The deadline for comments to our Knight News Challenge proposal has been extended to March 29. Please see the links in the next post – it only takes two clicks to “like” us, and we also welcome comments, suggestions, and questions. This week we have more than doubled our “likes” – thank you! This is vital to our chances of moving to the next round of consideration.
Blog Category: News, page 4
In the News: Admiral Wilson Boulevard
We’re delighted to see our recently published essay about Admiral Wilson Boulevard, by Bart Everts, featured in the New Jersey edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Learn more about the author and the surprising history of the highway in Kevin Riordan’s column, “Camden’s Boulevard of Unfulfilled Dreams.”
In the News: Encyclopedia Author Featured on St. Patrick’s Day
The author of our essay about St. Patrick’s Day, Mikaela Maria, appeared on CBS3 news on March 17 to provide historical background about the holiday. Reporter David Spunt posted a portion of the interview and his additional tracking of St. Patrick’s Day in Philadelphia on the CBS3 website. (Reporters, contact us any time you need to reach our expert authors, and follow the @Backgrounders Twitter feed for additional context to the news.)
Inga Saffron wins Pulitzer Prize for criticism
Congratulations to Inga Saffron of The Philadelphia Inquirer, who is the 2014 recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for criticism. Inga helped us launch the Encyclopedia with her theme essay on “Green Country Town,” which now anchors our growing coverage of topics related to the natural and built environment.
Join the Discussion about Jewelers Row
Join us at the Philadelphia History Museum on Thursday, September 22, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. as we co-sponsor a conversation about the history and significance of Philadelphia’s Jewelers Row. Speakers will include Paul Steinke, Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia; Hy Goldberg, Jewelers Row Business Association; Bob Skiba, Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides; and representatives from Visit Philadelphia. The program is free, but registration is required.
Join the Encyclopedia List-Serv
We are pleased to announce the creation of a list-serv to build and sustain the growing community of interest in The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. Anyone who would like to receive periodic updates about the project is invited to join the list. To join, send an e-mail to Howard Gillette at hfg@camden.rutgers.edu or add a comment expressing your interest to this post.
Join Us: The Greater Philadelphia Roundtable
Our public discussion of Greater Philadelphia history and issues expands this spring with the introduction of the Greater Philadelphia Roundtable, a forum for community dialogue that will help shape the future content of The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. With the help of many civic partners, four programs have been organized for this spring. Please visit our Events page or our Eventbrite listings for complete information. (Advance registration will help us assure enough seats for everyone at these events.) The Eventbrite listings allow you to email your own electronic invitations to these events, post them on Facebook, or alert your followers on Twitter — please do! Press Release
This program has been supported in part by the Pennsylvania Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities’ We the People initiative on American History.
Lessons of the yellow fever epidemic
This week we noticed another uptick in traffic to our essay on the yellow fever epidemic of 1793, written by Simon Finger. We’re pleased to discover that the essay was included in an assignment for students at Jack Jouett Middle School in Charlottesville, Virginia. Welcome to our new readers from Charlottesville!
May 11 Roundtable – waiting list
Our registration for the May 11 Greater Philadelphia Roundtable, “Philadelphia’s Black Attorneys,” has reached the capacity of 200! Thanks to everyone, especially Michael Coard, Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, the African American Museum in Philadelphia, and the Barristers for helping to spread the word. We encourage anyone who still wishes to attend this program to register for the waiting list at http://attorneys.eventbrite.com . Also, if you registered but will not attend, please let us know so that your place may be opened to someone on the waiting list.
We look forward to seeing so many people next Tuesday evening! We will also post a summary of the program on the Encyclopedia’s web site so it will be accessible to an even wider audience.
More Space! “Imagining Philadelphia’s Future”
We have been thrilled with the interest in our April 22 roundtable, “Imagining Philadelphia’s Future,” at the Academy of Natural Sciences. For a brief time, we had reached the capacity of our room, but thanks to the generosity of the Academy we have moved the event into the auditorium there. Registration has been opened once again, so please invite friends and colleagues. Everyone on the waiting list should receive an email notice so they may confirm their registration.
Thanks to Young Involved Philadelphia and all of our partners involved in organizing this very compelling program, which will help to shape the future content of The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia.