Friends Historical Library

Friends Historical Library Manuscripts include the papers of Elias Hicks, of Lucretia Mott and other Quaker related individuals and families.

Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College was established in 1871 to collect, preserve and make available the documentary records of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Library and archival repository for books, archives, manuscripts, pamphlets, periodicals, photographs and other images of the Religious Society of Friends, including the archival records of New York Yearly Meeting, P

hiladelphia Yearly Meeting and Baltimore Yearly Meeting (shared with Haverford), Friends General Conference, Friends World Committee, and other Quaker yearly meetings and organizations. Anyone is welcome to visit, but we are open by appointment only. Appointments can be requested via our website.

Happy Black History Month! If you're in the area, swing by McCabe Library in the month of February for our pop-up exhibi...
02/02/2025

Happy Black History Month! If you're in the area, swing by McCabe Library in the month of February for our pop-up exhibit, "Printing 'The Underground Railroad.'" Swarthmore College Libraries are participating in the Douglass Day transcribathon on Feb 14th - check out https://douglassday.org/ to get in on the fun!

📣📣Calling all scholars of Quaker history, Peace history, and allied topics! Swarthmore College Special Collections is no...
01/16/2025

📣📣Calling all scholars of Quaker history, Peace history, and allied topics! Swarthmore College Special Collections is now accepting applications for our Moore Research Fellowship for the 2025-2026 cycle. 📣📣

The Margaret W. Moore and John M. Moore Research Fellowship promotes research during the academic year or summer months using the resources of the Friends Historical Library and/or the Swarthmore College Peace Collection, providing a stipend of $1,500-$6,000 to support such research. Applications are due March 31, 2025.

Please share this announcement with all who might be interested. More details and application instructions are here:

Applications are now open for the 2025-2026 Fellowship.The Margaret W. Moore and John M. Moore Research Fellowship provides a stipend to promote research that uses the resources of the Friends Historical Library and/or the Swarthmore College Peace Collection. Preference is given to projects that mak...

When the Eagles play the Packers on Sunday, perhaps they'll be victorious as they were in 1960! It seems a good omen tha...
01/09/2025

When the Eagles play the Packers on Sunday, perhaps they'll be victorious as they were in 1960! It seems a good omen that we discovered this ticket stub today, while processing the papers of Margery Post Abbott, Quaker minister, scholar, and Swarthmore College alumna

New collection now available online: Smedley family photographs. Walter Smedley was a well-known Philadelphia Quaker arc...
12/03/2024

New collection now available online: Smedley family photographs. Walter Smedley was a well-known Philadelphia Quaker architect whose designs included the iconic West Philadelphia Trust Co. building at 40th and Lancaster (pictured). Thanks to Adam Levine of the Media Historic Commission for cataloging and digitizing these photographs! The glass plates are stored at the Friends Historical Library and can be previewed online here: https://digitalcollections.tricolib.brynmawr.edu/smedley-fam-photos

We know this topic is of interest to many of our followers
10/09/2024

We know this topic is of interest to many of our followers

Friends Historical Association Annual Meeting and fall lecture. New England Yearly Meeting (NEYM) played a significant role in establishing and supporting several Indigenous day and boarding schools intended to further the federal government’s program of assimilation of Native Peoples and the open...

We're saddened to be sharing this news of the passing of Jim Hazard. Probably the most dedicated volunteer in all of FHL...
08/01/2024

We're saddened to be sharing this news of the passing of Jim Hazard. Probably the most dedicated volunteer in all of FHL's 150+ year history, he spent decades here creating a monumental genealogy index rivaled only by the work of W.W. Hinshaw. Generations of historians and genealogists studying Quakers will be in his debt. Moreover, he was a delight to have around the library - "full of beans" (as he used to say) until the end. https://www.longwoodfuneralhome.com/obituary/James-Hazard

07/13/2024

Have you ever used QuakerMeetings.com? We’re happy to announce that FHL has partnered with the Friends Collection of Earlham College to give the site a refresh!

QuakerMeetings.com began as a passion project of Quaker historian Thomas C. Hill, and was his attempt to create a comprehensive database of all current and historical monthly meetings in North America. Hill’s assiduous efforts over the course of three decades made the site an invaluable resource for researchers in Quaker history. However, the project went dormant after Hill’s passing in 2021.

In an effort to keep this resource around, Friends Historical Library and Earlham’s Friends Collection have joined forces to revive and revitalize the website. We’ve worked together to redo the site’s front end, and going forward we hope to do some collaborative maintenance of the monthly meeting data.

You can explore the refurbished site for yourself at quakermeetings.com!

"Monthly Meetings in North America: A Quaker Index"

FHL is participating in a project to digitize records we hold relating to Quaker Indian Boarding Schools. To learn more ...
06/13/2024

FHL is participating in a project to digitize records we hold relating to Quaker Indian Boarding Schools. To learn more about the historical context and how to become involved in repairing past harms, join this webinar. https://friendspeaceteams.org/qibs-presentation-jul-24/

History-minded friends might be interested in joining this worthy project! An upcoming Friends Peace Teams North America webinar will explain more. Link in comments.

