Finding Aid for the Barbara and C. Herbert Fry Collection, 2018

Herb Fry (1926-2018), longtime member and former president of the TEHS, amassed a large collection of vintage photographs, books, and printed matter. These materials were donated to the Society by his heirs. At the time the house was being cleared, a preliminary inventory of Herb’s local history materials was made, and a letter of donation was secured from Herb Fry’s executor. The inventory was essentially a container list. After processing the material, some of the numbers were changed to reflect actual contents of the many binders, boxes, bags, folders, envelopes, and loose stacks of items. All of the ring binders were found to contain a mix of clippings, vintage and modern photographs, and printed matter, and their contents were dispersed to the relevant collection holdings. In late November of 2018, Herb’s son Joel delivered a small batch of additional historical materials found during the final clearing of Herb’s house at 519 Daventry Road in Berwyn.

Herb’s wife Barbara (died 2003) was an excellent researcher and writer who, like Herb, took a great interest in the Society’s archives. It was Herb’s wish that these materials be called The Barbara and C. Herbert Fry Collection. Highlights of the Fry Collection will be discussed in a future issue of the History Quarterly.

PRELIMINARY CONTENTS OF THE COLLECTION (October, 2018)

16 vintage cyanotypes by Julius Sachse

70 Lucy Sampson photographs printed on postcard stock

4 ring binders of miscellaneous printed matter and correspondence

5 ring binders and 4 boxes of newspaper clippings

1 box of brochures and printed matter

20 file folders of research for History Quarterly articles

25 maps (many reproductions, and there are many duplicates)

46 books, 27 of these related to Valley Forge

1 atlas: the 1912 Mueller’s Atlas of the Upper Main Line

1 box of Tredyffrin-Easttown high school yearbooks

2 full-page posters on newsprint, published by The Philadelphia Inquirer

27 audio-cassette tapes

6 magazine storage boxes containing back issues of the TEHS History Quarterly

1 box of issues of The Picket Post magazine, and The Valley Forge Journal

Detailed inventories of items in selected categories were made in order to document the size and breadth of Herb Fry’s collection. See below.

FRY COLLECTION PHOTOGRAPHS:

The Lucy Sampson postcards are stored in Book 23 with the rest of the Society’s Sampson postcards.

Book 30 - Miscellaneous photographs, including those by Julius Sachse. The other photographs in this book vary widely in format and quality.

Book 31 - color snapshots by Herb Fry

Book 32 - postcards depicting various structures and landscape views

INVENTORY OF THE CONTENTS OF BOOK 30 - The Barbara and C. Herbert Fry Collection:

Miscellaneous Photographs, List as of Nov. 1, 2019, with Collection Identifier Numbers.

Trinity Presbyterian Church, Berwyn, identification on back (TPC26)

Berwyn Hall and Library, built 1878, in the process of demolition in 1972, to make room for the Education wing of Trinity Presbyterian Church. (ELI23)

Theatrical Cast Portrait taken at TE High School. Inscribed on verso: “Standing L to R: Norman Hovell, Edgar Steigerwalt, Carl Hendrickson, Martha McLees, Ada Baldwin, William Mead, Jean Beaumont, William Pinkerton, Edith Hutchings, Clarence Statts [sic: correct spelling is Staats].
Kneeling: Evelyn Hayman. Sitting L to R: Kathryn Supplee, Grace Robbins, Wilbur Lehman (TEH54)”.
The pencil notation “T-E 1924” is clearly in another hand and may be off by a year.

Dr. Anthony Wayne Baugh, (1867 – 1938). Charter member of the TEHS. (BAF02)

16 vintage cyanotypes by Julius Sachse. All cropped to measure about 3½ x 4½ inches.

Sachse, Paoli Inn, ca. 1888
Sachse, Glassley, ca. 1888
Sachse, Glassley School, ca. 1888
Sachse, Berwyn ME Church, ca. 1888
Sachse, Berwyn ME Church Interior, ca. 1888
Sachse, Berwyn Trinity Pres Church, ca. summer 1887-88
Sachse, Berwyn Trinity Pres Church, ca. Fall 1887-88
Sachse, Berwyn Kromer Livery Stable on the Pike, ca. Fall 1887-88
Sachse, Berwyn Baptist Chapel on Cassatt Ave, ca. 1887-88
Sachse, Berwyn PRR Station, ca. 1887-88
Sachse, Berwyn Toll Gate on the Pike, ca.1887
Sachse, Paoli Inn, ca. 1887-88
Sachse, Paoli Inn blacksmith shop, ca. 1887-88
Sachse, Paoli Church of Good Samaritan, ca. 1887-88
Sachse, Paoli P&C Canal Collectors Office, ca. 1887-88
Sachse, Paoli, Gen. Jackson Inn near MM18, ca. 1887-88

