Tagged Philadelphia History

Celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Rare Book Department: The Judaica Collection.

Come and explore the Rare Book Department's small but signifcant Judaica Collection. Highlights of the collection will include a manusucript written in the beginning of the Spanish Inquisition, as well as…

For The Love of Hip Hop Exhibit

In collaboration with artist rod jones ii, this exhibition celebrates 50 years of hip hop and brings together Free Library staff and community members to answer the question, “When did you fall in love with Hip Hop?” …

The Library of the Wizard Earl - Celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Rare Book Department

A storied English aristocratic family, living in a palatial home that was once an abbey, struggles to maintain their household in the face of 20th century financial realities. On April 23rd and 24th 1928, this PBS plotline unfolded in…

"The Automat" Film Screening and Filmmaker Q&A

Join us for a screening of  The Automat  followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker, Lisa Hurwitz.  Featuring photographs from the Free Library of Philadelphia's Print and Picture Collection and filmed locally, The…

Spies of the Revolution

The Museum of the American Revolution presents Revolution at the Library! In this super-secret meeting, join museum staff as we learn about the spies of the Revolution! From shopkeepers and mystery women to enslaved men who served as…

Under the Museum

The Museum of the American Revolution presents Revolution at the Library!  Under the Museum. Do you love history?  So do we!  Go behind the scenes with museum staff to discover cool artifacts from the past, and hear the…

Black and Queer in Philadelphia 2 : A Conversation (a continuation of our February program)

Please join us as the Free Library of Philadelphia continues the conversation around being Black and Queer in Philadelphia.  Host Gary Hines will hold a conversation with James Charles Roberts and Sappho Reynan…

Courageous Kids: Wilma Exhibit

In partnership with Philadelphia Doll Museum Forward , we now have on display Wilma alongside related library materials and activities. Wilma was made to honor four brave Black girls named Ruby Bridges, Leona Tate, Gail Etienne…

A String, Sing, Story & Musical Thing for Juneteenth!

Save the date for this incredible Juneeteenth celebration featuring entertainment and live music! Come hear storytellers and vocalists perform songs centering Philly and its Black historical legends. Watch stiltwalkers, participate…

Celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Rare Book Department with a Behind-the-Scenes Evening Tour.

Since  its opening in 1949 the Rare Book has offered free tours of its collections. Join us this evening for a fun, behind-the-scenes tour with your library guide who will also show your materials seldomly displayed.…

Philly Queer History Walking Tour

Join us for a FREE walking tour from Beyond the Bell Tours exploring Philadelphia queer history! On a 1-mile journey through the Gayborhood, you'll learn about Philly's role in the evolution of Pride, activists like Kiyoshi…

FOCUS / (re) FOCUS

Stop by the Art Department hallway gallery on the 2nd floor to see a display of archival ephemera from our research files on FOCUS 1974 and its current anniversary companion exhibition, (re)FOCUS 2024 FOCUS: Philadelphia…

Sanborn Maps, 1867–1970 (Formerly Sanborn Maps Geo Edition)

Explore America’s building history through over 660,000 black-and-white, large-scale maps, which chart the growth of more than 12,000 towns and cities. Read this blog post to learn more.

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 Historical Archive (formerly Civil War Archive)

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 Inquirer

May 2023: TEMPORARY SERVICE INTERRUPTION. The Philadelphia Inquirer can be accessed on our "PressReader including the Economist" database during this time.

Philadelphia Evening Telegraph

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

Philadelphia Daily News

The Philadelphia Daily News can also be accessed on our "PressReader including the Economist" database.

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Free Library of Philadelphia's Digital Library Collections

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.

