Krider Gun Shop records

Table of Contents

Summary Information

Background note

Scope and content note

Administrative Information

Related Materials

Controlled Access Headings

Bibliography

Collection Inventory

Summary Information

Repository

Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Creator

Krider Gun Shop.

Creator

L. C. Siner Gun Shop.

Title

Krider Gun Shop records

ID

3297

Date

1845-1916, undated (bulk 1856-1909)

Extent

0.8 Linear feet ; 2 boxes

Author

Finding aid prepared by Weckea D. Lilly.

Language

English

Abstract

The Krider Gun Shop records include bills and receipts, circa 1850; a receipt book, April-June 1873; loose receipts and bills of ladings, 1909 for both the John Krider Gun Shop and Taxidermy business and L. C. Siner Gun Shop, both located on the northeast corner of Second and Walnut streets in Philadelphia.

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Background note

John Krider was born in Philadelphia in 1813 to William and Margaret Krider, the first of five children: William C., Jacob Henry, Elizabeth, and Peter Lewis. The family lived in the western part of the city, which is where he developed an early obsession with the wilderness of the wooded areas around the Schuylkill River. He would be become a well-known gunsmith, taxidermist, and ornithologist. Krider also served on the city's school board, the Common Council in 1858, and provided munitions during the American Civil War. He married a women named Elizabeth, and they had seven children, five daughters and two sons. In 1876, one of John Krider’s sons, Joseph, began working in his shop, as his health was in decline. Krider’s other son, John, also worked in the family’s shop, but he eventually veered off into other professions, such as clerk, bookkeeper, salesman, and shotmaker. John Krider died in Philadelphia in 1886.

In 1826, John Krider began his career as a gunsmith when he took an apprenticeship with Prosper Vallee, a Frenchman, who operated his own gun shop near Second and Walnut streets (later 101 S. Second Street). Vallee opened the shop in 1816. (The same site was once the home of John Drinker, as well as the location where the British set up a headquarters for its officers during the American Revolution.) John Krider took possession of Vallee’s shop it in sometime between 1839 and 1856. He first named it the Krider Gun Shop, and he may have operated later under the name John Krider & Co. When the American Civil War broke out, not only was Krider called upon to provide weaponry and ammunition to the soldiers, but his gun shop also served as a cartridge loading station.

Besides being a recognized and applauded gunsmith, Krider also worked in the fields of taxidermy and ornithology, which would lead to his having associations with famed practitioners like John J. Audubon. Krider’s own collection would eventually be housed at Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences, and he was elected to the society’s membership in 1859. Returning to his childhood interests, he also opened the Philadelphia Sporting Club in the 1840s, which remained in operation until 1853. As for his gun shop, while his sons John and Joseph worked there, it was managed by a businessman named John Siner as early as 1876. Siner continued to manage the shop after Krider's death, allowing it to enjoy a much longer history well into the twentieth century. Krider’s gun shop closed in 1955, and the property was demolished.

The gun shop had become known to some as Krider’s “old-time looking shop,” as he had merged all of his interests into one business endeavor. He was a manufacturer of shot guns, rifles, pistols, and an importer of sporting goods, fishing tackle, and fine cutlery. All of which he was praised, receiving high honors at expositions held in both Philadelphia and New York, along with thirteen merits at the Franklin Institute's Exhibition of American Manufacturers. He published Krider’s Sporting Anecdotes in 1853. Krider was also a member of the Freemasons and the International Order of Odd Fellows, a trustee of the Progress Manufacturers Mechanical Loan and Build Association, and served on the Committee of Gentlemen of the Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon.

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Scope and content note

The records of Krider's Gun Shop span from the mid ninteenth century to the early twentieth century and are housed in two boxes. There are bills, correspondence, invoices, and receipts. They reflect the extensive engagement with the manufacturing and sale of guns and amunition, and the fields of taxidermy and ornithology. As John Krider received considerable fame for his shop and work, he made deals with many patrons from afar. Included here are receipts for those shipments by railway, and related inquires. Some of the records are housed in folders, which may have at some point been apart of an account book or ledger like the two housed here that remain entact. Other than Krider, the records of John Siner, his business partner; and the Farr family, the guardians of the Thomas Powers, payments and receipts patrons who engaged in a considerable amount of business.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

 Historical Society of Pennsylvania ; 2016.

Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Provenance

The bulk of the collection was a gift of John Taxin via Independence National Historical Park, 1967. The John Krider account book, 1863-1864 (Box 1, Volume 1), was purchased in 2003. Accession number 2003.056.

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Related Materials

Related material

At the Historical Society of Pennsylvania:

David J. Kennedy watercolors collection (Collection V61). John Krider's Gun Shop.

Timothy Horsfield receipt book, 1763 (Am .9085).

Philadelphia Record photograph morgue collection (Collection V07). Shopping. 1934-1946. [V7:4642-4643]

Philadelphia Record photograph morgue collection (Collection V07). Sporting Goods Industry. 1939-1942. [V7:3571]

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Controlled Access Headings

Subject(s)

• Firearms industry and trade--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia--19th century.
• Firearms industry and trade--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia.
• Taxidermy--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia--19th century.

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Bibliography

Hewlett, Joseph Mitchell. The Krider (Grieder) Family of Philadelphia: The Ancestors and Descendants of Margaret (Grieder) Rorer, John Krider, Martin Grieder (Credy). Wyncote, Pa, 1959.

Vernon, Steven K. "Fishing Tackle from Eastern Pennsylvania: John Krider and the Sportsmen's Depot." http://antiquefishingreels.info/Articles/Krider.pdf.

Krider, John. Forty Years Notes of a Field Ornithologist. Philadelphia: Press of J. H. Weston, 1879.

Krider, John., and H. Milnor Klapp. Krider's Sporting Anecdotes, Illustrative of the Habits of Certain Varieties of American Game. Philadelphia: A. Hart, 1853.

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Collection Inventory