Joseph Priestley House
Encyclopedia
| National Historic Landmark National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance... |
|
|---|---|
| Location: | 472 Priestley Avenue Northumberland Northumberland, Pennsylvania Northumberland is a borough in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,714 at the 2000 census.-History:Northumberland was founded in 1772. The land that became Northumberland was purchased from the Iroquois in the first Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768, and the... , Pennsylvania Pennsylvania The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to... |
| Nearest city: | Sunbury Sunbury, Pennsylvania Sunbury is a city in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city is located on the east bank of the Susquehanna River, just downstream of the confluence of its main and West branches. The population was 9,905 at the 2010 census... |
| Area: | 1 acre (4,000 m²) |
| Built: | 1798 |
| Architectural styles: | Georgian Georgian architecture Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United... , Federal Federal architecture Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the United States between c. 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815. This style shares its name with its era, the Federal Period. The name Federal style is also used in association with furniture design... |
| Designated as NHL: | January 12, 1965 |
| Added to NRHP National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation... : |
October 15, 1966 |
| NRHP Reference #: | 66000673 |
| Governing body: | Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission is the governmental agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania responsible for the collection, conservation and interpretation of Pennsylvania's historic heritage... |
The Joseph Priestley House was the American home of 18th-century British theologian, Dissenting
English Dissenters
English Dissenters were Christians who separated from the Church of England in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.They originally agitated for a wide reaching Protestant Reformation of the Established Church, and triumphed briefly under Oliver Cromwell....
clergyman, natural philosopher
Natural philosophy
Natural philosophy or the philosophy of nature , is a term applied to the study of nature and the physical universe that was dominant before the development of modern science...
(and discoverer of oxygen), educator, and political theorist
Political philosophy
Political philosophy is the study of such topics as liberty, justice, property, rights, law, and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why they are needed, what, if anything, makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect and why, what form it...
Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley, FRS was an 18th-century English theologian, Dissenting clergyman, natural philosopher, chemist, educator, and political theorist who published over 150 works...
(1733–1804) from 1798 until his death. Located in Northumberland, Pennsylvania
Northumberland, Pennsylvania
Northumberland is a borough in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,714 at the 2000 census.-History:Northumberland was founded in 1772. The land that became Northumberland was purchased from the Iroquois in the first Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768, and the...
, the house, which was designed by Priestley's wife Mary, is Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
with Federalist
Federal architecture
Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the United States between c. 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815. This style shares its name with its era, the Federal Period. The name Federal style is also used in association with furniture design...
accents. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission is the governmental agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania responsible for the collection, conservation and interpretation of Pennsylvania's historic heritage...
(PHMC) operated it as a museum dedicated to Joseph Priestley from 1970 to August 2009, when it closed due to low visitation and budget cuts. The house reopened in October 2009, still owned by the PHMC but operated by the Friends of Joseph Priestley House (FJPH).
Fleeing religious persecution and political turmoil in Britain, the Priestleys emigrated to the United States in 1794 seeking a peaceful life. Hoping to avoid the political troubles that had plagued them in Britain and the problems of urban life they saw in the United States, the Priestleys built a house in rural Pennsylvania. Nevertheless, political disputes and family troubles dogged Priestley during the last ten years of his life.
After the Priestleys died, their home remained in private hands until the turn of the 20th century, when George Gilbert Pond, a professor from what is now Pennsylvania State University
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...
, bought it and attempted to found the first Priestley museum. He died before he could complete the project and it was not until the 1960s that the house was first carefully restored by the PHMC and designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
. A second renovation was undertaken in the 1990s to return the home to the way it looked during Priestley's time. The home has been a frequent place of celebration for the American Chemical Society
American Chemical Society
The American Chemical Society is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 161,000 members at all degree-levels and in all fields of chemistry, chemical...
; they commemorated the centennial and bicentennial of the discovery of oxygen
Oxygen
Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
gas by Priestley as well as the 250th anniversary of Priestley's birth.
Location
Following the Seven Years' WarSeven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
(1756–63) and the forced migration of Native American tribes westward, German, Scots-Irish, and other European immigrants settled in the central Susquehanna Valley, including in the area that would become Northumberland, Pennsylvania
Northumberland, Pennsylvania
Northumberland is a borough in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,714 at the 2000 census.-History:Northumberland was founded in 1772. The land that became Northumberland was purchased from the Iroquois in the first Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768, and the...
. Northumberland was laid out
Urban planning
Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
around a central village green
Village green
A village green is a common open area which is a part of a settlement. Traditionally, such an area was often common grass land at the centre of a small agricultural settlement, used for grazing and sometimes for community events...
in 1772, on land originally purchased from the Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
by the Province of Pennsylvania
Province of Pennsylvania
The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as Pennsylvania Colony, was founded in British America by William Penn on March 4, 1681 as dictated in a royal charter granted by King Charles II...
in 1768, as part of the first Treaty of Fort Stanwix
Treaty of Fort Stanwix
The Treaty of Fort Stanwix was an important treaty between North American Indians and the British Empire. It was signed in 1768 at Fort Stanwix, located in present-day Rome, New York...
