Draft Prospectus

Draft Prospectus

This document is a draft, which will continue to evolve as we receive input from interested individuals and organizations. Suggestions may be submitted at the bottom of this page.
(Last updated: April 16, 2009.)

The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia

The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia is a civic project to generate, assemble, and disseminate new knowledge about the history, identity, interests, and impact of one of America’s greatest cities. By documenting, describing, and explaining Philadelphia’s presence wherever it has existed—locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally—the Encyclopedia will situate Philadelphia at the hinge between its vitally important past and its ambitions for the twenty-first century and beyond. Building on and extending the explosion of scholarship and public practice over the past quarter century, this project will help aggregate the area’s considerable cultural resources and make them more widely available. As the first urban encyclopedia of the twenty-first century, this effort has the opportunity to take full advantage of evolving information technologies, which make it possible to re-imagine what a collective portrait can be and the civic purposes it may serve. This project will leverage these technologies to build content and robust community engagement online while also proceeding toward the goal of producing a print volume that will serve as a durable reference for generations to come.

The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia will be distinctive among similar reference projects for its commitment to a process of engagement involving area cultural institutions, civic organizations, schools, scholars, and the general public. We will seek advice and partnerships so that the project serves public needs. In this way, the Encyclopedia promises a civic return on investment that goes beyond a single product. Programs, exchanges, and sharing of ideas and information with organizations engaged in civic development and service will sustain and enrich the relationships and point to public policy concerns and civic investment opportunities. Face-to-face workshops in neighborhoods as well as on-line dialogue, public programming, and tours will assure that public interests and concerns are fully incorporated. Growing out of such enterprises, the Encyclopedia will integrate the diverse dimensions of the greater Philadelphia experience and will assure that the sum of this effort will be greater than its many parts. In this way, the project builds on the recent breakthrough in interpretation at the President’s House site, where public interest in the existence of slavery and servitude in George Washington’s household inspired disparate groups to cooperate to create a new commemorative project acknowledging a more complex past. Similarly, the Encyclopedia will serve as a catalyst for aggregating the many cultural investments made in recent years and for identifying and supporting new such investments in the future.

In substance, the Encyclopedia is an opportunity for a fresh look at the region’s history and identity in light of the most recent generation of scholarship. This project is the first comprehensive investigation of the city’s history in more than twenty-five years and the first Philadelphia encyclopedia in more than seventy years. We will take this opportunity to survey information about Philadelphia already published or produced in many forms – by scholars and others, in print and online – and identify the key issues, places, events, people, and other characteristics that define the city and its influence. The Encyclopedia will fill gaps in the published historical record, especially for the twentieth century and on topics that have been treated broadly by scholars but not specifically for Philadelphia. The resulting work will be not only informative in text but also visually powerful, especially in its use of original maps to convey information and to reveal patterns of such activities as employment, business locations, transportation, public services, population settlement, and wealth accumulation, to name several.

The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia will be metropolitan in scope. The project aims to explain, not merely describe, the interrelationships of the city and its adjacent communities. Examining the flow of people and capital and the technologies and innovation that facilitated or constrained them, the volume will reveal the shifting dynamic that has made the greater Philadelphia region distinctive over time. Mapping the city’s reach, for example in industrial production or in patterns or leisure activity, will reveal connections as far away as the coal fields of Western Pennsylvania, the beaches of the Jersey Shore, or the Pocono Mountains, and beyond.

In addition to serving as a reference source, the Encyclopedia will include longer, integrative essays that will offer a variety of insights for policy. As one phase of area history gives way to another, what environmental, cultural, social, and economic initiatives make sense, given the history not just of the particular area affected but the shifting nature of the region as a whole? By linking historical evidence with contemporary analysis, most notably projects such as Temple University’s Metropolitan Indicators (http://www.temple.edu/mpip/) and Reinvestment Fund’s policy map ( http://www.policymap.com/ ), the Encyclopedia will assure a link between past and present and a view to the future so often lacking in contemporary scholarship and practice.

