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Peale-Sellers family collection, 1686-1963

Title: Peale-Sellers Family Collection, 1686-1963

The collection, divided into seven series, represents the careers and interests of the members of the Peale-Sellers family from the 1670s to 1960s. More than half is correspondence among various members of the families. The Peale family is best known as a family of artists; however, family interests and activities were much more wide-ranging. The best known Peale is Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827, APS 1786), who produced more than one thousand paintings, including hundreds of portraits of leading Americans during the colonial and early national periods. Peale was married three times, to Rachel Brewster (1744-1790), Elizabeth de Peyster (1765-1804), and Hannah More (1755-1821). He had eighteen children, eleven of whom reached adulthood. Three of Charles Willson Peale’s sons became artists: Raphaelle Peale (1774-1825), Rembrandt Peale (1778-1860), and Rubens Peale (1784-1865). A fourth son, Titian Ramsay Peale (1799-1885, APS 1833), was a naturalist (who made drawings on the exploring expeditions he accompanied) and pioneer in photography, and another son, Benjamin Franklin Peale (1795-1870), became a naturalist and paleontologist. Peale’s daughter Sophonisba Angusciola was married to Coleman Sellers (1781-1834), an inventor and manufacturer of machinery, including locomotives. Two of their sons, George Escol Sellers (1808-1899) and Coleman Sellers (1827-1907, APS 1872), were inventors and engineers. The latter served as director of the construction of the hydro-electric power development at Niagara Falls. He was married to Cornelia Wells Sellers (1831-1909). One of their grandsons was Charles Coleman Sellers (1903-1980, APS 1979), a librarian and historian and the author of several studies of the Peale family, including a Charles Willson Peale biography.

ArchivalResource: 19.0 Linear feet; 38 Boxes; 147 Volumes

http://www.amphilsoc.org/mole/view?docId=ead/Mss.B.P31-ead.xml View

Biddle family. Papers, 1775-1919.

Title: Papers, 1775-1919.

The papers of Clement Biddle include receipts for army supplies from the Continental Army dating from the summer of 1776, letters from Anthony Butler, and individual letters from Nathaneal Greene, George Washington, and Gustavus Risberg. Included among Thomas Biddle's papers are letters from his brother Nicholas Biddle, Robert Lenox, Condy Raguet, Asher Robbins, and individual letters from Thomas Truxtun and Philip Syng Physick. The papers of Christine Biddle consist primarily of family correspondence, including letters from Apolline Alexander Hankey, Bethia Alexander, and Mariamne Williams. The papers of Colonel Alexander Biddle are comprised of correspondence, a diary (1840-1842), Civil War papers, and financial papers. Also included is the manuscript for his proposed book "Dr. Benjamin Rush in the opinion of his contemporaries." Included among the Civil War papers is a lengthy account of the Battle of Gettysburg. Included in the papers of Julia Rush Biddle are more than 400 letters from her husband, Colonel Alexander Biddle, spanning 1862 to 1864. These letters provide accounts of battles and an intimate view of strategic and domestic life in the field. Also present is correspondence with her father, Samuel Rush; her commonplace book; her notes on sermons; and financial papers. Anne McKennan Biddle's papers consist of correspondence from her daughter Christine (b. 1882), who worked in Paris for the American Red Cross during World War I. Christine's letters provide austute observations of civilian life during wartime and reflect on women's roles in the war effort. Her letters also capture the atmosphere of expatriate life in Paris. Also present is correspondence of Henry, Louis, and Marion Biddle, including letters from their father, Colonel Alexander Biddle; their brothers Alexander Williams Biddle and Wilmer Biddle; and their niece Pauline Biddle Brock.

ArchivalResource: 5.5 linear ft.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122489412 View

Moyerman-Biddle family. Papers, 1790-1916.

Title: Papers, 1790-1916.

Henry J. Williams' legal papers and receipted bills, 1827-1877; Alexander and Julia Williams Rush Biddle's family and social correspondence, 1860-1896; Louis and Lynford Biddle's incoming correspondence concerning "Lanoraie" operations, cricket and club activities, 1890-1916.

ArchivalResource: 400 items.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122540993 View

Biddle family. Papers, 1828-1917.

Title: Papers, 1828-1917.

These are the papers of three generations of proprietors of "Lanoraie," a farm established by Henry J. Williams in Springfield Township, Montgomery County. The major portion of this section contains correspondence and accounts of Louis Alexander Biddle and Lynford Biddle, grandsons of Thomas and lawyers, concerning horse and dog breeding at "Lanoraie," shooting, European travel, cricket and social club activities, and stocks. There is a small group of legal papers, 1828-1877, of Williams, dealing with family estates and including his personal receipted bills. Another small group contains family and social notes of Alexander and Julia Williams Rush Biddle, 1874-1896. There is also some Yarrow & Van Pelt correspondence, 1916-1937, concerning Philadelphia real estate brokerage.

ArchivalResource: 900 items.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122689622 View

Brock, Pauline Biddle, 1880-1968. Papers, 1778-1954.

Title: Papers, 1778-1954.

Of particular interest in this section are the diaries: Julia Williams Rush, 1852; Horace Brock, 1877-1878; Anne McKennan Biddle, 1885, concerning a European trip; Alexander Biddle, 1889, 1897 of European trips; Pauline Biddle, 1892-1894, 1924 covering the years before and after her marriage to John Penn Brock in 1905, including two European tours; and Christine Biddle, 1917-1918, describing her activities with the American Red Cross at Toul, France. Present, too, are some Jonathan Williams family papers, 1779-1828; Alexander Biddle's letters to his wife written while he toured Europe, 1878 and other family correspondence.

ArchivalResource: 375 items.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122632978 View