%0 Manuscript %A Kensington Soup Society (Philadelphia, Pa.) %G English %T Kensington Soup Society records 1853-2009 %U http://hsp.org/sites/default/files/legacy_files/migrated/findingaid3119kss.pdf %X The Kensington Soup Society (KSS) was founded in Philadelphia in 1844 as the East Kensington Soup Society. By 1853, the company dropped “East” from its names and was incorporated as the Kensington Soup Society. In its early years, KSS maintained close relationships with several local organizations, such as the Kensington Methodist Episcopal Church, the Kensington Building Association, and the Kensington Fire and Marine Insurance Company. Among KSS’s original founders were Richard S. Allen, William Cramp, Jacob K. Vaughan, Robert Pearce, and Joseph Lippincott. The first known location of KSS was on Shackamaxon Street. By the 1860s, local directories had KSS listed on Allen Street; and on Crease Street by the 1870s. The Kensington Soup Society served the city for over 100 years and was the last remaining neighborhood soup society in Philadelphia. It closed in 2007 and reopened as a philanthropic organization for the Kensington and Fishtown neighborhoods. The collection documents more than 100 years of the organization's work. Records are primarily administrative and financial, with lots of receipts, minutes, records of people served, records related to contractors and upkeep of their building, some ephemera, a little correspondence, and some photos and clippings. Thank you letters and bequest files show who supported KSS. Unprocessed additions to the collection (#2017.076, 6 linear feet) consist primarily of financial records, such as bank statements, reports, and check stubs; administrative papers, including those documenting the society's regular patrons and families; and miscellaneous legal records of the organization spanning much of the twentieth century. The bulk of the records, however, date from about the 1940s to the 1990s. Extent has not been updated to include additions.