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Libraries and Literature
Poor Richard was invented by Benjamin Franklin and lived only on the pages of Franklin’s almanacs first published in the 1730s. Thousands of copies were sold, read, and collected. With tens of thousands of other volumes imported from afar and printed in the city shops, 18th -century Philadelphia was a place where the printed word was both popular and meaningful. Historians argue that the colony’s high rate of literacy fueled Independence. The ability to read enabled ordinary people to compare ideas, learn concepts, and debate their collective future. Then, as now, printing, books and democracy went hand in hand.
But what would be the point of all these books without access? Knowing this, Franklin invented the institutions the city needed. As a working printer, he and others pooled what money they could and started the Library Company of Philadelphia in 1731. Each shareholder had access to the books purchased. By the time of Philadelphia was the nation’s capital in the 1790s, the Library Company served as the nation’s first Library of Congress.
There were other libraries founded in the 18th century. Today, we’d call them niche libraries. Franklin founded the American Philosophical Society to meet the specific needs of the scientific community. And in a village in adjacent Montgomery County, the Union Library of Hatboro was formed to serve its community. Unlike the one-size-fits-all public libraries of today, each of these institutions had a particular purpose. This approach proved serviceable through the 19th century, and the library and archive landscape burgeoned.
We are the beneficiaries of these centuries of collecting. At the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (founded in 1824) is a manuscript collection of national scale and scope second only to the National Archives. The Athenaeum of Philadelphia (founded in 1814 and since the 1840s in a brownstone on Washington Square) features collections on architecture and design. A complimentary (and more contemporary) collection across town is the University of Pennsylvania’s Architectural Archives. Some of the wealthy, great 19th and 20th century private collectors are remembered and revered at the Rosenbach Museum and Library, the Free Library of Philadelphia Rare Book Department, and the University of Pennsylvania’s Walter & Lenore Annenberg Rare Book & Manuscript Library. These collections boast everything from illuminated manuscripts to the modern private presses.
If it is the history of faith you are after, see the Center for Judaic Studies, which preserves some of the oldest written words. Don’t confuse this Center with the Philadelphia Jewish Archives Center, which focuses on the story of the local scene in more recent times. Other faith-based collections are found at the Presbyterian Historical Society, the Ryan Memorial Library at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary, and the Henry J. Cadbury Library at the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Haverford College and Swarthmore College libraries also document the Quaker influence, and more.
At the beginning of a new millennium, collecting 20th century culture now seems perfectly reasonable. Contemporary culture is long a specialty at Temple University’s Library, the same campus where the Charles L. Blockson Collection documents the heritage of the nation’s African-American communities. The American family story is alive and well in many collections, especially at the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania.
All of these institutions are dedicated to research and several suggest or require appointments in advance. Many of these libraries and archives have small exhibitions, and a few have large galleries. Libraries and archives may never embrace the tour buses welcomed at museums and other sites, and a few may require a telephone conversation to determine what there is to see and do, but the bookish side of Philadelphia is the city’s original heart and soul – and well worth the trip.
Keep an eye out for what may come as we approach 2006. That occasion will offer many special opportunities to explore the printed word. Exhibitions, and many other events, will celebrate nothing less than the tercentenary of the man who first made Philadelphia bookish, worldly, and wise: Benjamin Franklin.
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