- Collection
- Heritage Center Collection
- Description
- Upholstered wingback commode chair has four turned Sheraton legs. Has replacement of original soiled handsewn homespun linen (remnants in this file), now an orange fabric with potted and vining flower design. Solid pinewood seat under cushion has center hole with fitted removable wooden disc.
- This chair was from the Pownall home at Gap, where it was used by Dickinson Gorsuch, Maryland slaveholder, during his recovery from wounds sustained during the Christiana Riot of Sept. 11, 1851. His father and two others were killed during the skirmish at the home of freedman William Parker, and Dickinson was transported to the Pownall home for recovery. William Parker later published his story in the "Atlantic Monthly" in 1866, making it highly publicized.
- This incident "is an important example of the struggle over the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act and the escalating tension between the North and the South. This act gave slave owners broad powers to recapture runaway slaves". (ExplorePAhistory.com)
- Polaroid photos of chair before re-upholstery, in file.
- Likely Lancaster or Chester Co.
- Provenance
- Provenance: Chair owned by the Pownall family & given in 1973 to the Lancaster County Historical Society by Mrs. Levi Pownall of Lancashire Hall (569-7279).
- It was initially loaned to the Heritage Center (# L.77.9 and # 161.64.80) but soon donated to HCLC. Board minutes of Dec. 8, 1975 include Richard F. Smith's Museum Committee report noting a donation of a "Sheraton armed wing chair commode, used by the Pownall home in nursing Dickinson Gorsuch following Christiana Riot in 1851." Later unsigned note (Bruce Shoemaker?) states John Aungst of LCHS was consulted & chair was removed 11/9/84 from list on LCHS loan form, settling an apparent question of ownership.
- Date Range
- c. 1800-1820
- Year Range From
- 1800
- Year Range To
- 1820
- Last Owner
- Levi Pownall family of Gap
- Storage Location
- LancasterHistory, Lancaster, PA
- Storage Room
- DAC
- Storage Wall
- East Wall
- Storage Shelf
- Upper Shelf
- Subject
- African Americans--History
- Free Black people
- Slaveholders--Pennsylvania--Lancaster County
- Slavery--Pennsylvania--Lancaster County
- Search Terms
- Chairs
- Christiana Resistance
- Enslaved persons
- Free persons of color
- Persons of color
- Slaveholders
- Slavery
- Object Name
- Chair, Commode
- Oither Names
- Chair, Wing
- Material
- Wood, Fabric
- Height (cm)
- 119.38
- Height (ft)
- 3.9166666667
- Height (in)
- 47
- Width (cm)
- 78.74
- Width (ft)
- 2.5833333333
- Width (in)
- 31
- Condition
- Good
- Condition Date
- 2017-07-25
- Condition Notes
- Reupholstered. Minor wear in fabric; loose stitching, especially on proper right side.
- Repaired and reupholstered gratis, April 1980, by The Upholstery Center of Lititz, (Mr. & Mrs. Paul Paes).
- Object ID
- G.77.09
- Credit
- Heritage Center Collection, Gift of LCHS
- Accession Number
- G.77.09
Images
- Collection
- History Collection: Places & Spaces
- Description
- Thin, flat knife hand-carved with engraved ornament and shaped handle. Accompanying envelope reads, "This bone paper-cutter was made by a prisoner in the old jail where it was located on Prince St. & by him presented to Mr. Christian Lipp who was then making plumbing repairs in the jail. It is now presented to the Lanc. Hist. Scty by Mr. Lipps family."
- Storage Location
- LancasterHistory, Lancaster, PA
- Storage Room
- DAC
- Storage Wall
- North Wall
- Storage Cabinet
- Unit 04
- Storage Drawer
- Drawer 06
- People
- Lipp, Christian
- Subcategory
- Written Communication T&E
- Search Terms
- Jails
- Object Name
- Opener, Letter
- Material
- Bone
- Length (in)
- 6.25
- Width (in)
- 1.75
- Depth (in)
- 0.125
- Condition
- Good
- Condition Notes
- Removed pressure adhesive label upon cataloging.
