What would you like to know about Philadelphia and its history? Nominate a topic and tell us why you’d like to see it in The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. To submit your ideas to the editors, simply scroll to the bottom of this page.
What would you like to know about Philadelphia and its history? Nominate a topic and tell us why you’d like to see it in The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. To submit your ideas to the editors, simply scroll to the bottom of this page.
Connecting the Past with the Present, Building Community, Creating a Legacy
Absolutely. Penn’s ‘holy’ experiment allowed for religious diversity in Philadelphia which made it unique among colonial cities. That variety in the churchscape had a significant impact on the urban experience as well as the city’s skyline. As was noted in the one of the presentations on Friday, one of the reasons that Philadelphia was chosen as the site for the Continental Congress was because all the members who attended would have found a house of worship within the city.
[comment originally posted April 21; re-posted by the editors May 1]
Independently of the above comment, I’d like to see an article on the medical publishing industry in Philadelphia. Philadelphia was the center of the medical publishing industry in the U.S. starting in the late 19th Century and going all the way through the 20th. (Then the multinational conglomerates took over.) Companies such as W.B. Saunders, J. B. Lippincott, Lea & Febiger, F.A. Davis, and Blakiston published incredibly important titles, and the industry culture was colorful and clubby.
[comment originally received April 21; re-posted by the editors May 1]
I agree with Thom & Mark – The LGBT community (lesbian, gay, bisexual & transgender) makes up a significant part of all of Philadelphia’s communities & history. It might be useful, since the civic partnership & planning workshop doesn’t seem to have included representation from lgbt orgaizations and historians, to hold a session to garner this input at our community center if no further workshops are planned.
Philadelphia’s own film pioneer, Siegmund Lubin. He was one of the earliest film pioneers, and made Philadelphia’s first movies in his backyard at 1608 N. Fifteenth Street where there is now a State Historical Marker noting his contributions. He ran his early film business out of his optical shop on S. Eighth Street where there is another Historical marker noting his work. He started the first chain of movie theaters and eventually had a huge studio at the corner of 20th St and Indiana Avenues. It was mostly destroyed by an arsonist in 1995, though part of the complex stil stands there. A documentary based on his life and work is planned: kingofthemovies.com
By email, we have received the suggestion of dance. The nominator of this topic writes: “Philadelphia produced some of the earlier important US dancers, including Durang, Smith, Maywood and Lee; the Littlefields created and directed one of the first, if not the first, American ballet companies; [and] Marian Cuyjet and her cohort were among the first in the nation to establish schools that taught ballet to and supported Afro-American dancers.” – The Editors
I read about the idea of a Philadelphia Almanac in the papers and would like to recommend “THE PHILADELPHIA FIRE DEPARTMENT,” both the early volunteer era and the paid department. My husband Dan and I are long time volunteers at Fireman’s Hall Museum, and there is so much information that can be used, including the book “Hike Out” which is a history of the department. So much was involved with the different volunteer companies, including the founders of Philadelphia, its immigrants and many, many leaders of the city and eventually the country, and many social issues such as the riots of the 1800’s, the integration of the department of both African Americans and women, Benjamin Franklin and much more. If you have not already contacted him, you can talk to the curator of Fireman’s Hall, FF Harry Magee, and he can provide you with all the information, dates, etc you need. I hope you will take advantage of the wealth of information that is available in our archives because it encompasses not only the famous but the working class and ordinary citizens who made up and continue to influence Philadelphia today.
Thanks for sharing your ideas and enthusiasm, everyone. It’s exciting to see the community of interest in this project begin to grow. Please keep posting! – The Editors
Philadelphia deserves its own encyclopedia, and I sincerely hope that Philadelphia’s very rich jazz history will be included. If the editors need any help in this regard, my doctoral dissertation was on the Philadelphia jazz community, and I was one of the many writers who participated in Henry Louis Gates’ African-American Biography Encyclopedia. Please, don’t hesitate to contact me.
Alexander Wilson, commonly referred to as the Father of American Ornithology wrote & published his signature work “American Ornithology” in Philadelphia. In the early 1800’s, Philadelphia was the center piece for ornithological discovery. Supporters of Wilson, who didn’t want to see his legacy tarnished, re-buffed John James Audubon’s attempt to have his monumental work, “Birds of America” published in the U.S., forcing him to seek a publisher in England.
GREAT project. The Merchants Fund was founded in 1854 by the usual suspects: Kinght, Cummins, Wood, Benson, Ludwig, etc. Men of commerce joined together to found an early progenitor of the Chamber of Commerce, a mutual benefit fund and hardship fund. We gave all our record to PHP last year. You can’t write about the evolution of commerce in Philadelphia without the men and women of The Merchants Fund.
The Athenaeum of Philadelphia, 219 Washington Sq. 215-925-2688 has 48,000 negatives of mine showing architecture of the Phila. area. Starting about 1949,I worked with Ed Bacon, Dir.of City Planning and many other architects, inc. Vincent Kling, Ballinger Co., H2L2, Bower &
Fradley, Frank Furness,etc. I have shown the changes of the skyline from the Art Museum, & Penns Landing scale models up to the present time.
