Tagged Philadelphia History
Making Her Mark Spotlight: Generation to Generation | Digital Discussion
Join curators from regional institutions whose exhibitions look at the multi-generational women-led movement building around voter rights and enfranchisement leading up to the passage of the 19th Amendment and beyond. This discussion…
Making Her Mark Spotlight: Poetry and Movement Building | Digital Readings
Live readings of historical and contemporary poetry that center movement building. Movements to expand voting rights have always used spoken word and poetry as modes of expression and connection. Join staff from the Free Library's…
Making Her Mark Spotlight: Black Sisterhood and Suffrage | Digital Discussion
Conversation about the significance of voting rights initiatives led by Black sororities, with featured speaker Dr. Thelma Thomas Daley. From the recent 'Stroll to the Polls' that mobilized voters for the 2020 presidential…
Collectors' Showcase: Philadelphians Collect Black Writers
The Rare Book Department is thrilled to host five local collectors who have spent years preserving and celebrating the work of Black writers and artists. Join Gloria Akers, Supreme Dow, Oliver St. Clair Franklin OBE, Bea Joyner, and…
Radical Self-care in an Era of Activism: A Virtual Salon
A shared space for self care inspired by the Harlem Renaissance and the life and legacy of Alice Dunbar-Nelson. Join chef Jena Harris and Professor Pysche Williams-Forson for an evening of self care grounded in the salon-style…
Making Her Mark Spotlight: Temperance and Suffrage | Digital Discussion
Discussion led by Dr. Theresa McCulla, Curator in the Division of Work and Industry at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History Women have long been critical to the production and consumption of alcohol in the United…
Sanborn Maps, 1867–1970 (Formerly Sanborn Maps Geo Edition)
Produced for over a century, Sanborn maps are large-scale plans of cities or towns which list street blocks and building numbers. Explore America’s building history through over 660,000 maps, which chart the growth of more than 12,000…
Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001)
Full access to the oldest continuously published daily Black newspaper in the United States.
Philadelphia Press Index
The Philadelphia Press (1857-1920) was one of Philadelphia's oldest major newpapers. This index is an electronic version of a paper index kept by Free Library staff from 1898 through 1912. It directs you to citations for specific…
Philadelphia Inquirer Digital Archive 1860-2001
This historical newspaper provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time.
Philadelphia Evening Telegraph
Philadelphia Evening Telegraph was a daily afternoon newspaper started on January 4, 1864. Search, browse, and read it online here.
Evening Public Ledger
Evening Public Ledger was one of the most widely read dailies in Philadelphia between 1914 and 1942. Read, search, and browse the full text of the paper here.
An Evening with Signe Wilkinson
In celebration of thirty-five years of cartooning at the Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer . The first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning, Signe Wilkinson is acclaimed for her distinctive and irreverent art. A…
André Gregory | This is Not My Memoir
In conversation with co-author Todd London, Head of the MFA Playwriting Program at the New School, School of Drama A theater director in New York for more than 50 years, the legendary André Gregory has collaborated on film adaptations…
Antonio M. Johnson | You Next: Reflections in Black Barber Shops
The nephew of a beloved neighborhood barber, West Philadelphian Antonio M. Johnson is the creator of You Next , a pictorial dive into one of African American men’s most valued institutions. Part sanctuary, part cultural space, barber…
Inga Saffron | Becoming Philadelphia: How an Old American City Made Itself New Again
Architectural critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer for more than 20 years, Inga Saffron won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for her sagacious critiques of urbanism, planning, and Philly’s hyper-rapid transformation after a half-century slump.…
John Feinstein | The Back Roads to March: The Unsung, Unheralded, and Unknown Heroes of a College Basketball Season
“One of the best sportswriters alive” ( USA Today ), John Feinstein is the author of the bestselling A Good Walk Spoiled , A Season on the Brink , and Where Nobody Knows Your Name , among almost two dozen other books. He has been a…
Erica Armstrong Dunbar | She Came to Slay: The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman
In conversation with Lorene Cary , author of Black Ice , The Price of a Child , Ladysitting and the forthcoming Arden Theatre production of My General Tubman Erica Armstrong Dunbar is the author of the National Book Award finalist Never…
Joey Baldino and Adam Erace | Dinner at the Club: 100 Years of Stories and Recipes from South Philly's Palizzi Social Club
