The Esther Duke Archives
The Archives collects, maintains and makes available materials that relate to the people and history of Westtown School. The collection, which dates from circa 1790 to the present, includes:
- committee minutes
- financial records
- correspondence
- student registers which record all students who have attended Westtown since its opening in 1799
- school publications
- student and faculty letters, diaries and journals
- exercise books, essays and other student work
- photographs
- recordings of concerts, lectures, plays, and other performances
- artifacts including pewter dishes, microscopes and sports equipment
- textiles such as samplers and clothing
- rare books
The extensive collection documents the founding, operation and experience of Westtown School, while also serving as a resource for study on Quaker education and the education of girls in the 19th century, Quaker views on social and political issues, early American needlework, family relationships, social customs and many other topics in American history.
Westtown students and faculty in all three divisions use documents and artifacts from the archives to supplement their study. A sampling of projects includes:
- Using artifacts to explore the impact the Industrial Revolution had on everyday life at Westtown
- Using primary source documents to support the study of US History
- Analyzing samplers and learning graphing skills by plotting and sewing a sampler
- Excerpting 19th century student journals to provide the material for a playwriting course
- Making prints from early 20th century glass negatives and then rephotographing the campus scene
The collection is available to the public for research.
We also welcome donations of material relating to Westtown School.
Staff
Archivist: Mary U. Brooks
MA and MSLS, Case Western Reserve University
mary.brooks@westtown.edu
Archivist's Assistant: Kevin Gallagher
MA University of Pennsylvania
MLitt, Middlebury College and Lincoln College, Oxford University
kevin.gallagher@westtown.edu
