Much has been written in academic journals about the need to increase access to special collections in public libraries, museums, and universities. This topic is particularly relevant to the … continue reading

By Joe S.   May 5, 2017   

We all know Benjamin Franklin, Philadelphia's everyman. Poor Richard . Diplomat of the Revolution . Inventor of the Glass Harmonica . Postmaster General . Guy Who Flew A Kite in a… continue reading

By Caitlin G.   April 28, 2017   

Move over, London! England’s capital city may count Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot among its resident gumshoes, but only Philadelphia can be called the true birthplace of the modern… continue reading

By Alix G.   April 10, 2017    2

Do you love The Da Vinci Code ? Have you ever wished you could uncover a secret code in a medieval manuscript? Exciting news! Your wish may come true! Take a look at the image of a 15th-century… continue reading

By Diane B.   March 9, 2017   

The Rare Book Department 's Judaica includes a beautifully written and lavishly hand-decorated Spanish Hebrew Masoretic Text bible . Commissioned in 1496 in Lisbon, Portugal, the book is… continue reading

By Caitlin G.   February 24, 2017   

His wasn’t an auspicious beginning and his end remains shrouded in mystery... 208 years ago today, Edgar Allan Poe was born to actors David Poe Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe, in… continue reading

By Allison F.   January 19, 2017    1

Philadelphia is a wild and weird city. There’s so much to love, to hate, to love to hate, and to hate to love. There’s also so much that we, as every day Philadelphians, have somehow… continue reading

By Sarah M.   January 5, 2017   

This One Book, One Philadelphia season takes us back in time to the Civil War era, as we travel and travail alongside fictional southerners Inman and Ada in Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain .… continue reading

By Kathy H.   January 20, 2016   

To celebrate the landmark papal visit to Philadelphia, the Rare Book Department at Parkway Central Library has opened a new exhibition of rare religious texts. Running through January 30,… continue reading

By Janine P.   August 31, 2015   

Purim is celebrated every year on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Adar. It is a day of feasting and rejoicing, commemorating the deliverance of the Jewish people from a plot to annihilate… continue reading

By Joe S.   March 4, 2015   

The Free Library of Philadelphia is proud to present Framing Fraktur , a three-month celebration of historic Pennsylvania German folk art and its relationship to contemporary art, opening today… continue reading

By Michelle S.   March 2, 2015   

We’re excited to share our newly digitized Oscar Wilde manuscripts, part of the rich collection of literary manuscripts and first editions in the Rare Book Department. The draft of The… continue reading

By Samantha M.   November 25, 2014    2

bardolatry n. idolatry or excessive admiration of William Shakespeare 1 There is an exhibition going on in the Rare Book Department right now that you really need to see. It’s called… continue reading

By Janine P.   April 9, 2014   

Last night, the Free Library of Philadelphia celebrated the grand opening of the new William B. Dietrich Gallery in the Rare Book Department at Parkway Central Library . Made possible by a… continue reading

By Michelle S.   January 30, 2014   

John Derstine Souder (1865-1942) was raised on a Mennonite farm near Telford in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.  He was a storekeeper, postmaster, and poultry dealer before retiring. … continue reading

By Del-Louise M.   December 9, 2013   

“I must do what is right for me,” he muttered under his breath while gathering up his tools and shuttering the shop window.  Jacob Eichholtz was living a double life, and it soon… continue reading

By Del-Louise M.   November 14, 2013    1

The first part of the story of the Browne Hours was posted on Thursday, October 24 th . For the first part, read here . Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was killed by four knights… continue reading

By Katharine C.   November 5, 2013   

A Book of Hours takes its name from the so-called “Little Hours of the Virgin,” a collection of eight prayers that is derived from the Divine Office—the canonical hours observed… continue reading

By Katharine C.   October 24, 2013   

I was only a little girl when my Grammy had me kneel before her in their little church.  She anointed my  forehead with oil, and laid her hands on me.  I was sick, but I can’t… continue reading

By Del-Louise M.   October 15, 2013    2

The doorbell rings. I walk through the hallway to answer it. Although I’ve done this walk repeatedly over the years, this time something is different. This one book catches the corner of my… continue reading

By Joe S.   October 3, 2013    2