George F. Lee papers
Collection 1902
1820-1893(10.8 Linear feet ; 27 boxes)
Table of Contents
Summary Information
- Repository
- Historical Society of Pennsylvania
- Creator
- Lee, George F., d. 1893
- Title
- George F. Lee papers
- ID
- 1902
- Date
- 1820-1893
- Extent
- 10.8 Linear feet ; 27 boxes
- Sponsor
- This collection was rehoused and inventoried with the generous help of members of the Association of Registrars and Collections Specialists.
- Language
- English
Preferred citation
Cite as: [Indicate cited item or series here], George F. Lee papers (Collection 1902), Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Scope and content note
George F. Lee (died 1893) worked for his father's bricklaying business in Philadelphia and then started his own business as contractor and engineer for the construction of gas works. After Lee lost interest in this business, he concerned himself principally with real estate investments. Lee's collection is primarily composed of mixed papers such as include business correspondence and accounts and personal receipted bills, dating from 1836-1889. Many relate to the building of plants in Albany, Troy, and Utica, New York; St. Louis, Missouri; and Chicago, Illinois. The remainder of the correspondence concerns the management of mortgages he held and his own properties, particularly in Chicago, where his interests were much affected by the fire of 1871, and in Troy. Correspondents include James K. Burtis, superintendent of the St. Louis and Chicago gas works and also Lee's personal agent in Chicago, Burtis' successor Junius Mulvey, and Lee's agent in Troy S. S. Dauchy. There are also Franklin Lee and Sons account books, 1820-1844, as well as a small amount of family correspondence dating from the mid to late 1840s. Also among the earliest records in the collection are the papers of bookseller Thomas Davis, circa 1823-1852, and papers of the estate of Thomas, Ann, Elizabeth, and Benjamin Davis, 1833-1879.
Administrative Information
Publication Information
Historical Society of Pennsylvania ; 2020.
1300 Locust StreetPhiladelphia, PA, 19107
215-732-6200
Access restrictions
The collection is open for research.
Provenance
Gift of Harry E. Sprogell, 1964.
Controlled Access Headings
Subject(s)
- Building Trades--19th century.
- Chicago fire, 1871.
- Gas manufacture and works--United States.
- Real estate--19th century.
Collection Inventory
| Box | Folder | |||
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Thomas Davis correspondence [McCarty/Davis book sellers] circa 1823-1852 |
1a | 1-10 | ||
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Estate of Thomas/Ann/Elizabeth & Benjamin Davis papers 1833-1879 |
1b | 1-10 | ||
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Mixed papers 1836-1837, 1839 |
2 | 1-3 | ||
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Mixed papers; Albany Gas Works papers; St. Louis Gas Works papers 1840-1846 |
3 | 1-11 | ||
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Lee family correspondence; St. Louis Gas Works papers 1847 |
4 | 1-12 | ||
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Lee family correspondence; Utica Gas Works Papers 1847 |
5 | 1-4 | ||
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Chicago Gas Works Papers 1850 |
6 | 1-8 | ||
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Mixed papers 1851-1852 |
7 | 1-4 | ||
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Mixed papers 1853-1854 |
8 | 1-8 | ||
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Mixed papers 1855-1856 |
9 | 1-4 | ||
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Mixed papers 1857-1858 |
10a | 1-15 | ||
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Mixed papers 1859 |
10b | 1-5 | ||
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Mixed papers; Home Guard papers 1860-1861 |
11 | 1-4 | ||
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Mixed papers 1862-1864 |
12 | 1-5 | ||
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Mixed papers 1865-1867 |
13 | 1-8 | ||
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Mixed papers 1868-1869 |
14 | 1-6 | ||
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Mixed papers; Chicago Fire letters 1870-1871 |
15a | 1-4 | ||
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Mixed papers; Chicago Fire letters 1871 |
15b | 1-3 | ||
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Mixed papers; personal correspondence 1872-1873 |
16 | 1-8 | ||
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Mixed papers 1874-1875 |
17 | 1-7 | ||
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Mixed papers; Bells household accounts 1876 |
18 | 1-6 | ||
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Mixed papers 1877-1879 |
19 | 1-5 | ||
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Mixed papers 1880-1881 |
20a | 1-12 | ||
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Mixed papers 1882 |
20b | 1-4 | ||
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| Box | Drawer | |||
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Mixed papers 1883-1889 |
21 | 1-8 | ||
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| Box | Folder | |||
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Mixed papers; Income tax returns; copies of speech presented to Board of Guardians of the Poor circa 1860-1870, 1890, 1892 |
22 | 1-5 | ||
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| Box | ||||
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Franklin Lee, Lee and Son Account Books 1820-1844 |
23 | |||
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George F. Lee account books, including accounts of sundry gasworks 1841-1850, 1873-1878, undated |
24 | |||
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