are primarily from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and include letters, legal and court papers, indentures, receipts, property and probate records, and financial and military papers. The people and businesses represented include George Ross, Jasper Yeates, A. Herr Smith, Timothy Matlack, Mount Hope Furnace, and the Lancaster, Elizabethtown & Middletown Turnpike Road Company.
This collection consists of business records for Whitson & Sproul of Christiana, Lancaster County and documents related to estate settlements. The business records include a ledger, letters and statements concerning the sale and purchase of various materials. One letter mentions the 1860 election of "Old Abe." The receipts and court documents consist primarily of receipts, releases, and sale agreements relating to the settlement of the estates of James Sproul and Moses Whitson.
The Quarryville Land and Improvement Company contain correspondence and legal documents pertaining to the Quarryville Land and Improvement Company, Quarryville Water Company, and other organizations and businesses.
Admin/Biographical History
The Quarryville Land and Improvement Company was formed to purchase, hold, lease, and sell real estate.
Preferred Citation: Title or description of item, date (day, month, year), Quarryville Land and Improvement Company (MG0302), Folder #, LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Folders 1-7 were a gift of John S. Phillips, Lancaster County National Bank, Quarryville, April 1963. (Accession #1963.MG0302)
Folder 8 was a gift of William W. Campbell, 6 March 2014. (Accession #2014.MG0302)
Access Conditions / Restrictions
No restrictions.
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.
This collection contains the official records of the Sphinx Club in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The minute books date from 1912-1985. Histories of the club were prepared in 1934 and 1962. Dinner programs, membership lists, meeting and speaker schedules, correspondence and speeches make up the bulk of the collection. There are images of some of the earliest members, as well as articles about the statue of the Sphinx.
Preferred Citation: Title or description of item, date (day, month, year), Collection Title (MG#), Folder #, (or Object ID), LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. URL if applicable. Date accessed (day, month, year).
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Original documents 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.
Accession Number
2004.MG0341
Other Numbers
MG-341
Classification
MG0341
Description Level
Fonds
Custodial History
Processed by DW. Finding aid prepared by KK, March-April 2014. Added to database 3 January 2022.
The Paul Evans Family Papers contain diaries, estate papers of Anna M. Evans, and a land draft for Robert Evans' property in Little Britain Twp.
Admin/Biographical History
Paul Evans was a chemist at a battery company in New Jersey. His family was from Lancaster County and he returned upon retirement. Mr. Evans lived at 231 E. Orange Street in Lancaster and later moved to the Brethren Home. He is buried in Woodward Hill Cemetery in Lancaster.
Mr. Evans was Lynn Besecker's neighbor in Lancaster in the 1960s. He was a family friend and an "adopted grandfather" to her children. He was the last in his line and Mrs. Besecker was happy to save these items. He also had Jasper Yeates' desk which was [sold to] the Bashore family.
Preferred Citation: Title or description of item, date (day, month, year), Paul Evans Family Papers (MG0412), Folder #, 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.
Permission for reproduction and/or publication must be obtained in writing from LancasterHistory.
Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Samuel E. Dyke was a noted authority on the Pennsylvania rifle and wrote on this subject. Collection consists of articles, correspondence, photographs, research notes, and working papers on firearms. Also included is information on gunsmiths, the Rockford Foundation, the Heritage Center, cabinetmakers, grandfather clocks, and the Armstrong Cork Company. 1670-1985
The Lancaster Relief Committee for the Johnstown Flood Disaster kept records of the donations collected from businesses and individuals throughout Lancaster County.
Admin/Biographical History
"On May 31, 1889, a neglected dam and a phenomenal storm led to a catastrophe in which 2,209 people died. Visit the Johnstown Flood Museum, which is operated by the Johnstown Area Heritage Association, to find out more about this shocking episode in American history."
This collection contains a sketchbook and copybook of Jacob Stauffer and his son, David McNeely Stauffer. The sketch of a log house and watercolor of the Mathiot House are both attributed to David McNeely Stauffer. Letters written to D. M. Stauffer refer to The Intelligencer, genealogy related to a portrait, and his collection of signatures.