. During the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, the village was evacuated as part of the Big Runaway
Big Runaway
The Big Runaway occurred in 1778, during the American Revolutionary War, when settlements throughout the West Branch Susquehanna Valley in Pennsylvania in what became the United States were attacked by Loyalists and Native Americans allied with the British...
in 1778, and only finally resettled in 1784. In 1794, when the Priestleys moved there, it included Quaker and Wesleyan
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
meeting houses, a brewery
Brewery
A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....
, two potteries
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
, a potash
Potash
Potash is the common name for various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form. In some rare cases, potash can be formed with traces of organic materials such as plant remains, and this was the major historical source for it before the industrial era...
manufacturer, a clock maker, a printer (who issued a weekly newspaper), several stores, and approximately one hundred houses.
The Priestley property, purchased in 1794 at a total cost of £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
500 (£ in ) from Reuben Haines, who had secured the patent
Land grant
A land grant is a gift of real estate – land or its privileges – made by a government or other authority as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service...
to the land for Northumberland, comprised four lots of the original village plan (numbers 29–32). Currently, the house and grounds occupy 1 acre (4,000 m²) at 472 Priestley Avenue. (The address of the house was originally "North Way", but the street was later renamed in honor of Joseph Priestley.) This street forms the northwest boundary of the property; the other boundaries are Hanover Avenue to the northeast, Wallis Street to the southwest, and the North Shore Railroad to the southeast. Beyond the railroad line is a baseball field, and beyond that lies the Susquehanna River
Susquehanna River
The Susquehanna River is a river located in the northeastern United States. At long, it is the longest river on the American east coast that drains into the Atlantic Ocean, and with its watershed it is the 16th largest river in the United States, and the longest river in the continental United...
, which was the original southeastern boundary of the property. The confluence
Confluence (geography)
In geography, a confluence is the meeting of two or more bodies of water. It usually refers to the point where two streams flow together, merging into a single stream...
of the West Branch Susquehanna River
West Branch Susquehanna River
The West Branch Susquehanna River is one of the two principal branches, along with the North Branch, of the Susquehanna River in the northeastern United States. The North Branch, which rises in upstate New York, is generally regarded as the extension of the main branch, with the shorter West Branch...
with the main (or North) branch of the Susquehanna is a short distance southwest of the property, which is at an elevation of 456 feet (139 m).
The property's original area was 2 acres (8,000 m²), but this was reduced by about half around 1830 when the Pennsylvania Canal (North Branch Division)
Pennsylvania Canal (North Branch Division)
The North Branch Division of the Pennsylvania Canal was an historic waterway that ran along the North Branch Susquehanna River between southern New York and north-central Pennsylvania in the United States...
was dug through the house's front yard, between the house and river. On May 31, 1860, the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad
Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad
The Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad was an 80 mile long 19th century railroad that ran between Scranton and Northumberland in Pennsylvania in the United States. Incorporated in 1852, the railroad began operation in 1856 and was taken over by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad...
opened with a train from Danville
Danville, Pennsylvania
Danville is a borough in Montour County, Pennsylvania, USA, of which it is the county seat, on the North Branch of the Susquehanna River. Danville was home to 8,042 people in 1900, 7,517 people in 1910, and 7,122 people in 1940. The population was 4,897 at the 2000 census...
. This was the second railroad track in Northumberland, and ran behind the house. The canal closed in 1902 and was later filled in. The modern railroad line approximates the canal's course through the front yard; the track behind the house no longer exists.
Priestleys in America
Emigration to Northumberland
The last three years the Priestleys spent in Britain were a time of political upheaval and the persecution they experienced led to their eventual emigration to the United States. During the Birmingham Riots of 1791Priestley Riots
The Priestley Riots took place from 14 July to 17 July 1791 in Birmingham, England; the rioters' main targets were religious Dissenters, most notably the politically and theologically controversial Joseph Priestley...
, which began on the second anniversary of the storming of the Bastille
Storming of the Bastille
The storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris on the morning of 14 July 1789. The medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. While the prison only contained seven inmates at the time of its storming, its fall was the flashpoint...
in the wake of the conservative British reaction against the French revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, the Priestleys' home, Joseph's church, and the homes of many other religious Dissenters
English Dissenters
English Dissenters were Christians who separated from the Church of England in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.They originally agitated for a wide reaching Protestant Reformation of the Established Church, and triumphed briefly under Oliver Cromwell....
were burned. The Priestleys fled Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
and attempted to live in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, but they could not escape the political turmoil. In 1794, they joined the tide of 10,000 emigrants who moved to America—it was the largest emigration from Europe to America until the end of the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
. The Priestleys left Britain at the beginning of April on the Samson and arrived in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on June 4, 1794. Two of their three sons, Joseph, Jr. (eldest) and Harry (youngest), had already emigrated to the United States in August 1793, along with Joseph Priestley's friend, the radical activist Thomas Cooper
Thomas Cooper (US politician)
Thomas Cooper was an Anglo-American economist, college president and political philosopher. Cooper was described by Thomas Jefferson as "one of the ablest men in America" and by John Adams as "a learned ingenious scientific and talented madcap." Dumas Malone stated that "modern scientific...
