2004 Meeting Review

This is the Lilly Library & the site of the Pennington Archives, Richmond, Indiana

MEMORIES OF RICHMOND

The PRA Inc. who gathered at Richmond, Indiana for the 2004 Meeting came to a city rich in history and in culture. Filled with wonderful old buildings displaying a wide variety of architectural styles it contains the Glenn Miller Park set on rolling hills and ponds and with a splendid display of roses in a memorial garden. The National Road Highway 40 [1] runs right through the city. It was a center of the recording industry before Nashville predominated and it was a “light in the wilderness” for those 19^th Century Quakers [2] who fled from the slave states and participated in the loosely organized “Underground Railroad.”

Earlham College founded in 1847 for the education of young Quaker men and women was the site of the Dedication of the Pennington Archives on Thursday, August 5. For me the Dedication was the culmination of over thirty-five years of concern for a permanent home for the Pennington family archives which have been gathered by the Association and by individuals over many years. Rather than valuable family materials being lost or discarded by uninterested relatives, we now have a home where they will be cared for, sorted, catalogued and made available for public use. The simple ceremony consisted of a responsive reading based on Ecclesiasticus 44:1-10 for All Saints’, two short prayers and a unison reading for evening, the Phos hilaron (O Gracious Light) from the Book of Common Prayer (see service bulletin elsewhere in this issue.) Dr. Hamm noted that if I had offered a full Anglican service with “smells & bells”, the old Quakers looking down on us in the Archives Room would probably have jumped right out of their frames!

As part of the Friends Collection and College Archives, the Pennington Archives has the good fortune to be administered by a fine scholar and historian, Dr. Thomas Hamm.

Dr. Thomas Hamm, College Archivist and Curator of the Friends Collection at Earlham, who is a Pennington cousin on the Beeson side, overseas a rich collection of Quaker historical materials, including the Pennington Archives. Besides his work as Archivist, Dr. Hamm is a noted historian and addressed us about Earlham and the Quaker migration from North Carolina. The Archives keeps alive the institutional memory of Earlham. In its spacious new quarters in the Lilly Library, the Archives preserves all the material that is judged to be of historical significance for Earlham and Earlhamites.

The many files include official records; collections of publications, such as the College's first printed catalog of 1858; Opinion Board papers dating back to its founding in 1948, and complete runs of the campus newspapers since 1873. The collection includes such interesting and diverse objects as the ink well used by Earlham's first president, Barnabas Hobbs. Chairs used in the Archives today are the same ones used when the student dining hall opened in 1847.

The Friends Collection is one of the four or five largest in the world, with more than 12,000 books and nearly as many pamphlets, some going back to the 17th Century when the Society of Friends was founded. These works are supplemented with an extensive collection of Quaker genealogical materials. Personal diaries, letters, and detailed records of monthly and yearly meetings reveal the lives of thousands of Quaker men and women. Documents and Earlham's rare book collection are preserved under climate-controlled conditions. Some of these date back to the Middle Ages, and many are too fragile or rare to be housed on the open shelves. The Friends Collection draws hundreds of scholars and genealogists to Lilly Library annually. In addition to assisting these visitors, Dr. Hamm, answers nearly 400 inquiring letters each year.

As the Association Members gathered in the Friends Collection prior to the Dedication, they found Dr. Hamm offering a wealth of information about the contents of this exception collection and also enjoying a display of original publication by the saintly Isaac Pennington (1616-1679) whose collected works bear the wonderful title of The Works of the Long-Mournful and Sorely Distressed Isaac Pennington…1681. The son of the Puritan Mayor of London, Sir Isaac Pennington, Isaac, Jr. died as a result of years of imprisonment in England for his religious stance. His step-daughter, Guliema, married William Penn and her brothers, Edward and John, became leaders in the new colony of Pennsylvania. Arthur Pennington, another son of Sir Isaac became a Roman Catholic priest at a time when it was illegal in England…more on that at another time.

From my own collections (which will eventually be placed in the Pennington Archives) I displayed some of the books of fiction in which Penningtons were some of the main characters. These included the popular movie and comic book series of World War II, Captain Don Winslow and his side-kick, Red Pennington. Together they roamed the seas encountering adventures with enemies of America. Written by Frank Victor Martinek, Red Pennington was played by Walter Sande and Don Winslow by Don Terry. These 1940 adventures seem like the forerunners of the James Bond movies with the “Scorpion” and his henchmen ready to destroy the civilized world.

Edgar Rice Burroughs of Tarzan fame wrote The Girl from Hollywood whose life at Pennington’s Rancho del Granda is high romance and helped spark the flow of Pennington characters in the Harlequin Romances, Avon Books, the Zebra Regency Rakes and Rogues Anthologies and so on. Needless to say, most of these would not fit the description the Ziegfeld Follies Ann Pennington once claimed for herself…”I’m just a simple Quaker girl from Camden!”

