Description
“Black and white photographic print of an earlier photograph (published as hal?one
at p. 132 of vol. III of the Proceedings of the Historical Society of Berks County)
showing southwest perspec%ve view of the Mouns Jones House”.
Details include: gable-end chimney [left]; post-1886 porch [see 1886 woodcut view
without porch in MJHDWG2--1000.01.089]; 19th-20th century fenestration;
pargeted masonry walls; attic access platform in upper-right corner. Compare
window openings, proportions, and alignment in this photo to the artist's woodcut
rendition [c.1886] in MJHDWG2--1000.01.089 and MJHTX4--1000.01.063;
datestone variously described as "granite", and a "soapstone tablet" in the January,
1902 article in the "Pennsylvania German" periodical cited below. Within a month or
two after this article appeared, a devastating Schuylkill River flood swamped
Morlatton Village on Feb 28, 1902 [see MVPH47--1003.01.052].
A small halftone print of this photograph, with caption shown, was published in the
essay "Down the Schuylkill Valley" in the January, 1902 issue of the "Pennsylvania
German" magazine published and edited by Rev. P.C. Croll, Vol. III, No. 1, page 36,
which includes the following commentary on the Mouns Jones House by Howard C.
Mohr: "The oldest house in Berks County…stands on the east bank of the Schuylkill
River, close to the bridge…tradition informs us that it was used as a fort…when the
Indians attacked the white settlers…was used as a ferry-house and tavern, for some
time known as the 'Lamb's Inn.'{a} Today [1902] it is used as a club-house by a
number of Reading families who spend part of the summer…."
{a}The fort “tradition” seems to be undocumented, as is the assertion that the house
functioned as “Lamb’s Inn” during some undisclosed period.
See second image for notes written on verso, which contain an incorrect date
(c.1915) for this photo. See also the third image, which is a digital image scanned
from an original print of the same photograph from the collection of the
photographer H. Winslow Fegley of Hereford and Reading, Berks County,
Pennsylvania. This image is generously provided by the Schwenkfelder Library and
Heritage Center, Pennsburg, PA, from its extensive collection of Fegley
photographic prints, many of which appear in the book of Fegley photographs
entitled "Farming Always Farming, A Photographic Essay…," published as Volume
20 [2d series] by The Pennsylvania German Society in 1986.
Laurence Ward, December, 2018
Catalog details
- Catalog number
- 1000.01.070
- Alternate number
- MJHPH65
- Accession number
- 1000.01
- Date
- c.1901-1902
- Creator
- Image #3 by H. Winslow Fegley; Image #1 unknown.
- Object name
- Print, Photographic
- Record type
- Standard
- Classification
- Documentary Artifact