Penn Center was the largest area in a metro area in the WORLD to be redeveloped as one single project. FYI, Larry Williams
What an exciting project! I nominate sports as a topic. Baseball, boxing, rowing, track & field and others have a rich history in the City and are tied to important locations and famous people.
In the nations most gay friendly city, and the city that held the nations first public demonstrations for “Homosexual Equality” The Gay rights movement in Philadelphia. Philadelphia has long been a leader in this field nationwide.
Gay and Lesbian history. Check out [the books]
GayLesbian Philadelphia by Thom Nickels,
as well as Philadelphia Architecture by
Thom Nickels.
Philadelphia played a key role in bringing the science of microbiology to the United States starting in 1880. The application of Philadelphia Microbiology to medicine and the pharmaceutical industry became a model for development in the United States There should be a section on Philadelphia Microbiology.
First off, I’m not mentioning the obvious, like Independence Hall. I figure you’ve got those bases covered.
Maps! Historical maps that show graphically how things change over time. Be sure to include examples from “the neighborhoods”, not just downtown. Photographs can be offered in a similar way. Imagine a presentation for each of the traditional shopping streets, places that everyone knows and that there are generations of photos for. Side-by-side photo and map of, say, K & A, every decade for 150 years. Or 52nd Street. 69th Street. Passyunk Avenue. Germantown Avenue. Now there’s a topic for ya: Germantown Avenue, that ran from the Delaware River all the way to Montgomery County, could tell the story of Philadelphia all by itself with its long and important history, diverse neighborhoods, beloved trolley lines.
Old Movie and “Legitimate” Theaters and how they were woven into their communities.
Railroads and Philadelphia. That could be an encyclopedia on its own.
The Trolley Barons of Philadelphia. Which leads me to think of…
The Great Mansions, displaying the particular opulence of every period and the continuing movement of the “suburbs” as the city grew.
And of course, influential individuals: Franklin, Rittenhouse, Wistar/Wister, Bartram, Widener, Stotesbury, Wanamaker, Strawbridge(s)
Philadelphia, the manufacturing hub, which sprung from…
Mills in early Philadelphia.
Philadelphia before and after various bridges. It’s easy to forget that all the bridges crossing our rivers weren’t always there. In fact, it wasn’t that long ago that ferries were an integral part of the transportation network (not to mention canals). And in many cases, when we built bridges, they were of record-setting size, at least for a while.
An encyclopedia wouldn’t be complete without a long article about the 1854 Consolidation.
World’s Fairs (the two we all know about) and the forgotten Expositions that we also hosted.
Libraries, Societies, Institutes, Colleges, and Universities. We have a whole lotta learnin’ goin’ on here, and have had for hundreds of years.
Street Names’ Histories. Incorporate the city’s existing list.
Lists of great achievers, like Nobel Prize laureates, etc.
Inventors and Industrialists (Besides Franklin). Atwater Kent, Eckert & Mauchley, Baldwin, Rittenhouse, Fulton, Farnsworth
You need to pick up where the Bulletin Almanac left off, providing an encyclopedic source for a lot of raw data. With voluminous hyperlinking wherever possible!
As much history as possible of who lived here before the Europeans came should be included.
Philadelphia as a publishing center.
Weather history, like the Bulletin Almanac had.
And that’s just off the top of my head!
Congratulations for getting the project started, and good luck!
Churches — a must have category, don’t you think?
I nominate theological education and seminaries as topics for the Encyclopedia. The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, for example, started at 42 N. 9th Street in 1864. It later constructed a building adjacent to Franklin Square and then relocated to Mt. Airy in 1889 where it has been ever since.
I nominate food and drink as topics for the Encyclopedia. Throughout history, what people eat and drink provides unique insights into their culture and traditions and Philadelphia is no different. Taverns were such an important part of the political life of this city and have such a historic legacy to tell. And of course there’s always the cheesesteak, which embodies both the city and, in its regional variations like the zep, the metropolitan connections that are an important part of Philadelphia’s history as well.
An entry about the history of Independence Hall as a monument would be really interesting!
A longer essay about monuments and memory would be important, too — we could think about how monuments shape our ideas about Philadelphia’s history, and how they connect Philadelphia other times and places. If we could make information about the monuments available by cell phone, it would add a great deal to the experience of walking around our city. (Notice the signs for information by cell phone that already are in place at Independence and Valley Forge National Historical Parks.) Thanks, Victoria, for adding to our list and helping us plan the content of the Encyclopedia. – The Editors
@Victoria Zagarino
Dustin, thanks for nominating this important work. Your idea also points to a category for us to think about: works about Philadelphia (books, films, music, and more) that have had impact reaching far beyond the city. — The Editors
@Dustin Kidd
I suggest an entry on W.E.B. Du Bois’s The Philadelphia Negro because it is an excellent example of early American sociology and it captures a moment in Philadelphia history in rich ethnographic detail.
Mark, yes, “art and artists” is a natural. Thanks for starting this list. We’d love to see the Encyclopedia encourage new books, articles, and public programs about Philadelphia. — The Editors
@Mark Sullivan
This is exciting news! Will there be a section on Philadelphia art and artists? I’ve been threatening to write an art history of Philadelphia for years now, but haven’t had the chance. This might be just the venue to get that project started.