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Comrade Sisters: Women of the Black Panther Party

Over the years, the Philadelphia Commission for Women has partnered with the Free Library of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Chapter of the National Organization for Women on vital programs to elevate the voices and aspirations of…

NewspaperArchive Is a Blast From the Past!

NewspaperArchive is an online database of billions (and yes, that’s BILLIONS with a B!) of newspaper articles from Pennsylvania, the U.S. (all 50 states plus Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands), and all over the globe…

Special Lecture Series: Orson Welles & The Golden Age of Hollywood

Beginning Wednesday, April 12, 2023, the Free Library of Philadelphia launches a unique seven-part series of live evening events exploring the life and career of George Orson Welles , one of the most remarkable producer/director/actors…

The HistoryMakers: Enjoy African American History On-Demand

Using your library card, you can now enjoy Black history in the oral tradition via The HistoryMakers Digital Archive : the largest video archive of African American history spanning from the 1700s to the present day. This special…

All the Historic Black Newspapers Available Online With Your Library Card

What better way to learn about Black history than through the lens of Black news sources, as written and published by the African American journalists of yesterday? The Free Library is pleased to highlight a digital resource…

Celebrate the Dog Days of Summer!

Phew, the summer is heating up! As we all try our best to deal with the rising temperatures in our area, don't forget that the Free Library is a great place to cool off. Check your neighborhood library's hours of…

Bloomsday is back!

The Rosenbach's annual Bloomsday festival is BACK on Delancey Place after a two-year hiatus. Join the celebration on Thursday, June 16 anytime between 11:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. What is Bloomsday? Bloomsday is the day…

Celebrating Juneteenth!

The Free Library is celebrating Juneteenth! Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration of the end of enslavement in the United States and a time when we come together to celebrate this monumental occasion across the country, within our…

Commemorating Immigrant Heritage Month This June

This June, the Free Library is celebrating Philadelphia’s immigrant communities! June is Immigrant Heritage Month , a time when we celebrate the beauty and strength of our city’s many immigrant communities. Philadelphia…

Dracula at 125

Written by Edward P. On May 26, 1897, visitors to bookshops in London found a new book, for just six shillings, published by Constable and Co., bound in a lurid yellow cloth cover with blood red letters announcing its strange…

Rosemary for Shakespeare

Written by Isabel S. April 23 marks the day that we traditionally celebrate William Shakespeare’s birth and deathday, though neither of those occasions are confirmed to have actually been on the 23rd. Shakespeare was baptized on…

Up Above: Thinking about the "Little Old Lady Tost Up in a Basket"

Just in time for spring cleaning, N. C. Wyeth's The Old Woman Tost Up in a Basket is back on display in Up Above: Thinking About the Skies in Parkway Central Library. Creating and researching an exhibition is always an…

The Quilts of Gee's Bend

History is found in the pages of a textbook—or so I thought! This February, celebrate Black History Month by learning more about the history of Black quilt makers! Do you know about the (Quilt) Pieces of Black History series…

Who Was the Saint of Valentine's Day?

Was there a saint of love? Despite myths surrounding the "real" Saint Valentine , this holiday likely owes its origins to Medieval English poet Chaucer . At a time of growing romance around ideas of forbidden courtly love, he…

Harriet Tubman’s Legacy

Araminta (Minty) Ross was born a slave in March 1821. As a free woman, she was reborn under the name of Harriet Tubman. As the conductor of the Underground Railroad, Harriet was named the Moses of her people. Harriet Tubman got the…

The Federal Writers' Project American Guides

Most of us are familiar with the artwork created by the Works Progress Administration: the striking photography, the murals in state buildings and post offices, the posters, and the public sculptures, but fewer are aware of the work…

A Continued Discussion on the Topics of Surrealism and Gender

Written by Lewis Shaw, who conducted extensive research in the Art Department as part of a Friends Select School Senior Internship Project. The following is a continuation of a previous blog post on the topics of Surrealism and Gender.…

