Item 8: Bookplate, Thomas Henry Atherton, no date

Item — Box: 20, Folder: 8

Staff Only

Bookplate, Thomas Henry Atherton, no date

Dates

Created: no date

Disclaimer for Name and Subject Authorities

Some of the name and subject authority tags have been assigned by educated guessing and estimation of persons and subjects by region, age, profession, and familial relationships. They have been thoroughly researched by using primary and secondary sources available digitally, and named in each description, or in some cases linked directly to the person tag.

Access:

All series and subseries within this collection are open for research, with the exception of a few files within the Academia series that are restricted. The Academia series contains financial and sensitive institutional records from Wilkes College, and financial report records from Princeton University that will remain restricted for 80 years upon creation.

Extent

1 items

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Additional Description

Type of Material:

Bookplate

Condition Note:

Good. Slight stains but overall in Good condition.

Measurements:

2 ¾ in. x 3 11/16 in.

Title:

Ex Libris Thomas Henry Atherton

Description:

A bookplate featuring the obelisk monument of the 1778 Wyoming Massacre from the library of Thomas Henry Atherton (1884-1978). Thomas Henry Atherton was born on January 16, 1884 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. His parents were Thomas Henry Atherton Sr. and Melanie Ann Parke Atherton. His siblings were Louise Park Atherton Dickey, Sarah Henry Atherton Bridgman and Eleanor Riggs Atherton Hendrickson. He got married to Mary Kidd Mish Atherton and they had three children, Mary Mish Atherton Franz, Thomas Henry Atherton III, and William Henry Atherton. A native to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Thomas Henry Atherton was an architect who fought in World War I. He helped design architecture in New York, Pennsylvania, and France. Several of his buildings, “including numerous National Guard Armories in Eastern Pennsylvania, are on the U.S. National Register of Historic places.” In 1941, he established an architectural practice in Wilkes-Barre, which eventually merged with L.Verne Lacy (1893-1976) in 1943 and then John W. Davis in 1945 to become the architectural firm of Lacy, Atherton, & Davis. Their offices were located in the Hotel Sterling in Wilkes-Barre until he retired in 1970. Atherton’s interest in local and family history led him to becoming the vice president of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, president of the Forty Fort Cemetery Association, a member of the Jacobsburg Historical Society and the Wyoming Commemorative Association. Atherton died on February 1, 1978 in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina and he was buried at Forty Fort Cemetery in Forty Fort, Pennsylvania. The Battle of Wyoming aka The Wyoming Massacre was a battle that happened between American and British soldiers, and Iroquois Warriors. It occurred in the Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania on July 3, 1778 in Luzerne County. The Americans lost in a landslide, with over 300 soldiers dying at the hands of the Iroquois, other American soldiers escaped battle or were taken hostage. Violence took place throughout the Wyoming Valley after the massacre, with civilians being safe. Citizens of the Wyoming Valley fled to places in the Poconos such as Stroudsburg and Easton, and Sunbury in the Susquehanna Valley. A few weeks after the massacre, there was a mainstream, but untrue news story about hundreds of women and children being killed. Many reporters went with this story for a while after, but it has since been debunked. The Wyoming Monument is located in Wyoming, Pennsylvania. It represents the bones of fallen soldiers who were killed during The Battle of Wyoming. The bones were initially put in a regular grave but were presented at public events in 1832.