Gratz-Franks-Simon Papers
Item
Country
US
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
eng
Contact information: postal address
1314 Locust Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19107
Contact information: phone number
001 (215) 546-3181 (reading room)
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
reference@librarycompany.org
Reference number
McA MSS 011
Type of reference number
Archival reference number
Title (official language of the state)
Gratz-Franks-Simon Papers
Language of title
eng
Creator / accumulator
John A. McAllister
Date(s)
1752/1831
Language(s)
eng
deu
heb
spa
yid
Extent
0.3 linear metres (3 boxes)
Type of material
Textual Material
Scope and content
This collection contains documents from three Jewish families settled in Philadelphia in the 18th and 19th centuries. Barnard Gratz (1738‐1801) and his brother Michael (1740‐1811) immigrated to Philadelphia in the 1750s. They were merchants active during the Revolutionary period and formed partnerships with the merchants David Franks (1720‐1794) of New York and Philadelphia and Joseph Simon (ca. 1712‐1804) of Lancaster, PA. Michael Gratz’s two sons, Simon (1773‐1839) and Hyman (1776‐1857) inherited their father’s business.
The collection mainly comprises business records, also containing personal and family papers. The first series, containing Barnard and Michael Gratz Papers (1752‐1806), comprises correspondence, financial and legal documents and miscellaneous writings. Gratz’s correspondence includes letters from Isaac de Lyon of Savannah, Georgia (box 1, folder 12, September 24, 1760); the brothers Elias and Isaac Rodriguez Miranda of Curaçao (box 1, folder 45, 1764‐1767); Solomon Marache of New York (box 1, folder 34, March 6, 1769); and Jacob Melhado of Kingston, Jamaica (box 1, folder 36, August 22, 1770). Among the financial documents are bills of lading to and from the brothers Rodriguez Miranda (box 2, folder 76).
The collection mainly comprises business records, also containing personal and family papers. The first series, containing Barnard and Michael Gratz Papers (1752‐1806), comprises correspondence, financial and legal documents and miscellaneous writings. Gratz’s correspondence includes letters from Isaac de Lyon of Savannah, Georgia (box 1, folder 12, September 24, 1760); the brothers Elias and Isaac Rodriguez Miranda of Curaçao (box 1, folder 45, 1764‐1767); Solomon Marache of New York (box 1, folder 34, March 6, 1769); and Jacob Melhado of Kingston, Jamaica (box 1, folder 36, August 22, 1770). Among the financial documents are bills of lading to and from the brothers Rodriguez Miranda (box 2, folder 76).
Archival history
In 1886, Philadelphia antiquarian John A. McAllister (1822-1896) presented his collection of Civil War-era printed ephemera, graphics, and manuscripts to the Library Company, containing over 50,000 items. John A. McAllister collected business records and correspondence from many local firms and banks, assorted family collections, records of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, miscellaneous manuscripts ranging from 1683-1872, and his personal papers.
The Gratz‐Franks‐Simon Papers were formerly interfiled within the extensive McAllister Manuscript Collection. The papers were reunited, arranged, and described as a single collection in 2006 under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the William Penn Foundation.
The Gratz‐Franks‐Simon Papers were formerly interfiled within the extensive McAllister Manuscript Collection. The papers were reunited, arranged, and described as a single collection in 2006 under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the William Penn Foundation.
Sources:
Administrative / Biographical history
John Allister McAllister was born on September 30, 1822. He was the son of John McAllister Jr. (1786-1877) and Eliza Young (1790-1853), the daughter of the noted Philadelphia printer and bookseller William Young (1755-1829). His father and grandfather, John McAllister Sr. (1753-1830), founded and managed the McAllister company, a manufacturer and retailer of optical equipment, mathematical instruments, and commercial photographs.
John A. McAllister attended the Edgehill School for Boys in Princeton, New Jersey. In 1848, he went with his brother Thomas to Louisville, Kentucky, and was in some small business. In 1853, he returned to Philadelphia and became a partner of his brothers Thomas and William. John was listed as an optician in the city directories at the family Chestnut Street store address for many years.
John A. McAllister married Annette Steinbrenner (1832-1926) in 1861. She was the daughter of Frederick W. and Annette Steinbrenner from New York and had been living in Philadelphia with her grandparents, Godfrey and Christianna Weber.
After his father's death, John became estranged from his family. The father's will caused a fracture in the family, and in 1883, he moved away from central Philadelphia. John settled first in Germantown, nearly ten miles to the north. On January 7, 1884, he resigned from the Council of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. After six years in Germantown, McAllister relocated to West Philadelphia and lived there until his death from nephritis at age 75. He died in his home, at 4406 Sansom Street, on October 22, 1896.
