University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

Raymond Pace Alexander (1897-1974) and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander (1898-1989) were pioneers among African Americans in the legal profession and leaders in public affairs, politics, and government throughout the middle half of the twentieth century. Raymond Pace Alexander was a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1920 and from Harvard Law School in 1923. Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander earned all three of her degrees (A.B. 1918, M.A. 1919, and Ph.D. 1921) from the University of Pennsylvania. The Alexander Papers constitute a highly significant resource for the social and political history of the city of Philadelphia and, in particular, for the history of the city's black professional and political elite, black civic organizations, and institutions concerned with race relations and civil rights.

The Dechert family was involved in Philadelphia's legal, civic, and military history from the mid-nineteenth century through twentieth century. The Robert Dechert Family Papers primarily document the life of Robert Dechert, touching upon almost all of his activities.