In conversation with Michael Klein, editor/producer of inquirer.com/food and @phillyinsider Originally a meeting place for South Philly’s Abruzzi-American community, the members-only Palizzi Social Club is now one of America’s hottest…
Ta-Nehisi Coates | The Water Dancer
SPOILER ALERT. A number of critical plot points are exposed during the discussion. In conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer David Blight, author of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom Ta-Nehisi Coates won the 2015…
Mary Pope Osborne | Magic Tree House: To the Future, Ben Franklin! with Natalie Pope Boyce
Mary Pope Osborne is the prolific author of the beloved Magic Tree House series of children’s books. Featuring time-traveling brother and sister Jack and Annie, the wildly popular books have been translated into nearly three dozen…
Jason Baumann | The Stonewall Reader with Mark Segal, Karla Jay and Joel Hall
On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the riots that started the fight for American LGBTQ+ rights, The Stonewall Reader highlights some of the movement’s most iconic moments and figures in the years before and after those tumultuous…
Mark Kram Jr. | Smokin’ Joe: The Life of Joe Frazier
In conversation with longtime radio host Steve Ross Mark Kram Jr. won the 2013 PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing for Like Any Normal Day , the tragic story of two brothers bonded but separated by a devastating sports injury. He…
Rick Atkinson | The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775–1777
Rick Atkinson won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for An Army at Dawn , the first volume in his Liberation trilogy, a “densely researched but supremely readable” ( New York Times Book Review ) history of the Allied victory in World War II. His…
Lorene Cary | Ladysitting: My Year with Nana at the End of Her Century
“A powerful storyteller, frankly sensual [and] mortally funny" ( New York Times ), Lorene Cary is the author of the novels Pride , The Price of a Child , If Sons, Then Heirs , and the memoir Black Ice . A senior lecturer in creative…
Nicole Weisensee Egan | Chasing Cosby: The Downfall of America’s Dad
In conversation with Annette John-Hall, cohost and producer of The Why on WHYY A 14-year veteran crime reporter for the Philadelphia Daily News , Nicole Weisensee Egan was the first journalist to delve into Andrea Constand’s 2005 sexual…
Tyler Kepner | K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches
The national baseball writer for the New York Times since 2010, Tyler Kepner began his career as a teenager, interviewing players for a homemade magazine that garnered him national attention. His first book, The Phillies Experience: A…
Janny Scott | The Beneficiary: Fortune, Misfortune, and the Story of My Father
In conversation with Bruce Weber, former obituary writer for the New York Times and author of the books As They See 'Em: A Fan's Travels in the Land of Umpires and Life is A Wheel: Memoirs of a Bike-Riding Obituarist . Janny Scott, a…
Emily Bazelon | Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration
In conversation with State Representative Christopher M. Raab Emily Bazelon is the author of Sticks and Stones , “a humane and closely reported exploration” ( Wall Street Journal ) of school bullying and the empathetic steps students,…
Steve Luxenberg | Separate: The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson, and America’s Journey from Slavery to Segregation
A 30-year writer and senior editor at The Washington Post , Steve Luxenberg has overseen reportage that has won a host of awards, including two Pulitzer Prizes for explanatory journalism. He is the author of Annie’s Ghosts: A Journey in…
Howard Schultz | From the Ground Up: My Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America
In conversation with William Kristol, founder and former editor-at-large of The Weekly Standard . The former chairman and CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz led the java giant from eleven cafes in the Seattle area to more than 28,000…
Jane Brox | Silence: A Social History of One of the Least Understood Elements of Our Lives
Penning “nonfiction literature of a high and lasting order” ( Chicago Tribune ), Jane Brox is the author of, among other books, Five Thousand Days Like This One , a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; Brilliant: The…
Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade
The oldest Thanksgiving Day parade in the country takes place right here in Philadelphia!
National Parks Center – Valley Forge
Valley Forge was the site of the 1777-1778 winter encampment of the Continental Army. The park commemorates the sacrifices and perseverance of the Revolutionary War generation and honors the ability of citizens to pull together and…
National Constitution Center
The National Constitution Center is the first and only institution in America established by Congress to “disseminate information about the United States Constitution on a non-partisan basis in order to increase the awareness and…