. Their middle son, William, had moved to America from France at the start of the Reign of Terror
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
.
Although Europeans knew Priestley best as a scientist (he had discovered oxygen
Oxygen
Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
gas in 1774), Americans knew him best as a defender of religious freedom and as an advocate for American independence
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
. Immediately upon his arrival, he was fêted by various political factions vying to gain his support. Priestley declined their entreaties, however, hoping to avoid the political discord that had embroiled him in Britain. He wrote to John Adams
John Adams
John Adams was an American lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States...
that he "made it a rule to take no part whatever in the politics of a country in which I am a stranger, and in which I only wish to live undisturbed". (Priestley never became a citizen of the United States.) He also turned down an opportunity to teach chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
at this time.
On their way to Northumberland, the Priestleys stopped in Philadelphia, where Joseph gave a series of sermons that helped promote the spread of Unitarianism
Unitarian Universalism
Unitarian Universalism is a religion characterized by support for a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning". Unitarian Universalists do not share a creed; rather, they are unified by their shared search for spiritual growth and by the understanding that an individual's theology is a...
. According to J. D. Bowers, who studied Priestley's influence on Unitarianism in America, "[f]or a decade Priestley served as the inspiration and leading force in the spread of Unitarianism in America and the formation of numerous societies that followed his teachings on congregational formation, the education of youth, lay preaching, and espousing one's faith in the presence of opposition from (and to) both the Protestant majority and a competing liberal faction." Through Priestley's influence, at least 12 congregations were founded in Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Kentucky, including the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia
First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia
The First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia is a Unitarian Universalist congregation located at 2125 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
and Northumberland's Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Susquehanna Valley. When he preached, Unitarians and non-Unitarians flocked to hear him and his sermons were published throughout the country. During his years in America, Priestley became increasingly convinced that the Millennium
Millennialism
Millennialism , or chiliasm in Greek, is a belief held by some Christian denominations that there will be a Golden Age or Paradise on Earth in which "Christ will reign" for 1000 years prior to the final judgment and future eternal state...
was approaching. His close study of the Bible, together with the happenings in France, persuaded him that he would see Christ's return.
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
epidemic that had recently decimated the city. He considered settling in Germantown
Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Germantown is a neighborhood in the northwest section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, about 7–8 miles northwest from the center of the city...
, which had better access to transportation and communication than Northumberland, but Mary preferred the country and wanted to be near her sons. Joseph considered splitting his time between Northumberland and Philadelphia, but this plan became impractical. Determined to ensure the future economic stability of his family, Priestley bought land and settled in Northumberland by July 1794, which was "five days of rough travel" north of Philadelphia. There they hoped a larger community would eventually blossom.
Settling in
Priestley seems to have yearned for a more cosmopolitan community than Northumberland provided, writing to his sister that it was "seemingly almost out of the world" and complaining that he had to wait a week for news. He wrote to his friend John Vaughan: "We know but little more than we did when we left you of European affairs." In the winter of 1794–95, Priestley wrote to friends that his situation was very "distant from my original views" and "my time here is far from passing so agreeably as it did in England", yet he was "very thankful for such an asylum" and he attempted "to make the best of my situation". In his letters to friends back in Britain, Priestley consistently referred to himself as an exile and to England as his real home. Mary was happier with the couple's situation and wrote to William Vaughan: "I am happy and thankful to meet with so sweet a situation and so peaceful a retreat as the place I now write from. Dr. Priestley also likes it and of his own choice intends to settle here, which is more than I hoped for at the time we came up...This country is very delightful, the prospects of wood and water more beautiful than I have ever seen before and the people plain and decent in their manners."When the Priestleys' sons emigrated to America in 1793, they bought 300000 acres (1,214.1 km²) of land along Loyalsock Creek
Loyalsock Creek
Loyalsock Creek is a tributary of the West Branch Susquehanna River located chiefly in Sullivan and Lycoming counties in Pennsylvania in the United States...
(between the North and West Branches
West Branch Susquehanna River
The West Branch Susquehanna River is one of the two principal branches, along with the North Branch, of the Susquehanna River in the northeastern United States. The North Branch, which rises in upstate New York, is generally regarded as the extension of the main branch, with the shorter West Branch...
of the Susquehanna River). Shortly thereafter, Thomas Cooper, a friend of Joseph Priestley's, published a pamphlet in Britain titled Some Information Respecting America meant to encourage others to settle in Pennsylvania and offering instructions on how to do so. It detailed a clear plan for establishing and financing a settlement. The French translation, Renseignemens sur l'Amérique, was, according to one scholar, "carefully phrased in legal terminology" and "lucidly outline[d] an ambitious financial venture". However, it is unclear whether Cooper's scheme was related to the lands that the younger Priestleys had purchased.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla...
and William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
, full of idealism and angered at Priestley's treatment in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, intended to emigrate to America and establish a utopia
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
n community which they called "Pantisocracy" (derived from the Greek for "equal rule of all"). They assembled 12 couples who were interested not only in demanding physical labor but also in a life of the mind, but none of them had enough money to embark on the project, which required much capital. Therefore the poets undertook a lecture tour of England to raise funds; however, they never generated enough money and never emigrated. The utopia was not built and few immigrants arrived in Northumberland as a result of Cooper's schemes.