The project will deploy twenty-first-century technologies for researching, writing, editing, illustrating, collaborating, and communicating historical information in print and online. At the outset of this long-term project, we can only imagine the possibilities that will be available to us five years or more in the future. We expect that evolving technologies such as Global Positioning Software (GPS), interactive mapping, social networking, and information delivery via cell phones or other hand-held devices will play a role in this project. The project will have an online presence from the start, and we intend to be vigilant about evolving technologies and alert to best practices as they emerge.

Mode of Organization

The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia project will be headed by three area scholars: Charlene Mires at Villanova University, Randall Miller at St. Joseph’s University, and Howard Gillette at Rutgers University-Camden, and consulting editors Gary B. Nash of UCLA and Emma Lapsansky-Werner of Haverford Collegeg, in association with the publisher, The University of Pennsylvania Press. They will be assisted by a Board of Associate Editors representing outstanding scholars in a variety of disciplines with deep knowledge of Philadelphia and the region and a Civic Advisory Board representing cultural organizations with major commitments to preserving, examining, and evaluating Philadelphia’s heritage. We will seek participation from organizations including, but not limited to, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Free Library of Philadelphia, the American Philosophical Society, the Philadelphia City Archives, the Mid-Atlantic branch of the National Archives, the Library Company of Philadelphia, the Atwater Kent Museum of Philadelphia, the African American Museum of Philadelphia, Independence National Historical Park, the Greater Philadelphia Tourism and Marketing Corporation, the South Jersey Tourism Corporation, the Delaware River Port Authority, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, the Reinvestment Fund, as well as area universities and media organizations. We will be alert for potential points of collaboration with existing projects such as PhilaPlace at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the documentary television series about the history of Philadelphia being produced by History Making Productions.

Origins of the Project

Discussion of a Philadelphia encyclopedia project revived during 2007 among individuals involved in commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 1982 book Philadelphia: A 300-Year History with a special issue of the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography (October 2007) and a public event at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (held on October 23, 2007). PMHB editor Tamara Gaskell and the special issue guest editor, Charlene Mires, worked together to initiate these projects, with the cooperation of the Barra Foundation and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The prospect of an encyclopedia as a new initiative for Philadelphia history was mentioned in Gary Nash’s historiographical essay in the special issue and discussed by him at length during his featured address at the public event at HSP.

In his HSP speech, Nash pointed out the transformative power of history through projects such as the President’s House and the encyclopedia that he envisioned. “History, we are finding out, when it is complex, ambiguous, paradoxical, myth-shattering, and even shocking, can be thought-provoking, useful, and a prod toward civic engagement,” he said. Elaborating on an encyclopedia’s potential, he continued:

“Potentially, creating an Encyclopedia of Philadelphia could have an indirect added value of incalculable benefit. In a city which has had its share of ethnic, racial, and political tensions, the process of organizing, designing, writing, and publishing the volume could have an annealing effect on the city’s diverse peoples and neighborhoods. I foresee a parallel to the unexpected way in which the President’s House excavation at Sixth and Market, and the hammering out of exhibits that will arise there pulled together parts of the city that were known better for fisticuffs than clasping hands. The idea of interpreting the President’s House started with bad feelings but then became an exercise in civic engagement. Creating an encyclopedia can follow that example.”

Nash called for inviting broad participation in the encyclopedia project, including “librarians, museum curators, business leaders, politicians, professionals, community activists, churches, voluntary associations, urban planners, architects, and of course historians.” Such a civic project would break the traditional pattern of “old patrician institutions reaching out to the people” to become an “in-gathering” to bring people together to work toward a common goal. Nash’s proposal and further discussion of the encyclopedia idea soon appeared on “The Sixth Square” arts and culture blog written by Kenneth Finkel, then Executive Director of the Arts and Culture Service at WHYY.

Following the event at the Historical Society, the University of Pennsylvania Press enlisted the three Philadelphia-area scholars named above to serve as general editors of the Encyclopedia. Gary Nash also agreed to participate, as consulting editor. Eric Halpern, Director of the Press, met with the editors and with potential partners within the University of Pennsylvania, including the Penn Institute for Urban Research. At the Press, Senior Editor Robert Lockhart was appointed liaison to the editorial team.

From April through December 2008, the three co-editors:

Discussed their mutual interest in the encyclopedia project as a vehicle for building a broad public constituency for local history and creating cooperative links among history organizations and scholars.

