This week The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia reached and surpassed 400 topics online with the publication of the essay Community Development, by Howard Gillette Jr. and Domenic Vitiello, two of our editors. The continuing growth of this regional resource is made possible by the talents and good will of hundreds of writers, our civic partners, and the staff of editors, fact-checkers, and digital publishers working at our home base at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities (MARCH) at Rutgers-Camden. The current phase of expansion is funded by generous grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Mayor’s Fund for Philadelphia, and Poor Richard’s Charitable Trust.
Blog Category: Blog, page 9
Project Milestone: 450 Topics Online
With the help of so many writers, editors, project partners, and financial supporters, The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia has reached a new publishing milestone of 450 topics online–an increase of more than 150 topics from this time a year ago. The distinction of being topic No. 450 goes to the new essay about Norristown, Pennsylvania, by Michael D. Shaffer.
The current phase of expansion is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Mayor’s Fund for Philadelphia, and Poor Richard’s Charitable Trust. To watch us climb to more than 500 topics this spring, follow us on Facebook or Twitter or sign up for our list-serv by submitting your email address on the home page. Thank you for your support!
Project Milestone: 500 Topics Online
This week The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia reached 500 essays online — a major milestone for the project. The editors extend thanks to all of the authors, editors, project partners, and staff members who have contributed their time and talents to creating this unparalleled resource for understanding the Philadelphia region’s history and experience.
Topic #500 is Italians and Italy, by Stefano Luconi. Click here to read the essay and explore links to related reading, collections, places to visit, and websites.
Project Milestone: 550 Topics Online
The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia has been growing rapidly this summer, and we are pleased to announce that the project has reached a new milestone: 550 topics published online. The 550th essay to be published is Dispensaries, by Steven J. Peitzman, a longtime contributor who participated in one of our early Greater Philadelphia Roundtable programs, “City of Firsts.” He has written two previous essays for The Encyclopedia: City of Medicine and Typhoid Fever and Filtered Water.
Prospectus Update
Our Draft Prospectus has been updated to include the steps taken to launch The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia project from January through March 2009. We look forward to applying the advice of the Civic Partnership and Planning Workshop when we create the next evolution of this guiding document for the project.
Putting the Delaware River Port Authority in Context
News that a grand jury is considering possible corruption in the award of economic development funds by the Delaware River Port Authority to politically connected recipients makes Peter Hendee Brown’s posting on the DRPA on this site especially timely. What the DRPA is supposed to do and how it operates is hard to grasp from the many news accounts that has put the agency in the news over time. Brown provides the background that helps make sense of the agency’s central importance to the region and the structural problems that arise from its operations.
When I first returned to the area after a long absence to write a book on Camden in the late 1990s, I was surprised at the way DRPA operated, not as an agent for regional development but as a cash cow that directed funds in equal portions to Pennsylvania and New Jersey without an overall strategic plan. Some projects made immediate sense, such as refitting the Philadelphia Navy Yard in the aftermath of the government’s departure from the site. Other investments were harder to sell. Spokesmen for the agency often talked about building tourism, for instance, by making investments on both sides of the Delaware River, and some good results came from that vision as well, not the least funds that helped make the President’s House memorial in Philadelphia a reality. But building tourism—which might conceivably generate returns by increasing tolls over bridges connecting the two states—was never central to DRPA’s goal. Supporting allies and garnering political credits appears to have topped the list of priorities, to say nothing of the financial benefits that might be gained through related contracts and political donations, among other things.
As Brown indicates, the creation of the DRPA was part of a movement to remove from politics certain public investments operating as non-partisan authorities. As Louise Dyble’s devastating critique of the Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District, Paying the Toll: Local Power, Regional Politics, and the Golden Gate Bridge, demonstrates, reigning in such authorities can be difficult indeed, and holding them accountable nearly impossible. DRPA may not reach that standard, but accountability remains a concern to the many people who continue to pay tolls into this organization’s coffers.
Whether an indictment will follow the grand jury’s investigation, DRPA deserves close scrutiny. We hope that our fellow citizens in the greater Philadelphia region will be aided in their assessment of the DRPA by Brown’s essay. Certainly, none of us have heard the last about controversies surrounding this important player in our region.