- Object ID
- 1922.011.1
- Accession Number
- 1922.011
Transparency, Lantern Slide
https://collections.lancasterhistory.org/en/permalink/4b2804ab-632b-4310-9a9c-871223646480
- Collection
- Photography Collection: Lantern Slides
- Object ID
- 2002.091.009
- Date Range
- 1889-1920
1 image
- Collection
- Photography Collection: Lantern Slides
- Description
- Revolutionary British prison
- Date Range
- 1889-1920
- Year Range From
- 1889
- Year Range To
- 1920
- Storage Location
- LancasterHistory, Lancaster, PA
- Storage Room
- Archives West
- Subcategory
- Documentary Artifact
- Search Terms
- Prisons
- Object Name
- Transparency, Lantern Slide
- Material
- Glass, Paper
- Height (in)
- 3.25
- Width (in)
- 4
- Depth (in)
- 0.125
- Object ID
- 2002.091.009
- Credit
- Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
- Accession Number
- 2002.091
Images
- Collection
- Sports, Leisure & Play Collection
- Description
- "Adventures in Negro History"
- Subcategory
- Need to Classify
- Search Terms
- Persons of color
- Sound recordings
- Object Name
- Recording, Audio
- Object ID
- 2007.015.1
- Accession Number
- 2007.015
- Collection
- Sports, Leisure & Play Collection
- Description
- "Two Man War / At Christiana, 1851, / Produced by Miles Jackson"
- People
- Jackson, Miles
- Subcategory
- Need to Classify
- Object Name
- Recording, Audio
- Object ID
- 2007.015.2
- Accession Number
- 2007.015
- Collection
- Sports, Leisure & Play Collection
- Description
- Armstrong Annual Report for Employees, 1948 with recorded audio
- Date Range
- 1948
- Year Range From
- 1948
- Year Range To
- 1948
- Subcategory
- Sound Communication T&E
- Object Name
- Record, Phonograph
- Object ID
- 2005.023
- Accession Number
- 2005.023
- Collection
- Heritage Center Collection
- Title
- J.P. McCaskey Medal
- Object ID
- G.03.30.1
1 image
- Collection
- Heritage Center Collection
- Title
- J.P. McCaskey Medal
- Description
- Commemorative medal, in leather covered case with velvet interior
- Commemorative Medal
- Face: bust of J. P. McCaskey, "J.P. McCaskey, Mayor, Fifty Years a Teacher, 1908"
- Reverse: image of seal of Lancaster
- Storage Location
- LancasterHistory, Lancaster, PA
- Storage Room
- DAC
- Storage Wall
- North Wall
- Storage Cabinet
- Unit 04
- Storage Drawer
- Drawer 20
- Subcategory
- Documentary Artifact
- Object Name
- Medal, Commemorative
- Circumference (in)
- 1.625
- Object ID
- G.03.30.1
- Credit
- Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
- Accession Number
- G.03.30
Images
- Collection
- History Collection: Person, Thaddeus Stevens
- Description
- Daguerreotype, Thaddeus Stevens
- Year Range From
- 1840
- Year Range To
- 1850
- Storage Location
- LancasterHistory, Lancaster, PA
- Storage Room
- DAC
- Storage Wall
- Island 2
- Storage Cabinet
- Unit 10
- Storage Container
- Box 0262: Encased Images
- People
- Stevens, Thaddeus
- Subcategory
- Documentary Artifact
- Search Terms
- Portraits
- Stevens and Smith Center
- Object Name
- Daguerreotype
- Object ID
- 2012.999
- Accession Number
- 2012.999
- Collection
- History Collection: Person, Lloyd & John Houston Mifflin
- Object ID
- 2005.009.28
- Description
- Calling card of Lloyd Mifflin. Thick white cardstock with "Lloyd Mifflin" printed in cursive script.
- Last Owner
- Mifflin, Lloyd
- Storage Location
- LancasterHistory, Lancaster, PA
- Storage Room
- DAC
- Storage Wall
- Island 3
- Storage Cabinet
- Unit 14
- People
- Mifflin, Lloyd
- Subcategory
- Documentary Artifact
- Subject
- Visiting cards
- Search Terms
- Calling cards
- Visiting cards
- Object Name
- Card, Calling
- Height (in)
- 1.75
- Width (in)
- 3.25
- Condition
- Good
- Object ID
- 2005.009.28
- Usage
- Mifflin, Lloyd
- Accession Number
- 2005.009
- Collection
- Wheatland
- Description
- Page 192 of "Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion" from 1854. Includes an article on James Buchanan with images of him as Minister to England and of Wheatland. Also includes musings on "What is the hardest mode to die?"
- Date Range
- 1854
- People
- Buchanan, James
- Subcategory
- Documentary Artifact
- Search Terms
- Buchanan Collections
- Gleason’s Pictorial
- James Buchanan
- James Buchanan Presidential Library
- Object Name
- Newspaper
- Height (in)
- 14.825
- Width (in)
- 10.75
- Condition
- Good
- Object ID
- 2016.002.1
- Accession Number
- 2016.002