The Whitfield family immigrated from England to Virginia in 1635.

These 12 essays reflect Dr. Bell's interests not only as a distinguished scholar of Benjamin Franklin & of the cultural & scientific life of early Amer., but also as Librarian & Exec. Officer of the APS. Contents: Remarks by Jonathan Rhoads; Biographical Sketch of Dr. Bell, with Selected Biblio.; Benjamin Franklin,"The Old England Man" by Esmond Wright; Frustration & Benjamin Franklin's Medical Books, by Edwin Wolf 2nd; William Byrd Reports on His Mission to the Cherokee in 1758, by W. W. Abbot; The Men of '68: Graduates of Amer's. First Medical School, by Randolph Klein; The Search for the State House Yard Observatory, by Silvio Bedini; Benjamin Henry Latrobe, "Learned Engineer," The APS, & the Promotion of Useful Knowledge & Works, 1798-1809, by Edward Carter II; The Phila. Soc. For Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons, 1787-1829, by Marvin Wolfgang; Cotton Textiles & Industrialism, by Thomas Cochran; The Amer. Industrial Revolution Through its Survivals, by Brooke Hindle; A Catalog of Books Belonging to Benjamin Smith Barton, by Joseph Swan; Foreign Membership of Biological Scientists in the APS During the 18th & 19th Cent., by Bentley Glass; & Louis Agassiz as an Early Embryologist in Amer., by Jane Oppenheimer. Illus.