Memorabilia and Ephemera

Steven G. Leventhal graduated from Dickinson College in 1984. This collection documents his efforts to gain an honorary degree from Dickinson for Soviet refusenik Dr. Yuri Medvedkov, an effort in which he was not successful. It also contains information regarding Leventhal’s role in establishing the Dickinson Senior Class Award, which was granted to Medvedkov in 1984.

Zatae Longsdorff Straw (1866-1955) was the first woman graduate of Dickinson College as a member of the class of 1887; she went on to a successful career as a doctor and politician. The collection of her papers includes correspondence, printed and manuscript materials, scrapbooks and scrapbook materials, photographs, and artifacts. The bulk of the documents in this collection focuses on Zatae's life in Manchester, New Hampshire, both private and professional. There are some items, however, about her life at Dickinson, namely her dress and medal for the Pierson Prize in Oratory, 1886, and her writing desk.

This collection primarily provides evidence of the personal and public life of Frank E. Masland Jr., environmentalist, preservationist, explorer, entrepreneur, author, and community leader.  Also found in this collection is correspondence from prominent twentieth-century figures such as leaders of the National Park Service, journalists, politicians throughout the world, and American presidents. Information on Dickinson College is featured prominently throughout this collection through the close association of Masland with the institution during most of his life. This collection offers information on a number of social, political, economic, and historic topics through the eyes of a man who witnessed nearly the entire twentieth century.  Some of these broader topics include the industrialization of the United States, south central Pennsylvania community, the rise of environmentalism, reactions to communism, the rise of the New Left, and twentieth-century exploration. The processing of this collection was made possible by a grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

The collection consists of genealogical, financial, and scrapbook materials related to the McClintock and Wakeman families. Four ledgers concern research notes on George Washington. Also included in the collection are correspondence related to the Proeschel family. Julius N. Proeschel was secretary to Rev. John McClintock in Paris in the 1860's and a life long friend of Emory McClintock. The correspondence include a few letters by John McClintock and a large number by Emory, showing the personal side of both families.

The records of Metzger Institute (Carlisle, PA) date from 1881 to 1913. They include catalogs and promotional materials, documentation of student grades and deportment, financial records, library circulation records, ephemera, and scrapbooks.

The collection consists of correspondence and manuscripts of Marianne Moore (1887-1972), the famous American poet. The letters generally discuss her literary work, but some personal business is included as well. Manuscript copies of several of her poems comprise a part of the collection as well.

Jacob Simmons Mosher (1834-1883) was a prominent physician and professor of medicine in Albany, New York. Samuel L. Southard (1787-1842) was a lawyer, politician, and cabinet member from New Jersey. These papers contain correspondence and other materials that reflect the professional and personal lives of these two men, as well as genealogical materials regarding their families.

T. Edward Munce Jr. (1914-1980) graduated from Dickinson College (class of 1939) and the Dickinson School of Law. He was a World War II veteran, State Department employee, and lawyer for the Public Utility Commission. The bulk of this collection consists of correspondence and Christmas cards from authors Robert Frost, Logan Pearsall Smith, and Nancy Byrd Turner. The correspondence also includes letters from Lord Wilfred Arthur Greene regarding the acquisition of a piece of rock from London's Inner Temple for the Dickinson School of Law. In addition, this collection contains World War II medals awarded to Munce by the British government in 1945.

The John H. Murdoch collection consists of various papers, newspaper clippings, audiotapes, and photographs collected by Murdoch during his involvement with Three Mile Island Alert. John Murdoch was a long-time resident of Lower Allen Township, Cumberland County and became involved in emergency communications and the activities of Three Mile Island Alert, the public-awareness group, following the accident at Three Mile Island on March 28, 1979. Throughout the decade after the accident, Murdoch devoted much of his time and energy to the fight against the restart of Three Mile Island.

Record group 5/2 consists of both materials dating from 1962-1989 while the Office of the Chaplain existed under the leadership of a full-time chaplain, as well as materials regarding campus religious affairs functions prior to the establishment of the chaplaincy, as early as 1924. The bulk of the material, however, dates from the appointment of Paul Kaylor in 1967 to the resignation of Mary Anne Morefield in 1989. The record group is organized in eleven series:

Series 01 General Administrative Materials

Series 02 Finances

Series 03 General Correspondence

Series 04 Chapel Programming for Weekday Services and Special Events (before fall 1965)

Series 05 College Church Programming for Sunday, Holiday, and Other Special Services

Series 06 Events

Series 07 Social Action

Series 08 Other Religious Traditions/Organizations

Series 09 Other Campus Organizations

Series 10 Other Chaplain’s Activities

Series 11 Chaplains’ Personal Papers

A fuller description of each series is given before each series inventory.

