Thomas Pim Cope Diaries
Haverford College
Thomas P. Cope was a successful Philadelphia merchant and Quaker who involved himself in a wide range of civic projects during the first half of the nineteenth century. He kept a regular diary between 1800 and 1851, with a gap between 1820 and 1843. In his diary, Cope records his own numerous activities, events taking place in Philadelphia and the wider world, and reflections on Quakerism, business, and many other topics.
Transcribing and editing the diary was a large undertaking, spanning three summers and two different editorial teams. The first team worked on volumes 1-6, the second on volumes 7-11 and the Soho Diary. All attempts were made to maintain consistency in editing, but differences between the two halves exist. Most of these are formatting issues, dealing with punctuation, spacing, and abbreviations. In addition, the proof-reading process left some inevitable oversights. Seemingly inconsistent capitalization or spacing, or slightly-incorrect dates, could be editor error, not Cope's error. If unsure, please consult the manuscripts themselves.
Cope frequently abbreviates names, using initials or only last names. The metadata listings are extensive, but should not be considered all-inclusive.
Newspaper articles in text boxes, or denoted by editor's notes, were inserted by later editors or owners of the diaries (but not by Haverford College or its editing teams).