We seek to nurture a global human society that prioritizes the well-being of people over profit, and lives in right rela...
04/26/2024

We seek to nurture a global human society that prioritizes the well-being of people over profit, and lives in right relationship with our Earth; a peaceful world with fulfilling employment, clean air and water, renewable energy, and healthy thriving communities and ecosystems. (Facing the Challenge of Climate Change A shared statement by Quaker groups January 2015) https://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/quaker-statement-on-climate-change---november-2015_0

"We dedicate ourselves to let the living waters flow through us – where we live, regionally, and in wider world fellowsh...
04/25/2024

"We dedicate ourselves to let the living waters flow through us – where we live, regionally, and in wider world fellowship. We dedicate ourselves to building the peace that passeth all understanding, to the repair of the world, opening our lives to the Light to guide us in each small step."
(The Kabarak Call for Peace and Ecojustice The Kabarak Call for Peace and Ecojustice was approved on 24 April 2012 at the Sixth World Conference Friends, held at Kabarak University, Kenya) https://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/kabarak-call

I believe that even though we Quakers are few in this world, the three great environmental crises cannot be solved witho...
04/24/2024

I believe that even though we Quakers are few in this world, the three great environmental crises cannot be solved without our organized help...
If we act while remaining faithful to our calling, if we draw upon the wisdom that has accumulated in our sect through three hundred years of seasoning, we need not be anxious about results. The Voice in our hearts will guide us; we'll let it speak through us, and we'll find what it says will be welcomed. After all, we're on the side of the whole. And the whole world hungers to be at peace with nature. We can trigger a change away from suffering, to life'.
(Marshall Massey of Mountain View Friends Meeting, The Defense of the Peaceable Kingdom, Pacific Yearly Meeting, 1985, pp. 21 and 28)

The produce of the earth is a gift of our gracious Creator to the inhabitants, and to impoverish the earth now, to suppo...
04/23/2024

The produce of the earth is a gift of our gracious Creator to the inhabitants, and to impoverish the earth now, to support outward greatness, appears to be an injury to the succeeding age'. (John Woolman, A Journal of the Life, Gospel Labours, and Christian Experiences of That Faithful Minister of Jesus Christ, John Woolman. New edition / edited by John Comly. Philadelphia: Chapman, 1837, p. 364)

FHL has been thinking about Earth Day a lot this year, especially about archives and sustainability. FHL's Jordan Landes...
04/22/2024

FHL has been thinking about Earth Day a lot this year, especially about archives and sustainability. FHL's Jordan Landes and Swarthmore student Lindsey Turner ‘25 worked as part of the year-long President’s Sustainability Research Fellowship to research sustainability in library and archive buildings and make recommendations for McCabe Library, the home of FHL. In collaboration with Facilities Management, peer institutions, architects, and archive staff, they installed 22 new data loggers and discovered the current and future infrastructural needs of a sustainable and accessible archive in the 21st century. We've learned so much and have a much better understanding of how we can work toward a more sustainable archive! College Libraries Swarthmore Sustainability

Don't miss this exciting opportunity to hear a lecture by FHL's former Director, Jerry Frost!
04/19/2024

Don't miss this exciting opportunity to hear a lecture by FHL's former Director, Jerry Frost!

Join the Friends Historical Association in celebrating the 400th anniversary of George Fox’s birth with a focus on his contemporary, arguably the second most important leader in the early Quaker movement: William Penn.

Will you be in view of the 4/8/2024 eclipse? As you're marveling at the natural wonder, marvel also at the scientific ex...
04/05/2024

Will you be in view of the 4/8/2024 eclipse? As you're marveling at the natural wonder, marvel also at the scientific expertise of Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806). One of the first African American scientists of renown, he correctly predicted the solar eclipse of April 14, 1789. Born free in Maryland, Banneker went on to publish almanacs based on his own calculations and was on the surveying team that laid out the city of Washington, D.C. Banneker attended a Quaker school, was a friend of the Quaker Ellicott family, dressed in Quaker garb, and attended Quaker meetings for worship. This book about Banneker was written by Martha Ellicott Tyson, one of the founders of Swarthmore College, who remembered Banneker from her girlhood.

Exciting funding opportunity
04/02/2024

Exciting funding opportunity

📣Now is the time!📣 The application period for Friends Historical Association 2024-2025 grants is now open. There are three grant opportunities for contributions to the field of Quaker history: project support, publication subventions, and research funds. All opportunities run on the same cycle, and applications are due May 15, 2024. Details about each opportunity and application instruction are provided at https://www.quakerhistory.org/grants

Address

500 College Avenue
Swarthmore, PA
19143

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 4:30pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 4:30pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 4:30pm
Thursday 8:30am - 4:30pm
Friday 9am - 12pm

Telephone

+16103288496

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