Central Penn Bank during construction of rear addition (now the Paoli Library), ca. 1960 (PA54)

William H. Burns’ Planing Mill, behind his home on Kromer Avenue, ca. 1900. (BMP05)

Connor’s Pharmacy, 654 Lancaster Avenue, Berwyn (corner of Lancaster and Main), ca. 1960. Inscribed on verso: “Purchased in 1954 by Bill Connor. Charles Connor became half owner in 1955, then later opened Connor’s Pharmacy in Wayne.” This Berwyn location was, at one time, Boyle’s Grocery Store. This copy of the original is from the Eric Fox Collection, and was acquired by Fry in February 2004. (BPH050)

Bill Connors at the counter, Connors Pharmacy, ca. 1960, (BPH04)

42 Bridge Ave., Berwyn, Dec. 6, 1889. On February 28, 1993, Herb Fry recorded on the verso: “Henry Pyle said today (at History Club) that his house at 42 Bridge Avenue, Berwyn, was built in 1889 by William G. Armstrong. Constructed off the basement it has a root cellar which is deeper that the regular basement floor. The root cellar has an arched brick ceiling.” (BE198)

William H. Burns, Sr. (1856-1910) with his family. ca. 1902. Original from the collection of Dorothy Burns Pusey. Identifications of persons: Front row, L. to R: Lewis Wells (1892), Helen (1894), and Roy (1890). (Lewis’s middle name, Wells, was the maiden name of his mother Minnie, who died giving birth to her seventh child Helen.) Back row: Carroll (1891), Lotta Mae (1883), William H. Burns (the children’s father), Austin (1882), William H. (Will, born 1885). William H. Burns' father was Peter Burns, Jr. Copy photo from Trinity Presbyterian Church, and described by Peggy Egertson. (PEO80)

Ximena “Minnie” Wells Burns, ca. 1880. Original from Dorothy Burns Pusey. William H. Burns was married to the pastor&rsqup;s niece, the former Ximena Wells (1862-1894). Both of them were musical and participated frequently in local music events at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Berwyn. They had six children at the time the new church was being built; two years later Ximena Burns died at age 32 giving birth to their seventh child. She was an organist, and the daughter of Enoch and Mary Jane Aiken Wells. Copy photo provided by Trinity Presbyterian Church, and described by Peggy Egertson. (PEO79)

Closing of Cassatt Road bridge, May 3, 1992, Berwyn. From the Philadelphia Inquirer. (LAB87)

Berwyn, Bearing Bronze Company, Lancaster Ave., Berwyn, PA. Owned and operated by Fernando Toroni, ca. 1942. (BBB02)

Two ex-PRR GG-1 locomotives, now re-labelled under Penn Central, haul a westbound passenger consist through Paoli, ca. 1970. (RML35)

Former PRR passenger cars (second shown is a sleeper), now re-labelled under Penn Central, pass westbound through Paoli rail yard, ca. 1970. (RML36)

2 photographs of the former Paoli rail yard, before PCB Superfund project, ca. 1995, (MLP37-38)

Maple Station on the ChVRR, Feb. 7, 1932 (CVR10)

Maple Station on the ChVRR, Feb. 7, 1932 (CVR141)

PRR Daylesford Station looking west, Feb. 7, 1932 (RML37)

Chesterbrook Station on the ChVRR, Feb. 7, 1932 (CVR142)

Shovel at Warner quarry, Cedar Hollow, ca. 1950 (WAR10)

Worthington Industries, Malvern, ca. 2000. (BUS67)

Strafford Mini-golf course, 1929, from the Suburban and Wayne Times, Aug. 23, 1979 (STR25)

Ten 5 x 7 black and white shots of Berwyn locations (5 Berwyn station; 3 Fritz Lumber; 1 coal elevator; 1 St. Jude’s Thrift Shop [now Clay’s Bakery location]), taken by Joel Fry, 1980. (RBE27-31; RBE33; BUS69; HOU235; LOH02)

