On April 16-17, 2009, a Civic Partnership and Planning Workshop launched the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia project. Links in the program below provide summaries and the opportunity to continue the discussion. Please join us in imagining what The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia might become.
Workshop and web site funded by a generous grant from the Barra Foundation.
Compiled panel summaries (pdf)
Civic Partnership and Planning Workshop
Day 1 (Thursday, April 16)
8:30 Registration Coffee and set-up of workshop participation exhibits.
9:00 Greetings Eric Halpern, Penn Press, Page Talbott, Barra Foundation, Kim Sajet, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Howard Gillette, Rutgers University-Camden
9:30-11:00 Morning Panel: Capitalizing on the Region’s Historical Assets
What were the historical needs? What was created? What is the legacy?
This panel provided a foundation for considering the Encyclopedia as a project of civic investment.
President’s House: Michael Coard
National History Day: V. Chapman Smith
Historic Germantown: David Young
ExplorePAhistory.com, Charles Hardy
Chair & Comment: Steven Conn, Ohio State University
Dialogue with workshop participants
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11:15-12:15 Breakout groups following this panel continued the discussion and sought input from the workshop participants about the purposes of an Encyclopedia, the needs it may fulfill, and intersections with existing projects.
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12:30- 2:00 Lunch and featured speaker: “Why Encyclopedias Matter” James Grossman, Newberry Library, Co-editor, The Encyclopedia of Chicago
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2:00-3:30 Afternoon Panel I: New Possibilities
What new resources will be generated? What is still needed in terms of information?
PhilaPlace: Joan Saverino
Philadelphia Documentary: Sam Katz
Preservation Alliance: John Gallery
Civil War Consortium: Melissa Clemmer
Tourism Initiative: Veronica Wentz
Chair and Comment: Bill Adair, Heritage Philadelphia
Dialogue with workshop participants
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3:45-5:15 Afternoon Panel II: Publishing in the Age of Electronic Communities
Chair: Chris Satullo, WHYY
Featured speaker Robert Cheetham, Avencia, Inc.
Comment: Amy Hillier, University of Pennsylvania
Elizabeth Nash, The Reinvestment Fund
Dialogue with workshop participants
This session is co-sponsored by the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries (PACSCL)
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These workshop events will be followed by the separately-sponsored annual Fredric Miller Memorial Lecture, which will continue the focus on the value of aggregating the efforts of community organizations.
5:30 Reception
Opportunity for further discussion; book displays; viewing and interaction around participant exhibits
6:30 Fredric Miller Memorial Lecture: “Whither the Civic Sphere and the Humanities?” Professor Clement Price, Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience and Department of History, Rutgers University-Newark. Dr. Price was the agency lead for the National Endowment for the Humanities on President Obama’s transition team.
Day 2 (Friday April 17) Generating New Knowledge and its Returns
Panelists in the following sessions identified information needs in areas of their expertise and invited further discussion by workshop participants. Each panel encouraged cross-discussion between academic and non-academic experts in their fields and with the other workshop participants.
8:30 Registration Coffee
9:00 Greeting: Charlene Mires, Villanova University, Randall Miller, St. Joseph’s University
9:15-10:45 Morning Simultaneous Panels I
A) Growth and Development (Library Company)
Philip Hopkins, Select Greater Philadelphia
Joseph DiStefano, Philadelphia Inquirer
Guian McKee, University of Virginia
Walter Licht, University of Pennsylvania
Philip Scranton, Rutgers University-Camden
David Thornburgh, Fels Institute, University of Pennsylvania
Dialogue with workshop participants
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B) Immigration and Ethnicity (HSP)
Richard Juliani, Villanova University
Kathryn Wilson, Georgia State University
Judith Goode, Temple University
Michael Katz, University of Pennsylvania
Morris Vogel, Lower East Side Tenement Museum
Avi Decter, Jewish Museum of Maryland
Domenic Vitiello, University of Pennsylvania
Dialogue with workshop participants
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11:00-12:30 Morning Simultaneous Panels II
C) The Built Environment (HSP)
Randall Mason, University of Pennsylvania
Gregory Heller, Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission
Rebecca Yamin, John Milner Associates
Tuomi Forrest, Partners for Sacred Places
George Thomas, University of Pennsylvania
John Gallery, Preservation Alliance
Dialogue with workshop participants
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D) Politics and Public Policy (Library Company)
Richardson Dilworth, Drexel University
Larry Eichel, Philadelphia Research Initiative, Pew Charitable Trusts
Carolyn Adams, Temple University / Metropolitan Indicators
Wendell Pritchett, University of Pennsylvania
Stephen Highsmith, NBC Universal
Dialogue with workshop participants
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12:30-2 Lunch and featured speaker: “The Time is Now: Philadelphia Future Lies in the Past,” Gary Nash, University of California-Los Angeles
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2:15-3:45 Afternoon Simultaneous Panels II
E) Race and Rights (Library Company)
Joyce Wilkerson, Esq.
Romona Riscoe Benson, African American Museum of Philadelphia
Matthew Countryman, University of Michigan
Emma Lapsansky-Werner, Haverford College Quaker Collection
Philip Seitz, Cliveden of the National Trust
John Seitter, South Jersey Tourism Corporation
Dialogue with workshop participants
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F) Arts and Culture (HSP)
Stephan Salisbury, Philadelphia Inquirer
Sandra Turner Barnes, Camden County Cultural and Heritage Commission
David Brigham, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
Mark Moskowitz, History Making Productions
Derick Dreher, Rosenbach Library and Museum
Kenneth Finkel, Temple University
Dialogue with workshop participants
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4:00-4:30 Plenary Session: Next Steps
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