After the failure of Cooper's endeavor, Priestley attempted to convince other friends to move to Northumberland, particularly those he had made in America, but to no avail. Priestley wrote in his Memoirs that "the settlement was given up, but being here, and my wife and myself liking the place, I have determined to take up my residence here, though subject to many disadvantages. Philadelphia was excessively expensive, and this a comparatively cheap place; and my sons, settling in the neighborhood, will be less exposed to temptation, and more likely to form habits of sobriety and industry."
Last years
Priestley's attempts to avoid political controversy in the United States failed. In 1795, the journalist William CobbettWilliam Cobbett
William Cobbett was an English pamphleteer, farmer and journalist, who was born in Farnham, Surrey. He believed that reforming Parliament and abolishing the rotten boroughs would help to end the poverty of farm labourers, and he attacked the borough-mongers, sinecurists and "tax-eaters" relentlessly...
published Observations on the Emigration of Dr. Joseph Priestley, which accused Priestley of treason against Britain and attempted to undermine his scientific credibility. His political fortunes took an even worse turn when Cobbett obtained a set of letters sent to Priestley by the radical printer John Hurford Stone
John Hurford Stone
John Hurford Stone was a British radical political reformer and publisher who spent much of his life in France.Stone was born in Taunton, Somerset. After the death of his father, he went to live with his uncle, William Hurford, who was a coal merchant, in London...
and the liberal novelist Helen Maria Williams
Helen Maria Williams
Helen Maria Williams was a British novelist, poet, and translator of French-language works. A religious dissenter, she was a supporter of abolitionism and of the ideals of the French Revolution; she was imprisoned in Paris during the Reign of Terror, but nonetheless spent much of the rest of her...
. Cobbett published the letters in his newspaper, asserting that Priestley and his friends were fomenting a revolution. Priestley was eventually forced to defend himself in print.
Family matters also made Priestley's time in America difficult. His youngest son Harry died in December 1795, probably of malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
. Mary Priestley died soon after in 1796; she was already ill and never fully recovered after the shock of her son's death. On September 14 of that year Joseph wrote: "This day I bury my wife....she had taken much thought in planning the new house and now that it is far advanced and promises to be everything she wished, she is removed to another." Priestley's family relations deteriorated even further in 1800 when a local Pennsylvania newspaper published an article accusing William Priestley, intoxicated with "French principles", of trying to poison the entire Priestley family—both father and son vigorously denied the story.
Priestley continued the educational projects that had been important to him throughout his life, helping to establish a "Northumberland Academy" and donating his library to the fledging institution. He exchanged letters regarding the proper structure of a university with Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
, who used the advice when founding the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
. Jefferson and Priestley became close and when he had completed his General History of the Christian Church, he dedicated it to President Jefferson, writing that "it is now only that I can say I see nothing to fear from the hand of power, the government under which I live being for the first time truly favourable to me." Of all of the religious works Priestley published in the United States, and there were many, it was his four-volume General History that was the most important. Stretching from 475 CE
Common Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
to Priestley's present, he tracked and explained what he saw as the history of Christianity and its "corruptions", referencing his own An History of the Corruptions of Christianity
An History of the Corruptions of Christianity
An History of the Corruptions of Christianity, published by Joseph Johnson in 1782, was the fourth part of 18th-century Dissenting minister Joseph Priestley's Institutes of Natural and Revealed Religion .-Summary:...
(1772–74). However, he ended it by praising American religious toleration.
Priestley attempted to continue his scientific investigations in America with the support of the American Philosophical Association. However, he was hampered by lack of news from Europe; unaware of the latest scientific developments, Priestley was no longer on the forefront of discovery. Although the majority of his publications focused on defending the outmoded phlogiston theory
Phlogiston theory
The phlogiston theory , first stated in 1667 by Johann Joachim Becher, is an obsolete scientific theory that postulated the existence of a fire-like element called "phlogiston", which was contained within combustible bodies and released during combustion...
against the "new chemistry
Chemical Revolution
The chemical revolution, also called the first chemical revolution, denotes the reformulation of chemistry based on the Law of Conservation of Matter and the oxygen theory of combustion. It was centered on the work of French chemist Antoine Lavoisier...
