Historical News

Historical News Friends Historical Association The Spring Meeting of Friends Historical Association, held at the new Kennett Meetinghouse, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, on Fifth Month 21, I960, was one of the most successful in years, if one may judge by the numbers—more than four hundred— who attended. I960 being the 250th anniversary of the building of Old Kennett Meetinghouse (which many Friends visited en route), the program was appropriately focused on the history of Kennett. After a welcome by H. Timothy Rayne, Clerk oí Kennett Monthly Meeting, James R. Frorer sketched the history of Newark Meeting, "forerunner of Kennett," Dr. Arthur E. James presented some interesting and amusing "Sidelights of Early Kennett Meeting," and George N. Highley painted a dramatic verbal portrait of Bayard Taylor, Kennett's most famous son. Picnic supper was enjoyed by some in the handsome new meetinghouse , by others on the spacious and attrattive grounds. Neither the threat nor the actuality of a heavy downpour in the evening dampened the attenders' enthusiasm: they proceeded to Longwood Gardens, where, besides the beautiful and exotic flowers in the great conservatory, they saw a special exhibit of papers and possessions of the Quaker Peirce family, who owned the property for more than two centuries, and listened to illustrated talks on the history of "Peirce's Park" and the world-famous Longwood Gardens . The evening ended with the playing, despite the rain, of the spectacular Longwood fountains. •St*^Fw Albert Cook Myers, an Honorary Member of Friends Historical Association, died on Fourth Month 1, I960. The author or editor of many books on Pennsylvania Quaker history and the editor of a projected large-scale edition of William Penn's papers, he was a member of this Association's Board of Directors from 1921 to 1925 and again from 1927 to 1936. As Secretary of the State Historical Commission, he was responsible for erecting scores of historical markers in Pennsylvania. 118 ...