Quaker Journals and Diaries
There are more than 700 manuscript journals in the collection. Some of these have been printed, such as those of William Hunt (1733-1772), the Revolutionary War journal of Margaret Hill Morris (1737-1816) and the four-volume journal of William Savery (1750-1804). Others are much too large to be published: Joshua L. Baily (1826-1916), 45 volumes; or the journals of the two Jacob Elfreths (1814-1924), 113 volumes.
Additional names in this collection include: George Churchman (1730-1814), Thomas Pim Cope (1768-1854), Elizabeth S. Drinker (ca. 1734-1807), Jane Maule (1847-1939), Joseph Scattergood (ca. 1770-1824), Joshua Sharpless (1746-1825), Sarah F. Smiley (1830-1917), Anna Spencer (ca. 1832-1905), Joseph Walton (1817-1898), Elizabeth Webb (1663-1726) and Julia A. Wilbur (1815-1895).
To use the diary of Thomas Pim Cope as an example, entries include such information as on the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Quaker schisms, national and international politics, the development of 19th-century Philadelphia, the founding of Haverford College as well as on Cope's personal life.