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Allison-Antrim Museum’s . . .            listing of governors

Pennsylvania Governors’
Signatures Collection

Allison-Antrim Museum’s Brumbaugh Collection of Pennsylvania Governors’ Signatures is a sizeable assemblage of about 80 different documents of Pennsylvania governors’ signatures. Dr. Thomas Brumbaugh, a native of Greencastle who now lives in Tennessee, gave the collection to AAMI the week the museum opened on August 1, 1998.  It is a collection that he started in his youth and when presented to AAMI contained 42 signatures.  AAMI surmises this collection, currently with 50 different signatures, is the largest of its kind outside those in the possession of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  To our knowledge, no other museum or historical organization has such a collection or has focused on this topic.

The special exhibits included at least one signature of each of the men in the collection plus the signatures of John Geary and Benjamin Franklin that were loaned to AAMI.  The documents contain the Governors’ signatures while in office, as well as outside their term(s). To enhance the collection, copies of illustrations, paintings, or photographs of each of the men have been gathered to accompany the signature pieces. 

This collection represents almost 50% of the 101 men who so far have served as governor of Pennsylvania from the Colonial era up through 2003. Eight men served two different terms and one man served three different terms of office.  To date, there have been 110 terms of office. The "Historical Sketches" include all the signatures currently in the collection, as well as those of John Geary and Benjamin Franklin that were loaned to AAMI for the special exhibits.   

Tom Brumbaugh continues to add to the permanent collection the “missing” signatures of governors.  In February 2001 he gave the signature of Thomas Mifflin and in December 2001, he donated one document on which were the signatures of two governors – Thomas McKean and George Bryan.  A surprise addition, as a result of his letter writing, was the signature in December 2002 of the then Governor-elect Ed Rendell, prior to his inauguration on January 21, 2003.

Historical sketches are provided for 
each of the governors that have a signature.
Click on the governors' name or the time era such as Provincial.   

Bibliography Resources

NOTE: Highlights match up multiple terms.