", he also did some original work on spontaneous generation
Spontaneous generation
Spontaneous generation or Equivocal generation is an obsolete principle regarding the origin of life from inanimate matter, which held that this process was a commonplace and everyday occurrence, as distinguished from univocal generation, or reproduction from parent...
and dreams. As Robert Schofield, Priestley's major modern biographer, explains:
Priestley published more scientific items during his decade in the United States than during all his years in England: some 45 papers, not counting reprintings, and four pamphlets, not counting subsequent editions, but in general his science was now anticlimactic. Few of his papers contributed anything significantly new to the field of chemistry; most were committed to combatting the new chemistry.
Despite Priestley's reduced scientific importance, he stimulated an interest in chemistry in America.
By 1801, Priestley had become so ill that he could no longer write or experiment effectively. On February 3, 1804, Joseph started a last experiment in his lab but was too weak to continue it. He went to a bed in his library, where he died three days later. He was buried in nearby Riverview Cemetery in Northumberland. Priestley's epitaph reads:
- Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the
- Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.
- I will lay me down in peace and sleep till
- I awake in the morning of the resurrection.
Architecture and landscaping
Joseph and Mary lived with their son Joseph, Jr. and his family in a small house while theirs was being built. Mary Priestley was primarily responsible for the design of the couple's new home and her family inheritance may have helped finance it, but she died before it was completed. By 1797, Joseph's laboratory was completed—the first part of the home to be finished. It was the first laboratory that "he had designed, built, and outfitted entirely himself" and was probably the first "scientifically-equipped laboratory" in the United States. Joseph continued his scientific and scholarly work in his new laboratory, identifying carbon monoxideCarbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide , also called carbonous oxide, is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas that is slightly lighter than air. It is highly toxic to humans and animals in higher quantities, although it is also produced in normal animal metabolism in low quantities, and is thought to have some normal...
(which he called "heavy inflammable air"). In 1798 Joseph Jr., his wife, and their children moved into the new house with Joseph Priestley. The house also held Priestley's library, which contained about 1600 volumes by his death in 1804 and was one of the largest in America at the time. The Priestley family held Unitarian
Unitarianism
Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....
church services in the drawing room and Joseph educated a group of young men until the local Northumberland Academy that he helped found was completed.
The house proper was completed in 1798, with a Mr. Jones of Northumberland employed acting as master carpenter. Built in an 18th-century Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
style, the "balance and symmetry" of the architecture signaled "subdued elegance". The house was accented with Federalist
Federal architecture
Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the United States between c. 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815. This style shares its name with its era, the Federal Period. The name Federal style is also used in association with furniture design...
highlights, such as "the fanlight
Fanlight
A fanlight is a window, semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open fan, It is placed over another window or a doorway. and is sometimes hinged to a transom. The bars in the fixed glazed window spread out in the manner a sunburst...
s over the doors and the balustrades on the rooftop belvedere and main staircase", marking it as distinctly American. Douglas R. McMinn, in the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
nomination for the Northumberland Historic District
Northumberland Historic District
The Northumberland Historic District is a historic district listed in the US government's National Register of Historic Places in 1988. The "gem" of the district is a National Historic Landmark, the Joseph Priestley House. It includes one other separately Registered Historic Place, the Dr. Joseph...
, calls it a "mansion" that is "probably the finest example of the Federal style in the region". As William N. Richardson, the site administrator for the Joseph Priestley House in the 1990s, notes, Priestley's American home did not resemble his "high-style Georgian town house" that was destroyed in Birmingham; rather, it was "plain" and built in the "American vernacular".
The house has a two-and-half story central section, which is 48 feet (14.6 m) by 43 feet (13.1 m), and two one-story wings on the north and south sides that are each 22 feet (6.7 m) by 21 feet (6.4 m). The first and second floors have a total area of 5,052 square feet (469 m²). The north wing was the laboratory and the south wing (which had an attached woodshed) was the summer kitchen. The cellar, first, and second floors of the central section are each divided into four rooms, with a central hall on the first and second floors; the first floor also has an intersecting hall that leads to the laboratory. The attic has three rooms for servants and a larger room for storage. A paint analysis done in 1994 revealed that the house had no wall paper initially and that the walls and woodwork were painted "a brilliant white".
The house is a frame structure, covered with white wooden clapboard
Clapboard (architecture)
Clapboard, also known as bevel siding or lap siding or weather-board , is a board used typically for exterior horizontal siding that has one edge thicker than the other and where the board above laps over the one below...
s, anchored to a stone foundation. The Priestleys built their home out of wood, dried in trenches on the site, because no stone or brick was available in the area. Joseph wrote a detailed description of the drying process, concluding: "A house constructed with such boards I prefer to one of brick and stone". This may have prompted journalist William Cobbett
William Cobbett
William Cobbett was an English pamphleteer, farmer and journalist, who was born in Farnham, Surrey. He believed that reforming Parliament and abolishing the rotten boroughs would help to end the poverty of farm labourers, and he attacked the borough-mongers, sinecurists and "tax-eaters" relentlessly...
to caustically label the house a "shed" in one of his political tirades against Joseph. The central section of the house has a slate gable roof with a railing-enclosed deck. The house has "three internal gable end chimneys, one for the main kitchen", and one each at the north and south ends of the central section.
