Eastern Pennsylvania
Southern New Jersey
Delaware
Compiled and Edited by George D. Brightbill, Project Director and Colleen Byrne, Project Assistant.
1996, Temple University, Samuel Paley Library, Urban Archives, Philadelphia, PA
Supported by a Grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts
- Acknowledgements and Introduction THIS PAGE
- Directory
- Index
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We deeply appreciate the financial support of the Pew Charitable Trusts which was sponsored under the auspices of the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries.This publication could not have been produced without the dedicated work of the Project Staff: Colleen Byrne, Project Assistant, traveled to institutions, reviewed collections on-site, prepared collection descriptions, indexed most of the Directory entries, and prepared the photographic exhibit; Jennifer Coleman, Project Graduate Assistant, spent many tedious hours proofreading and did an excellent job in reviewing collections on-site; Graduate Assistant William Meltzer also provided collection descriptions as the result of several on-site reviews; Project Assistants Julie George and Jui-Chuan "Ray" Chang were responsible for much of the Project typing; and John R. Haggerty, Towana Melvin, and Charles Pardo assisted in arranging collections and providing transportation for on-site visits. Brenda Galloway-Wright, Assistant Archivist in the Urban Archives, was responsible for cataloging the Urban Archives photographic collections in the RLIN (Research Library and Information Network) system.
A very special thanks to Margaret Jerrido, Head of the Urban Archives, for her guidance and much-appreciated advice given throughout the course of this Project. Thomas Whitehead, Head of the Special Collections Department and Temple University's PACSCL Representative, also provided valuable advice and support. Monique Borque, Ken Finkel, and William Lang of the Project Advisory Committee provided many useful suggestions and time from their busy schedules.
The Project could not have been undertaken without the encouragement of Temple University administration and staff including: James Myers, then Director of Libraries and now Dean of Temple University Japan; John Zenelis, Deputy Director/Acting University Librarian; Ivy Bayard and her staff in the Administrative Services Department with special thanks to Earle Beach for his assistance in keeping our finances under control; Cheryl Johnson of the Urban Archives; Linda Carbo, head of the University Publications Department; and Sonia Shaw of Grants Accounting.
I would like to extend my appreciation to the organizations who participated in the preparation of their directory entries with special thanks to the Pennsylvania State Archives and the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies.
George D. Brightbill, Project Director
INTRODUCTION
BackgroundPhotograph collections are an important part of the holdings in many libraries and archives. They provide unique historical evidence not readily available in any other format. Despite their value, photographic images are easily overlooked by researchers whose work is hindered by the inadequacy of finding aids.
In the Spring of 1994 the Urban Archives received funding to survey institutions and produce a directory of photographic collections held by libraries and archives in eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware. This geographic area is roughly the region encompassed within the membership of the Philadelphia Area Consortium for Special Collections Libraries (PACSCL), the organization sponsoring the Photograph Directory Project.
PACSCL was established in 1985 to ensure that the region's extraordinary library collections continue to be preserved, supported, appreciated, and utilized. Each of the Consortium's member institutions is dedicated to public service through the use of their collections. The Consortium was developed to provide a structure for inter-institutional cooperation that will improve the service. In addition to Temple University, PACSCL members include: the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, the American Philosophical Society, the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, Bryn Mawr College, the Center for Judaic Studies, the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Hagley Museum and Library, Haverford College, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Independence Seaport Museum, the Library Company of Philadelphia, the Presbyterian Historical Society, the Rosenbach Museum & Library, St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Swarthmore College, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Winterthur Museum & Library.
The PACSCL Photograph Directory Project was undertaken as part of the second cooperative grant project sponsored by PACSCL and funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
The PACSCL Photograph Directory and Index
An Advisory Committee of local photographic professionals was formed to provide the Project Director with a broad range of experience to be used in preparing a published product which would meet the highest possible level of expectations. The Committee met several times during the grant period and provided invaluable suggestions and comments. Members of the Advisory Committee included Kenneth Finkel, former Curator of Prints, Library Company of Philadelphia; Monique Bourque, co-editor of the Balch Institute's published guide to their photograph collections; and William Lang, Head, Art Department (including Print and Picture Collection), Free Library of Philadelphia. Margaret Jerrido, Head of the Urban Archives, and Thomas Whitehead, Head of the Special Collections Department and PACSCL Representative, served as ex-officio representatives from the Temple University Central Library System.Phase I of the Project entailed the gathering of information on institutions within the region which might contain photograph collections or photographs within collections. The term "photograph" was loosely defined to be composed of a variety of photographic formats including videotapes, film, and postcards. Videotape and film collections were restricted to original materials because of the mass distribution of commercial moving images.