Regina Mundi Priory before demolition, from March 22, 2002. (HOU236)

Vintage photograph of three carriages, each drawn by 2 horses, with several persons riding on the carriages. Unknown location. (CUH22)

Vintage photograph of an unidentified horse show, (CUH21)

6 vintage photographs of unidentified women and children (PEO98-103)

4 color snapshots from Dedication of Hilltop Park, May 8, 1999 (EST01-04)

Newspaper article with color photographs of fire at the Eagle Tavern, 2010, and black and white shot of the tavern in the 1930s. (not added to Image Collection)

Image of home of Frank H Staffer, demolished 1972. (SMH03)

Berwyn rooftops, (BE181; also see LH02)

Sproxton (SPT02 is an identical shot in a different photographic process).

8 photos of dignitaries unveiling the Berwyn Veteran’s Monument near the Cassatt foot bridge. (BE200-207)

Poor photocopied image of the Stage Tavern in Easttown Twp., ca. 1890 (STT02: not normally viewable in the Image Collection due to copyright issues)

Photocopy of image of Henry (Harry) Garber, Source: Eric Fox collection. (BUS70)

Image of Mary Jane Aiken Wells, (already in Image Collection as PEO97)

Image of home of the Davis sisters, demolished 1972. (already in Image Collection as HOU100)

Image of TE High School, ca. 1908, (already in Image Collection as TEH32)

12 black and white photos of Berwyn buildings, taken by Herb Fry, for the 1997 Berwyn Walking Tour brochure (already in the Image Collection)

12 color snapshots of members and guests during the 1997 Berwyn Walking Tour.

3 photos re Henry Rumrill’s house (HOU247), and his backyard observatory (HOU246-247)

4 color snapshots of houses, taken by Herb Fry, (HOU248, 249, 250, and BPH06)

4 color snapshots, taken by Herb Fry, of “Brick Houses corner of Aiken and Berwyn Aves.” (HOU252); Sproxton (SPT05); Berwyn Train Station (not found), and unidentified building near the PRR tracks, (HOU253)

Berwyn War Memorial, taken by Herb Fry, (BE219)

Residence of William W. Hoopes, Paoli, PA, (HOU238)

Residence of George R. Sinnickson, Paoli, PA, (HOU239)

First Presbyterian Church, Paoli, PA, (FPC32)

Lovers Lane, Paoli, (PA57)

Great Valley, Intersection of Routes 202 and 29, (from The Daily Local, May 18, 1998), (EW04)

FRY COLLECTION PRINTED MATTER:

Many small items of printed matter were found and filed in the appropriate Archives category. The first four items below were donated by Herb Fry personally in the early months of 2018. In fact, he had been delivering packages of miscellaneous items for more than a year.

Booklet: What Can I Do? The Citizen’s Handbook for War, 1942. (filed with miscellaneous WWII materials)

Photocopy of the 1880 Census for Easttown Township.

Historic Resources Survey, Tredyffrin Township, PA, prepared by PDP Preservation Design Partnership, October, 2003, 66 pp.

Newspaper: The New York World, Jan. 1, 1863. (This item is in bad condition. It was filed with miscellaneous Civil War materials. Searching revealed no articles relating to Pennsylvania or Chester County.)

The remaining items of printed matter were in the 2018 donation from Herb Fry’s estate:

Constitution and By-Laws of the Tredyffrin Association for the Recovery of Stolen Live Stock and Detection of Burglars and Thieves, 1870, 6 pp.

The Main Line Business and Residential Directory, 1911-12 (photocopy), contains telephone numbers and many advertisements, for communities from Bala Cynwyd to Paoli. It includes short texts on the Main Line, Villanova, Berwyn, Devon, Stafford, and Wayne, 16 pp. (filed: “Main Line – miscellaneous”).

Program for Tredyffrin-Easttown Independence Day Rally at Berwyn, July Fourth, 1917 (lists speakers, music, sports and games, and volunteers…enlisted… in service….).

World War I booklet: Lancaster Iron Work magazine, “Victory” issue dated December, 1918, 15 pp.

Printed program for the T-E High School play “Daddy Long-Legs,” May 12 and 13, 1927.

