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Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm79036129
Collection material in English
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The papers of the Edmund Physick family were purchased by the Library of Congress in 1914.
The papers of the Edmund Physick family were prepared for microfilming 1979. The finding aid was revised in 2012..
Related collections in the Manuscript Division include the
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of the Edmund Physick family is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
The papers of the Edmund Physick family are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
A microfilm edition of these papers is available on two reels. Consult a reference librarian in the Manuscript Division concerning availability for purchase or interlibrary loan. To promote preservation of the originals, researchers are required to consult the microfilm edition.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container or reel number, Edmund Physick Family Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of the Edmund Physick family span the years 1759-1899 and consist of thirty-three volumes and additional loose account book pages, letters, notes, receipts, and clippings (many inside the volumes) mostly of the Physick and Syng families of Philadelphia. The volumes are mostly financial account books and receipt books, and many of them document the settlement of the estates of members of the Physick and Syng families. Household, business, and farming accounts are recorded in these volumes. Many accounts relate to Philadelphia real estate transactions: purchases, rentals, construction, repairs, and payments of taxes. People represented include Edmund Physick (1725?-1804), a Pennsylvania official and agent for descendants of William Penn; his wife Abigail Syng Physick (died 1791); her father, Philadelphia silversmith Philip Syng (1703-1789); their son surgeon Philip Syng Physick (1768-1837); their daughter Abigail Physick (1763-1854), who managed real estate in Philadelphia; and physician Theodore Physick (1805-1834), who is represented by an undated book of medical recipes. Many volumes contain accounts of different people from different times, as remaining blank pages were filled in. The collection is organized by type of material and therein chronologically.
Also included are four volumes documenting the estates of brothers
James and Robert Bremner (Edmund Physick helped settle their estates); a
receipt book belonging to Parry Hall (probably Philadelphia printer Parry Hall
[1755?-1793], see the entry regarding a printing press, March 29, 1787, in the
receipt book and the 1790 federal census); an order book of the
Two volumes document Edmund Physick’s dealings with cousins John Penn (1729-1795) and John Penn (1760-1834), descendants of William Penn, proprietors of Pennsylvania before the Revolution, and Pennsylvania landowners afterward. They lived in Pennsylvania and England. Edmund Physick’s receipt book (Box 5, volume 2) contains notes from 1774- July, 1776 documenting construction of the older John Penn’s house on the Schuylkill River, probably the mansion known as “Lansdowne.” Physick’s book for 1789-1795 (Box 6, volume 5) contains notes and receipts from a 1789 trip to London. These document his meetings with the Penns and his payments for his son Philip Syng Physick’s medical training in England. Both of these volumes contain notes and accounts from later periods.
The account books of Philip Syng contain only a few references to his career as a silversmith. His account for 1789-1803 (Box 3, volume 2, page 21), for example, refers to gold clippings, gold and silver solder, and tea tong patterns that were part of his estate after his death in 1789.
This collection is arranged by type of material and therein chronologically.
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm79036129
Available on microfilm. Shelf no. 17,780