Blog, page 2

The editors of The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia seek to make 50 additional assignments to complete our current phase of expansion. Now is the time to add your expertise to a resource used daily by teachers and students, journalists, scholars, and general readers.

To view the list of available assignments, link here:

Call for authors

To join more than 350 leading and emerging scholars who have already contributed to this peer-reviewed, digital-first project, let us know your choice of topics. Authors will have the opportunity to select feasible deadlines between January and March 2017 and will have the option of volunteering or receiving modest stipends. Prospective authors must have expertise in their chosen subjects demonstrated by previous publications and/or advanced training in historical research. To express interest, please send an email describing your qualifications and specifying topics of interest to the editor-in-chief, Charlene Mires, cmires@camden.rutgers.edu. No attachments, please. Graduate students, please include the name and email address of an academic reference.

The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia’s expansion is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Mayor’s Fund for Philadelphia, and Poor Richard’s Charitable Trust. The scope of the project includes the city of Philadelphia and the surrounding region of southeastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey, and northern Delaware. 

Guidelines for writers:
https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/about/guidelines-for-writers/

Roster of authors:
https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/category/authors/

Editors and staff:
https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/about/editors/

We are pleased to share the news of a new book by Silas Chamberlin, author of the essay about recreational trails in The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia.  His book, On the Trail: A History of American Hiking, is a history of American hikers and their role in creating the nation’s trail system.  According to Yale University Press:

In the mid-nineteenth century urban walking clubs emerged in the United States. A little more than a century later, tens of millions of Americans were hiking on trails blazed in every region of the country. This groundbreaking book is the first full account of the unique history of the American hiking community and its rich, nationwide culture.

Delving into unexplored archives, including those of the Appalachian Mountain Club, Sierra Club, Green Mountain Club, and many others, Silas Chamberlin recounts the activities of hikers who over many decades formed clubs, built trails, and advocated for environmental protection. He also discusses the shifting attitudes of the late 1960s and early 1970s when ideas about traditional volunteerism shifted and new hikers came to see trail blazing and maintenance as government responsibilities. Chamberlin explores the implications for hiking groups, future club leaders, and the millions of others who find happiness, inspiration, and better health on America’s trails.

Chamberlin will discuss and sign his book at the Penn Book Center, 130 S. Thirty-Fourth Street, Philadelphia, on Thursday, December 8, at 6:30 p.m.  For more information, link here.

At the home base of The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities (MARCH) at Rutgers-Camden, students and recent alumni play important roles in producing each new topic. In the process they gain a deeper understanding of regional history and build skills in digital publishing. Read more about these activities and other public humanities news on the MARCH website.

Teachers, please join us on Wednesday, November 2, at 4:30 p.m. for a free webinar tutorial with our education outreach coordinator, Melissa Callahan. The webinar will provide an overview of the resources available from The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia and offer ways in which students might use those resources to create an outstanding National History Day project. Once you sign up for the webinar you will receive a confirmation email.

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.

In partnership with the National Archives at Philadelphia, we’re pleased to announce a new guide for teachers and students, “Comparing Primary and Secondary Sources,” which is newly published on the website for National History Day Philadelphia. Created to help students with their research for National History Day projects, the guide was prepared by Melissa Callahan, an experienced social studies teacher who is the education outreach coordinator for The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia and a graduate student in history at Rutgers-Camden. This work was supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities (MARCH), which produces The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia.

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. 

We are pleased to share the news that The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia has reached a new milestone: 350 topics online. Thanks to the many people who are making this project possible: authors, editors, reviewers, fact-checkers and page-builders, and the archival partners who provide illustrations. Our current phase of expansion is made possible by generous grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Mayor’s Fund for Philadelphia, and Poor Richard’s Charitable Trust.

Topic #350 is Surveying (Colonial), by Michael Pospishil.  Stay tuned for more this summer!

This month we passed a new milestone in the creation of The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia: our 300th topic published online. Published on March 8, topic number 300, “Board of Health (Philadelphia),” by James Higgins, added to our growing category of topics about health and medicine.  We would like to take this opportunity to thank the many contributors, civic partners, and staff members at Rutgers-Camden who are devoting their talents and good will to the service of this resource for the Philadelphia region. Our current phase of expansion is made possible by generous funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Mayor’s Fund for Philadelphia, and Poor Richard’s Charitable Trust.

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.”

Which topics were our most-visited during 2015? Our statistics reveal some patterns:  The political season seems to have had an impact on readership of topics related to immigration and nativism.  We also see heavy use of topics related to Philadelphia’s decade as the nation’s capital, a popular subject for students and teachers in U.S. history courses.  Finally, there are some distinctively Philadelphia topics in our top ten.

