We are pleased to add the Friends of Laurel Hill Cemetery to our growing Civic Advisory Board, which helps to assure that the Encyclopedia project serves community needs. Gwen Kaminski, Director of Development and Programs for the Friends of Laurel Hill, has helped us plan our “Green Country Town” roundtable, coming up in May at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. The President and CEO of Laurel Hill and West Laurel Hill Cemeteries, Pete Hoskins, will be a panelist for the program. Welcome to these supportive friends of the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia project!
Blog, page 12
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.
Art Museum Joins Civic Advisory Board
We are pleased to welcome the Philadelphia Museum of Art to the Encyclopedia’s Civic Advisory Board. Staff members from the Museum’s Center for American Art participated in the Civic Partnership and Planning Workshop that launched the project, and we look forward to working with them next year on a public program to explore Philadelphia’s reputation as “Athens of America.”
Tour Guides Join Our Civic Advisory Board
Earlier this summer, two of the Encyclopedia’s editors, Charlene Mires and Howard Gillette, participated in a meeting of the Association of Philadelphia Tourguides. Building on that fruitful discusison, we now welcome this organization to our growing board of civic partners. Bob Skiba will serve as liaison between the guides and the Encyclopedia.
Bibliographic Survey Expanded
Looking for the latest word on Philadelphia? We are pleased to offer a newly expanded bibliographic survey of scholarship, public history work, and public policy studies about Philadelphia published since 1982. The survey is approximately one-third larger than the previous survey, with a significant expansion in entries related to public policy as well as updated coverage of scholarship published during 2009 and early 2010. Our thanks to bibliographer Hillary S. Kativa for her work on the survey and to the University of Pennsylvania Press for making this project possible.
Our Home Base
The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia is a project of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities, in cooperation with our numerous civic partners, associate editors, and advisers. The new mailing address for the project is: The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities, Department of History, Rutgers University, Camden, NJ 08102.
The Greater Philadelphia Roundtable
Our spring series of the Greater Philadelphia Roundtable concluded May 11 with a capacity audience at the African American Museum in Philadelphia for “Philadelphia’s Black Attorneys: Not Just Lawyers but ‘Social Engineers.'” We extend to thanks to everyone who contributed their time and efforts to these community dialogues, which collectively drew more than 300 participants to four different venues and generated lively exchanges of information and views. These programs have demonstrated the strong interest of a variety of individuals and groups in being represented in The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. We also have heard of the importance of understanding the past in order to plan for the future, especially the need to reach out to today’s youth. The extraordinary collaboration among so many groups and individuals forged by these programs will guide the planning of future programs and help to shape the future content of The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. Please continue to join the dialogue as we post summaries of the spring discussions and watch for announcements of future events.
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.
Imagining Philadelphia’s Future
The April 22 session of the Greater Philadelphia Roundtable was the largest yet, with more than 100 people joining us at the Academy of Natural Sciences for the discussion, “Imagining Philadelphia’s Future: The Plans and the Realities.” Suggestions for the Encyclopedia that were submitted on comment cards have been posted on our nominations page, and a summary of the program will be prepared and posted to allow for further discussion. Thanks to our partner Young Involved Philadelphia, to the Academy of Natural Sciences, and everyone who participated and helped to spread the word about this event. Video from the program is posted on PlanPhilly.com.
One Year Later
It’s been a busy year since we launched the Encyclopedia project with a Civic Partnership and Planning Workshop in April 2009. To summarize our progress and challenges, we have prepared a brief annual report. Thanks to all of our partners and the new friends we are making at branch libraries and through the Greater Philadelphia Roundtable. Please continue to add to these discussions on our Events page and join us for our additional programs this spring.