The house faces the Susquehanna River
Susquehanna River
The Susquehanna River is a river located in the northeastern United States. At long, it is the longest river on the American east coast that drains into the Atlantic Ocean, and with its watershed it is the 16th largest river in the United States, and the longest river in the continental United...
, and both the front and rear doors are "sheltered by a shallow portico". A circular carriage drive (originally gravel, now concrete) leads to the front door, which also has a fanlight. There are five windows on the second floor on both the front and rear sides of the house, with a dentil
Dentil
In classical architecture a dentil is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice.The Roman architect Vitruvius In classical architecture a dentil (from Lat. dens, a tooth) is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice.The Roman architect...
cornice above both sets of windows. The external details on the house also include a "frieze board with triglyph
Triglyph
Triglyph is an architectural term for the vertically channeled tablets of the Doric frieze, so called because of the angular channels in them, two perfect and one divided, the two chamfered angles or hemiglyphs being reckoned as one. The square recessed spaces between the triglyphs on a Doric...
s".
Originally, delightful panoramic views were visible from the home. It was built facing the Susquehanna River so that visitors arriving by boat could be welcomed by the family and because conventional 18th-century aesthetic theory held that countryscapes were more beautiful than townscapes. Priestley built a high wall blocking the view of Northumberland and added a belvedere
Belvedere (structure)
Belvedere is an architectural term adopted from Italian , which refers to any architectural structure sited to take advantage of such a view. A belvedere may be built in the upper part of a building so as to command a fine view...
to the top of his house to more easily survey the landscape. His plantings were "a much scaled-down version of the beautiful gardens" at Bowood
Bowood House
Bowood is a grade I listed Georgian country house with interiors by Robert Adam and a garden designed by Lancelot "Capability" Brown. It is adjacent to the village of Derry Hill, halfway between Calne and Chippenham in Wiltshire, England...
, the estate of his former employer Lord Shelburne
William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne
William Petty-FitzMaurice, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, KG, PC , known as The Earl of Shelburne between 1761 and 1784, by which title he is generally known to history, was an Irish-born British Whig statesman who was the first Home Secretary in 1782 and then Prime Minister 1782–1783 during the final...
.
The lack of skilled craftspeople in Northumberland made the construction of the house difficult. For example, Richardson speculates that the main staircase was assembled from a kit. It is one step too short for the Northumberland hallway, but no extra step was added to finish off the symmetry of the stairwell, suggesting a dearth of skilled labor.
Ownership and museum
After the deaths of Mary and Joseph Priestley, Joseph Priestley, Jr. and his wife, Elizabeth Ryland, continued to live in the house until 1811, at which time they emigrated to Britain and sold the home. The house passed through various hands during the 19th century. Judge Seth Chapman purchased the house from Joseph Priestley Jr. on May 13, 1815 for US$6,250 ($ in ). Chapman died on December 4, 1835, and Rev. James Kay, pastor of the Northumberland Unitarian congregation, and his family lived in the house next. James Kay died on September 22, 1847 and his widow probably lived in the house until her October 2, 1850 death. Charles H. Kay, son of James, had purchased the house in 1845, a few years before his parents' deaths. In April 1865 Charles Kay's children sold the house to Henry R. Campbell for $2,775 ($ in ). Florence Bingham purchased the house from Campbell for $5,679.53 on January 18, 1868 ($ in ), and Bingham's heirs sold it to T. Hugh Johnson for $2,000 on October 7, 1882 ($ in ). Kate Scott bought the house for $3,000 on April 11, 1888 ($ in ). In 1911 the last private resident moved out of the house, and it was sublet to the Pennsylvania RailroadPennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
for its workers (a large railroad yard was built in Northumberland at this time). This led to a general decline in the house and its grounds.
Professor George Gilbert Pond was the first person to make a significant effort to establish a permanent Priestley museum at the Priestley House. After raising sufficient funds, he managed to purchase the home at auction for $6,000 from Scott's heirs on November 24, 1919 ($ in ). Pond believed that construction of a new railroad line would destroy the house, and so intended to move it to Pennsylvania State College (now Pennsylvania State University
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...
). However, he died on May 20, 1920 before this plan could be enacted; the planned rail line was never built and the house proved too fragile to move. The college established a memorial fund in Pond's honor and retained the house as a museum, although Pond's children did not formally transfer the house to the college until April 14, 1932. Some restoration of the house was done in the 1920s, and a small, brick building—intended as a fireproof museum for Priestley's books and scientific apparatus—was built on the grounds and dedicated to Pond's memory in 1926. In 1941 the state legislature tried to have the State Historical Commission administer the house as a museum, but Governor Arthur James
Arthur James (politician)
Arthur Horace James was an American politician. He served as the 31st Governor of Pennsylvania from 1939 until 1943.He was elected governor as a Republican when the Democratic machine Arthur Horace James (July 14, 1883April 27, 1973) was an American politician. He served as the 31st Governor of...
vetoed the plan for lack of funding.