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I also want to offer a very sincere “thanks” to those who have made special contributions to the support of the Pennington Archives during 2004 and I will acknowledge each gift. There will be several on-going needs of the Archives as we develop this collection. We would like to fund scanning of special parts of the collection and I would like to see the Pennington Pedigrees be one of the first projects…a project which would make a wonderful memorial gift and which would benefit many, many people!. According to Dr. Hamm he could hire a student working under his supervision to put in the hours needed to do the scanning.

Besides the Dedication of the Archives and our business meeting, we had a really fascinating report from Dr. Nicholas Pennington of the University of New York-Brooklyn, on our DNA Project. Genetic research and testing is in its infancy despite all that we already know and it will continue to be of utmost importance to the human family in the future. Nick also included something of his research on the various Pennington coats-of-arms which will help identify families connected with the Penningtons.

Professor Iverson, Curator of the Moore Museum of Anthropology gave us a guided tour of that fascinating collection which has a skeleton of a mastodon, a giant sloth, saber-toothed tiger and other things which we are happy not to meet anymore along the highways!

Pat Trocano of Union City, Indiana, and one of our Board Members shared a splendid amount of information about local (not loco!) Penningtons and brought most of her family to the Banquet which filled out the number we had planned…50. Without the help of Pat and Pete, I would have been at sea (and I almost was even with their help!). They took over the last bit of envelope stuffing, supervised the registration desk, helped sell the Pennington Crest pins, sorted out my mistakes and gave me regular assurances that all would be well! So when the head honchos appeared (Barbara and Gene) and had questions I couldn’t answer (because I didn’t know or forgot!), I could turn to Pat and Pete. Tracona for help. What a blessing they are!

The closing banquet on Friday evening was beautifully prepared and served by the staff of Holiday Inn, Michelle Bailey, Events Coordinator, and Dr. Hamm gave a witty and informative address on the founding of Earlham, the Quaker movement from North Carolina and early coeducation among Quakers. He was followed by the drawings for door prizes which included a RootsMagic software, the Cookbook 2000 Maker, two Pennington Crest pins, a lovely pearl ring and elegant picture from the Tracanos. There was some collusion is the drawing as the stakes were high but generally it was done in good Pennington fashion! Afterwards, Donald Salyards, our official photographer and Joseph Van Auker, our unofficial photographer, took shots “against the wall” of all the family groups and a few more. Many thanks to them.

Next year we expect to be in Oregon and will return to Richmond and to the Holiday Inn in 2006!

THE REVEREND JASPER GREEN PENNINGTON

Archivist, Pennington Research Association, Inc.

204 Elm Street, Ypsilanti, Michigan 48197

734-483-8789 muncaster@provide.net

[1] The Historic National road was America’s first interstate highway and was established by an Act of Congress in 1806. The Indiana portion, built between 1829 and 1834, linked the eastern seashore with the western interior. Today, the Indiana National Road Association helps to preserve, protect and promote the Historic National Road. The road was recently designated an All-American Road. Driving the route evokes a sense of traveling through the passageways of history from the pike towns to the rural pastures, showcasing genuine Midwest scenic beauty.

[2] Quakers sympathized with the antislavery movement and during pre-Civil War days they often operated safe houses at their homes along the Underground Railroad, a network of routes that southern slaves followed on their flight to freedom in the northern free states and Canada. The network of approximate routes is neither underground nor part of a railroad and places along the routes where fleeing slaves sought temporary shelter are known as “stations.” Often the exact routes were kept secret to ensure the safe passage of escaped slaves. In Indiana among the documented routes was one that followed the northern shore of the Ohio River and another that passed through the Wayne County town of Newport, today known as Fountain City. Located here, roughly 6 miles north of Richmond is the “Grand Central Station” of the Underground Railroad, the home of Quakers Levi and Catherine Coffin. Slave hunters referred to Levi Coffin as “President of the Underground Railroad” for foiling their efforts to recover fugitive slaves once they had passed through the Coffin’s safe haven. Over the years, more that 2,000 African-American slaves sought shelter at the Coffins’ home. Among those was Eliza Harris, the real-life slave who inspired a character in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s immortal classic “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” The 1839 redbrick two-story home is now the Levi Coffin State Historic Site. Guides dressed in period clothing, take you on tours of the furnished home pointing out the secret indoor well room and hiding places like the narrow upstairs hidden attic. The Coffin House is located just north of Richmond on US 27, near Fountain City.

Pennington Research Association

PRA 2004 Richmond Annual Meeting Review

By Jasper Green Pennington, Host