Item 91: Bookplate, University of Pennsylvania, [1900]

Item — Box: 20, Folder: 91

Staff Only

Bookplate, University of Pennsylvania, no date

Dates

Created: [1900]

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:

Poor, condition is very worn and dirty, but readable.

Measurements:

3 13/16 in. x 2 ¾ in.

Title:

University of Pennsylvania

Description:

A bookplate from the University of Pennsylvania along with, “Tobias Wagner Library Fund.” There is a crest with a lion on it surrounded by vines with text below it that reads “Innocenter Constanter Patienter” which translates to “Innocently, Constantly, Patiently.” Tobias Wagner was born on November 21, 1793 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents were Johann Christian Wagner and Mary (Retz) Wagner. He had seven siblings, Phoebe (Wagner) White, Maria (Wagner) Stille, John Wagner, Susan (Wagner) Byerly, Samuel Wagner, William Wagner, and Anna Wagner. His wife was Mary (Rhoads) Wagner, and they got married on June 10, 1841. On December 3, 1831, there was a meeting where people agreed to start an Episcopal Church and give it the name St. Davids, “two brothers were elected to the first year’s vestry. They were Tobias Wagner and Samuel Wagner. In March of 1831, they started a company called T & S Wagner, “merchants and auctioneers.” Both of them were under forty and successful financially, “they were free to commit energies and gifts to doing good works through the religious and other philanthropic causes they supported.” On December 3, they did more work in helping St. David’s increase. Tobias was picked for the vestry every year until 1865. His brother Samuel was the vestry until 1861, the following year he helped start St. Timothy’s Church with a couple of in-laws in Roxburough. “Tobias and Samuel brought their commitment to St. David’s resources both earned and inherited.” Their money was given to them through their successful careers as sellers, “careers that exemplified the necessity of good training and placement, experience and luck, for young men seeking success in the new nation.” Despite the fact that they began their careers on different terms, they ended up working together at the firm they started in 1821. After Tobias was done with school, he started an apprenticeship with a seller in the city. He did so well that he started collaborating with the seller in 1815. In 1818, he started collaborating with another seller, and they started working together another three years later. At some point which could have been before or after they stopped working, they ran a mill at the further end of the Manayunk Canal. It used to belong to Robert Morris, who gave money to the American Revolution. Tobias died on February 19, 1868 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.