On December 14, 1955, the college donated the house to the borough of Northumberland. From 1955 to 1959 the house served as both the borough hall for Northumberland and as a museum. The house proved too costly for the borough to maintain, and was acquired by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1961. Eventually, in 1968 the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission is the governmental agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania responsible for the collection, conservation and interpretation of Pennsylvania's historic heritage...
(PHMC) began restoring it and in October 1970 the museum was opened to the public. The renovations included a restoration of the laboratory, a removal of ornamentation added in the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
, a return of doorways to their original locations, and a return of the shutters "to their original locations inside the windows". The PHMC was supported by the "The Friends of the Joseph Priestley House" (FJPH), who help with the visitor center, tours, special events, and outreach, as well as with clerical and museum work.
Between 1998 and 1999 a renovation that was "one of the most extensive changes in the homestead's history" set out to "restore the grounds around the house to exactly the way it was when Priestley lived" there. This involved reconstructing exact replicas of the original carriage barn, hog sties, horse stalls, gardens, fences, and even the privy
Latrine
A latrine is a communal facility containing one or more commonly many toilets which may be simple pit toilets or in the case of the United States Armed Forces any toilet including modern flush toilets...
. These structures were based on T. Lambourne's drawings of the house and grounds that had been discovered in 1983, other records, and excavations. Priestley left no written description of his laboratory, but much is known of his experiments and late-18th-century laboratories. Extensive research on the laboratory within the house was completed in 1996, including excavations that revealed two underground ovens, as well as evidence of a primitive fume hood
Fume hood
A fume hood or fume cupboard is a type of local ventilation device that is designed to limit exposure to hazardous or noxious fumes, vapors or dusts. A fume hood is typically a large piece of equipment enclosing five sides of a work area, the bottom of which is most commonly located at a standing...
. The 1998 renovations also included work to restore the laboratory to a condition as close to its original state as possible.
After Joseph's death, Thomas Cooper sold a collection of some of his friend's apparatus and other personal belongings to Dickinson College
Dickinson College
Dickinson College is a private, residential liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Originally established as a Grammar School in 1773, Dickinson was chartered September 9, 1783, five days after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, making it the first college to be founded in the newly...
in Carlisle
Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Carlisle is a borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The name is traditionally pronounced with emphasis on the second syllable. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2010 census, the borough...
, which exhibits it each year when presenting the school's Priestley Award to a scientist who makes "discoveries which contribute to the welfare of mankind". The house lost its original furnishings when Joseph Jr. and his family moved back to England. Since it is not known what was originally in the home, it is furnished and decorated with artifacts donated by descendants of the Priestleys and with ones similar to those listed in Priestley's testament of what was lost in the fire at his Birmingham home. A number of items that belonged to Joseph and Mary during their lives both in Britain and America are on display throughout the house, including Joseph's balance scales and microscope. Portraits, prints, maps, charts, and books have been carefully selected to replicate the Priestleys' holdings. A bedroom on the second floor is dedicated to an exploration of the life of an 18th-century woman.
On January 12, 1965, the Joseph Priestley House was designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
(NRHP) on October 15, 1966. On August 1, 1994, the American Chemical Society named it the second National Historic Chemical Landmark
ACS National Historical Chemical Landmarks
The National Historic Chemical Landmarks Program was launched by the American Chemical Society in 1992 and has recognized more than 60 landmarks to date. The program celebrates the centrality of chemistry...
; the dedication ceremony was attended by 75 Priestley descendants. In 1988, the Northumberland Historic District
Northumberland Historic District
The Northumberland Historic District is a historic district listed in the US government's National Register of Historic Places in 1988. The "gem" of the district is a National Historic Landmark, the Joseph Priestley House. It includes one other separately Registered Historic Place, the Dr. Joseph...
, including the Priestley House (which it describes as a "gem" and one of the finest Federal style buildings in central Pennsylvania), was listed on the NRHP. The district includes one other building already on the NRHP: the Priestley-Forsyth Memorial Library
Priestley-Forsyth Memorial Library
For the 1794 structure known as the Joseph Priestly House, also in Northumberland, see the Joseph Priestley HouseThe Priestley-Forsyth Memorial Library, also known as the Dr...
, which was built as an inn around 1820 and was owned by a great-grandson of the Priestleys in the 1880s. Today it serves as Northumberland's public library. The Joseph Priestley Memorial Chapel, which is a contributing structure
Contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
in the historic district, was built in 1834 by his grandson, and is home to a Unitarian Universalist congregation that considers Priestley its founder.
Under the PHMC, the museum was open ten months a year, closing between early January and early March. In 2007 and 2008 the number of visitors held steady after recent declines. According to the PHMC, in fiscal 2007–08 "total visitation ... was 1,705 with a paid visitation of 1,100 generating $4,125 in program revenue and 2,406 recreational and non-ticketed visitors". The fiscal 2006–07 operations budget for the house and its two full-time staff was $142,901, with $6,900 (five percent) coming from FJPH and the rest from the state of Pennsylvania.
