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Linking to PhillyHistory.org

Thanks for linking to the PhillyHistory.org website at http://www.phillyhistory.org.

Feel free to use our logo when linking to PhillyHistory.org. Three options are provided below for your convenience.

   

We’ve provided descriptive text below to help you link to our site.

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The Philadelphia Department of Records has over 2 million photographs dating back to the late nineteenth century. Among these photographs are stunning pictures of ships arriving at dock, horse-drawn carriages on cobble streets, and the Eastern State Penitentiary, America’s most historic prison. The PhillyHistory.org website is a GIS application that allows the public to search for historic photographs based on location. Users can locate photographs within a certain neighborhood, within a radius of an address, near a particular intersection, or by a place name like City Hall.  In addition, users can search for photographs during certain years and they can search the descriptions of photographs by keyword. Also available on the PhillyHistory.org website is a weekly updated historical blog and digital access to the Department of Records’ Historic Streets Index and Historical Photo Database. Users can make scan requests and purchase photos.

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PhillyHistory.org is a mapping website that allows users to search for, view by location, and purchase thousands of historic photographs dating back to the late nineteenth century.

Creating search links

You can create a link to an area of interest in the city by using the following URL and parameters. There is one required parameter and several optional parameters for specifying a location, keywords, and time period.

Required Parameter

The action parameter must be set to link.

   www.phillyhistory.org/PhotoArchive/Search.aspx?action=link&...

Location Parameters

To search by a location the system needs to know the type of location and one or more required parameters for the type of search.

Be aware that any spaces in a parameter value must be replaced with either %20 or +.


Address - A Philadelphia street address, intersection or place name.
  type=address&address=340+N+12th+St

Neighborhood - A neighborhood name from the list below. Case matters.
  type=neighborhood&neighborhood=East+Falls

Point - City coordinates in PA State Plane South Feet
  type=point&x=2694843&y=238539

Area - City coordinates in PA State Plane South Feet.
  type=area&minx=2694600&miny=238400&maxx=2694900&maxy=238700

Buffering the Search - Address and Point type searches can be buffered by some amount in feet. The default is 500 feet.
  type=address&address=340+N+12th+St&buffer=200
  type=point&x=2694843&y=238539&buffer=300


Neighborhood List
Academy Gardens Glenwood Pennypack Woods
Allegheny West Graduate Hospital Penrose
Andorra Grays Ferry Point Breeze
Angora Greenwich Port Richmond
Aston-Woodbridge Haddington Powelton
Bartram Village Harrowgate Queen Village
Bella Vista Hartranft Rhawnhurst
Belmont Haverford North Richmond
Brewerytown Hawthorne Rittenhouse
Bridesburg Holmesburg Riverfront
Burholme Hunting Park Roxborough
Bustleton Juniata Park Roxborough Park
Byberry Kensington, Lower Schuylkill
Carroll Park Kensington, Old Sharswood
Cedar Park Kensington, West Society Hill
Cedarbrook Kingsessing Somerton
Center City East Lawndale South Philadelphia
Chestnut Hill Lexington Park Southwark East
Chinatown Logan Southwest Cedar Park
Chinatown North Logan Circle Southwest Schuylkill
Clearview Ludlow Spring Garden
Cobbs Creek Manayunk Spruce Hill
Crescentville Mantua Stanton
Crestmont Farms Mayfair Strawberry Mansion
Dearnley Park McGuire Summerdale
Dunlap Mechanicsville Tacony
East Falls Melrose Park Gardens Tioga
East Oak Lane Mill Creek Torresdale
East Park Millbrook University City
East Parkside Modena Upper Kensington
East Poplar Morrell Park Upper Roxborough
Eastwick Mount Airy, East Walnut Hill
Elmwood Mount Airy, West Washington Square
Fairhill Navy Yard West Oak Lane
Fairmount Nicetown West Park
Feltonville Normandy Village West Parkside
Fern Rock North Central West Poplar
Fishtown Northeast Phila Airport West Powelton
Fox Chase Northern Liberties West Torresdale
Francisville Northwood Wharton
Frankford Ogontz Whitman
Franklin Mills Old City Winchester Park
Franklinville Olney Wissahickon
Garden Court Overbrook Wissahickon Hills
Germantown, East Oxford Circle Wissahickon Park
Germantown, Morton Packer Park Wissinoming
Germantown, Penn Knox Parkwood Manor Wister
Germantown, Southwest Paschall Woodland Terrace
Germantown, West Central Passyunk Wynnefield
Germantown, Westside Pennsport Wynnefield Heights
Germany Hill Pennypack Yorktown
Girard Estates Pennypack Park