Here is the list, beginning with the tenth most-read and leading to number one:

10. Immigration and Migration (Colonial Era), by Marie Basile McDaniel

9.  Philadelphia and Its People in Maps: The 1790s, by Paul Sivitz and Billy G. Smith

8.  Yellow Fever, by Simon Finger

7.  Immigration (1870-1930), by Barbara Klaczynska

6.  Row Houses, by Amanda Casper

5.  Nativist Riots of 1844, by Zachary M. Schrag

4.  Immigration (1790-1860), by James Bergquist

3.  Department Stores, by David Sullivan

2.  Political Parties (Origins, 1790s), by Brian Hendricks

And the most-visited topic for 2015 is …

City of Brotherly Love, by Chris Satullo

We always see a surge of traffic to “City of Brotherly Love” when sports announcers invoke the phrase during nationally televised Eagles games!

Thanks to all of our authors and to the 227,733 unique visitors who came to The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia during 2015.  We look forward to expanding our coverage for you in the new year.

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Thirteenth Amendment and the abolition of slavery, local cultural institutions will host screenings of clips from Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle.  The African American Museum in Philadelphia (AAMP), Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP), the National Constitution Center (NCC), and the Philadelphia History Museum (PHM) have also developed programming using these video clips to launch larger explorations of whether or not equality is ensured with the passage of new laws or amendments.  For details about these free events, which are co-sponsored by The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, please visit our events page.

These four documentaries feature riveting new footage illustrating the history of civil rights in America. Each film tells remarkable stories of individuals who challenged the social and legal status quo of deeply rooted institutions, from slavery to segregation. Abolitionists, Slavery by Another Name, The Loving Story, and Freedom Riders include dramatic scenes of incidents in the 150-year effort to achieve equal rights for all. Presentations and discussions featured in the AAMP, HSP, NCC, and PHM programs will focus on the specific themes and subjects of the documentary series.

“We are thankful to the NEH and Gilder Lehrman Institute for the ability to bring these programs to Philadelphia. It is an opportune time to be having these conversations,” said Beth Twiss Houting, HSP’s Senior Director of Programs and Services.

Educators will also be able to receive ACT 48/CEU credits at each Created Equal? event. A teacher workshop on February 28 will also focus on civil rights struggles.

The Created Equal film set and public programs have been made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, as part of its Bridging Cultures initiative, in partnership with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

The poster “Deep Roots, Continuing Legacy: Philadelphia in the Struggle for Civil Rights” is a new project from History Making Productions, the documentary film company that strives to share Philadelphia’s rich history through the powerful medium of film. We hope that the poster will encourage Philadelphia residents to delve into our rich, fascinating, and continuous role in the fight for equal rights. Many of the events depicted on the poster are featured in History Making Production’s film series, Philadelphia: The Great Experiment. These films are available at no cost and online at historyofphilly.com.

The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia is one of the many cultural and civic organizations partner organizations that have helped to produce the poster. We are among the partners that have also supplied supplementary materials that complement and extend the content on the poster. For more information, teaching ideas, and primary sources, go to historyofphilly.com/philadelphia-the-great-experiment

The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia is expanding and opening new subject categories with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Mayor’s Fund for Philadelphia, and Poor Richard’s Charitable Trust. To join more than one hundred leading and emerging scholars who have already contributed to this peer-reviewed, digital-first project, let us know your choice of topics.

To see the list of topics available link here.

The scope of the project includes the city of Philadelphia and the surrounding region of southeastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey, and northern Delaware. Prospective authors must have expertise in their chosen subjects demonstrated by previous publications and/or advanced training in historical research. Authors will have the opportunity to select feasible deadlines and will have the option of volunteering or receiving modest stipends. To express interest, please send an email describing your qualifications and specifying topics of interest to the editor-in-chief, Charlene Mires, cmires@camden.rutgers.edu. No attachments, please. Graduate students, please include the name and email address of an academic reference.

Guidelines for writers:
https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/about/guidelines-for-writers/

Roster of authors:
https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/category/authors/

Editors and staff:
https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/about/editors/

James Gigantino, the author of our essay about Slavery and the Slave Trade, has published his new research about slavery and abolition in New Jersey in a book from the University of Pennsylvania Press, The Ragged Road to Abolition: Slavery and Freedom in New Jersey, 1775-1865.

Congratulations, Jim!

Here is the publisher’s description of the book:

Contrary to popular perception, slavery persisted in the North well into the nineteenth century. This was especially the case in New Jersey, the last northern state to pass an abolition statute, in 1804. Because of the nature of the law, which freed children born to enslaved mothers only after they had served their mother’s master for more than two decades, slavery continued in New Jersey through the Civil War. Passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865 finally destroyed its last vestiges.