Admin/Biographical History
David McNeely Stauffer (1845-1913)
Stauffer's extraordinary life began in 1845, in Mount Joy. His father was Jacob Stauffer and his mother was Mary Ann McNeely. He was raised by his stepmother since his mother passed when he was only a year old. His childhood home had somewhat of a local legend which claimed it was haunted by the unpleasant pirate who built it.
Around 1858, economic trouble forced the Stauffers to relocate to Lancaster City. His father took a job at the Lancaster Athenaeum library (on the 3rd floor of the old city hall) for small pay with the arrangement that he could establish his patent office there. David was inseparable from his father and spent more time at the library than he did at his home on North Duke Street.
From a young age David was enormously successful in school, no doubt due to his long hours at the library and absorbing the teachings of his father who was interested in natural sciences. He graduated from high school at an accelerated pace and earned his diploma at the age of 16. From there, he attended Franklin and Marshall college on a scholarship.
A crisis strikes Lancaster in 1862 with the invasion of the confederate army into Maryland. David, along with fellow classmates, were raised into a slapdash and disastrously ill prepared unit. They were eventually involved in the battle of Antietam if one uses the term "involved" loosely. Having virtually no experience or training they were kept out of the fight. After the short-lived adventure David returned to school for another year but, possibly hoping to see more action, he rejoined the service as an artillery man. Later, he accepted a job on the railways before he was offered an appointment as Master's Mate in the navy and he once again joined the military.
After his service, he returned to railroad work where he was determined to become an engineer. By 1870 he had achieved this goal, being appointed head engineer for construction of a Philadelphia street bridge. David was 25 years old. He worked diligently as an engineer for many years and finally opening his own business in New York as a consulting engineer in 1882. Stauffer was in high demand as he was considered an expert in his trade and was widely known. He was the second American to ever become a member of the Institute of Civil Engineers in London. He also became part-owner and chief editor for "Engineering News" for 23 years.
He was very active socially, largely invested in civic improvement, and belonged to numerous societies and clubs. He was also well-traveled. Appreciative of many arts, he took a particular interest in engravings which he collected. He even published a book which is critical to many collectors today: "American Engravers upon Copper and Steel".
Stauffer married rather late in life, at the age of 47, but his meeting with his wife is so extraordinary it sounds more like a sketch from a Melville novel. A shipwreck is the romantic occasion upon which these two lovers met, David and his future wife, Florence Scribner. David had been asked on an assignment for the Engineering News and Florence had been accompanying her father on a steamship when it wrecked in the Caribbean. They were married no more than a year later and set up residence in Yonkers, New York where he died in 1913.
Stauffer's passion for sketching was no doubt due to his father whose botanical sketches are still widely admired today. Of note is David's bookplate design used by Lancaster County Historical Society, which is one of many that he designed. He also left a legacy of no less than 70 drawings of early Lancaster City buildings, an unparalleled collection. Some buildings he documented still stand today; some weren't even standing when he drew them. He drew some earlier buildings that had been destroyed using only the descriptions from those who remembered them and historical documents.
Sources:
"David McNeely Stauffer". Elizabeth Clarke Kieffer. Papers of the Lancaster County Historical Society, vol. 56. 1952 no.7David McNeely Stauffer could be called many things: scholar, soldier, traveler, engineer, artist, collector, author. Clearly a man of many talents and many pursuits, in his life he seemed determined to collect a wide variety of experiences.
"Biographical Sketch of David McNeely Knox Stauffer". John W. Jordan. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 37. (Philadelphia : PA).
"David McNeely Stauffer: The Little-Known Legacy He Left to Lancaster." A Talk to the Lancaster County Historical Society by C. Eugene Moore. May 7th, 1996.
"David McNeely Stauffer Aids Today's Scholars" in Artists' Album/Lancaster County. Gerald S. Lestz. Science Press, 1983.
See also: David McNeely Stauffer drawings in the Curatorial Collection
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Please use digital images and transcriptions when available. Original documents may be used by appointment. Patrons must make an appointment with the Director of Archival Services to view the sketchbook in Folder 1. Please contact research@lancasterhistory.org at least two weeks 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-369
Other Number
MG-369
Classification
MG0369
Description Level
Fonds
Custodial History
Processed and finding aid prepared 2010; revised 2014, 2015.