Frenemies: The Strange Friendship of JFK and Richard Nixon

The 1960 presidential campaign was close, hard-fought, and left both sides feeling embittered. Kennedy’s final margin of victory was less than 115,000 votes out of nearly 70 million cast. Nixon was convinced that the Kennedy…

More Than Stonewall: LGBTQ Historical Nonfiction

All October we'll be talking about LGBTQ History on the Free Library's blog! So far we've discussed LGBTQ Historical Young Adult Fiction and LGBTQ History Told Through Comics and Graphic Novels . This week, we turn our…

Reopening the Book of the Dead: The Evil Dead 40th Anniversary

40 years ago on this day, October 15, 1981, a film debuted that not only scared audiences but would send shivers through Hollywood for years to come, serving as not only an artistic influence on future filmmakers but also a D.I.Y. guide…

"The Legacy of Orson Welles" | Bob Mondello

Final Part of the Special Lecture Series: Orson Welles & The Golden Age of Hollywood As a film critic for National Public Radio, Bob Mondello sees and comments on 300 films a year. Mondello was a new NPR employee at the time that…

"The Crusader for Social Justice" | Zuhairah McGill

Part Six of the Seven-Part Special Lecture Series: Orson Welles & The Golden Age of Hollywood The noted actress and director Zuhairah McGill explores the commitment of Orson Welles to hiring gifted African-American actors…

"The Genius Who Made Legendary Films on a Shoestring" | Sam Adams & Meta Mazaj

Part Five of the Special Lecture Series: Orson Welles & The Golden Age of Hollywood This program will be presented jointly by two individuals. Sam Adams is a senior editor at Slate and the editor of its cultural blog, Brow Beat…

Mapping Imagination: The Art of World-Building

The Free Library’s newest exhibition, Mapping Imagination: The Art of World-Building explores the creative and artistic choices that mapmakers use to build worlds and enhance storytelling. The exhibition delves into the…

Mapping Imagination: The Art of World-Building

Let’s Explore Space

Children are invited to join the Geography Lady and learn all about space through pictures, maps, stories, games, movement, crafts, and more!

“Mapping Imagination” Curator-Led Exhibition Tour

"The Genius Who Couldn't Do Anything Right" | Ray Kelly

Part Four of the Seven-Part Special Lecture Series: Orson Welles & The Golden Age of Hollywood Ray Kelly was a journalist for nearly 40 years and ended his first career as the managing editor of the Springfield Republican…

Hands on History: Mapping (More) Imagination

Have you seen the exhibition Mapping Imagination: The Art of World-Building and want to learn more? Now’s your chance with this hands-on event featuring materials that were considered (but sadly not included) in the exhibition.…

Hands on History: Mapping (More) Imagination

“Mapping Imagination” Curator-Led Exhibition Tour

Around the World with The Geography Lady!

Take a trip around the world from the comfort of the Library with The Geography Lady! This is an all ages family program.

"The Struggle to Make Citizen Kane" | Michael Phillips

Part Three of the Seven-Part Special Lecture Series: Orson Welles & The Golden Age of Hollywood Michael Phillips is the Film Critic for the Chicago Tribune . In recent years, Phillips introduced more than 100 films on…

Around the World with The Geography Lady!

Take a trip around the world from the comfort of the Library with The Geography Lady! This program is for adults and seniors.

Summer Reading Kickoff: Around the World with The Geography Lady!

Take a trip around the world from the comfort of the Library with The Geography Lady! This is an all ages family program.

Author Talk: Diane Turner and Eric Battle- BLAM! Black Lives Always Mattered June 13, 2023 5:30 p.m.

African American history has produced countless exceptional heroes, leaders, and role models. The graphic novel, BLAM! Black Lives Always Mattered!, tells the inspiring stories of 14 important Black Philadelphians, such as opera…

Around the World with The Geography Lady!

Take a trip around the world from the comfort of the Library with The Geography Lady! This is an all ages family program.

Around the World with The Geography Lady!

Take a trip around the world from the comfort of the Library with The Geography Lady! This program is for adults and seniors.