The basic tools used in collecting addresses were: Directory of Libraries and Information Sources in the Philadelphia Area: Eastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, Philadelphia Chapter of the Special Libraries Association, 1993; Directory of Archival and Manuscript Repositories in the Delaware Valley , Delaware Valley Archivists Group, 1991; Picture Sources 4 , Special Libraries Association, 1983; and Index to American Photograph Collections , G.K. Hall, 1990. Some information on other collections within the area was gathered through interpersonal contacts.
This preliminary information was entered into a data file. The Directory file contained an institutional header used to alphabetically arrange the Directory file; address information; telephone and fax numbers; and hours of access.
Phase II of the Project was designed to accomplish several purposes through a questionnaire mailed to all institutions listed in the Directory file. The primary purpose was to determine if the institution retained files of photographs in its collections. If the institution contained photo files they were asked to provide policy information on photograph access, reproduction, and use.
The first Project mailing was sent to more than 1,000 institutions in June of 1994. Responses to the survey questionnaire were added to the Directory file. Institutions that responded as having no photograph collections were deleted. Institutions that did not respond were queried a second time by mail. Project staff then attempted to contact, by telephone, institutions that did not respond to the second questionnaire. Institutions were deleted from the Directory file after three unsuccessful telephone contacts. The Project staff was able to achieve a 95% response rate from institutions in the preliminary phase.
Phase III of the Project was designed to gather descriptions of photographic collections from institutions listed in the Directory file. This phase involved the gathering of information from institutions that did not seem to have large or complicated collections of photographs. The assumption was that these institutions would be able to provide descriptions. Other institutions with large or complicated collections would be physically surveyed by Project staff in Phase IV.
Collection description forms, with a separate explanatory text sheet, were mailed to institutions in February and March of 1995. Institutions that did not respond were mailed a second package and queried by telephone when necessary. Institutions that did not respond to our queries for collection descriptions are listed in the PACSCL Photographic Directory without any descriptions. The completed description forms from institutions were entered into the directory files and edited as necessary by Project staff. Information on holdings at the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies and the Pennsylvania State Archives were entered, with the institution's permission, directly from their photograph collection guides.
Phase IV of the Project was devoted to on-site surveys of photograph collections by Project staff. From the time Colleen Byrne was hired as Project Assistant in March, 1995 through August, 1995 she devoted nearly all of her time to surveying photograph collections on site. Visits to institutions were also made, during this period, by the Project Director and two graduate student assistants.
Institutions that were physically surveyed included members of the PACSCL consortium, those holding large and complicated photograph collections, and those institutions that were having difficulty in providing collection descriptions. Visits were originally scheduled at 70 institutional collections. During the collection description mail survey a number of institutions requested assistance because of staffing and other problems. Survey assistance was provided to as many institutions as Project staffing allowed. The PACSCL Photograph Directory contains a total of 79 institutional collections which were physically surveyed out of a total of 287 institutional collections listed in the Directory.
Phase V of the Project was devoted to compiling the final directory text. The directory information for each entry was reviewed by several people. Drafts of the directory listing and collection description were sent to each institution for comment, correction, and/or addition during July and August of 1995. Changes were made to the Directory entry.
Phase VI involved the indexing of the Directory. The Pennsylvania State Archives graciously allowed the Project to utilize the index to the published guide to their photographic collections as a base for producing the index. The text of their index was entered into the Projects index file. The Pennsylvania State Archives index page references were converted to collection numbers as listed in the PACSCL Photograph Directory. The index was greatly expanded by the addition of subjects and some personal names for the Urban Archives Newsphotograph/Newsnegative Collection, the broadest and largest photograph collection within the region. Other collections were indexed in September and October of 1995.
Availability of the Directory
One copy of the two-volume PACSCL Photograph Directory was distributed to each institution participating in the Directory Project. Copies are available for sale through the Urban Archives at Temple University.The Exhibition
An exhibit highlighting many of the institutions listed in the Directory was mounted February 5-23, 1996.Inquiries concerning the directory should be directed to:
Urban Archives (urban@temple.edu)