The I. Frank Lees Collection forms the backbone of the collections of the Media Historic Archives Commission, and is its reason for being. MHAC--an official arm of the Media, Pennsylvania government--was created to administer a collection of photographs and other material which I. Frank Lees (1919-1999), a lifelong resident, donated to the borough in 1981. The collection contains roughly 15,000 items, including the more than 1,800 photographs which are presented here. More photographs from this collection, and from other collections donated after Lees' death in 1999, will be added to this site in the future.
THANKS TO
- Chris Welc, for scanning more than 1,000 photographs in the photograph folders that Frank Lees had created. and for creating the first version of the Excel spreadsheet that became the basis of the catalog records on this site.
- Adam Levine scanned hundreds more photographs, fleshed out the photograph descriptions, and created the final metadata now attached to each image.
- Media Borough Council approved the purchase of a new computer and scanners for MHAC, and funded the creation and upkeep of this website.
Spatial Coverage
Media, Pennsylvania and vicinity, as well as other locations (including the Panama Canal Zone) related to Media people.
Beth Israel Congregation of Media (the local Jewish synagogue) illustrating the story of the four chaplains who died with hundreds of other soldiers in February 1943, after the USAT Dorchester was torpedoed by a German U-boat.
Media VFW Ladies Auxiliary float, with a Colonial soldier watching over Betsy Ross as she sews the American flag. This float also appeared in the parade the previous day.
"In the parade Thursday at 7 p. m. following the Media High School Band, was a carload of Quaker folk in old time costumes. Driving was Clifford A. Woodbury jr., a Friend of Middletown Township. With him in the front seat was Alfred B. Smedley, Media, a navy vet, who is a direct defendant of George Smedley, a Pennsylvania Quaker settler from Derbyshire, England in 1682. In the rear seat was Dr. Albert Cook Myers, Moylan, historian and William Penn authority, wearing a tall beaver hat 100 years old. In full Quaker garb, beside Dr. Myers, was Miss Louise M, Whinnery, a Moylan friend, and Harry Carleton Valentine jr., 8 years old, son of Dr. Valentine of Moylan. The boy was wearing a boy's beaver also 100 years old." (Chester Times, June 9, 1950, p. 33)
Sign on car: "Jefferson Harris [sic: Harrison], Delaware County's oldest Odd Fellow, 101 Yrs Young. Studebaker courtesy of Jessup & Pell, Inc." Harrison, of 214 Vernon Street, had lived most of his life in Virginia, where he had once been a slave. Earlier in the week, the newspaper reported that he had been accompanied to one of the Centennial programs by his daughters, Rosa Short and Eva Simmons, who lived at the same address. (Chester Times, June 5, 1950, page 9; and other articles)
