These datasets are created from a volume of 372 pages that records receipt and dispatch of all mail in the Philadelphia Post Office between May 25, 1748 and July 23, 1752. Deliveries into the Post Office from out of town were listed, letter by letter, by the names of the addressees, weight and amount due, paid or free. Outgoing mail was simply listed by number of sheets and weight, not by individual letters. The data is presented here in two sets, one for incoming and one for outgoing.
The records were kept during Benjamin Franklin's tenure as Postmaster of Philadelphia.
The Library's holdings were moved to the Drexel Building (former home of Philadelphia Stock Exchange and the site of the present Library) across the street from Philosophical Hall to alleviate space issues created by a growing collection. The Library of APS was housed in the Drexel Building, at Fifth and Chestnut Streets (on the site of the former Library Company building) until it was torn down in 1954 as part of the Federal Government's plan for the creation of the Independence National Historical Park.
Photograph presented by the grand daughter of Dr. Richard Harlan, bust in the possession of his son, Dr. George Cuvier Harlan; Old call number: RF-H 222.r 1 P
