Week 11

During the eleventh week of my internship, I completed 1852 and stopped after completing 1859. One of the names that appeared frequently was St. Stephens Church. This got my attention because I remembered how the historical society was only next door to a church, so I did a quick google search and found out that they were the same. I am unsure if Maxwell was in frequent correspondence with the church was more for business and/or his own personal beliefs. Although I did find out that Maxwell was a lifetime member of a group called the American Christian Union, so it is likely he was rather religious. That said it was interesting and it reminded me of Wilkes-Barre. Another unfortunate problem from the pandemic was that after learning that the historical society opened in 1858 I could not look through any articles that discuss this. I could not find the name of Nathan Dennison, one of the founders, in the 1858 section. Another topic that I found interesting was that in 1857, Maxwell had been in correspondence with a group known as the Scranton Republicans. At first, I thought it meant that Maxwell might have been a Republican. However, after doing some research, I learned that it had nothing to do with the GOP, but was actually a newspaper. I have been unable to find any information regarding what party the paper generally supported during its publication, but I have found another important piece of information. During the late 1850s, the town of Scranton was growing into a full-blown industrial city. Due to this, I have learned the Republican was most likely a newspaper that revolved around businesses, not unlike Business Insider today. On a more personal note, I am rather disappointed that I will be unable to read the documents because of the buildup to the American Civil War. Something that will also play a part in next week’s journal.

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