Alice Dunbar-Nelson

Free Library resources in support of the Rosenbach's Digital Exhibition: "I Am an American!" The Authorship and Activism of Alice Dunbar-Nelson

Freedom Train - Adults

Supplemental adult reading suggestions for the Rosenbach's Freedom Train exhibition, running July 1st, 2016 through November 1st, 2016.

Freedom Train - Teens

Supplemental teen reading suggestions for the Rosenbach's Freedom Train exhibition, running July 1st, 2016 through November 1st, 2016.

Freedom Train - Children

Supplemental children's reading suggestions for the Rosenbach's Freedom Train exhibition, running July 1st, 2016 through November 1st, 2016.

Presidents of the United States

Under the United States Constitution, the President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States. As chief of the executive branch and face of the federal government as a whole, the presidency is…

Asians American History, Cultural Traditions, and Celebrations

History of different Asian ethnic groups in America and background on Asian cultural traditions and holidays.

U.S. Elections and Politics

The United States midterm general election will be held on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. In Pennsylvania, the ballot includes candidates for Governor, Lt. Governor, U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, the Pennsylvania State Senate,…

U.S. Congressional Serial Set (1817-1980)

The bound, sequentially numbered volumes of all the Reports, Documents, and Journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives constitutes a rich source of primary source material on all aspects of American history. Upon…

Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture, and Law

This HeinOnline collection brings together a multitude of essential legal materials on slavery in the U.S. and the English-speaking world. It includes nearly 2,000 titles, with every statute passed by every colony and state on slavery,…

Serial Set Maps

Salem Press Reference

Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001)

Full access to the oldest continuously published daily Black newspaper in the United States.

Philadelphia Inquirer Historical Archive (formerly Civil War Archive)

Philadelphia Evening Telegraph

Philadelphia Evening Telegraph was a daily afternoon newspaper started on January 4, 1864. Search, browse, and read it online here.

Newsbank Selected America's Historical Newspapers

HistoryMakers Digital Archive

The HistoryMakers Digital Archive is the nation's largest African American video oral history collection. It provides high-quality primary source content, with fully searchable transcripts, from thousands of people from a broad range of…

Historical Newspapers - Black Newspapers

Primary source material from ten historic Black newspapers, including the Chicago Defender, The Baltimore Afro-American, New York Amsterdam News, Pittsburgh Courier, Los Angeles Sentinel, Atlanta Daily World, and the Cleveland Call and Post

Gun Regulation and Legislation in America

This new HeinOnline collection brings together more than 550 titles dealing with this difficult and important topic. Included are periodicals, key compiled federal legislative histories, relevant congressional hearings, CRS Reports,…

Gale OneFile | High School Edition (formerly InfoTrac Student Edition) *

High school students will have access to age-appropriate content from magazines, journals, newspapers, reference books, and engaging multi-media covering a wide range of subjects, from science, history, and literature to political…

Gale In Context: World History

Gale In Context: U.S. History

Covers themes, events, individuals and periods in U.S. history from pre-colonial times to the present. The material also includes access to the citations for over 180 additional history journals from the Institute for Scientific…

Gale in Context | Middle School (formerly Research in Context) *

Discover reliable and trusted information on a variety of topics to support middle school student research for government, U.S and world history, geography, literature, sciences, and social issues. Research In Context offers…

Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker (1801-1819)

Covering every aspect of American life during the early decades of the United States, this rich primary source collection provides full-text access to the 36,000 American books, pamphlets and broadsides published in the first nineteen…

Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans (1639-1800)

Based on the renowned American Bibliography by Charles Evans. The definitive resource for every aspect of life in 17th- and 18th-century America, from agriculture and auctions through foreign affairs, diplomacy, literature, music,…

Archive of Americana

Search or browse the books, pamphlets, and other imprints listed in the renowned bibliography by Charles Evans, including publications unavailable earlier. Search or browse the books, pamphlets, broadsides and other imprints listed in…

Ancestry Library Edition

America's Obituaries & Death Notices

Heather McGhee | The Sum of Us (Adapted for Young Readers): How Racism Hurts Everyone

