The Winterthur Library

The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum

5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur, Delaware  19735

Telephone: 302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883

 

 

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

 

Creator:         Gummere, Amelia M. (Amelia Mott), 1859-1937                             

Title:               Scrapbooks

Dates:             1896-1940, bulk 1902-1918

Call No.:         Col. 436

Acc. No.:        67x154.1-.2; 75x167

Quantity:        3 volumes in 2 boxes

Location:        30 E 2

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

 

Amelia M. Gummere (Mrs. Francis B. Gummere) lived in Haverford, Pennsylvania, during the first quarter of the 20th century.  She was a member of the Pennsylvania Society of the Colonial Dames of America.  She also had an office at Independence Hall, perhaps for the Colonial Dames.  She authored several articles on early American church silver and assisted Rufus M. Jones with his book The Quakers in the American Colonies.

 

Amelia Smith Mott Gummere was born in New Jersey on July 17, 1859.  Her husband Francis Barton Gummere (1855-1919) was a professor at Haverford College.  He did a translation of the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf.  The couple had at least three sons. 

 

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT

 

Collection consists of two scrapbooks (received together) and a notebook (received separately).  The two scrapbooks contain information on early Pennsylvania ecclesiastical silver and its makers gathered by Amelia Gummere.  In 1902, the Society of Colonial Dames of Pennsylvania mounted an exhibit at the Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia on early American church silver.  Mrs. Gummere chaired the committee responsible for the exhibit.   Around that time, the Colonial Dames also agreed to publish a book by E. Alfred Jones entitled The Old Silver of American Churches.  Mrs. Gummere gathered much of the information for Jones' research and for the exhibition, housing it in these scrapbooks.

 

Amelia Gummere corresponded with heads of local churches concerning silver objects still owned by the churches. She often photographed the objects and tracked down genealogical information about their makers.  The collection contains numerous newspaper articles and some magazine articles related to church history, other silver exhibits, and general research on silver objects.  

 

The notebook lists pieces of pewter, silver, and other objects assembled as a loan to the Jamestown Ter-centennial Exposition by the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames.  Entries include the type of object and current owner along with the maker and provenance when known.  A note on the first page reveals that this exhibit was withdrawn due to a lack of suitable guarantees of safety at the Exposition.  The book was preserved for the purpose of locating ownership of articles for future reference.  Mrs. Gummere was the chairman of the committee and apparently kept the volume.

 

 

ORGANIZATION

           

For conservation reasons, the two scrapbooks have been dismantled and rehoused.  They are organized systematically.  However, folders retain items found in their respective volumes and research originally bound together has been retained in separate folders.  Correspondence has been arranged chronologically.

 

 

LANGUAGE OF MATERIALS

 

The materials are in English.

 

 

RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS

 

Collection is open to the public.  Copyright restrictions may apply.

 

 

RELATED MATERIALS

 

Jones, E. Alfred.  The Old Silver of American Churches.  Lecthworth, England: Arden Press, 1913.

 

Col. 293, Bernard M. Bloomfield Papers.  (Additional research materials about silver.)

 

 

PROVENANCE

           

Accession 67x154.1-.2: Gift  of Geblein Silversmiths, Boston, Massachusetts.

Accession 73x167: Gift of Francis James Dallett, University Archives, University of Pennsylvania.

 

 

ACCESS POINTS

 

People:

            Jones, E. Alfred (Edward Alfred), 1872-1943.

            Quarry, Robert.

            Robeson, A. (Andrew)

            Rudman, Andrew, 1668-1708.

            Syng, Philip, 1703-1789.

 

Topics:

National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

611 20

Jamestown Ter-centennial Exposition (1907)

           

Exhibitions.

Liturgical objects.

            Silverwork - History - United States.

            Silverware.

            Silverwork, Colonial.

            Scrapbooks.

            United States - Church history.

           

Letters.           

            Photographs.

            Notes.

            Silversmiths.

           

 

           

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

 

Location: 30 E 2

 

 

Box 1:

 

Folder 1:          scrapbook pages, with newspaper clippings, chiefly about silver, chiefly about the Colonial Dames exhibit at the Academy of Fine Arts

 

Folder 2:          correspondence from book 1

 

Folder 3:          correspondence from book 2

 

Folder 4:          correspondence from book 2 concerning the 1902 silver exhibit at the Academy of the Fine Arts

 

Folder 5:          bills and receipts [one for a book, the other for photograph of silver]

 

Folder 6:          newspaper clippings [photocopies]: many of the articles are about silver; includes one article by Mrs. Gummere

 

Folder 7:          magazine clippings, chiefly about silver

 

Folders 8-9:     unmounted photographs from book 1, of silver objects owned by various churches; most are labeled on back with church name

 

Folder 10:        historic photos from book 1, of church silver and a picture of Bishop White

 

Folder 11:        mounted photo of silver objects from St. Paul’s Church in Chester, Pennsylvania

 

Folder 12:        mounted photo of silver communion objects from the Donegal Reformed Church in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

 

Folder 13:        original scrapbook covers, one of which is covered with calico

 

Folder 14:        notebook (acc. 75x167): “Record of Historical Pieces Shown at Jamestown Exposition, April 26th to November 30th, 1907,” including brief description of item (pewter, silver, documents, etc.) and name of owner.

                                    Mrs. Gummere wrote a note on the first page explaining that the exhibit was “withdrawn owing to lack of suitable guarantees of safety” at the exposition.  The notebook was prepared by Maxwell [illegible].

 

Folder 15:        genealogical information about Gummere family from internet [no accession number; name also misspelled as Gunmere]

 

 

 

Box 2:

 

Folder 1:          General research notes from book 1 (acc. 67x154.1):

includes information on Bishop William White, William Bovey, engravings and a silhouette of Bishop White, correspondence from E.A. Jones, etc.

 

Folder 2:          General research notes from book 2 (acc. 67x154.2):

                        Catalog of dining room silver from Bailey Banks & Biddle of Philadelphia (copyright 1913); notes on pewter; an order form for E. Alfred Jones’ The Old Silver of American Churches; notes on individual silver pieces; several lists of items in the 1902 exhibition at the Academy of the Fine Arts and a list of items for the 1907 Jamestown Exposition [see also acc. 73x167]; a list of wills and genealogies wanted; desiderata; notes on makers’ marks; typed research notes from secondary sources

 

Folder 3:          General research notes from book 2:

                        Program from the Feast of Roses at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Manheim, Pennsylvania (1908); typed research notes from secondary sources; and an advertisement and order form for a book by Francis Hill Bigelow on early silver

 

Folder 4:          list of Baptist and Presbyterian churches in Pennsylvania

 

Folder 5:          research notes on Colonel Robert Quarry [died 1712]

 

Folder 6:          research notes on Philip Syng [silversmith, 1703-1789]

 

Folder 7:          research notes and correspondence on St. John’s Church of Concordville, Pennsylvania

 

Folder 8:          research notes on St. Paul’s Church of Chester, Pennsylvania

 

Folder 9:          research notes on churches in Lancaster, Pennsylvania:

includes A Memorial of the One Hundred and Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of Trinity Lutheran Church (1905) and One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Laying of the Corner Stone of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity (1911)

 

Folder 10:        research notes on churches in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

 

Folder 11:        research notes on Andrew Robeson (died Feb. 1719/20)

 

Folder 12:        research notes on Andreas Rudman (died 1708)

                                    [Swedish minister, first name also recorded as Andrew, and that is the name established by the Library of Congress]