362 New Academy Boarding Student Arrives at 110 Friedlander Street, Philadelphia (1884)

“It was snowing when I arrived. I got directions to Friedlander street from a hackman, and went right up there. My knock was answered by a strange lady, who showed me into a small school room and said that Mr. [J.P.] Stuart would be down soon. While sitting here, I began to get more and more embarrassed, as my hands and face were of a Pittsburgh hue and my appearance withal was anything but neat. In what seemed to me about half an hour, a small gentleman, with spectacles and side burns, entered the room and — smiled. ‘Mr. Stuart?’ ‘Yes sir.’ (sweetly) ‘I am Mr. Synnestvedt, just arrived from Chicago’” (January 26, 1884).

Homer Synnestvedt, at age 16, penned these words a few weeks after arriving at the College and Theological School of the Academy of the New Church, which at that time were situated in a row house in Philadelphia. The full letter is a remarkable and entertaining glimpse into the life of a new Academy boarding student in the 1880s. (The letter is reproduced in full at the end of this New Church History Fun Fact.)

For six years (1879-1885) the College and Theological School shared quarters in a three-story row house at No. 110 Friedlander Street, adjacent to Cherry Street, where the Temple of the Advent Society was located. For several years the Rev. William Henry Benade, the Chancellor, lodged at the same address, Continue reading » » » »

358 Potts Swedenborg Concordance Completed after 27 Years (1900)

“The typewriter was almost unknown in Scotland in those days, but it was providentially brought to my notice just at the time when my right hand threatened to fail me altogether, through a disease caused by so much fine writing in making the first draft. I determined to obtain a typewriter; and this becoming known, my kind friends in London [The Swedenborg Society] purchased for me the first Hammond typewriter that ever crossed the Atlantic to a purchaser. (I have since used up that and four others besides, including three Remingtons and one Smith Premier.)” - Rev. John Faulkner Potts

The Smith Premier typewriter pictured at the top of this page was owned by the Rev. John Faulkner Potts. The photograph of the “Concordance desk” in his study at Stancote, his stone cottage in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, was taken in the fall of 1900, shortly before his Swedenborg Concordance was finished.

This year marks the 108th anniversary of the completion of the The Swedenborg Concordance: A Complete Work of Reference to the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. Continue reading » » » »