Sandra Shaber Memorial Lecture In conversation with award-winning journalist and broadcaster Tracey Matisak The Sum of Us , Heather McGhee’s 2021 odyssey across the American landscape of inequality, won wide acclaim for its empathetic…

Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr. | Who Hears Here: On Black Music, Pasts, & Present

In conversation with Marc Lamont Hill Professor emeritus of Music at the University of Pennsylvania, Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr. is a celebrated musicologist, composer, pianist, and music historian. He is the author of Race Music: Black…

Dan Berger | Stayed on Freedom: The Long History of Black Power through One Family's Journey

In conversation with Michael Simmons and Robert Saleem Holbrook Dan Berger is the author of the James A. Rawley Prize winning Captive Nation: Black Prison Organizing in the Civil Rights Era , an “illuminating” ( The Nation )…

Clint Smith | How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America

In conversation with award-winning journalist and broadcaster Tracey Matisak “A public intellectual with much to offer about teaching (and unlearning) history” ( The Washington Post ), Clint Smith , in his bestselling book How the Word…

Ilyon Woo | Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom

In conversation with Imani Perry Ilyon Woo is the author of The Great Divorce , the “lively, well-written, and engrossing tale” ( The New York Times Book Review ) of a young mother’s five-year fight against her husband, the Shakers…

Neal Gabler | Against The Wind: Edward Kennedy and the Rise of Conservatism, 1976-2009 with Patrick Kennedy

In conversation with former congressman Patrick Kennedy Neal Gabler is the author of Catching the Wind: Edward Kennedy and the Liberal Hour , a “rich and insightful” ( The New York Times ) account of the figure known as the most complex…

Kerri K. Greenidge | The Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family

In conversation with Tamala Edwards, anchor, 6ABC Action News morning edition Historian Kerri K. Greenidge is the author of Black Radical: The Life and Times of William Monroe Trotter , a portrait of the post-Reconstruction civil…

George Lakey | Dancing With History: A Life for Peace and Justice

In conversation with Varshini Prakash Active in grassroot campaigns for social change for more than seven decades, sociologist and Quaker organizer George Lakey was first arrested at a civil rights demonstration in 1963 and most…

Andrew K. Diemer | Vigilance: The Life of William Still, Father of the Underground Railroad

Andrew K. Diemer is the author of The Politics of Black Citizenship: Free African Americans in the Mid-Atlantic Borderland, 1817–1863 , an examination of the ways in which free Black Philadelphians and Baltimoreans fought to defend…

Stacy Schiff | The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams

In conversation with award-winning journalist and broadcaster Tracey Matisak Acclaimed for her “balanced, perceptive, thoroughly researched and exceptionally well written” ( The New Yorker ) nonfiction portraits of historical figures,…

Maggie Haberman | Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America

In conversation with Tamala Edwards, anchor, 6ABC Action News morning edition Maggie Haberman was part of a team that won a 2018 Pulitzer Prize for its reportage of the investigations into then-President Donald Trump’s, and his…

Charlayne Hunter-Gault | My People: Five Decades of Writing about Black Lives

In conversation with Dorothy Roberts Referred to by Jelani Cobb as “a Dean of American journalism,” Charlayne Hunter-Gault has chronicled some of the past half-century’s most important moments in Black life, culture, and politics. Often…

Anna Badkhen | Bright Unbearable Reality: Essays

In conversation with Airea D. Matthews, Philadelphia Poet Laureate and Co-Director of the Creative Writing Program at Bryn Mawr With an artist’s perspective and a ground-level view of people in extremis across the world, writer Anna…

Reza Aslan | An American Martyr in Persia: The Epic Life and Tragic Death of Howard Baskerville

Religion scholar Reza Aslan is the author of the No. 1 New York Times bestseller Zealot , “a lucid, intelligent page-turner” ( Los Angeles Times ) that sifts through centuries of mythmaking to present a clear account of the life and…

Saidiya Hartman and Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor| Scenes of Subjection: Terror, Slavery, and Self-Making in Nineteenth-Century America

One of academia’s leading authorities on African American literature, enslavement, gender studies, and the ways in which marginalized people are excluded in historical narratives, Saidiya Hartman is a University Professor at Columbia…