It’s been ninety years since the crisis of the Great Depression inspired a New Deal of arts programs, infrastructure investment, and worker protections. The art and objects funded by New Deal programs show us how workers shaped the country in the 1930s. But it’s not just history. The country is again facing a choice: what do we owe our neighbors? What does our country owe us? Continue reading
Now that the Free Library of Philadelphia has reopened to the public, Parkway Central feels like it is in full bloom again! We hope you enjoy these botanically-themed materials housed in the Children’s Literature Research Collection, Map Collection, and Print & Picture Collection. The exhibition is located in the Second Floor West Gallery of Parkway Central Library. Continue reading
PHS McLean Library is pleased to present two virtual exhibitions: “The Acacia Chronicle: Joseph Widener, Thomas Roland, and the United States Botanic Garden” and “Two Women, One Garden: Selections from the Castaña Portfolio.” Continue reading
Join the Catholic Historical Research Center of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for a digital exhibit premier on the history of Catholic education. Continue reading
Those who work in, work with, or love archives are invited to join MARAC (Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference) this fall in Gettysburg, PA, on October 7-9, 2021. Continue reading
History comes to light in Chestnut Hill with archival images projected through storefront windows, illuminating multiple layers of neighborhood history and spotlighting community stories. Continue reading
Come to the Chester County History Center Library to see Chester County’s place in Pennsylvania history! Continue reading
Join the Catholic Historical Research Center of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for a digital exhibit premier! Continue reading
History comes to light in Chestnut Hill with archival images projected through storefront windows, illuminating multiple layers of neighborhood history and spotlighting community stories. Continue reading
Locked safely away in Eastern State Penitentiary’s climate-controlled darkroom, hundreds of artifacts rest in neatly organized drawers. Thousands of photographs fill museum storage boxes. Rare books line the shelves. Each object is an irreplaceable historic treasure that tells part of Eastern State’s complex story. Continue reading
Historic Bristol Day in Bristol, Bucks County, may not be happening like it would in years past, but you can still celebrate our town’s rich history through a virtual scavenger hunt! Continue reading
800 years is a long time ago, but some questions are universal. A Digital Exhibition. Continue reading
Going Viral examines the intersection of disease and environment through the lens of three major theories of infection. Continue reading
A century ago, a worldwide health disaster hit home. The influenza pandemic of 1918–19, the global epidemic often called the “Spanish flu,” killed 50 to 100 million people worldwide. Spit Spreads Death explores how neighborhoods in Philadelphia were impacted, how the disease spread, and what could happen in future pandemics. Continue reading
Archives & History Day is an annual gathering for archivists, local historians, and others interested in New Jersey History.
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The Print Center is pleased to present two exhibitions this fall in conjunction with the Whitman at 200 initiative: “Keith Carter: Seek & Find” and “The Politics of Rhetoric.” The Print Center is also hosting numerous public programs related to the exhibits. Continue reading
To celebrate Archives Month Philly, Eastern State Archivist Erica Harman will lead several special 15-minute Hands-On History tours of the penitentiary’s collection storage area that houses Eastern State’s generally unknown, fascinating, and sometimes creepy collection of prisoner-made objects, photographs, and documents. Continue reading
Queer anarchists, rabble-rousers, reds and revolutionaries! Continue reading
Drawn from UD’s Special Collections and Museums, we explore the ideas and imagery of the Beat Generation and its influence on 1960s counterculture and beyond. Continue reading
Manuscript drafts, blue-lines and mock-ups, paste-ups, galleys and proofs–this exhibition reminds viewers of nearly forgotten literary formats that are no longer part of contemporary computer-driven writing and publishing practices. Continue reading
History of the first lager brewery in America and much more! Continue reading
Using artifacts from The Historical Medical Library and Mütter Museum collections, this new exhibition examines the shifting perceptions about abnormal human development, from fear and wonder to curiosity and clinical science. Continue reading
“In Franklin’s Footsteps” highlights the groundbreaking work of APS Members and the innovations they have made that changed the world. Continue reading
Historical documents from HSP illustrate how 1968 stands as an icon, representing the upheaval of the 1960s and early 1970s. See how national movements for women, African Americans, children and poor people were influenced by and conducted in Pennsylvania. Continue reading
Using artifacts from The Historical Medical Library and Mütter Museum collections, this new exhibition examines the shifting perceptions about abnormal human development, from fear and wonder to curiosity and clinical science. Continue reading
