The Eleventh Annual Report of the Associate Committee of Women

THE ELEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ASSO¬ CIATE COMMITTEE OF WOMEN. Mr. President and Members of the Society: In submitting its eleventh report the Committee desires to mention that its year runs from February to February, not from January first to December thirty-first as does that of the Board of Directors. Thus there is, in point of time, an occasional slight conflict in the two reports, the women ’s being a month ahead. As heretofore the Committee has adhered to its charter of liberties, if so its privileges and duties may be called, which sets forth that it is to further the interests of the Society by increasing the membership, by informing itself of important records for copying or printing, and by arranging an annual activity, preferably to commemorate some Pennsyl¬ vania historical event. Nine Committee meetings have been held and new members, both annual and life, have been secured. The records upon which the Com¬ mittee this year concentrated its attention and recommended for pur¬ chase were those represented by the Howard Deacon Genealogical Collection, well known to many members. The Board of Directors, however, felt it unwise at this time to consider such purchase which, in the present state of the Treasury, was prohibitive without an appeal to the membership. The four days* Silhouette Exhibition of March 1930, held in the Assembly Booms of The Historical Society, commemorated no particular event, but history, romance, the high-lights of collector achievement, with a wonderful record of Philadelphia family-life and lore was spread on screens and in cases through the courtesy of The Historical Society and the assistance of the Philadelphia Academy of the Fine Arts.. Members of the Society and friends were generous in lending their heirlooms, so there was a brave showing. The eminent silhouette artists of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century were represented: Miers of Lon¬ don, Dixon of Bath, and Gapp of Brighton, England, Augustus Day, H. Page, Master Hubart and August Edouart, together with those of more local importance, Joseph Sansom, Samuel Folwell of Letitia Court, William Bache, B. S. Biddle of Arch Street by the Arcade, 1838, and others. John Frederick Lewis, LL.D., president of The Historical Soci¬ ety, opened the exhibition with a brief but entertaining talk on Silhou¬ ettes, giving an outline of the evolution of this form of portraiture. In the course of his remarks Mr. Lewis drew attention to the valuable collection of these human documents which Mrs. Hampton L. Carson, Chairman of the Associate Committee, had then recently presented to The Historical Society, the product of her inheritance, many years’ in¬ terest and acquisitiveness. Mr. Lewis also touched upon some of the outstanding features of the Exhibition : (210) Eleventh Annual Report of Associate Women. 211 Samuel Folwell’s Washington profile, 1795, the property of the Historical Society, Joseph Sampson’s Dr. Franklin, aged 84, owned by T, Morris Perot, Jr. Edouart ’a Sir Walter Scott, 1830; also his charming family groups: Joseph Lea, his wife Sarah and their unmarried children, 1843} their married children, children-in-law and grandchildren, 1843, owned by Mrs. Carson. Edouart ’s Hannah Price Davis and her nieces, an afternoon teaparty group of 1843, exhibited by Mrs. J. Willis Martin. Edouart ’s D. Hamilton Gordon, 1844, owned by Mrs. J. Wilmer Biddle.. The pin-pricked profiles of Voltaire and Rousseau (unidentified as to artist), also two hollow-cut profiles by Augustus Day of Dr. Thomas J. Yarrow and wife, loaned by Mrs. Han-old E. Gillingham. Major Andre’s cut of Miss Jane Craig, one of the ladies of the Blended Rose, loaned by Mrs. Samuel Hinds Thomas. A delightful English cut-out of the eighteenth century, uniden¬ tified as to subject and artist; and several by MieTs of London, then loaned and since presented to the Historical Society by Miss S. Elizabeth Gilpin. The Keim family silhouettes unidentified as to artist, probably Edouart, featuring the well-known iron gateways of the Keim house at Reading, loaned by Miss Marion Douglass Weidman of Reading. The Peale Museum hollow cuts, those of William Bache and R. S. Biddle, were touched upon, as well as two beautiful wax portraits of Levi Hollingsworth and his wife Hannah Paschall of Philadel¬ phia, by Christian Rauschnor, owned by Miss Letitia A. Humphreys, and two others of William and Margaret Wilson of Philadelphia by George M. Miller, 1815, owned by Mrs. J. Granville Leach, Jr. There was too, a Peale Museum cut of James Dennie, able editor of the Portfolio, loaned by Dr. Samuel Woodhouse; also the Jordan profiles, one of John Jordan, Jr., vice-president of The Historical Society from 1876-1890, loaned by the Misses Bell, and the attractive Edouart of Nile A. Stoker, a Philadelphia counsellor-at-law, with Bob, his dog, 1843, owned by John Frederick Lewis. Mrs. Sayres, Mrs. Parker, Mrs. Pemberton, and Miss Grundy of the Committee had historically in¬ teresting exhibits, as had Miss Parrish and Mrs. Arnold G. Talbot. But the list is too long and important for justice in so imperfect a report since, in addition to the unmentioned, there are the invaluable book col¬ lections loaned by The Friends Historical Association, Mrs. Francis B. Gummere, Mrs. Henry V. Gummere, T. Morris Perot, Jr., Mrs. G. Blight Robinson, Miss Caroline Allinson and the late Joseph H. Coates, all of which claim full catalogue listing for preservation. By permission of the owners many silhouettes have been photostated and added to The His¬ torical Society’s already large collection. Each day closed with an informal tea -drinking and much reminiscing. A record of the exhibitors, subjects and artists has been prepared for printing in catalogue form. 212 Eleventh Annual Report of Associate Women. In endorsing the proposed nation-wide and state-wide commemorative celebrations of 1932, in honor of George Washington and William Penn, the sense of the December meeting was, upon motion, that the Com¬ mittee conserve its funds and forces for these occasions and to this end omit its 1931 activity. A sub-committee, composed of Mrs. Carson, Mrs. Gummere, Mrs. Pemberton and the Recording Secretary, was appointed to further co-operation with other organizations in the interest of bigger and better celebrations, particularly in Pennsylvania. At its February meeting the Committee was deeply touched by the receipt of a gift from its late beloved Associate, Anne Hollingsworth Wharton, Lat.D. The gift, a bundle of time-worn yellowed letters writ¬ ten by the belles and beaux of Philadelphia's long ago, dating from 1762, were mostly addressed ‘‘to Hannah Redwood in Philadelphia.’’ Scattered among the letters were occasional school bills for the Wharton children signed “ Jas. Dove/’ the eighteenth-century Philadelphia school¬ master who though Dove by name, was alas, not so by nature. Realizing that these letters carried in their folds facts of history, bits of social gossip and snatches of fervid poetry, all sharply outlined against a background of Revolutionary and pre-Revolutionary days, it was, upon motion, Resolved, that these treasured relics be repaired by the best known processes, properly bound at the expense of the Com¬ mittee and transferred by it to The Historical Society, where in its manuscript department they will have better security from time’s rav¬ ages than is elsewhere possible. This it was felt would in the last analysis have been Miss Wharton’s desire. Respectfully submitted, ANNA LEA CARSON, M. ATHERTON LEACH, Recording Secretary• Chairman.