Robert Valentine Papers: Finding Aid mssRV
Gayle Richardson
The Huntington Library
October 2020
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Business Number: (626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Robert Valentine papers
Creator:
Valentine, Robert,
1717-1786
Identifier/Call Number: mssRV
Physical Description:
6 Linear Feet
(5 boxes, 1 volume)
Date (inclusive): approximately 1712-1927
Date (bulk): 1781-1786
Abstract: A collection of material related to
American storekeeper and Society of Friends minister Robert Valentine.
Language of Material: Materials are in
English.
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The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from
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necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item]. Robert Valentine papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino,
California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Dawson's Book Shop, 1958.
Robert Valentine (1717-1786) was a Pennsylvania Quaker minister who was born in
Ballybrumhill, Ireland. His parents came to Pennsylvania in the late 1720s or early 1730s,
settling in Chester and then Delaware Counties. In 1747, Robert Valentine married Rachel
Edge (1725-1779); the Valentines had ten children who married into the Sharpless, Malin,
Massey, and Ashbridge families. In 1764, the Concord Monthly Meeting recommended him for
ministry. He was a well-known public figure who maintained contacts with many leading
Quakers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Ireland, and England. As a "public Friend,"
he traveled extensively, and from 1781 to 1784 journeyed to England and Ireland. He died in
East Caln, Pennsylvania in 1786.
A collection of 305 items from 1712 to 1927, which contains the correspondence and papers
of Robert Valentine; the material chiefly covers his voyage to Great Britain and its
aftermath. Included are his letters to his daughters, often both retained and sent copies,
and letters from Friends in England, Ireland, and Pennsylvania. A significant number of the
letters were written by women Quakers. The collection also includes an account of Robert
Valentine's journey to New Jersey in 1775 and other Quaker travel accounts. Also included
are minutes and correspondence of various meetings in Pennsylvania, England, and Ireland,
including a London Yearly Meeting of Women Friends; other material includes personal
testimonies of individual Quakers recounting their visions and prophesies, devotional
treatises and poems. There are also a few items relating to the relations between Quaker
communities and Native Americans, including the minutes of a meeting between a group of
Philadelphia Quakers, headed by Israel Pemberton, and representatives of the Six Nations
(1756); also, a few pieces of correspondence between women Friends of Philadelphia and
Oneida Native American women (from 1796 to 1797). There is a copy of the congratulatory
address from the London Yearly Meeting to George III on the occasion of the end of the Seven
Years War (1763). The collection also includes a smaller group of correspondence of Robert
Valentine's daughter Rachel Valentine Malin and his granddaughter Rachel Valentine Sharpless
Ashbridge. The latter group consists chiefly of the letters to her from her father, a
Pennsylvania ironmaster Abraham Sharpless written between 1824 and 1834; also included are a
few pieces of later family correspondence.
Processed by Olga Tsapina, May 2003. In 2020, Gayle Richardson created the electronic
finding aid derived from the earlier finding aid.
Arranged chronologically.
Individual call numbers included in the collection: mssRV 1-305.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Circuit riders -- Pennsylvania
Fathers and daughters -- Pennsylvania
Indians of North America -- Wars -- 1750-1815 --
Pennsylvania
Irish Americans -- Pennsylvania
Oneida Indians -- History
Quaker women -- England
Quaker women -- Ireland
Quaker women -- Pennsylvania
Quakers -- England
Quakers -- Ireland
Quakers -- Pennsylvania
Society of Friends -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th
century
Society of Friends -- Ireland -- History -- 18th century
Society of Friends -- Pennsylvania -- History -- 18th
century
Transatlantic voyages -- History -- 18th century
Travelers' writings, American
Chester County (Pa.) -- History
Delaware County (Pa.) -- History
Great Britain -- Religion -- 18th century
Ireland -- Religion -- 18th century
Pennsylvania -- History
Pennsylvania -- Religion
United States -- History -- French and
Indian War, 1754-1763
United States -- Religion -- To
1800
Copybooks -- Pennsylvania
Devotional literature
Family papers -- Pennsylvania
Journals (accounts) -- Pennsylvania -- 18th century
Letters (correspondence) -- Great Britain -- 18th century
Letters (correspondence) -- Ireland -- 18th century
Letters (correspondence) -- Pennsylvania
Minutes -- 18th century
Personal papers -- Pennsylvania -- 18th century
Poems -- 18th century
Pemberton, Israel,
1715-1779
Ashbridge, Rachel Valentine Sharpless
Malin, Rachel Valentine
Sharpless, Abraham
London Yearly Meeting
(Society of Friends)
London Yearly Meeting of
Women Friends
Six Nations -- History
Box 1, Folder 1-57
Correspondence, documents, and manuscripts 1734-1783 February
Box 2, Folder 1-37
1783 March-1784 February
Box 3, Folder 1-47
1784 March-1785 October
Box 4, Folder 1-47
1786 January-1927
Box 5, Folder 1-26
Oversize material approximately 1712-approximately 1799
Volume 1
Album of autographs RV 1