The Ragged Road to Abolition chronicles the experiences of slaves and free blacks, as well as abolitionists and slaveholders, during slavery’s slow northern death. Abolition in New Jersey during the American Revolution was a contested battle, in which constant economic devastation and fears of freed blacks overrunning the state government limited their ability to gain freedom. New Jersey’s gradual abolition law kept at least a quarter of the state’s black population in some degree of bondage until the 1830s. The sustained presence of slavery limited African American community formation and forced Jersey blacks to structure their households around multiple gradations of freedom while allowing New Jersey slaveholders to participate in the interstate slave trade until the 1850s. Slavery’s persistence dulled white understanding of the meaning of black freedom and helped whites to associate “black” with “slave,” enabling the further marginalization of New Jersey’s growing free black population.

By demonstrating how deeply slavery influenced the political, economic, and social life of blacks and whites in New Jersey, this illuminating study shatters the perceived easy dichotomies between North and South or free states and slave states at the onset of the Civil War.

Just published by the University of Pennsylvania Press is Lenape Country: Delaware Valley Society Before William Penn, by Jean R. Soderlund, who also is an associate editor of The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia.  We hope you will join us in celebrating this important new book on October 22 at the Philadelphia History Museum.  Make sure to register in advance for a conversation with the author and an opportunity to view A Lost World, part of the Philadelphia: The Great Experiment documentary film series.

Here is the publisher’s description of Lenape Country:

In 1631, when the Dutch tried to develop plantation agriculture in the Delaware Valley, the Lenape Indians destroyed the colony of Swanendael and killed its residents. The Natives and Dutch quickly negotiated peace, avoiding an extended war through diplomacy and trade. The Lenapes preserved their political sovereignty for the next fifty years as Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, and English colonists settled the Delaware Valley. The European outposts did not approach the size and strength of those in Virginia, New England, and New Netherland. Even after thousands of Quakers arrived in West New Jersey and Pennsylvania in the late 1670s and ’80s, the region successfully avoided war for another seventy-five years.

Lenape Country is a sweeping narrative history of the multi­ethnic society of the Delaware Valley in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. After Swanendael, the Natives, Swedes, and Finns avoided war by focusing on trade and forging strategic alliances in such events as the Dutch conquest, the Mercurius affair, the Long Swede conspiracy, and English attempts to seize land. Drawing on a wide range of sources, author Jean R. Soderlund demonstrates that the hallmarks of Delaware Valley society—commitment to personal freedom, religious liberty, peaceful resolution of conflict, and opposition to hierarchical government—began in the Delaware Valley not with Quaker ideals or the leadership of William Penn but with the Lenape Indians, whose culture played a key role in shaping Delaware Valley society. The first comprehensive account of the Lenape Indians and their encounters with European settlers before Pennsylvania’s founding, Lenape Country places Native culture at the center of this part of North America.

The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia will play a small role in this year’s FringeArts Festival with publication of our “City of Brotherly Love” theme essay, by Chris Satullo, in a commemorative booklet for the production 100% Philadelphia. As described by FringeArts:

Join us at the 2014 Fringe Festival for an unforgettable experience that’s part-theater, part-data analysis — and 100 percent Philadelphia. Developed in collaboration with FringeArts, German artist collective Rimini Protokoll’s 100% Philadelphia will bring 100 carefully selected Philadelphia citizens (non-actors) onstage to represent the city’s population of 1.5 million and our unique demographic imprint: More than 40 cast members will be African-American, half will be women, approximately 20 will be children — and that’s just the beginning. At times funny, uplifting and strikingly dramatic, 100% Philadelphia is always enlightening, a mirror of ourselves that will forever change the way we see our friends, neighbors, and strangers on the street.

For more information about the production and to buy tickets, visit the event website at Fringe Arts.

As The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia expands, so does our team of editors. We are pleased to welcome the following colleagues, whose work you will begin to see in the Encyclopedia over the next several months:

• Donald D. Groff, a veteran journalist, is our new managing editor.
• Tyler Hoffman, Professor of English at Rutgers-Camden, is an associate editor who will oversee topics related to literature and theater.
• Jean Soderlund, Professor of History at Lehigh University, is associate editor for early American topics up to 1800.
• Roger Turner, Associate Fellow at Dickinson College, is associate editor for topics in the areas of science, technology and medicine.

The expertise and talents of these individuals undoubtedly will enrich The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia in many ways as the project continues to grow. Welcome to the team!

We are pleased to announce new financial support for The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia project.  From The Mayor’s Fund for Philadelphia, the project has received a grant of $25,000. In addition, Poor Richard’s Charitable Trust has contributed $2,500.  These much-needed awards will help us to continue to expand the Encyclopedia’s content, especially in ways that serve the needs of the region’s students and teachers. We extend our thanks to these valued partners as we continue fund-raising efforts among individuals, corporations, and foundations.

We’re pleased to share the news of new support for The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia project from the Digital Studies Center at Rutgers-Camden. This grant will allow us to improve and expand our bibliographic survey by migrating it to Zotero, a platform that will make the citations more user-friendly and accessible to the public. Watch our Sources page for this transformation by the end of the summer.