Mary Cadman Bender, 86, who helped make historic Elfreth's Alley a living museum, died yesterday at Abington Memorial Hospital. She lived in Jenkintown.
Mrs. Bender spent 20 years working as a volunteer with the Elfreth's Alley Association, aiding its effort to preserve the only residential block in the United States that has been continuously occupied for more than 280 years.
She played a major role in establishing the home at 126 Elfreth's Alley as a museum and helped to restore and equip its kitchen. The kitchen was added to the rear of the house around 1830, almost 100 years after the front was built.
The kitchen had no sink, stove, icebox, lights, pump or water. All it offered was a fireplace, a few iron kettles, an assortment of plates and pitchers, a couple of chairs, two small tables and a hutch.
Mrs. Bender loved the kitchen, and she often tended it and the museum while dressed in colonial costume. She took part in the dedication of the museum in 1965 and was active in its affairs until 1970.
She is survived by her husband, Harold Bender.
Graveside services will be held at 11 a.m. tomorrow at Hillside Cemetery in Roslyn.
Philadelphia Inquirer
March 26, 1986
Mrs. Bender spent 20 years working as a volunteer with the Elfreth's Alley Association, aiding its effort to preserve the only residential block in the United States that has been continuously occupied for more than 280 years.
She played a major role in establishing the home at 126 Elfreth's Alley as a museum and helped to restore and equip its kitchen. The kitchen was added to the rear of the house around 1830, almost 100 years after the front was built.
The kitchen had no sink, stove, icebox, lights, pump or water. All it offered was a fireplace, a few iron kettles, an assortment of plates and pitchers, a couple of chairs, two small tables and a hutch.
Mrs. Bender loved the kitchen, and she often tended it and the museum while dressed in colonial costume. She took part in the dedication of the museum in 1965 and was active in its affairs until 1970.
She is survived by her husband, Harold Bender.
Graveside services will be held at 11 a.m. tomorrow at Hillside Cemetery in Roslyn.
Philadelphia Inquirer
March 26, 1986
Mary Cadman Bender, 86, who helped make historic Elfreth's Alley a living museum, died yesterday at Abington Memorial Hospital. She lived in Jenkintown.
Mrs. Bender spent 20 years working as a volunteer with the Elfreth's Alley Association, aiding its effort to preserve the only residential block in the United States that has been continuously occupied for more than 280 years.
She played a major role in establishing the home at 126 Elfreth's Alley as a museum and helped to restore and equip its kitchen. The kitchen was added to the rear of the house around 1830, almost 100 years after the front was built.
The kitchen had no sink, stove, icebox, lights, pump or water. All it offered was a fireplace, a few iron kettles, an assortment of plates and pitchers, a couple of chairs, two small tables and a hutch.
Mrs. Bender loved the kitchen, and she often tended it and the museum while dressed in colonial costume. She took part in the dedication of the museum in 1965 and was active in its affairs until 1970.
She is survived by her husband, Harold Bender.
Graveside services will be held at 11 a.m. tomorrow at Hillside Cemetery in Roslyn.
Philadelphia Inquirer
March 26, 1986
Mrs. Bender spent 20 years working as a volunteer with the Elfreth's Alley Association, aiding its effort to preserve the only residential block in the United States that has been continuously occupied for more than 280 years.
She played a major role in establishing the home at 126 Elfreth's Alley as a museum and helped to restore and equip its kitchen. The kitchen was added to the rear of the house around 1830, almost 100 years after the front was built.
The kitchen had no sink, stove, icebox, lights, pump or water. All it offered was a fireplace, a few iron kettles, an assortment of plates and pitchers, a couple of chairs, two small tables and a hutch.
Mrs. Bender loved the kitchen, and she often tended it and the museum while dressed in colonial costume. She took part in the dedication of the museum in 1965 and was active in its affairs until 1970.
She is survived by her husband, Harold Bender.
Graveside services will be held at 11 a.m. tomorrow at Hillside Cemetery in Roslyn.
Philadelphia Inquirer
March 26, 1986
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