Read about Bob Skiba in the Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer on Friday published a front-page feature story about Bob Skiba, who helped to form our partnership with the Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides. Bob is currently president of the Tour Guides and heads the archives at the William Way Community Center in Philadelphia. Read all about it. Congratulations also to the Tour Guides on completion of their recent certification training and examination — as a result, twenty-nine newly certified guides are prepared for the tourist season of 2011.
Register now for the Greater Philadelphia Roundtable
Registration is now open for the final three programs in the “Phrasing Philadelphia” series of the Greater Philadelphia Roundtable. Please join us for these discussions and contribute your suggestions for the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia:
- “City of Firsts” – Thursday, January 19, 6:30-8 p.m., at the Franklin Institute.
- “Philadelphia, the Place That Loves You Back” – Wednesday, February 22, 6:30-8 p.m., at the Independence Visitor Center.
- “City of Neighborhoods, City of Homes” – Wednesday, March 28, 6:30-8 p.m., at the Philadelphia History Museum at the Atwater Kent.
For information on all programs and to register in advance, please visit https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/events.
We look forward to your participation in this unprecedented exploration of Philadelphia’s history and experience.
Report from the PHA
The Encyclopedia editors had the opportunity to lead a roundtable discussion about the project at the annual meeting of the Pennsylvania Historical Association conference, held October 14-16, 2010, at Susquehanna University. We were pleased to see scholars from so many universities taking interest in the project and contributing their ideas and thoughtful questions. Thanks to the historians from Penn State, Temple University, Villanova University, Philadelphia University, Millersville University, Lehigh University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and elsewhere for your participation. (That was quite a lineup of past presidents of the PHA in the back row!) Specific topics recommendations received have been added to our nominations list on the home page of this site, and we look forward to receiving more.
Return of the Greater Philadelphia Roundtable
Many will recall the program series that launched The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia — the Greater Philadelphia Roundtable. This spring we are pleased to again invite you to a series of conversations about our region’s history and contemporary issues.
Sanctuaries: Past Into Present
Throughout American history, people have come to the Philadelphia region seeking opportunity, while others have been fleeing persecution, and still others have been forced here in chains. When have these migrants been granted the right to feel safe, and when have they been denied safety? How do we come to grips with our country’s contradictory history of celebrating the diversity these many migrations produced, while denying rights to many?
This spring, join friends and neighbors for a series of free public seminars across greater Philadelphia. Learn from local experts about Philadelphia’s immigration and migration history, hear from activists working in the region now, and grapple with how our complicated histories shape today’s social and political landscape.
In Search of the Underground Railroad: Connecting People, Places, and Things
April 2, 2019
Pop-Up Exhibits at 6 p.m., Lecture at 7 p.m.
Rutgers-Camden Campus Center
Featuring archaeologist Cheryl LaRoche and community partners.
Discover how historians and archaeologists connect people, places, and things to better understand the lives of enslaved people who sought sanctuary with the Underground Railroad. Link for further information and registration.
Sanctuary Now, Sanctuary When?
April 23, 2019, 6 p.m.
Arch Street Meeting House
320 Arch Street, Philadelphia
Featuring Domenic Vitiello (University of Pennsylvania) and Blanca Pacheco (New Sanctuary Movement)
Learn how the idea of “sanctuary” became part of immigration justice lexicon in the United States and what we can all learn from the experiences of refugees and activists, past and present. Link for further information and registration.
Sanctuary in Sickness, Sanctuary in Health
June 4, 2019, 6 p.m.
Philadelphia Lazaretto
Second Street and Wanamaker Avenue, Essington, Pa.
Featuring David Barnes (University of Pennsylvania)
Explore the Philadelphia Lazaretto, discover the critical role it played in Philadelphia’s immigration history, and contemplate the past, present, and future of health care for our most vulnerable. Link for further information and registration.
Sanctuaries: Past into Present is a Greater Philadelphia Roundtable program series of The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, produced at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities (MARCH) at Rutgers-Camden. “In Search of the Underground Railroad” is supported by the Office of the Chancellor at Rutgers-Camden and co-sponsored by the following departments and programs: History, Africana Studies, Liberal Studies, and Forensic Science.