On March 4, 2009 the PHMC released a report examining its 22 museums and historic sites and recommended discontinuing operations at six, including the Joseph Priestley House. The proposed closure of the Priestley House was based on "low visitation and limited potential for growth". Despite public meetings, protest letters, and a general "public outcry" against closure, on August 14, 2009 the state closed the Priestley House and three other PHMC museums indefinitely due to a lack of funding as part of an ongoing budget crisis. The sole remaining state employee at Priestley House was furloughed. That month the Friends of the Joseph Priestley House submitted a plan to the PHMC to operate the house on weekends from May to October with staffing provided by volunteers. The plan depended both on acquiring insurance for the volunteers, the house, and its contents, and on the state passing a budget.
On September 24, 2009 the PHMC and officers of the FJPH signed an agreement to reopen the museum on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. The house reopened on October 3, with volunteer staffing from the FJPH. The agreement can be renewed annually and lets FJPH "schedule programs, set fees and be in charge of all the business aspects of running the site". On November 1, there was a "grand reopening celebration" at the house with a dozen costumed volunteer guides and chemical demonstrations in Priestley's laboratory. On November 7, 2010 the brick Pond building was rededicated after an $85,000 renovation, as part of the museum's annual "Fall Heritage Day". The restoration, which had been planned for years, was paid for by private donors and included "handicapped accessibility, new roofing, heating and air-conditioning and new interior walls, ceilings and lighting". The FJPH plan to install a timeline of Priestley's scientific work and times in the Pond building, as well as a video about his laboratory techniques and impact today.
American Chemical Society
The American Chemical Society (ACS) has used the Joseph Priestley House as a place to mark special celebrations. On July 31 and August 1, 1874, "seventy-seven chemists made a pilgrimage to the site to celebrate the centennial of chemistry". The date was chosen to mark the hundredth anniversary of Priestley's experiment producing oxygen by heating mercuric oxide with a magnifying lens and sunlight. These chemists came from 15 US states and the District of Columbia, Canada, and England, and their meeting at the house and a local school "is now recognized as the first National Chemistry Congress, and many ACS historians believe it led to ACS's formation two years later on April 6, 1876". On September 5, 1926, about 500 ACS members met again at the home to dedicate the small brick museum and to celebrate the meeting 50 years earlier (two survivors of that first meeting were present).Representatives of the ACS were present at the October 1970 dedication of the house as a museum. On April 25, 1974 around 400 chemists from the ACS Middle Atlantic Regional Meeting in Scranton
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton is a city in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, United States. It is the county seat of Lackawanna County and the largest principal city in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area. Scranton had a population of 76,089 in 2010, according to the U.S...
came to visit the home. The Priestley Medal
Priestley Medal
The Priestley Medal is the highest honor conferred by the American Chemical Society and is awarded for distinguished service in the field of chemistry. Established in 1922, the award is named after Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen who immigrated to the United States of America in 1794...
, the highest and oldest honor awarded by the ACS, was awarded to Paul Flory
Paul Flory
Paul John Flory was an American chemist and Nobel laureate who was known for his prodigious volume of work in the field of polymers, or macromolecules...
at the house that day. (A replica of the Priestley Medal is on display at the house.) On August 1, 1974—what has been labeled the bicentennial of the discovery of oxygen—over 500 chemists attending the third Biennial Conference on Chemical Education at State College
State College, Pennsylvania
State College is the largest borough in Centre County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is the principal city of the State College, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Centre County. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 42,034, and roughly double...
traveled to the house to celebrate "Oxygen Day". In October 1976, the ACS celebrated its own centennial with a celebration in Northumberland. A 100-plus piece replica of Priestley's laboratory equipment, made by universities, corporations, and the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
, was presented to the house for display. On April 13, 1983, ACS President Fred Basolo
Fred Basolo
Fred Basolo was an American inorganic chemist. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1943 with John C. Bailar. Basolo spent his entire professional career at Northwestern University...
spoke at the house to celebrate Priestley's 250th birthday and as part of a first day of issue
First day of issue
A First Day of Issue Cover or First Day Cover is a postage stamp on a cover, postal card or stamped envelope franked on the first day the issue is authorized for use within the country or territory of the stamp-issuing authority. Sometimes the issue is made from a temporary or permanent foreign or...
ceremony for the United States Postal Service's
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
Joseph Priestley commemorative stamp. In 2001 the ACS again met at the house to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the society, and reenacted parts of the 1874 and 1926 celebrations, including a march to Priestley's grave, at which each participant left a red rose.
See also
- Joseph Priestley and DissentJoseph Priestley and DissentJoseph Priestley was a British natural philosopher, political theorist, clergyman, theologian, and educator...
- Joseph Priestley and educationJoseph Priestley and educationJoseph Priestley was a British natural philosopher, Dissenting clergyman, political theorist, and theologian. While his achievements in all of these areas are renowned, he was also dedicated to improving education in Britain; he did this on an individual level and through his support of the...
- List of works by Joseph Priestley