Program for Dedication of the Roll of Honor of Those Who Serve from Berwyn in the Armed Forces, Dec. 5, 1943

13 Valley Forge Music Fair programs, 1950s-60s, were added to ones previously donated, bringing the total to 23.

Two Paoli-area printed telephone lists: the Paoli Local Log, 1974-75, and 1975-76, each a booklet of 40 pages “serving Strafford, Devon, Berwyn, and Malvern,” produced by the Marple Publishing Co. (filed with Research Files – Paoli).

Printed poster “Valley Forge Activities Schedule / Summer 1985” Poster commemorating “Valley Forge Park 100th Anniversary 1893-1993” reproducing a large pencil sketch of the log huts in the snow, by Richard Fish.

High School Yearbooks: 11 yearbooks, and 1 Paoli School “Memento of Our Elementary Years,” added to the T-E School System collection.

The Picket Post, later titled The Valley Forge Historical Society Journal, 49 issues, added to the existing issues in the TEHS library.

Poster: Tredyffrin 300 – September 14-23, 2007, with ca. 40 historical photographs inset, (Tredyffrin Township Tricentennial)

Tredyffrin Easttown History Quarterly, about 75 issues, all integrated into the existing archived copies as needed.

FRY COLLECTION AUDIO:

27 audio cassettes were received and will be transcribed as time permits.

FRY COLLECTION ARTWORK:

Watercolor/pen and ink sketch, identified on the back with a type-written card: “The Mount Airy Schoolhouse on Lancaster Pike near Daylesford Pa. as it looked June 1915. Pen and ink sketch by Louis Sartain Schofield of Paoli Pa.” (8½ x 12"). Delivered to TEHS after the October 2018 inventory. Stored in its frame.

FRY COLLECTION MAPS:

Tredyffrin Township, 1873 (2 copies, probably from an atlas), and a frameable oversize copy with decorative border and property owners’ names, lower left, and “13” at the upper right.

Tredyffrin Township Parks and Recreation (showing locations for 11 parks and Jenkins Arboretum), undated, late 20th-century

Tredyffrin Township Highway Map, revised 1994. Chesterbrook, ca. 1995.

Easttown Township, 1873 frameable oversize item, with decorative border and names of property owners added at lower left, and the number 12 at the upper right.

Easttown Township Comprehensive Plan [of] Historic Properties, Map #6, 2000. Photocopy.

Easttown Township, Berwyn 1893. Hand-drawn map by Barbara Fry for a Quarterly article, 1988.

Reproduction of Plate 8 from Mueller’s 1897 map of Easttown, color reproduction.

Easttown Township, Zoning Maps, June 1975 and March 1980.

Miscellaneous Maps:

Easttown and Tredyffrin Townships, Territory Covered by the Berwyn Fire Co., No. 1. Printed at the top: “One 9-year old piece of fire-fighting equipment cannot protect this area.” Box below lists “Area, Population, Property value, Number of buildings, Miles of road, Fire calls 1930 to date.” ca. 1950s. 16½ x 12", photocopy.

Montgomery County Planning Commission, Land Use Plan, 1964, photocopy.

Covered Bridges in Chester County, 1964, published by the Chester County Planning Commission, (listing 17 bridges, with small line drawings for each by D. T. Minch), 11 x 17." original (2 other copies in the collection have been laminated).

Chester County Planning Commission, Map 1-1, Census Tracts, 1980, 1982.

Chester County Pennsylvania Tri-Centennial Map, Borough of Elverson, (showing photographs of 5 historic buildings).

Chester County Telephone Exchanges, 1963 (possibly a page from a phone book).

[Chester County] Locations of most dangerous stretches of roads in Chester County, photocopy, undated.

Philadelphia Electric Co., Multiple Street Lights [Berwyn to Paoli], 1960.

Commemorative reproduction maps (from atlases) of: West-Chester, Upper Uwchlan and Uwchlan, East Vincent and West Vincent, Schuylkill, Phoenixville, West Whiteland, and East Coventry.

Map of Chester Co. Pennsylvania From Actual Surveys, Published by T. J. Kennedy, 1860, large decorative map with insets of 15 drawings of buildings (reproduction, size: 41 x 40").

FRY COLLECTION BOOKS:

AMERICAN REVOLUTION TITLES

Lights Across the Delaware [fiction], David Taylor, 1954.

The Enemy’s Country [fiction], Robert H. Gamble, 1972.

The Revolutionary War Years, W. Edmunds Claussen, 1973.