Bakari Sellers | The Moment: Thoughts on the Race Reckoning That Wasn't and How We All Can Move Forward Now

In 2006,  Bakari Sellers  defeated a twenty-six-year incumbent State Representative to become the youngest member of the South Carolina state legislature and the youngest African American elected official in the nation. The state’s 2014…

Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter | The Upcycled Self: A Memoir on the Art of Becoming Who We Are

In conversation with Airea D. Matthews The winner of three Grammy Awards and three NAACP Image Awards,  Tariq Trotter , aka  Black Thought , is the MC and co-founder of The Roots. The Philly-based hip-hop group has produced 11 albums…

Kimberlé Crenshaw | #SayHerName: Black Women’s Stories of Police Violence and Public Silence

In conversation with Dorothy Roberts One of the country’s foremost authorities in civil rights, Black feminist legal theory, race, and the law, Kimberlé Crenshaw is a law professor at UCLA and Columbia Law School, where in 1996 she…

Nikhil Goyal | Live to See the Day: Coming of Age in American Poverty

In conversation with author and Pennsylvania State Senator, Nikil Saval In Live to See the Day , Nikhil Goyal offers a searing portrait of three Puerto Rican children struggling to survive in Philadelphia’s impoverished Kensington…

Brett H. Mandel | Philadelphia, Corrupt and Consenting: A City’s Struggle against an Epithet

In conversation with Ernest Owens A consultant and writer in the fields of civic activism and government reform,  Brett H. Mandel  served as director of Philadelphia’s Financial & Policy Analysis Unit in the city controller’s office,…

Neil King Jr. | American Ramble: A Walk of Memory and Renewal

In conversation with Signe Wilkinson A Wall Street Journal correspondent for two decades, Neil King Jr. reported from more than 50 countries, served as the newspaper’s chief diplomatic correspondent, national political reporter, and…

Jennifer Senior | On Grief: Love, Loss, Memory

In conversation with Mike Sielski A staff writer at The Atlantic, Jennifer Senior won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing for “Twenty Years Gone,” an account of a family still reeling from the loss of a loved one on 9/11. Her…

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 )…

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…

Tyler Kepner | The Grandest Stage: A History of the World Series

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 national bestseller  K: A History of…

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…

Camika Royal | Not Paved For Us: Black Educators and Public School Reform in Philadelphia

In conversation with Edwin Mayorga and Sharif El-Mekki  For 20 years  Camika Royal  was a middle and high school teacher and a teaching coach for her fellow educators in Baltimore, Washington, DC, and her hometown of Philadelphia.…

Jennifer Lin | Beethoven in Beijing: Stories from the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Historic Journey to China

In conversation with Nydia Han, Consumer Investigative Reporter and co-anchor of 6ABC Action News Sunday mornings A reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer for 31 years, Jennifer Lin worked as an international correspondent in China, a…

Erika M. Kitzmiller | The Roots of Educational Inequality: Philadelphia's Germantown High School, 1907–2014

Education historian Erika M. Kitzmiller has conducted research in the city of Philadelphia, its public schools, and the Free Library for nearly two decades. The result of her investigation is  The Roots of Educational Inequality , a…

Mike Sielski | The Rise: Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality

In conversation with Michael Days A sports columnist at The Philadelphia Inquirer since 2013, Mike Sielski is the author of Fading Echoes , the true story of two Pennsylvania high school football rivals who later found brotherhood while…

Mark Bowden and Matthew Teague | The Steal: The Attempt to Overturn the 2020 Election and the People Who Stopped It

In conversation with Tracey Matisak , award-winning journalist and broadcaster Renowned for his “signature blend of deep reportage and character-driven storytelling ( The New York Times Book Review ),” Mark Bowden is a national…

Woody Holton | Liberty Is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution

In conversation with Adam McNeil, host of the New Books in African American Studies podcast The McCausland Professor of History at the University of South Carolina, Woody Holton teaches early U.S. history, specializing in economics,…

Sheryll Cashin | White Space, Black Hood: Opportunity Hoarding and Segregation in the Age of Inequality

In conversation with Richard Rothstein Sheryll Cashin’s NAACP Image Award–nominated books on racism and inequality include  The Failures of Integration ,  The Agitator’s Daughter , and  Place, Not Race . The Carmack Waterhouse Professor…