Check out a new beta version of this site

Guide to the Collection of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 1795-1966 (bulk 1810-1975)

Repository
Heinz History Center
Title
Collection of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Creator
B'nai Israel Congregation
Collection Number
MSS#253
Extent
1.5 cubic feet (3 boxes)
Date
1795-1966
Date
1810-1875
Abstract
The Carnegie Museum of Natural History was created through a million dollar endowment by Andrew Carnegie in 1896. The museum de-accessioned the materials in this collection along with numerous artifacts housed with the Museum Division in 1995. The collection includes correspondence, clippings, official documents, greeting cards, photographs, and other sundry items.
Language
The material in this collection is in English.
Author
This guide to the collection was originally prepared by: Dorothy Kish and Craig Moore on January 21, 1997. Revisions occurred to the finding aid as a part of the encoding process in Spring 2000.
Sponsor
This finding aid has been encoded as a part of the Historic Pittsburgh project a joint effort of the University of Pittsburgh and the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Funding for this portion of the project has been donated by the Hillman Foundation.
Publisher
Heinz History Center
Address
1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org

Historical Sketch of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History

The Carnegie Museum of Natural History was created through a million dollar endowment by Andrew Carnegie in 1896. The museum de-accessioned the materials in this collection along with numerous artifacts housed with the Museum Division in 1995.

Scope and Content Notes

The collection includes correspondence, clippings, official documents, greeting cards, photographs, and other sundry items. The collection is divided into several sections, with groups designated for the McFerron Family, newspaper clippings, city documents, greeting cards, and miscellaneous items. The McFerron Family papers consist of business and personal correspondence from 1795 to 1835. These letters provide an insight into the day-to-day business and social activities of a Pittsburgh family of this period. Because of the deterioration of some of the original letters, transcriptions appear in the folders with the originals. The newspaper clippings, from 1861 to 1912, cover such varied items as a political satire on Grover Cleveland, an account of the first public execution in Allegheny County, and the assassinations of Presidents Garfield and Lincoln. Among the city documents are a number of bonds, formal letters of thanks from Paris and Nancy, and a canceled check for over a million dollars paid to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as recompense for damages resulting from the Railroad Riots of 1877. A large collection of greeting cards includes Christmas cards of the 1940's and elaborate valentines. The contents of the remaining folders reflect various aspects of life in an early period of Pittsburgh history. Business-related items include a lease for the First Methodist Church, data on a salt well and California furnace, and the by-laws of the Pittsburgh and California Enterprise Company. Dance programs and tickets to sports events document recreational activities, and several patents record some of the scientific endeavors of this time. Miscellaneous items such as a political campaign gimmick, the pledge of the Washington Abstinence Society of 1842, letters from Mrs. Theodore Dreiser and World War I German spy William Stoecklein, a pharmacy bill, and a funeral sermon contribute to the diversity of this collection.

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Acc# 1995.0283 Gift of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in 1995

Preferred Citation

Collection of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 1795-1966, (bulk 1810-1875), MSS#253, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania This collection has been previously sited: Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Collection 1795-1966, (bulk 1810-1875), MSS#253, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania

General

This collection has been previously sited: Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Collection 1795-1966, (bulk 1810-1875), MSS#253, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Dorothy Kish and Craig Moore on January 21, 1997.

Revision and rearrangement for the encoded version of the finding aid provided by Michael Bolam on January 27, 2000.

Conditions Governing Use

Property rights reside with the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or publish, please contact the curator of the Archives.

Subjects

    Corporate Names

    • United States. -- Army. -- Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, 18th.
    • Duquesne Greys (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
    • Pennsylvania Railroad
    • Union Veteran Union (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
    • Washington Abstinance Society.

    Personal Names

    • Enright, Thomas Francis.
    • McFerron Family.
    • Seibert, Charles, -- Captain.

    Geographic Names

    • Pennsylvania -- Militia
    • United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
    • United States -- History -- World War, 1914-1918.

    Other Subjects

    • Bonds -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh.
    • Greeting Cards
    • Valentines
    • Strikes and lockouts -- Railroads -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh -- 1877.

Container List

City of Pittsburgh Documents (Bonds, Loans, etc.), 1819-1919
Containers
Box 1, Folder 1
Newspaper Clippings, 1861-1939
Containers
Box 3, Folder 2
Patents and Disclosures of Inventions, 1831-1965
Containers
Box 3, Folder 3