The American Revolution in the Delaware Valley, Edward S. Gifford, Jr., 1976.

Pennsylvania Landmarks of the Revolution: Bicentennial Guidebook, John B. Trussell, Jr., 1976.

September 11, 1777: Washington’s Defeat at Brandywine, Bruce E. Mowday, 2002.

VALLEY FORGE TITLES

Washington at Valley Forge: Foot-Prints of the Revolution, 1776-1876, Theo. W. Bean, 1876 (fragile, stored in a ring binder).

Report of the Valley Forge Park Commission, 1904.

Valley Forge: A Chronicle of American Heroism, Frank Taylor, 1905.

Valley Forge: A Tale, Alden W. Quimby, 1906.

Report of the Valley Forge Park Commission, 1910.

Valley Forge Guide and Handbook: What to See in the Park and Village, Rev. James W. Riddle, A. M., 1910.

History of the Centennial and Memorial Association of Valley Forge, H. J. Stager, 1911.

Oration at Valley Forge, June 19, 1878, Henry Armitt Brown, 1911.

Historical and Topographical Guide to Valley Forge, W. Herbert Burk, B. D., 1916.

Woodman’s History of the Valley Forge (paperbound), Henry Woodman, 1922.

Henry Armitt Brown’s Oration at Valley Forge, published by The Holmes Press, 1926.

Valley Forge Orderly Book of General George Weedon, The New York Times and Arno Press, 1971.

Valley Forge, Harry Emerson Wilder, 1938.

Valley Forge During World War II, John Robbins Hare, 1944.

The Washington Memorial Chapel and Valley Forge Historical Society, no author, 1946.

Valley Forge 24 December, 1777: A Christmas Story, F. Van Wyck Mason (fragile, stored in a ring binder), 1950.

Farewell to Valley Forge [fiction], David Taylor, 1955.

Valley Forge Yesterday and Today, Ronald E. Heaton, 1957.

Valley Forge Landmarks, Stephen Moylan Press, 1958.

Campaign to Valley Forge, July 1, 1777 - Dec. 19, 1777, John F. Reed (signed), 1965.

Epic on the Schuylkill: Valley Forge 24 December 1777, John B. B. Trussell, Jr., 1974.

Valley Forge, A Novel [fiction], MacKinlay Kantor, 1975.

Birthplace of an Army, John B. B. Trussell, Jr., 1983.

Valley Forge: Triumph of Spirit, John H. Ansley and John H. Ansley, Jr., 1985.

The Healing of an Army, 1777-1778, Louis A. Meier, M. D., 1991.

Valley Forge Historical Research Project, 3 volumes, Wayne K. Bodle and Jacqueline Thibaut, 1980 (typescript, 1,314 pp.).

Valley Forge Park, an Historical Record and Guide Book, compiled by Gilbert S. Jones, 1947.

Valley Forge Album: Portrait of a Park, edited by Lorett Treese, 1992

MISCELLANEOUS TITLES

Henry Troth 1794 - 1842, Samuel Troth, 1903.

Lessons from the Lowly: The Old Eagle School, Tredyffrin, Chester County, Pennsylvania, Henry Pleasants, 1909.

The Wayside Inns on the Lancaster Roadside Between Philadelphia and Lancaster (hardbound), Julius F. Sachse, 1915.

The Wayside Inns on the Lancaster Roadside Between Philadelphia and Lancaster, Julius F. Sachse, 1915 (paperback reprint, 1980).

The Old “Main Line,” J. W. Townsend, 1922.

Around the Boundaries of Chester County, Wilmer W. MacElree, 1934.

The Church of Saint Peter in the Great Valley, 1700 - 1940, Harold D. Eberlein and Cortlandt Van Dyke Hubbard, 1944.

Mad Anthony Wayne and the New Nation, Glenn Tucker, 1973.

The Greater Valley Forge Story, 1776-1976, Greater Valley Forge Chamber of Commerce, 1976.

Philadelphia’s First Fuel Crisis [19th-century coal mining], H. Benjamin Powell, 1978.

Who’s Who in Chester County, Prestige Publishing, West Chester, PA, 1980.

Chester County Pennsylvania [bibliography], Robert E. Carlson, 1981.

Index of Civil War Soldiers and Sailors from Chester County, PA, Douglas R. Harper, 1991.

The History of Paoli Memorial Hospital, Marjorie H. Panitt, 1999.