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Foerderer family papers
Percival E. Foerderer (1884-1969) was a Philadelphia businessman, civic leader, and philanthropist, although lived most of his life in the city suburbs of Merion and Bryn Mawr. His college-age medical education was interrupted when his father, Robert H. Foerderer, became ill and could no longer run...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Collection: | Foerderer Family Papers |
| Collection Number: | 3102 |
| Format: | Manuscript |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Link to finding aid |
| Item Description: |
Materials Separated from the Resource: To HSP library:
Wagner, Frederick B. Jr., ed. Thomas Jefferson University: Tradition and Heritage. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, 1989.
The following duplicate book was discarded from the collection. It is available in HSP’s library:
Cornell, John W. Jr. History of a Philadelphia Builder. N.p.: John W. Cornell, Jr., 1975. [UPA/Ph TH 140.C6 C6 1975]
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| Physical Description: |
3.8 Linear feet ; 13 boxes, 1 volume, 1 flat file |
| Access: |
The collection is open for research. |
| Summary: |
Percival E. Foerderer (1884-1969) was a Philadelphia businessman, civic leader, and philanthropist, although lived most of his life in the city suburbs of Merion and Bryn Mawr. His college-age medical education was interrupted when his father, Robert H. Foerderer, became ill and could no longer run the family’s decades-old leather manufacturing business. In response, Percival quit school and, in the early 1900s, joined Robert H. Foerderer, Inc, manufacturers of “Vici Kid” leather. Later in life, Percival served as chairman of the Board of Trustees of Jefferson Medical College and Hospital, and on the boards of many other companies and organizations in Philadelphia. He married Ethel Brown (1885-1981), daughter of a Philadelphia textile manufacturer, who presided over the Women's Board of Jefferson and was active in several other civic and philanthropic activities. Percival and Ethel Foerderer had three daughters, Mignon, Florence, and Shirley.
This family collection spans from the mid 1800s to the 2000s. It contains a variety of material including correspondence, clippings, photographs and images, scrapbooks, albums, business and legal papers, family members’ personal writings, and bound volumes. The Foerderer family papers, spanning from the 1880s to the early twenty-first century, contains an assortment of items such as clippings, photographs, correspondence, legal and business papers, scrapbooks, and bound volumes. Most prominently featured throughout the collection are Percival Foerderer’s achievements in the leather business and his work with Jefferson Medical College and Hospital; Ethel Foerderer’s family history and personal activities are represented primarily through writings on Percival; however there are documents pertaining to funds she bequeathed to various organizations. Through clippings, photographs, scrapbooks, and other ephemera, the lives of Mignon and her husband, John Moore Kelso Davis are well documented. Shirley and Florence Foerderer are represented to a lesser degree mainly in photographs and a few pieces of correspondence. The collection has been organized into four series: Series 1 is small and houses the earliest materials on the Foerderer family especially the lives of Robert H. Foerderer, his wife Caroline Fischer, and their estate, Glen Foerd located in the Torresdale section of Philadelphia; Series 2 and 3 are more substantive with the bulk of the collection representing the lives of Percival Foerderer, his wife Ethel Tillyer Brown and their home, La Ronda; and the lives of Mignon Estabrook Foerderer and her husband John Moore Kelso Davis respectively; Series 4 houses the remains of the collection with the focus on Florence and Shirley Foerderer and miscellaneous memorabilia. Series 1 is housed in Box 1 and contains the earliest part of the family’s history. There are genealogical notes including a report on the descendants of Robert H. Foerderer and the ancestry of Percival Foerderer in Germany. Two early wedding invitations, one for the 1881 marriage between Robert H. Foerderer and Caroline Fischer and one for the 1883 marriage between Hattie Tillyer and John A. S. Brown, together with two disbound scrapbooks can be found here. One booklet contains memorial addresses given on the “Life and Character of Robert H. Foerderer” (April 10, 1904). Materials about Glen Foerd, the estate owned by Robert Foerderer and his family, are housed with Series I and contain memorabilia about events held at the estate, its history as a Lutheran Center (1968-1982), and the sale of the property. Series 2 is rich in materials about the lives of Percival and Ethel Tillyer Brown Foerderer, their home La Ronda located in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and their work with Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. These materials are housed primarily in Boxes 2 and 3. Personal items on Percival include a letter certifying his birth name, his World War II records, an address book dated from the 1950s, legal documents concerning the settlement of his trust (April 1954), and mausoleum documents for a memorial at Woodlawn Cemetery in Bryn Mawr. Ethel is represented by handwritten and typed notes on Italian painters and painting techniques dating from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Accompanying her notes are images of Italian artworks. Also there is an outline of Ethel’s will together with an inventory of her property (July 1913). The couple’s home, La Ronda is well documented with maintenance records, list of furnishings, newspaper clippings, and legal documents regarding the sale of the property to Villanova University (1968-1969). Reports from the Foerderer Foundation and agreements between the Foerderers and Thomas Jefferson University for the transfer of Foerderer Foundation assets along with other materials such as a “History of the Board of Trustees of the Thomas Jefferson University” by Frederick B. Wagner (circa 1986) conclude Series 2. Series 3 is the largest part of the collection and centers on the personal lives of Mignon Estabrook Foerderer and her husband John Moore Kelso Davis and is mostly housed in Boxes 5-7. The youthful Mignon is documented through scrapbooks, correspondence, memorabilia, photographs, school items such as a typing and shorthand book from the 1930s, a travel diary and postcards. Her wedding to John Davis took place in the spring of 1939. There is a wedding gift book, lists of gifts received by the bride and groom, formal wedding photographs, and passports for both Mignon and John dated 1939. The couple went to Europe for their honeymoon and photographs (Box 7, Folder 12) show European scenes probably from their honeymoon. Of note are two original photographs of Adolf Hitler, one with Hermann Wilhelm Goring and one with Goring’s wife and child. There is no way to directly connect these photos to the couple except the fact they were in Europe and there were other typical trip photos housed originally with these two pictures. Additionally the young child in the photograph was born in June 1938. The couple’s married life is represented by Mignon’s journal and account book (1939-1977) and a guest book from Doncaster (1988-1997). Mignon’s collection of Presidential china is documented through an inventory and appraisal together with numerous correspondences with the White House. To a lesser degree, the life of John Kelso Davis is recorded through a baptismal letter of information (1930), correspondence, a resume, and World War II photographs and postcards. Additionally Series III concludes with some older Davis family memorabilia including school awards from the Catholic Seminary in Washington DC (1857-1859), an immunization register for Newton B. Davis (1944), and some Brainard family memorabilia. Rounding out the collection is Series 4, a small collection of material on Florence and Shirley Foerderer and other miscellaneous memorabilia. Florence Foerderer is better represented than Shirley. Through photographs, a camp journal, writings, clippings, letters, and newspaper articles, Florence’s love of dogs and her generous nature are evident. Florence is the least documented and is shown only through photographs and several letters. Among the miscellaneous materials are several folders connected to the surname Brown, the maiden name of Percival Foerderer’s wife, Ethel Tillyer Brown, together with newspaper clippings and a couple of pamphlets. This series is housed in Box 8. |