Indian Rights Association records

Work on processing the Indian Rights Association records (Collection 1523) has begun and will continue for the next three months. This is another one of the Civic Engagement collections funded by NHPRC. Since portions of the collection had been previously processed here at HSP our work will consist of arranging the part of the collection [...]

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From 3 Musketeer boxes to document boxes: the Belfield papers

When we chose the Belfield papers (Collection 3159) for the PACSCL Hidden Collections Processing Project, we weren’t entirely sure what the processors might find in those 3 Musketeer boxes.  We only knew for certain that (1) they contained papers of members of the Wister family, the Starr family, Logan family, and Daniel Blain. (Belfield is [...]

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Ring, ring, ring goes the trolley!

Before SEPTA, public transportation in the city was largely the responsibility of the Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) and its predecessor, the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company (PRT).  HSP’s Harold E. Cox Transportation collection (#3158) is an invaluable resource that documents the history of these organizations and of public transportation generally in Philadelphia from the mid 1800s [...]

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HSP Civic Engagement Collections: A new NHPRC-funded project

This month HSP begins a new 26-month project to process and conserve fourteen collections related to civic engagement in Philadelphia and beyond. Willhem Echevarría has already started work as project archivist, and in December he will be joined by Leah Mackin as project preservation technician. Previously, both Willhem and Leah worked on our Chew papers [...]

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