Met in Chicago with key staff members of the Encyclopedia of Chicago to learn about their experiences in producing a metropolitan encyclopedia (in print and online).

Drafted a mission statement for The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. Expanded the mission statement into a draft prospectus, which continues to evolve as the project takes shape.

Discussed an organization structure to include a Board of Associate Editors and a Civic Advisory Board.

Through the efforts of Howard Gillette, began discussions with potential community partners.

Obtained sample grant applications for encyclopedia projects previously funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Set a goal of applying for NEH funding at the next application deadline, July 2009, and discussed the importance of significant progress in planning prior to that date.

Began a pilot project to survey Philadelphia scholarship and public history web sites to identify topics and potential contributors for the Encyclopedia. Guidelines for this bibliographic survey were drafted and a graduate student was engaged to begin this project.

Met with the President and staff members of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and welcomed HSP’s offer to become the Encyclopedia’s institutional home. Discussed possibilities for collaboration with existing HSP projects and publications.

Created a budget and work schedule for planning activities during 2009, pending funding.

Planning Activities for 2009

During 2009, the project’s major goals will be to develop community partnerships; determine the scope and contents of the encyclopedia; raise awareness of the project locally and nationally; and raise additional funds.

From January through March 2009, the editors:

Worked with the University of Pennsylvania Press and a program officer from the Barra Foundation to develop a Planning Grant application for a Civic Partnership and Planning Workshop. Received funding from the Barra Foundation for this workshop, held at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, April 16-17, 2009.

Reaffirmed and reinforced collaboration with the Historical Society of Pennsylvania for use of space and sharing and developing resources.

Reached out to numerous civic groups, history-related organizations, and individuals to participate in the Civic Partnership and Planning Workshop. Coordinated arrangements for the workshop with the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Met with Page Talbott, Ros Remer, Sam Katz, and Eric Halpern to exchange information about the Encyclopedia project and the documentary television series with the working title The Remaking of America’s First City: Philadelphia (History Making Productions). While recognizing that the form and timelines of the two projects differ, agreed that additional conversation will be beneficial and that we should be alert for potential points of intersection where efficiencies may be achieved through collaboration.

Expanded work on the bibliographic survey through the efforts of graduate student assistants at Villanova University and St. Joseph’s University.

Collaborated with Avencia Inc. and the City of Philadelphia Department of Records on a funding application for expansion of Phillyhistory.org, the web site of historical photographs from the Philadelphia City Archives. Pending funds, the Encyclopedia will provide thematic content to encourage users to create historical tours using the site’s photographs.

Began construction of a web site and registered domain names.

Additionally during 2009, the editors will:

Establish a process for meetings and communication among the members of the core editorial team and partners.

Identify and apply for additional sources of funding.

Continue to develop the web site for the Encyclopedia. Determine the role and content of the web site in relation to the eventual print encyclopedia.

Implement and follow up on the Civic Partnership and Planning Workshop, which will help us imagine what an encyclopedia can be and the benefits it could generate for partners and the community.

Determine roles and responsibilities for the Civic Advisory Board and Board of Associate Editors. Invite individuals to serve on these boards.

Garner public input through activities formulated during the Civic Partnership Workshop and Planning Workshop. Possibilities may include workshops in neighborhood settings, such as public library branches, to gain insight into the interests of potential users of the Encyclopedia. In addition, a Philadelphia History Round-Table could serve to build public interest in Philadelphia history as well as provide a forum for continual public connection to the Encyclopedia project.

Complete the bibliographic survey of Philadelphia scholarship and public history web sites. The survey of scholarship and public history web sites should expand to include scholarship published since 1982, to ensure attention to scholarship that has emerged since the publication of Philadelphia: A 300-Year History.

Determine content; identify authors and contributors of visual content.

Pending funds, hire consultants or form partnerships with existing organizations or projects for technology, cartography, visual content, and development.

Pending funds, establish editorial structure including a managing editor and fact-checking operation.

Create writers’ guidelines and hold workshop(s) for potential contributors and fact-checkers.

Long-term estimated schedule

2010-2011

2012

2013

2015

Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia

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