The Library Company of Philadelphia, Co-sponsor

1314 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA

The Library Company of Philadelphia is an independent research library specializing in American history and culture from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries. Founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin, the Library Company is America's oldest cultural institution and served as the Library of Congress from the Revolutionary War to 1800. The Library Company was the largest public library in America until the Civil War and includes the extensive personal libraries of such prominent early American bibliophiles as James Logan. Open to the public free of charge, the Library Company houses an extensive collection of rare books, manuscripts, broadsides, ephemera, prints, photographs, and works of art, and one of the world’s largest holdings of early American imprints. Particular strengths of the collection include economic history, women’s history, African American history, history of medicine, history of philanthropy, and visual culture.

The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Co-sponsor 

1300 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA

Founded in 1824 in Philadelphia, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania inspires people to create a better future through historical understanding. One of the oldest historical societies in the United States, it is home to some 600,000 printed items and more than 21 million manuscript and graphic items. Its unparalleled collections encompass more than 350 years of America’s history—from its seventeenth-century origins to the contributions of its most recent immigrants. The society’s remarkable holdings together with its educational programming make it one of the nation’s most important special collections libraries: a center of historical documentation and study, education, and engagement.

The McNeil Center for Early American Studies, Co-sponsor

University of Pennsylvania, 3355 Woodland Walk, Philadelphia, PA

Established as the Philadelphia Center for Early American Studies in 1978, and renamed in honor of its benefactor Robert L. McNeil, Jr., in 1998, the McNeil Center facilitates scholarly inquiry into the histories and cultures of North America in the Atlantic world before 1850, with a particular but by no means exclusive emphasis on the mid-Atlantic region. Operating as a consortium of scholarly institutions, the Center offers pre- and post-doctoral fellowships to encourage use of the Philadelphia area’s magnificent manuscript, rare book, and museum collections, conducts a seminar series to promote intellectual community among local and visiting faculty and graduate students, organizes occasional national conferences to foster interdisciplinary research, and hosts an annual undergraduate research conference. To disseminate the best new scholarship in the field, it publishes Early American Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, and sponsors the Early American Studies monograph series published by the University of Pennsylvania Press.

Stenton, Co-sponsor

4601 N 18th Street Philadelphia, PA 

Stenton is one of the earliest, best-preserved and most believable historic houses in Philadelphia. Its distinguished Georgian architecture, its outstanding collection, and its superb documentation combine to create one of the most authentic house museums in the region. Built and owned by James Logan, Secretary to Pennsylvania founder William Penn, Stenton is a house of learning, past and present. The learning continues today as The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania work to “preserve and maintain Stenton as an historic object lesson.” Through tours, educational programs and special events, Stenton continues to give visitors a sense of what life was like in the eighteenth century.

This program has been made possible by the generous support of the Leonore Smart Wetherill Fund for Decorative Arts Scholarship at Stenton