#AnimatedArchive is a social media challenge to post GIFs of library collections every Wednesday of October. Show how special collections can transform using technology and social media, and be sure to use the hashtags: #AnimatedArchive and #ArchivesPHL in your posts. Continue reading
The International Sculpture Center (ISC) will hold the 28th International Sculpture Conference: Defining Moments in the Face of Change in Philadelphia, PA from October 25-28, 2018. This four-day conference will bring together a diverse audience of artists, educators, arts administrators, museum directors, collectors, patrons, students, and sculpture enthusiasts. Continue reading
To celebrate Archives Month Philly, Eastern State Archivist Erica Harman will lead several special 15-minute Hands-On History tours of the penitentiary’s collection storage area that houses Eastern State’s generally unknown, fascinating, and sometimes creepy collection of prisoner-made objects, photographs, and documents. Continue reading
Every Friday the Penn Museum opens its archives doors to everyone to see hidden collections. Continue reading
The early “What in the World” television game show inspired young people to enter the world of archaeology and anthropology Continue reading
What is an appropriate monument for the current city of Philadelphia? Monument Lab is a public art and history project from Mural Arts Philadelphia and a team led by curators Paul M. Farber and Ken Lum, taking place citywide in fall 2017. Continue reading
Using artifacts from The Historical Medical Library and Mütter Museum collections, this new exhibition examines the shifting perceptions about abnormal human development, from fear and wonder to curiosity and clinical science. Continue reading
An exhibition about the Peale family’s role in shaping early American public culture through innovations in art, science, and technology. Continue reading
This exhibit traces the history of the first private mental institution in the United States. Continue reading
This exhibit explores the myth and history of the Penn Treaty Elm from the time of the treaty to the present day. Continue reading
An exhibition and walking tour exploring the life and afterlife of things. Continue reading
Archives & History Day, a history expo with more than 60 organizations participating, plus other days with lectures and a feature film.
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Presenting beautiful and curious specimens from five centuries of book collecting, The Art of Ownership delves into the stories of these bookplates, the rare editions behind them, and the lives of the men and women who owned them. Continue reading
For over a decade—at multiple locations and in several guises—the Gay and Lesbian Coffeehouse of Philadelphia served as a welcoming and inspiring anchor for LGBT community life in Philadelphia. Continue reading
“Sweep the Country: Political Conventions in Philadelphia” is presented in partnership with the Philadelphia History Museum at the Atwater Kent, and covers the 12 political conventions held in Philadelphia between 1848 and 2016.
This exhibit of archival photographs and nursery catalogs from the library’s collections, features plants named in honor of U. S. presidents and first ladies, and also reflects aspects of the garden history of the White House, with some Philadelphia connections.
In 1543 Vesalius published De humani corporis fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body). The exhibit features an edition of the Fabrica book as well as other works by Vesalius and specimens highlighting his accomplishments in the field of anatomy.
Common Touch: The Art of the Senses in the History of the Blind is a multimedia exhibition that looks at historical embossed and raised-letter documents for the visually impaired as a starting point for a multi-sensory exploration of the nature of perception.
“Translating Across Time and Space” will explore the ways archival collections and scholarly fieldwork help preserve and revitalize linguistic and cultural practices in indigenous communities throughout North America.
In celebration of Archives Month, Eastern State Penitentiary’s Manager, Archives and Records, Erica Harman, will lead ten special Hands-On History (15-minute) tours of the historic site’s collection storage area. Continue reading
Daily 10AM – 5PM
Mütter Museum
College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 19 S. 22nd Street, Philadelphia PA 19103
Free with museum admission (Museum admission fees)
December 31st marked the 500th birthday of the “Father of Modern Anatomy” Andreas Vesalius. In 1543 Vesalius published De humani corporis fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body), a series of seven books based on the dissection and research he conducted while at the University of Padua. This treatise on the human body was a groundbreaking work, with both detailed text and illustrations. To this day the Fabrica is still considered a masterpiece of both medical and anatomical literature. Please visit our exhibit which opened on December 19th, 2014. It features an edition of the Fabrica book as well as other works by Vesalius and specimens highlighting his accomplishments in the field of anatomy.
