If you have a passion for cars, check out this collection for images of passenger cars, motorcycles, commercial vehicles and carriages, selected from one of the largest gatherings of automotive literature in the world.

The Central Library, on Philadelphia's beautiful Benjamin Franklin Parkway, was dedicated on June 2, 1927. Seventy-five years later, it is a dynamic, evolving destination where the world is at your fingertips and you can travel anywhere in time or place through books and multiple electronic media.

View our unique collection of Dickens manuscripts, original illustrations, autograph letters, and other mementos, which were given to the Free Library by collectors William Elkins and D. Jacques Benoliel.

Take a look behind the scenes at the process of creating a children's book—from manuscripts, sketches and preliminary art to book dummies, color separations, and final artwork—in this collection of images from our archives.

Among the Free Library's art collection are prints by Rembrandt van Rijn, Abrecht Dürer, Michel Wohlgemut and other Old Masters, as well as ten original paintings by N.C. Wyeth.

Browse through portraits, certificates, and memorabilia from the Symphony Club founded by Edwin A. Fleisher.

Fraktur are colorful documents made by Pennsylvania Germans who lived in rural parts of southeastern Pennsylvania and the surrounding region during the 1700s and 1800s. Most fraktur are personal records, such as birth and baptismal certificates.

Franklin D. Edmunds, one of the photographers whose work is featured in our Historical Images of Philadelphia collection, was a world traveler who took photos wherever he went, from the Delaware Water Gap and Lancaster County to Jamaica and Turkey.

View images from books, pamphlets, and illustrations related to the trials of King Charles I, William Penn, Daniel O'Connell, and Queen Caroline, from the Hampton L. Carson Collection Illustrative of the Growth of Common Law.

The images contained in this digital collection document Philadelphia’s past through its neighborhoods, buildings, and events. The earliest photograph in the collection dates back to 1841; most are from the latter half of the 19th century, with a few from the early 20th century.

Our map collection enables you to see how Philadelphia's neighborhoods and streets have grown and changed. Use our interactive mapping tool to overlay atlases dating back as far as 1843 over today's street layout.

Our manuscript collection includes most of the kinds of books used between 1000 and 1500 A.D.: prayer books and poetry, Bibles and political propaganda, philosophical works, and fantastic histories.

We’re giving the spotlight to the stars of the silver screen as we feature lobby cards, posters, and promotional materials from our Theatre Collection.

The Free Library of Philadelphia, with the generous support of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, invites you to visit our Web version of the 100th birthday party for the United States, the Centennial Exhibition of 1876.