Keywords

The title and description text fields will be searched for the keywords provided.

  keywords=bank+girard

Topics

A query for one or more topics can be made by providing a comma separated list of topics. Assignment of topics is a relatively new feature and has a limited number of records.

  topics=Railroad,Construction

The list of topics is growing. Below are the currently available topics along with the number of records assigned to the topic in parenthesis.

Aerial View (254) Delaware River (216) People (3303)
Architecture (8168) Health (33) Railroad (821)
Art (936) Horse (113) Restaurant (172)
Boat (146) Hospital (96) Schuylkill River (276)
Bridge (1750) Infrastructure (816) Store (1337)
Car (4790) Monument (50) Theatre (40)
Cemetery (71) Panorama (20) Transportation (193)
Church (499) Parade (30) Wagon (92)
Construction (4462) Park (618)


From Date and/or To Date

Time period can be searched in three ways. Currently the date is only the year.

After or during a year
  fromDate=1915

Before or during a year
  toDate=1937

Between a range of years
  fromDate=1915&toDate=1937

Without Digitized Media

Include records without digitized media.

Without digitized media
  withoutMedia=true

With digitized media
  withoutMedia=false

Without Location

Include records without a location.

Without location
  withoutLocation=true

With location
  withoutLocation=false

Latest/ recently updated records

Records modified in the last XX days.

Records updated
  updateDays=10

*The number should be less than 100.

Examples

Search around the address 340 N 12th St.
  www.phillyhistory.org/PhotoArchive/Search.aspx?action=link&type=address&address=340+N+12th+St

Search the neighborhood of East Falls
  www.phillyhistory.org/PhotoArchive/Search.aspx?action=link&type=neighborhood&neighborhood=East+Falls

Search around a specific point.
  www.phillyhistory.org/PhotoArchive/Search.aspx?action=link&type=point&x=2694843&y=238539

Search for banks during 1910 to 1930.
  www.phillyhistory.org/PhotoArchive/Search.aspx?action=link&keywords=bank&fromDate=1910&toDate=1930

Citation Guidelines

[Adapted from “How to Cite Electronic Resources.” Library of Congresshttp://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/start/cite/index.html (accessed August 4, 2006)].

Website citation

Chicago Style

PhillyHistory.org.  http://www.phillyhistory.org.  Philadelphia Department of Records (accessed January 1, 2006).

MLA Style

PhillyHistory.org.  Philadelphia Department of Records.  1 January 2006.  <http://www.phillyhistory.org>.

 

Photograph citation

Chicago Style
Structure:

  1. Photographer’s last name, first name, middle initial (if given). [Include role after name, i.e. photographer.]
  2. Photo Archive ID
  3. Format (photograph).
  4. City: Department,* copyright date (include c [circa] if given; if no date, use n.d.).
  5. Source (From Library of Congress in normal font).
  6. URL.
  7. Accessed date (in parentheses).

* These include Department of Schools; Department of Public Works; Department of City Transit; Department of Wharves, Docks and Ferries.
Example:

“Schools:2629-0.”  Photograph.  Philadelphia: Department of Schools, 1912.  From
     PhillyHistory.org.   http://www.phillyhistory.org/PhotoArchive/detail.aspx?ImageId=45557
     (accessed January 9, 2006).

MLA Style
Structure:

  1. Photographer's last name, first name, middle initial) (if given).
  2. Photo Archive ID
  3. Original date of photograph (if available).
  4. Current location of original document.
  5. Name of project or reference database (underlined or italicized).
  6. Sponsoring organization.
  7. Date of access and electronic address.

  Example:

“Schools:2629-0.”  1912.  Philadelphia City Archives.  PhillyHistory.org. Philadelphia Department of Records.  1 Jan. 2006 
     <http://www.phillyhistory.org/PhotoArchive/detail.aspx?ImageId=45557>.