Shirley J. Vernon family history papers

Table of Contents

Summary Information

Background note

Scope and content note

Administrative Information

Controlled Access Headings

Collection Inventory

Summary Information

Repository

Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Creator

Vernon, Shirley J.

Title

Shirley J. Vernon family history papers

ID

3669

Date [bulk]

Bulk, 1985-2010

Date [inclusive]

1793-2010

Extent

6.6 Linear feet

Author

Finding aid prepared by Annie Halliday.

Sponsor

Processing made possible by a generous donation from the Young Friends of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Language

English

Abstract

Shirley Jane Vernon (1930-2011) was an architect and educator in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Vernon was born to Joseph Harry Vernon and Marion Maher Vernon in Mount Kisco, New York. Her family eventually moved to Ardmore, Pennsylvania. She received a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1953 from Penn State University. Vernon began her professional career as an architect in 1953, and her first job was at Vincent G. King’s architectural firm in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She established her own practice in 1968, and she tackled mostly residential work and smaller commercial work. From 1974 to 1976 she served as a project manager at the Ballinger Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She taught at Drexel University from 1957 to 1987 and at Moore College of Art and Design from 1986 until her retirement in 1996. In retirement she devoted herself to researching her family history including trips to England and France. Shirley Vernon died of heart disease at the age of 80 on February 27, 2011. The family history papers contains notes, genealogical charts, photocopies, correspondence, photographs, maps, ephemera, prints, and a brass rubbing all related to Vernon’s research into her family history. There is also a manuscript of Vernon’s memoir about her family history titled “The Vernon Story.”

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Background note

Shirley Jane Vernon was born December 9, 1930, to Joseph Harry Vernon and Marion Maher Vernon in Mount Kisco, New York. Her family eventually moved to Ardmore, Pennsylvania, where Vernon attended Bala Junior High School and Lower Merion High School. It was at Bala Junior High School that she first became interested in architecture and design, joining the model airplane club. She then went on to receive her Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1953 from Penn State University. Vernon was awarded an Outstanding Student medal from the American Institute of Architect. She also became the second woman from Penn State elected to Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering honor society.

Vernon began her professional career as an architect in 1953, and her first job was at Vincent G. King’s architectural firm in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Vernon’s architectural projects included the U.S. Embassy office building in Quito, Ecuador, the Union Carbide Technical Center in Tarrytown, New York, and the Franklin Institute Research Laboratories in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She established her own practice in 1968, and she tackled mostly residential work and smaller commercial work. From 1974 to 1976 she served as a project manager at the Ballinger Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She taught at Drexel University from 1957 to 1987 and at Moore College of Art and Design from 1986 until her retirement in 1996. In retirement she devoted herself to researching her family history including trips to England and France. Shirley Vernon died of heart disease at the age of 80 on February 27, 2011 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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Scope and content note

The Shirley J. Vernon family history papers contains notes, genealogical charts, photocopies, correspondence, photographs, maps, ephemera, prints, and a brass rubbing all related to Vernon’s research into her family history. The bulk of her research took place between 1985 and 2010. Originally, most of her notes had been housed in 54 binders, with the exception of one binder that had been found empty. Some of these binders had been divided by tabs and labeled with their subject matter. These binders have been rehoused into folders and boxes. They were kept in numerical order by binder number and any information on the binder tabs included in the folder title. In her abundant research she includes photocopies of her work completed in libraries in the United States, France, and England. Many of the notes are annotated with her own observations or connections. She also has whole binders devoted to trips she took to do more genealogical research in England and France. Her notes on her trips include brochures from places visited, photographs, maps, negatives, postcards, and slides. There were also a few binders dedicated to correspondence. She wrote often to librarians and archivists at different institutions around the world. Vernon also corresponded with family members around the United States and overseas who were doing their own genealogical research. Those were often the people she stayed with during her travels. There was one letter from a family member, Doug, who gifted her coins discovered in his yard in England. One set of coins was a contemporary copy of an “urbs roma” coin which has a depiction of Remus and Romulus on one side and a bust of Roma on the other. The second set of coins are a 1775 and 1776 George III half penny coin. These can be located in Box 9, Folder 4 among other correspondence. There is also a 1994 drawing Shirley did of Vernon property in Derbyshire located in Box 15, Folder 10 and an antique map of Derbyshire from 1840 Vernon purchased in London in 1986 in Box 15, Folder 11.

Additional items that weren’t included in the numbered binders were two versions of Shirley Vernon’s memoir titled "The Vernon Story”, now in Box 14. She includes a color and black and white version of the memoir with some annotated rough drafts. There are also some reworking of notes and previous research towards the end of Vernon’s research papers. The family history papers also include some oversized items such as a finished copy and drafts of a hand drawn Vernon family tree. Other oversized items include; an engraving of Avebury by William Stukeley, an antique map of Derbyshire from 1793 she purchased in London in 1986, and a map of Normandy, France published in 1841 that she purchased in Paris in 1998. The final oversized item is a brass rubbing of William and Margaret Vernon who died in 1467 in England. This rubbing was created at the Collegiate Church of St. Bartholomew in the village of Tong, Shropshire, England by Shirley Vernon in 1995.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

 Historical Society of Pennsylvania ; 2018.

Access restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Provenance

Gift of the Estate of Shirley J. Vernon, 2012.

Accession number 2012.019.

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Controlled Access Headings

Family Name(s)

• Vernon family.

Genre(s)

• Family histories

Geographic Name(s)

• Derbyshire (England)
• Isle of Wight (England)
• London (England)
• Normandy (France)
• Paris (France)

Subject(s)

• Genealogists--Research.
• Genealogy--Family trees.
• Genealogy.

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Collection Inventory