Chew family. Chew Family papers, 1659-1986 (bulk 1740-1930).
Title:
Chew Family papers, 1659-1986 (bulk 1740-1930).
The Chew Family Papers is a remarkable collection due to its range, depth, and scope. Nearly every major subject in early American history is touched upon in these papers; the date span of the collection allows for a study of the trajectory of American social, political, and economic development through the lens of one prominent family. This collection is the product of seven generations of the Chew family's professional and personal lives. Many of the papers were created during the late eighteenth through mid-nineteenth centuries, but they continued to be used over the course of the next one hundred years by the family as they settled estates, sold off land, and sought to settle debts. While the papers were an integral part of the management of the family's financial affairs, the Chews also prized the papers as part of their heritage. Around the time of the Centennial celebration in the United States, the Chews began to recognize the legacy of their family in the early history of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, and spent a great deal of time inventorying and describing the contents of the papers. The Chew family became archivists of their own records, maintaining the collection as a whole and retrieving portions of the papers that had been lost or sold during the nineteenth century. They stored some records in safe deposit boxes, and other portions of the collection were arranged methodically throughout Cliveden. They created extensive descriptions of where groups of materials were stored and arranged them by family member, an arrangement that has largely been maintained. Some of these inventories can be found within the collection; others are housed in the collection files, which may be accessed by asking an archivist for permission to view these files. The materials in this collection cover a wide range of topics, reflecting the Chew family's involvement in legal, business, political, private, and social spheres. This extensive collection documents the lives of the Maryland and Pennsylvania branches of the Chew family through seven generations. In addition to the collection's emphasis on the Chew family and their connections within Philadelphia's elite, the papers provide a perspective on the lives of many of the Chews'slaves and servants, and offer insights into family relationships, women's history, health, religion, legal history, the Revolutionary and Civil wars, politics, trade, land management and settlement, surveying, industrialization, and the growth and development of the city of Philadelphia. The focus of the collection revolves around Benjamin Chew, his son Benjamin Jr. and his offspring. Both father and son were influential lawyers, and together amassed large quantities of land in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey. Benjamin Chew Jr.'s land holdings and estate became a major point of contention within the family after his death in 1844. This dispute, which continued for over forty years, was devastating to the Chews'family relationships and fortune, and is a central focus of the collection. The collection is divided into twenty-nine series, with over half of these dedicated to individual family members or family groups. Other series document the family's land holdings, Cliveden, their home in Germantown; the family's genealogical research; and their substantial map collection. The materials range in date from the seventeenth through the twentieth century, but the richest documentation is on nineteenth century life in the mid-Atlantic region. The collection contains business and financial records, cartographic material, correspondence, ephemera, legal documents, personal papers, and other materials created and collected by the Chews during the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
ArchivalResource:
848 boxes, 311 flat files, 36 rolls, (288.5 linear ft.)
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/435803841 View
View in SNAC
