Mellon Scholars Program: A Training Arena for Budding Historians

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In a series of occasional blog posts, participants in our Mellon Scholars Internship and Workshop programs will introduce themselves, discuss their experiences at the Library Company, and share their goals for pursuing careers in the field of…

Fine and Popular: Print Department at the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic Annual Meeting, July 17-20, 2016

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On September 19th, Curator Sarah Weatherwax and Associate Curator Erika Piola happily joined over 500 fellow scholars and academics of early 19th-century history at the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic 36th Annual…

Mellon Scholars Program: Igniting a Scholarly Journey

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In a series of occasional blog posts, participants in our Mellon Scholars Internship and Workshop programs will introduce themselves, discuss their experiences at the Library Company, and share their goals for pursuing careers in the field…

Print Department Welcomes Alison Van Denend

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For the past month Alison Van Denend has been hard at work in the Print Department as our International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA) Foundation summer curatorial intern. Alison completed her MA in Art History with a Certificate…

Small Wonders

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Currently on display in our “Small Wonders” exhibition are 29 marvelous miniature books by the members of the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers. Created in response to a challenge to make books meeting the US definition…

African Americana Graphics Available On-line

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Through the generous support of a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Education under the Library Services and Technology Act, more than 900 prints, photographs, and pieces of ephemera documenting the early African American experience…

Learn to Read Moon

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The Visual Culture Program (VCP at LCP) will host an installation by book artist Teresa Jaynes’s in the Logan Room from September 4 to October 10, 2014. The first new work by Jaynes since her directorship of the acclaimed print festival Philagrafika…

Frankliniana on Display

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Having acquired French artist Jean Baptiste Weyler’s gorgeous portrait miniature of Benjamin Franklin in 2013, the Library Company needed to find a fitting way to display it. That challenge inspired us to consider putting more of our precious…

“Sew on Your Own Buttons, I’m Going for a Ride!”

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The Library Company of Philadelphia’s current exhibition That’s So Gay: Outing Early America showcases books, photographs, and graphic material that address gay identity in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Beyond attempting to identify…

Philly-DH@Penn and The Collinson Book

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Philly-DH@Penn is an annual event consisting of workshops, “unconferences,” and lightening talks. The event attracts a wide audience ranging from academic faculty and students to GLAM (Gallery, Library, Archive, Museum) institution staff…

Amy Matilda Cassey’s Friendship Album

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There are few insights into the lives of free wealthy African American women in antebellum Philadelphia as unique as those made possible by the Amy Matilda Cassey Friendship Album. A friendship album is similar to a scrapbook in that it…

Tales from the Mystery Drawers, Part 1: The World of Tomorrow

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The Print Room at the Library Company of Philadelphia is a very organized place. Each box is labeled and lovingly tucked back into its proper slot after a research session. Each drawer is carefully inventoried and organized by subject matter,…

Mellon Scholars Program: Exploring the African Diaspora

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In a series of occasional blog posts, participants in our Mellon Scholars Internship and Workshop programs will introduce themselves, discuss their experiences at the Library Company, and share their goals for pursuing careers in the field of…

The Library Company Goes 3D

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With the resurgence in 3D viewing technologies in recent years, the Library Company has dared to revive this long-lived pastime through recent exhibitions and collaborations.  3D photographic imaging has existed since the 1840s with mid…

World War One Posters and a Philadelphia Connection

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An article in the 1918 Thanksgiving issue of The Red Cross Bulletin described this poster even more enthusiastically:The Jessie Willcox Smith Photograph Collection in the Print and Photograph Department is not the only place to find the…

Inaugurating the Mellon Scholars Program

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Next month the Program in African American History welcomes its inaugural Mellon Scholars. The Program, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, is a comprehensive approach to developing a pipeline of diverse scholars of early African American…

Abolition Website

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Since 2006, incoming Library Company Director Richard Newman has on five occasions taught well-received summer seminars at the Library Company for K-12 teachers on the Abolition Movement. In 2012, the National Endowment for the Humanities—which…

“Outsulating” the Ridgway Library

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In a continuing effort to maintain our nearly 50-year-old building so that it will continue to meet our needs for many years to come, we have been making a series of capital improvements. Currently two major projects are underway, partially…

Summer is for Internships

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As in past years, this summer a number of departments will have the benefit of talented young interns—including several funded by prestigious programs such as the highly competitive International Fine Print Dealers Association Foundation…

Canoeing the Pine Barrens

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Though a desolate landscape, Philadelphians have long been drawn to the Pine Barrens of New Jersey for various reasons such as relaxation, trade, and industry.  The Marriott C. Morris collection of photographs includes views of amateur…