Screenshot from ImPAC Portraits of American Women collection.

Inaugural John C. Van Horne Lecture

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How does an institution honor a Director for almost 30 years of service?  It starts with an endowed lecture in his name.  Mark your calendars for May 28, 2014, when the Library Company will welcome acclaimed writer Nathaniel Philbrick as…
Screenshot from ImPAC Portraits of American Women collection.

A Few of Our Favorite Things, Part Twelve: John Jay Smith’s Manuscript Memoir

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My favorite thing of the moment is a hefty, three-volume manuscript memoir and scrapbook made by our former Librarian John Jay Smith (1798-1881). Through it I discovered that the man in the portrait with the white beard and red fez had a wonderful…
Screenshot from ImPAC Portraits of American Women collection.

A Few of Our Favorite Things, Part Eleven: “Teaching with Capital Success”

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Like many of my colleagues, I find it impossible to choose just one favorite thing from our collection. Nevertheless, I’d like to shine a spotlight on a humble but intriguing item, an annual report. Since I trained as an archivist, it’s…
Screenshot from ImPAC Portraits of American Women collection.

A Few of Our Favorite Things, Part Nine: Thanksgiving 1864 – A Spectacle of Giving

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Today, November 26, 2013, is the 150th anniversary of what many regard as the first official national celebration of Thanksgiving, as proclaimed by Abraham Lincoln. In fact, Lincoln proclaimed many days of national thanksgiving during his time…
Screenshot from ImPAC Portraits of American Women collection.

A Jewel of a Franklin Miniature

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In October, Library Company Trustee Davida Deutsch saw a Franklin miniature by French artist Jean Baptiste Weyler (1747-1791) for sale at the Phillip Mould Gallery in London. One look and she knew we had to acquire it for the Library Company.   Painted…
Screenshot from ImPAC Portraits of American Women collection.

Join the conversation about “That’s So Gay”!

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“That’s So Gay: Outing Early America”—an exhibition featuring textual and visual material in the Library Company’s collections that relates to gay history—will open in February 2014. An accompanying blog being launched this month…
Screenshot from ImPAC Portraits of American Women collection.

Outsulating the Collections

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  When the Ridgway Building was built in 1965, the cost of fuel was low enough that the architects didn’t think about the need to create a barrier against temperature and moisture.  In 2013, however, the lack of insulation around the…
Screenshot from ImPAC Portraits of American Women collection.

A Shout-Out to Special Collections

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Inspired by the Library Company’s Visual Culture Program, researcher Abby Glogower arrived in the summer of 2012 with only a vague direction for her dissertation topic. Associate Curator of Prints & Photographs Erika Piola’s thoughtful…
Screenshot from ImPAC Portraits of American Women collection.

A Few of Our Favorite Things, Part Eight: Marriott C. Morris Photograph Collection

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One of my Print Department favorites is the Marriott C. Morris collection of photographic prints and negatives. Morris (1863-1948) was an amateur photographer who lived in Philadelphia, and the more than 1,500 photographs in this collection…
Screenshot from ImPAC Portraits of American Women collection.

A Few of Our Favorite Things, Part Seven: Happy Birthday, Marines!

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As Curator of Printed Books, trying to identify a favorite item in the Library Company’s collection feels like being asked to pick a favorite from among my children.  The fact is that my favorite item in the collection is the collection.…
Screenshot from ImPAC Portraits of American Women collection.

World War One Digital Humanities Project Begins

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The Library Company has recently become a participant in the Great War in the Delaware Valley Project, a digital humanities collaboration currently existing between Villanova University, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the…
Screenshot from ImPAC Portraits of American Women collection.

LSTA Grant Funds Digitization of Library Company of Philadelphia’s African Americana Graphics Collection

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Through the generous support of a grant from the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), over 800 prints, photographs, and pieces of ephemera documenting the African American experience will be digitized and added to the Library Company’s…
Screenshot from ImPAC Portraits of American Women collection.

A Few of Our Favorite Things, Part Six: Men in Jaunty Aprons

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We had not yet added our visual material holdings to our online catalog when I discovered this print in our portrait collections through the tried and true hunt and peck method. I was immediately smitten when I came across this trimmed and annotated…
Screenshot from ImPAC Portraits of American Women collection.

A Few of Our Favorite Things, Part Five: Uzbek Connection

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Last summer, the International Visitor’s Council in Philadelphia asked the Library Company to host a group from Uzbekistan visiting the US for a State Department-sponsored program on library conservation.  On July 23, I welcomed a delegation…
Screenshot from ImPAC Portraits of American Women collection.

282nd Annual Dinner

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On Tuesday, November 19, the Library Company will hold its 282nd Annual Dinner. The event includes a reception at the Wells Fargo History Museum, dinner at the Union League, and a presentation by Michael F. Suarez, S.J., one of the rare book…
Screenshot from ImPAC Portraits of American Women collection.

Philadelphia Ephemera Acquired

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The Library Company has acquired the Joe Freedman Collection of Philadelphia Ephemera. Compiled over many decades by a distinguished collector with a discerning eye for historical significance, the Freedman Collection comprises nearly 900…
Screenshot from ImPAC Portraits of American Women collection.

Conference on Colonial Economies

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On October 24 and 25, the Library Company will present the 13th Annual Conference of the Program in Early American Economy and Society (PEAES). This year’s topic, “Ligaments: Everyday Connections of Colonial Economies,” focuses on the…
Screenshot from ImPAC Portraits of American Women collection.

Documentary Filmmaker Gives A Gift of Light

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Since 2009, the Library Company has been assisting documentary filmmaker Rick Feist with a project entitled Thomas Paine: Revolution in America, which explores the life and writings of Founding Father Thomas Paine. Paine’s revolutionary…