Dr. Donald H. Cresswell, 84, died June 19 of Alzheimer’s disease at Crossroads Hospice. He was co-owner (with Christopher Lane) of the Philadelphia Print Shop, at 8405 Germantown Ave. from 1982-87, and then at 8441 Germantown Ave. until it was purchased and moved by a new owner in 2020. Cresswell was also an appraiser on the PBS series “Antiques Roadshow,” author of scholarly books and articles, and a university librarian and visiting lecturer.
His wife, Nancy H. Nitzberg, told the Local last week, “The last thing I said to Don was, 'Will you think about all the places we have been and all the happy times in your life, and he said ‘Yes.’ Then we held hands for a few days. The medical staff told me that Don could hear me, even if he did not respond.”
Nitzberg, who has a masters degree in library service from Columbia University, has run her own bookbinding business, Book-Care, for the last 33 years. She and Cresswell met in 1990 at an antiquarian book fair in Center City.
“My observations of Don at first were that he had a gentlemanly and friendly personality and that he was highly intelligent and well-educated without being aloof or status-conscious. He was warmly welcomed by my extended family due to his friendliness and interest in others, not to mention much fun to be around. In fact, he was the Chestnut Hill Santa Claus one year and loved being in that role!”
Cresswell grew up in Washington, D.C., where his father worked for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. When he was a child in the late 1940s, he and his friends often rode their bicycles to the National Mall to admire the government landmarks.
“Being in that environment sparked his interest in American history and everything associated with it,” Nitzberg said. “It was part of his oxygen. Washington, D.C., was his childhood playground.”
After earning his doctoral degree in American History and American Studies at George Washington University, Cresswell moved back to North Carolina’s Belmont Abbey College, where he had attended undergraduate school as an English Literature major, to become library director. (He also earned a master’s degree in English Literature from the University of Cincinnati.) He taught an advanced course in American Intellectual History there for three years, followed by a position as a rare-books librarian at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
He then moved to Philadelphia to work as a catalog editor for a book and print firm, where he did appraisals for clients and consultations. Cresswell then decided to open the Philadelphia Print Shop, a purveyor of historic prints and antique maps, with his business partner Lane; the pair shared an interest in antique prints and maps.
They traveled around the country showcasing their pieces at antique shows, and often appeared as professional appraisers on the long-running, “Antiques Roadshow.” Cresswell and Lane separated their 50/50 partnership amicably in 2014 when Lane moved to Denver, where he operated Philadelphia Print Shop West.
“Don was a real gentleman, a very kind person,” Lane said. “I was very lucky to be partners with him for over 30 years. Neither of us had run a business when we started PPS in 1982. … Don was a great partner. We planned to sign a partnership agreement in the beginning but did not get around to it for over a year. We never had any major disagreement and both believed in running the shop in an honest and academic manner. As I said, I was very lucky.”
Cresswell told the Local in a 2019 interview announcing his retirement, “My favorite thing has been conversing with the intelligent people who shop here. I have also had the wonderful experience of having many fine, hardworking, and loyal staff members over the years.”
In 2020, Cresswell sold The Philadelphia Print Shop to David Mackey, a commercial real estate broker, who moved the shop to 209 W. Lancaster Ave. in Wayne.
“The Philadelphia Print Shop has earned a national and distinguished reputation for its extensive collection of fine prints and historical maps,” Mackey told the Local at the time. “When it closed, I saw an opportunity to combine the business with my hobby and passion for collecting and selling antique maps.”
Cresswell's publications include a 1975 book, “The American Revolution in Drawings and Prints: A Checklist of 1765-1790 Graphics in the Library of Congress,”; a major reference book on prints, maps and drawings of the American Revolution period, issued by the Library of Congress; and in 2002, “The A to Z of Antique Prints & Maps,” with Lane and Carolyn R. Cades.
He also published numerous papers and book reviews, gave public addresses for conferences, and was a visiting lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania in its Historic Preservation program. With Lane, in 1990 he was co-author of “Prints of Philadelphia...Featuring the Wohl Collection.”
Cresswell and Nitzberg (who was also director of Library Services at Gratz College in Melrose Park from 2014 to 2018) had no children together. Cresswell donated his body to the Humanity Gifts Registry of Pennsylvania, where Nitzberg said it will be used “for teaching students at a Philadelphia medical school.” In lieu of flowers, Cresswell asked that donations in his name be made to The Library Company of Philadelphia, where Cresswell was an active shareholder.
For more information, visit philaprintshop.com. Len Lear can be reached at LenLear@chestnuthilllocal.com.
Space limitations prevented us from including the following important family history in the above obituary in the print version of the July 3 issue of the Local:
Donald Cresswell was born in Washington, D.C., to Robert and Vera Cresswell. He was married to Mary Ann Schick Cresswell, who currently lives in Ardmore, from 1969 to 2006. Mary Ann, who met Don in graduate school at the University of Cincinnati, had a long career in software development at the VA regional office in Germantown. They had two sons, Robert, born in 1974, and Jonathan, born in 1979. Don was preceded in death by his parents and his sister, Barbara Barlow. He is survived by sons Robert and Jonathan, his grandchildren, Iris and Charlie, and his wife, Nancy Nitzberg (married in 2018).
Robert lives with his daughter in Los Angeles, CA, and is the co-founder and CEO of Malachiarts, a technology consulting firm. "Dad was most himself,” Robert said, “making grits, smiling, singing along to Emmylou Harris and looking forward to a day of work.” Robert told us that he moved West in 1992 “to study physics and got seduced by perpetual good weather and the natural beauty of California.”
Jonathan, who now lives in Penn Valley, worked with his father for nine years at the Philadelphia Print Shop and is known by many in the Chestnut Hill community. He was a board member of the Chestnut Hill Business Improvement District for four years and on the board of the Parking Foundation as well. In 2018, Jon founded Cresswell Art Advisory to focus on collections consulting, brokering of artwork and other related services.