The collection documents the lives of the members of the Potter, Guererro, James, and Lord families from the 1850s to the 1940s, beginning with Henry Cardwell Potter (1822-1902), a Philadelphia businessman who through his business dealings became Consul of Nicaragua for the city. Potter's daughter married into the Guererro and James families; her daughter married into the Lord family. The bulk of the collections consists of correspondence; a large portion of these letters are addressed to Mary Agnes Guererro from her fiancé John Carlisle Lord, a professional ball player. The collection also contains a large amount of business materials, including papers relating to Potter's office as Consul, Dr. James' medical practice, and the sale of the family estate, La Hacienda Santa Enriqueta. A large scrapbook, maintained by Dr. James, contains newspaper clippings, correspondence, and programs of social events. The collection is supplemented by a large collection of photographs, some of which have been identified.

The Priestley Award was established by Dickinson College in honor and memory of Joseph Priestley, the eighteenth century scientist and theologian best known as the discoverer of oxygen. Every year the award is presented to a distinguished scientist for his or her discoveries or contributions to the welfare of mankind.

The Priestley Award collection is organized chronologically by the year in which the award was presented. Also included in this collection is some biographical information on Joseph Priestley, general information about the award itself, a history of the award written by Horace Rogers, financial receipts, and information on the 1973 Science for Survival Symposium.

Each yearly award celebration series is further divided into different folders. These divisions include folders for correspondence; event preparation; posters, programs, and invitations; news releases and publications; and nominating committee. Correspondence consists of letters concerning the award and celebration, inter-office memos, and invitations, all arranged chronologically. The event preparation file consists of various papers such as invitation lists, menus, sample letters, itineraries, speech transcriptions, and any other information collected by the President of the College in preparation for that year’s award. The posters, programs, and invitations folders contain ephemeral materials related to the annual event. In the news releases and publications file, all newspaper articles and other writings pertaining to the award or the award winner are maintained. Nominations, ballots, and letters and memos concerning the nominations can be found in the nominating committee file.

This collection includes articles, manuscripts, newspaper clippings, and programs about Joseph Priestley and related topics. Also included in the collection are genealogical materials - correspondence, notes, charts - collected by Priestley family members

Leon Cushing Prince (1878-1937) graduated from Dickinson College in 1898 and received his law degree from the Dickinson School of Law and his masters from New York University. Prince returned to Dickinson in 1907 to become a professor of history, where he would teach for thirty years until his death. He was elected a Pennsylvania state senator in 1928 and served for two terms. The collection contains material dated 1898-1937, and includes correspondence, legal documents, literary materials, printed materials, and other memorabilia. The bulk of the collection centers around manuscripts of Prince's research notes, sermons, speeches, and writings. Other materials in the collection include newspaper clippings, correspondence with other professors regarding lecture appearances, and printed material on the Kiwanis Club.

The Public Interest Resource Center (PIRC) collection consists of the various papers, newsletters, court dockets, and publications which were housed by PIRC in an effort to organize all efforts against the restart of Three Mile Island, following the near-meltdown on March 28, 1979. The PIRC was established as a liaison group between the major anti-nuclear groups formed in Central Pennsylvania, and their goal was to coordinate all efforts against TMI: legal actions, protests, and financial actions.

George Edward Reed II (1912-1998) graduated from Dickinson College in 1935. This collection contains journals that document his service during World War II. The journals include diary entries, which start in June 1941 and end in November 1945. The journals also include correspondence, photographs, news clippings, and ephemera.

The William Charles Ford Reed Collection was donated to the college in 1951 by the sons of William C. F. Reed, Class of 1851. The collection contains some of Reed's student writings, notebooks, and his complete set of school books. A subsequent donation in 1956 consisted of a few papers and 37 school books belonging to William's older sister, Ann Reed. The papers are arranged into three series: Notebooks, Writings, and Miscellaneous. There is also a photograph of William C.F. Reed.