October 1 – December 4, 2015
City Hall, Second Floor, East Corridor (in front of Mayor’s Office)
1401 John F Kennedy Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19107
In celebration of LGBT Month, Art In City Hall and the City’s Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy presents Defiant Archives: Trans Histories of Existence, Resistance, and Brilliance. The exhibit shares a collection of archival and personal items with a focus on the history of transgender activism in Philadelphia, curated and collected by local trans community members. Visitors will be able to watch a collection of oral history videos shared by the Trans Oral History Project, as well as the short documentary video “Transpass” about the work of Riders Against Gender Exclusion, a local activist group who won the fight to end SEPTA’s use of gendered stickers in 2013. The exhibit will also invite participation, as visitors are welcomed to share their own histories on a timeline stretching from 1965 to 2015.
The Defiant Archives exhibit responds to a missing piece in the Reminder 2015 celebration. Before, during, and after the Annual Reminder Day protests (1965-69) demanded gender conformity from participants, transgender and gender nonconforming activists have mobilized for sexual and gender self-determination, social transformation, and collective liberation.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/defiantarchives
Twitter: #defiantarchives
October 9-31, 2015
William Way LGBT Community Center
1315 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA
Free
From 1953 until 1973, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) classified homosexuality as a mental disorder, a disease that doctors could treat. Gay activists like Barbara Gittings and Frank Kameny first challenged this medical definition of homosexuality as illness through actions such as petitions, lectures, and appearances on television talk shows. In 1970, they moved on to spontaneous demonstrations, or “zaps,” at the APA conference, and in subsequent years Gittings and Kameny became the first gay people to have a voice in official APA panel discussions.
Between 1972 and 1978, Gittings, Kameny, and Gittings’ partner Kay Lahusen created three informational display booths for national meetings of the APA. Portions of these confrontational booths, donated to the John J. Wilcox, Jr. Archives of the William Way LGBT Community Center by Kay Lahusen, have been restored and are presented together for the first time as part of an exhibit called “Gay Love on Display: Taking on the APA”
Exhibit on view until February 2016. Open Tuesdays and Thursday, 3-6pm and the second Saturday of every month, 1-4pm.
The Heritage Center of The Union League of Philadelphia
140 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19145
Free
No RSVP needed.
“1865: Triumph and Tragedy”: On April 9, 1865 Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, ending the bloodiest conflict in American history. Six days later, John Wilkes Booth ended the life of President Abraham Lincoln. The year ended with the passage of the 13th amendment to the United States Constitution, ending slavery in America. On May 5, the Union League began a new chapter in its history with the opening of its new clubhouse on South Broad Street. These and other events of the year will be explored in the exhibit on Philadelphia and the Civil War.
“Love of Country Leads”: Titled after the motto of the Union League, this exhibit gives the visitor an overview of the League’s 150-year history and was designed to showcase some of the League’s historical collections. Foremost among these is a rare copy of the Emancipation Proclamation, signed with Abraham Lincoln’s full signature. It is one of an edition of about 48 that League members arranged to have printed and sold at the Great Central Fair in Philadelphia in June of 1864. (Only about 26 of these still exist.) The fair raised more than $1 million for sick and wounded Union soldiers. Love of Country Leads will remain on display indefinitely.”
http://www.ulheritagecenter.org/research-and-exhibit/exhibits/current-exhibits/
Facebook.com/ulheritagecenter
Twitter (@uheritagecenter)
Exhibit will be ongoing for month of October, Open House Event and Tour of the Center will be on October 12th from 5-7 PM
University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
418 Curie Boulevard, Floor 2U, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Free
http://batesopenhouse.eventbrite.com
100 Years in Nursing History will be an ongoing exhibit that explores the rich history of the nursing profession beginning in 1915 and will include photos and selections from the archives of the Bates Center.
Open House and Tour Description for 10/12/15: Come explore the archives of the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing at Penn Nursing. As one of the oldest and largest archives dedicated to preserving nursing’s rich history, the Bates Center is a rich resource for researchers from across the globe who are interested in the historical development of nursing.
The open house will be held on October 12th from 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM and will feature the Center’s ongoing exhibit “100 Years in Nursing History,” as well as select items from the archives.
Follow the Bates Center on Twitter @Penn_Bateshx
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PennNursingBatesHistoryCenter
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/nursinghistory/
Archives Month Philly 