Item Info

Item 1, left:  Continuation of the detailed article about the new location at 715 Spruce Street for the American Catholic Historical Society. To read the beginning of this article, see the previous item, #pdcc03051.  Founded in 1884, it is the oldest Catholic historical society in America.  The building discussed in this article (see the photograph on the previous page) was built in 1821 for merchant Whitton Evens; it then became the city home of banker Nicholas Biddle from 1828-1939; it was then occupied from 1853-1894 by physician James Kitchen.  At the time of this c. 1895 article, it had been purchased by the Catholic Historical Society, which occupied it until 1945, then moved to its present address at 263 S. 4th Street.  Printed text, for an unidentified publication, 12 x 31.5 cm, c. 1895.  (See the Note, below, to account for the inaccuracy in this article of the building's history.)

[Note: Information about the building's history was found in the JSTOR digital record of Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, Vol. 28, No. 1 (MARCH, 1917), pp. 43-46 (4 pages).]

Item 2, right:  Image of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania at 13th & Locust Streets--not to be confused with the article on the left of this page, which is about the American Catholic Historical Society. The building was designed by William Strickland, in the Greek Revival Style, and purchased by General Robert Patterson in 1836.  After Patterson's death in 1881, the Historical Society purchased the building, occupying it until it was demolished between 1905-1909.  A new fireproof building, designed by Addison Hutton, was erected in 1910 at the same location; the Society has continued at this location to this day.  Reproduction of a photograph in an unidentified publication, 12 x 10.5 cm, undated.