This collection contains the correspondence, photographs, newspaper clippings and other materials of Mary Lamb Riley. The bulk of the collection is correspondence sent to Mary Lamb Riley by her mother, Harriet Collins Lamb, and her daughter, Marjorie Lamb Riley. The collection also contains some Collins/Riley family memorabilia, including an announcement for the birth of Marjorie Lamb Riley.

The Charles Arthur Robinson Collection was donated by Charles L. Robinson on January 14, 2012. The collection is housed in two document boxes, one oversized box, 57 photograph folders, and one small artifact box. The collection contains materials related to Charles A. Robinson ('20) and Reba M. Beam’s ('22) Dickinson College careers as well as their married life. It also includes items belonging to Dickinson graduates Harry Delmar Robinson ('18) and Dorothy Anne Robinson ('45). The Collection is arranged into eight series: Academic Papers, Correspondence, Ephemera, Financial Papers, Photograph Albums, Miscellaneous, Oversized, Photographs, and Artifact.

William Howard Sharp (1891-1958) graduated from Dickinson College in 1913. After graduation he worked as an insurance agent, was admitted to the New Jersey bar, and was elected to the New Jersey State Senate. This collection contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, and photographs that document Sharp's political career and civic involvement.

Spencer Bauman Smith (1911-1984) graduated from Dickinson College in 1934. He then attended the Princeton Theological Seminary and served as pastor of the Camp Hill (PA) Presbyterian Church for 34 years. This collection contains correspondence and memorabilia from his college days.

James Gordon Steese (1882-1958) was a member of the Dickinson College class of 1902. Among his many activities, Steese served as president of the Board of Road Commissioners for Alaska; the Steese Highway in Alaska is named for him. He later was involved with the development of railroads in both Alaska and Maryland and with several oil companies. Diaries and journals chronicle Steese's military service and his later years. The collection contains mostly professional correspondence, pamphlets, and reports on the Alaskan Road Commission and Steese's military service. Also included are several newspaper articles, maps, charts, and correspondence with Steese's family. A large photograph collection, mainly in the form of photo albums, supplements the document collection.

Robert Swift was a Pennsylvania statehouse reporter during the accident at Three Mile Island. As such, he not only covered the numerous press conferences held to discuss the incident, but also reported from TMI the first night of the accident. The Robert Swift collection consists primarily of press releases, official statements, and testimony from the period immediately following the March 28, 1979 accident at Three Mile Island. The bulk of these materials originated from Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh's office.

Allen C. Tanner (1898-1987) was an Illinois-born pianist. At fifteen he was awarded a scholarship to study music in Chicago. There he met Margaret Anderson, editor of the Little Review. Tanner then moved to New York City where he performed in musical salons and accompanied many musical greats of the era including Marguerite Namara and Marguerite d'Alvarez. In 1922, Tanner left for Berlin, where he met Russian artist Pavel Tchelitchew and the two men became lovers. In 1924 the pair moved to Paris to pursue their artistic careers. There they became friends with literary greats Gertrude Stein and Edith Sitwell. Tanner and Tchelitchew ended their relationship in 1934. Tanner returned to the United States where he coached piano students in concert repertory. In 1967 he released the album Allen Tanner Plays Bach, Debussy, Scriabin, Granados, Rachmaninoff, Liszt, and Steinert. The collection contains correspondence, writings, programs and publicity, news clippings, financial documents, sheet music, sound recordings, photographs, and books. The correspondence comprises the bulk of this collection. In addition to Tanner's correspondence with fellow musicians and cultural figures, Tanner also exchanged letters with authors and publishers who were interested in his memories of individuals such as Tchelitchew, Gertude Stein, Edith Sitwell, and Margaret Anderson.

The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University also holds a collection of Allen Tanner papers. 

Three Mile Island Alert (TMIA) collection consists of the various papers, government documents, legal documents, transcripts, and publications collected and maintained by Three Mile Island Alert, a not-for-profit citizens' organization dedicated to promotion of safe-energy alternatives to nuclear power. The bulk of this collection consists of reports and legal papers pertaining to the accident at Three Mile Island Unit-2, its cleanup, and the restart of TMI Unit-1. Due to the size of the collection, an outline of the collection has been provided to serve as a guide to the full register. The processing of this collection was funded, in part, by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.