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Oliver H. Bair Company records
The Oliver H. Bair Company was founded in 1878 with the intent to offer the best service possible for families that had to make funeral arrangements for their deceased loved ones. Originating at 41 North Eighteenth Street in Philadelphia, the funeral home's most well-known location was at 1820...
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| Corporate Author: | |
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| Collection: | Oliver H. Bair Company Records |
| Collection Number: | 3338 |
| Format: | Manuscript |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects and Genres: | |
| Online Access: | Link to finding aid |
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| Item Description: |
Processing Information: There are records within this collection that have been cleaned for mold. The boxes that house these records are labeled and we ask researchers to exercise caution when using them. Other records are currently receiving treatment for mold. Once cleaned and prepared for usage the records will be placed at the end of the collection. The records currently being treated for mold intermittently span the time frame of August 1933 and July 1934. |
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| Physical Description: |
396.4 Linear feet ; 991 boxes |
| Access: |
This collection is open for research; please see information on moldy records in the processing note below. |
| Summary: |
The Oliver H. Bair Company was founded in 1878 with the intent to offer the best service possible for families that had to make funeral arrangements for their deceased loved ones. Originating at 41 North Eighteenth Street in Philadelphia, the funeral home's most well-known location was at 1820 Chestnut Street, and it now operates from 8500 West Chester Pike in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, as a member of Oliver H. Bair Company & Monaghan Funeral Home. The collection contains records dated from 1920-1980 and includes records not only from Oliver H. Bair Company, but also from five other funeral homes that operated in Philadelphia and were purchased by the Oliver H. Bair Company. The burial records include information on the deceased, bills pertaining to funeral expenses, newspaper clippings, and correspondence between Oliver H. Bair and the person responsible for the payment for the deceased's funeral. The Oliver H. Bair Company collection spans the time period from 1920 to 1980, and is housed in 991 boxes. The collection consists of burial records not only from the Oliver H. Bair Company and its three branches, but also of five other funeral homes that operated in the Philadelphia area and were at one point or another purchased by Oliver H. Bair. The records donated by Oliver H. Bair seem to be comprehensive; however the records of the other funeral homes seem more scattered. These include William Rowan Grant, Inc., David G. Frankenfield & Sons, Inc., William F. Cushing, Inc., Davies Funeral Chapel and Evoy & Sons, Inc. Each record in the collection documents the burial of an individual, and the contents of the records vary. Nearly all records contain an informational sheet, which includes the deceased’s biographical information as well as the funeral home’s notes and information. Accompanying these sheets are often copies of bills from the funeral home, as well as brief correspondence between the funeral home and the deceased’s family. There are often newspapers clippings of the obituary of the deceased, and in rare cases other items such as correspondence from law firms, small coin purses, or books containing the deceased's Continuous Service Certificate from the armed forces. Most months also have a miscellaneous envelope and a limousine envelope. The miscellaneous envelopes contain incomplete burial documents of an individual or grave removal records. The limousine envelopes contain documents specifying when families rented a carriage or limousine for the funeral service. The records are organized into series by funeral home and within each series are arranged chronologically by burial date. The miscellaneous and limousine records are placed at the end of each month. |