Manuscript Discovery

The Friends Historical Library received the Cresson Family papers in a recent donation. The papers also included a 1773 manuscript map of Mid Atlantic Quaker meetings. Knowing it would take time to fully process and describe the collection, curator Jordan Landes could see that the map required immediate attention after spending over 100 years in a frame and backed with acidic paper.

Jordan sent the map to conservation technician Erin Paulson, who worked to remove the frame and the acidic backing on the map. In the process, she began to uncover a hint of manuscript writing underneath the backing, eventually uncovering a first draft of the entire map on the reverse side, including the beautifully drawn ship off the New Jersey coast near Cape May.

The map is drawn with iron gall ink and is faded on the front, but the draft on the reverse is much darker, since it has been protected from light.

While the Swarthmore Quaker Meeting, founded in 1893, is too young to have been included, anyone interested in Quaker and local history will be fascinated to study the map for points of interest, many of which remain today. Associate Curator, Celia Caust-Ellenbogan recently taught a session of La Pensée géographique (French: Geographic thought) alongside Professor Carina Yervasi and included this map in the lesson.

The map is now protected in custom archival housing which allows it to be viewed both front and back. Anyone is welcome to see it (and other holdings in our collections!) in the Special Collections Reading Room, just inside the front doors of McCabe.