Swarthmore College Friends Historical Library

Friends Historical Library was established in 1871 to collect, preserve, and make available archival, manuscript, printed, and visual records concerning the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) from their origins mid-seventeenth century to the present. Located on the campus of Swarthmore College, this Library is one of the outstanding research facilities for the study of Quaker history. Besides the obvious focus, the holdings constitute a significant research collection for the regional and local history of the middle-Atlantic region of the United States and the history of American social reform.

Records included in the Congregations project consist of minutes of Quaker monthly and quarterly business meetings as well as documentation of births, deaths, marriages, burials, removals (transfers), and manumissions in the City of Philadelphia before about 1800.