LibGuides: University Archives Drexel Family Research Guide: University Archives

Doing Research

Please note that the reading room is open by appointment only, Monday through Friday, from 9 AM to 6 PM. If you would like to visit the Archives' reading room, please email us ahead of time to schedule an appointment, as we may need advance notice to prepare materials ahead of your visit.

For staffed hours of operation for the W. W. Hagerty Library, see the Library Hours page.

Please send all questions and requests to archives@drexel.edu

Material in the University Archives

Material related to the Drexel family or the business of the firm Drexel & Co., including a list of biographies and memoirs and links out to collection finding aids. A finding aid is a collection guide created in order to organize records and make them available for research. Search all University Archives finding aids.

If you are a faculty member, you may be interested in the DUL webinar Incorporating Archival Material in Your Curricula: Drexel Family Collections, about using collection material for a one-time assignment or longer partnership with the University Archives.

Drexel memoirs and biographies
This list of writing by and about members of the Drexel family includes both digitized works available online, as well as material that can be requested for research in the University Archives.

MC.00.001 Drexel family collection, 1826-1996 (12.5 cubic feet)
The collection contains correspondence, memoirs, genealogical charts, newsletters, pamphlets, family reunion material, scrapbooks, legal documents, publications, and newspaper clippings related to the descendants of Francis Martin Drexel. Includes a diary written by Francis Martin Drexel in 1826-1830 and three letters authored by Anthony J. Drexel, the founder of Drexel University. The bulk of material dates from the twentieth century and is contained in eleven volumes of scrapbooks that begin with the death of Anthony J. Drexel in 1893.
MC.00.071 John R. Drexel III and Alice Troth Drexel papers, 1812-1988 (1.5 cubic feet)
This collection consists of five series: Books, Correspondence and Personal Papers, Ephemera, Objects, and Photographs that were created by the John Rozet Drexel III and Alice Troth Drexel family.
MC.00.087 Estate of Anthony J. Drexel Records, 1893-1976 (2 cubic feet)
Following Anthony J. Drexel’s death in 1893, his estate was managed by a group of trustees for over half a century. The Estate of Anthony J. Drexel records include ledgers and other account books for the estate as a whole and for the individual trusts that were set up for Drexel’s descendants in accordance with his will.
MC.00.098 Livingston Biddle photograph albums, 1905-1914 (3 volumes)
Livingston Biddle, Sr. (1877-1959), son of Emilie Taylor Drexel (1851-1883) and nephew of George W. Childs Drexel (1868-1944), compiled the three albums in this collection, which document international voyages the family took from 1905 to 1914 on George Drexel's yacht, Alcedo. The albums record at least two separate journeys.
MC.00.015 Katharine Drexel canonization scrapbook, 2000-2008 (0.33 linear feet)
This collection consists of two copies of a scrapbook containing photographs of the canonization of Katharine Drexel, October 1, 2000. The scrapbook consists of 23 5x7" color photographs, primarily from a party that followed the ceremony.
MC.00.065 Drexel & Co. records, 1872-1979 (1 cubic foot)
This collection consists of financial books, scrapbooks, and ephemera relating to the Drexel & Co. business from 1872-1979.

Digital Material Available Online

Some material from collections created by Drexel family members has been digitized and made available on Alma-D, Drexel Libraries' digital repository.

Browse the entire Alma-D Drexel Family Collection, which includes more photographs, letters, and documents, as well as the collections summarized below.

Visit the Drexel Family Digital Archive, a curated collection of digitized items and online exhibit about the family.

Drexel family home albums
The three photo albums from the Drexel family collection (MC.00.001) date from the 1890s to 1930s and feature exterior and interior views of some of the residences and important sites of the Drexel family.
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The places depicted include properties acquired by Anthony J. Drexel between 38th and 40th streets in Philadelphia for his family and adult children, as well as his mansion Runnymede in Lansdowne, Drexel Hill, Pa. There is photography of the original Drexel Institute, which remains as Drexel University Main Building. Two residences of Drexel's daughter, Sarah D. Fell Van Rensselaer, can be seen: Camp Hill Hall in Fort Washington, Pa. and a house with the caption “Old S. Broad Street” in Philadelphia, now identified as 313 S. Broad St. Sarah Van Rensselaer (called Mrs. Fell in captions) is featured in two of the Camp Hill photographs, along with her youngest children, Frances and John R. Fell, and her first husband, John R. Fell. Other sites pictured include: Francis A. Drexel's property in Andalusia, Torresdale, Pa.; St. Thomas’s Episcopal Church, Whitemarsh, Pa.; the shared home of the Drexels and Childs in Long Branch, Nj.; the family mausoleum at the Woodlands Cemetery, West Philadelphia; the Mary J. Drexel Home for the Aged, Bala Cynwyd, Pa., as well as several unidentified properties.
John R. Drexel III and Alice Troth Drexel Papers
This collection contains books, correspondence, personal papers, ephemera, objects, and photographs. The photographs in this archival collection are from 1901-1980 and feature various members of the Drexel, Thompson, and Troth families. The photographs also include portraits of John Roset and Mary Ann Laning, whose daughter Ellen married the banker Anthony J. Drexel. There are photographs of unidentified individuals, as well as interior and exterior shots of a mansion. Formats for the graphic material vary as well, and include cabinet cards, cartes de visites, and a small painting. Not all of the photographs in this collection have been digitized.
Livingston Biddle photograph albums
Livingston Biddle, Sr. (1877-1959), a nephew of George W. Childs Drexel (1868-1944), compiled the three albums in this collection, which document international voyages the family took from 1905 to 1914 on George Drexel’s yacht, Alcedo. The albums record at least two separate journeys. The photographs depict landscapes from the deck of the Alcedo, cities, rural areas, and religious sites, and the activities of the travel party, including hunting large animals as well as meeting European colonizers and local people from the areas visited. The collection reflects the perspective of wealthy American tourists traveling through the Middle East, Asia, and Africa at the turn of the twentieth century.