While McAllister's day job and much of his life remain a mystery, it is clear that he occupied a large part of his time and thoughts with accumulating the wide-ranging collection of manuscripts, ephemera, prints, broadsides, maps, photographs, books, newspapers, and pamphlets that he gave to the Library Company during the 1880s. The collecting impulse, if not some of the material itself, was inherited. When John McAllister Jr. retired from the optical shop in 1835, he began to assemble in earnest an antiquarian library. Twenty-five years later, and nearing the end of his life, John McAllister Jr. created a detailed 86-page manuscript catalogue of his holdings inscribed "Memorandum for my children". With 21 separate classifications, he assigned each item in the catalogue to one of his children or grandchildren. While the "Memorandum" specified the many items meant for John A. McAllister, it is unclear whether and when he was given anything before his father's 1876 will. The John A. McAllister Collection held by the Library Company has many thousands of items encompassing some of the same classifications as his father's collection, but only some with provenance to connect them to John McAllister Jr. and his library. John A. McAllister's papers document part of his acquisition efforts. His pencil annotations (generally name recognition notes) are on many of the pieces in the McAllister Collection, principally the manuscript letters. Without autobiographical writings or even contemporary biographical memorials such as those earned by his father, it is impossible to know what drove McAllister to acquire and keep what he did. However, it is not hard to imagine that he would have aspired to be included among the great antiquarian collectors in Philadelphia during his time.
Why John A. McAllister chose the Library Company as a final repository for his collection is also unknown as, unlike his two grandfathers, father, and two brothers, he was not a Library Company shareholder and had had for more than 30 years a close relationship with the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, making donations of collection material there through the early 1880s and steering other donors their way.
John A. McAllister attended the Edgehill School for Boys in Princeton, New Jersey. In 1848, he went with his brother Thomas to Louisville, Kentucky, and was in some small business. In 1853, he returned to Philadelphia and became a partner of his brothers Thomas and William. John was listed as an optician in the city directories at the family Chestnut Street store address for many years.
John A. McAllister married Annette Steinbrenner (1832-1926) in 1861. She was the daughter of Frederick W. and Annette Steinbrenner from New York and had been living in Philadelphia with her grandparents, Godfrey and Christianna Weber.
After his father's death, John became estranged from his family. The father's will caused a fracture in the family, and in 1883, he moved away from central Philadelphia. John settled first in Germantown, nearly ten miles to the north. On January 7, 1884, he resigned from the Council of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. After six years in Germantown, McAllister relocated to West Philadelphia and lived there until his death from nephritis at age 75. He died in his home, at 4406 Sansom Street, on October 22, 1896.
While McAllister's day job and much of his life remain a mystery, it is clear that he occupied a large part of his time and thoughts with accumulating the wide-ranging collection of manuscripts, ephemera, prints, broadsides, maps, photographs, books, newspapers, and pamphlets that he gave to the Library Company during the 1880s. The collecting impulse, if not some of the material itself, was inherited. When John McAllister Jr. retired from the optical shop in 1835, he began to assemble in earnest an antiquarian library. Twenty-five years later, and nearing the end of his life, John McAllister Jr. created a detailed 86-page manuscript catalogue of his holdings inscribed "Memorandum for my children". With 21 separate classifications, he assigned each item in the catalogue to one of his children or grandchildren. While the "Memorandum" specified the many items meant for John A. McAllister, it is unclear whether and when he was given anything before his father's 1876 will. The John A. McAllister Collection held by the Library Company has many thousands of items encompassing some of the same classifications as his father's collection, but only some with provenance to connect them to John McAllister Jr. and his library. John A. McAllister's papers document part of his acquisition efforts. His pencil annotations (generally name recognition notes) are on many of the pieces in the McAllister Collection, principally the manuscript letters. Without autobiographical writings or even contemporary biographical memorials such as those earned by his father, it is impossible to know what drove McAllister to acquire and keep what he did. However, it is not hard to imagine that he would have aspired to be included among the great antiquarian collectors in Philadelphia during his time.
Why John A. McAllister chose the Library Company as a final repository for his collection is also unknown as, unlike his two grandfathers, father, and two brothers, he was not a Library Company shareholder and had had for more than 30 years a close relationship with the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, making donations of collection material there through the early 1880s and steering other donors their way.
Access points: locations
Access points: persons, families
Access points: corporate bodies
Access points: subject terms
Access points: document types
System of arrangement
Four series compose the collection: I. Barnard and Michael Gratz Papers (1752‐1806); II. Hyman and Simon Gratz Papers (1804‐1831); III. David Franks Papers (1757‐1778); and IV. Miscellaneous Papers (1759‐1803).
Access, restrictions
The collection is open to researchers. It is on deposit at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and should be accessed through the Society’s reading room.
Links to finding aids
Author of the description
Carla Vieira, 2023
Linked resources
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| Historical Society of Pennsylvania | Collections (official language of the state) | |
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