Collections
Archives
Written by Heather Tennies, Director of Archival Services   

The Archives of LancasterHistory.org invites its patrons to travel through history. Read the letters that Sarah Yeates wrote to her husband in the late eighteenth century. Witness the diversity in business and social organizations through minute and account books. Trace the branches of the family tree with estate inventories, court cases, and deeds.

A wide variety of manuscript documents, county records, Lancaster City records, and bound newspapers make up a large portion of the LancasterHistory.org's collections. The majority of these records date to the incorporation of the county in 1729 and continue to the present.

Archival collections can be located using the Library Catalog, our new Discovery Tool, in-house databases, or paper finding aids. Most archival items may be used in the Reading Room and should be requested at the Research Desk. However, the staff may photocopy some documents due to their fragile condition and some items may require staff supervision.
 

News from the Archives

Recent Archives Acquisitions - Summer 2010

  • Program for the dedication of St. Michael's Memorial Organ, 1998.  Jim and Drue Chryst
  • Certificates of military service for Germaine Frances Mimm Cassidy, 1954, c. 1977, and Robert E. Mimm.  Robert E. Mimm
  • Civil War letters from Henry Seiger to Annie Roland in Marietta, 1861-1863.  Pvt. Samuel A. Hughey, Camp #1452, Sons of Confederate Veterans
  • First Day of Issue, Wheatland stamp, 1956.  Andrew Woolworth
  • Genealogy for the Shirk family.  Thomas F. Shirk
  • Ledger from John Hoffman High's store, 1871-1872.  George J. Willauer
  • Manuscript book of poetry and 3 drawings, Alice Caldwell, 1827-1853.  Nancy L. Gingrich
  • Papers from three estates handled by Judge William H. Keller: Wagner, William Earnest and R. E. Fahnestock.  William W. Campbell
  • Program for the 50th Annual Convention of the Lancaster Firemen's Association, 1970.  Denver Firefighters Museum, Colorado

 

 

Alice Caldwell's book of poetry          Alice Caldwell poetry

Manuscript book of poetry, 1837-1839 and 1853, kept by Alice Caldwell of Lancaster. Gift of Nancy L. Gingrich.

Henry Seiger letter to Annie Roland in Marietta, 1862, page 1          Henry Seiger letter to Annie Roland in Marietta, 1862, page 2

Civil War letters from Henry Seiger to Annie Roland in Marietta, 1861-1863. Gift of Shannon Bryant and Pvt. Samuel A. Hughey, Camp #1452, Sons of Confederate Veterans.          

 

More new acquisitions

 

Add to Our Collections

We are currently raising funds for the purchase of the George and Rhonda Andreadis Collection of Lancaster City Records

This collection contains 6,000 19th and early 20th century documents pertaining to the business of Lancaster City.

Help us reach our goal!

$60000
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Updated:
1/25/2010

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Our Volunteers & Interns

Living History

katelynstauffer

At the time of her internship Katelynn Stauffer will be a rising sophomore at Gettysburg College, where she will be majoring in History and Political Science with minors in Education and Civil War Era Studies. While interning at Wheatland she will be working on the creation of a new living history tour that will examine the war years at Wheatland.  She will be organizing volunteers and setting up a test run of the program for the public.

Cultural Politics

becca

My name is Rebecca Macy and I am a rising sophomore at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. I am an American Studies major with a concentration in Cultural Politics. I have a great interest in civil rights, immigration, and the American Presidency. With a love of history, I am so excited to be working in my hometown this summer with LancasterHistory.org, Lancaster County's Historical Society & President James Buchanan's Wheatland!

Diplomacy

alextrimble

Alex Trimble is a senior at Elizabethtown Area High School. His primary focus of study has been in history and social sciences. During his internship at the James Buchanan Wheatland mansion he will be conducting research on James Buchanan's diplomatic mission to Russia.

Parks and Recreation

Amy_at_computer_2010

Amy Noll is a New Hampshire native who graduated with her B.A. in History and Management from Gettysburg College in 2007.  She received her M.L.S. with a specialization in Archives, Records, and Information Management from the University of Maryland in 2009, and recently moved into the Lancaster area.  She has past experience working at the National Archives and is also a Civil War Reenactor.  In the Archives, Amy is working on the Lancaster Recreation Commission Records manuscript group.  She has found many interesting records about past recreational programming for senior citizens as well as records detailing the creation and acquisition of some of Lancaster’s most well known public parks.

Building a Tour

faith_spring_2010

Faith McCarrick is a senior history major at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. This semester she has been interning in both the archives and education departments at LancasterHistory.Org. In the archives department, she found herself creating box lists of manuscript groups that covered the history of the United Steel Workers Union in Lancaster and the writings of Jewish World War II veteran and journalist, Charles H. Kessler.  Read more...

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