Subject: Surveying

An 1854 copy of a land warrant issued by The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in December 1792. The warrant grants Hyman Gratz the right to a certain quantity of land in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, which was surveyed for Simon Gratz. The transaction involved payment of "fifty shillings" per hundred acres. The document notes Thomas Mifflin, then Governor of the Commonwealth, as a witness, and Daniel Brodhead as Surveyor General. The copy was likely made in 1854 for the settlement of Simon Gratz's estate. The item features an engraved depiction of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's state seal at the top, along with ornate script and various handwritten annotations.

This map, surveyed by Samuel Lewis and published by Matthew Carey for Carey's American Edition of Guthrie's General Atlas, depicts the state of Pennsylvania. It details distinctive geography and topography, including the Appalachian and Allegheny Mountains, major rivers (Ohio, Allegheny, Susquehanna, Delaware), and the all-important sliver of land connecting the state to Lake Erie. The map delineates Pennsylvania's county structure, towns, cities, creeks, roads, and mineral deposits, forming a basis for civil administration. It is significant as the first map to show the full extent of Pennsylvania after independence, based on Reading Howell's 1792 survey. The map features an ornate compass rose in the top right corner, typical of period cartography, and was engraved by Smither. It notably includes Aaronsburg, the first town in the U.S. named after a Jew, Aaron Levy, who founded it in 1786.