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Celebrate the Holidays and Support PhillyHistory.org!

Give the gift of history this holiday season! PhillyHistory.org photographs are available for purchase as framed and unframed prints -- as low as $14.95 -- in a variety of sizes and can also be included on a photo gift such as a puzzle, mug, holiday ornament, or greeting card. From December 2 to December 9, take advantage of free standard shipping! Remind a friend or family member of a treasured Philadelphia location or event or capture the spirit of the season with a scene from winters past.

Each print or photo gift purchased from PhillyHistory.org helps us keep these gorgeous images available. Profits from photo sales are reinvested in the project to ensure that we can continue to add new features and support the work of PhillyHistory.org. Thank you for your support and Happy Holidays!

 

















77,745
Total maps and photos scanned and available online

 55,894
Unique Visitors in the last 4 months

The Philadelphia City Archive is one of the country's largest municipal archives, with an estimated 2 million photographs that date from the late 1800’s. These gorgeous pictures paint a stunning portrait of Philadelphia and its industry, architecture, culture and people.

What are People Saying about PhillyHistory.org? Here's What Some of You Have Told Us!

"What a fun way to look into the past. Thank you for keeping these photos available."

"Thanks again for a wonderful, educational and fascinating website!"

"Thank you. It's a wonderful resource!"

"Your site is AWESOME!"

"I just wanted to thank you for all the beautiful pictures that you have on Philly History. I love going back and being about to look at the old neighborhood and I spend many hours on your website. I really appreciate all the work that has gone into this project."

Thank you for all the kind words and for supporting PhillyHistory.org!

Do you have something to say about PhillyHistory.org? Let us know at info@phillyhistory.org or go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/phillyhistory and tell the world!


This message was sent to you as an enrolled user of www.phillyhistory.org, the City of Philadelphia Department of Records web-based photographic collection. To subscribe to this list, e-mail info@phillyhistory.org with the subject 'subscribe'

Make PhillyHistory Your Own: Share Your Stories, Opinions or Knowledge about the Photos. Create Your Own Profile Page and Share it With Friends

Since we first launched PhillyHistory.org in 2006, we've received wonderful stories, suggestions, and comments about the historic photographs. PhillyHistory users have found images of the houses where they grew up, the schools they attended, and the libraries and parks they visited. We love hearing these stories and discovering how much the City of Philadelphia and its history mean to people.

While the PhillyHistory.org team gets to enjoy these great comments, we unfortunately didn't have an easy way to share these stories with the larger PhillyHistory community. We are happy to introduce a brand new feature: a public commenting panel. So that now you can share your comments not just with us, but with fellow history lovers!


Public commenting panel now available for you to share comments with fellow history buffs and Philly lovers

How do you comment on a PhillyHistory photo? Click on the small thumbnail of an image to open a larger detail page. In the detail page, click on the 'Comments' button above the photo to view all the comments about that photo. If you would like to add your own comment, login to PhillyHistory.org (accounts are free and can be created here) and then click the 'Add New Comment' button. You can also respond to another user's comment by clicking the reply arrow located next to the comment or report abusive comments by clicking the report abuse icon.

But that's not all ... We've created another way for you to interact with other PhillyHistory visitors. You can now share a bit more about yourself and your favorite photos through your own User Profile Page. Each registered user on PhillyHistory.org now automatically gets a Profile Page and you can select what you want to share or not. To view your page, go to the 'Your Account' menu and select 'My Profile'. By default, the profile contains only your user name and comments. You can choose to add more information to your page by clicking the 'Edit My Information' button and changing your account settings. Optional information that can be displayed on your profile page includes your favorite photos, bookmarked searches, and personal information such as a biography, website, or location. To view another user's profile page, click on the user name located next to a comment. If you really like what a user has to say, you can even sign up on their profile page to receive their future comments via an RSS feed.

We hope that the new public commenting and profile pages will spark some great discussions of Philadelphia history and encourage people to share their favorite PhillyHistory images with other visitors. Let us know what you think at info@phillyhistory.org or via the new Feedback tab located on PhillyHistory!

Use a Big Map to Locate Thousands of PhillyHistory Photos

With images of everything from street scenes and parks to bridges and houses, PhillyHistory.org helps showcase the history of neighborhoods around the city, and geography is at heart of it all. How can I find photos around a particular location? How did my neighborhood look in 1945? How many historic photos are there around my grand parents' house? Well... we just made it even easier for you to find the answers you're looking for.

We decided to completely focus on the geography of the 70,000+ photos held in the PhillyHistory database and let you browse them through a big map view.

The map view search page features a nearly full screen map of Philadelphia with thumbnails of the images displayed along the bottom of the screen. Flags on the map correspond with each thumbnail, indicating where the photo was taken. To view an image, move your mouse over a thumbnail and then click for more information. All the original search filters (address, keyword, topics, dates, and more) are still available at the top of the map under the 'Search By' menu while the neighborhood search list is located above the map on the right side of the screen, so you can choose to browse one neighborhood only, a particular topic of photos, or a time period, or any combinations through the big map.

You prefer a search that displays thumbnails instead of browsing a map? No problem, switching between the original thumbnail view and the new map view is as easy as clicking a button. Select which search view you would like to see using the 'Search' button in the top menu or by clicking the map/thumbnail icon next to the '?' button, on the right side of the page.

Take a stroll in the streets of Philadelphia, one photo at a time!

Coming Soon! Historic Photos from the Free Library of Philadelphia!

We are excited to announce that historic images from the collections of the Free Library of Philadelphia will be available soon on PhillyHistory.org. In 2008, the City of Philadelphia, Department of Records was one of only four recipients nationally to receive a grant as part of the Advancing Knowledge: IMLS/NEH Digital Partnership grant program. Awarded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the grant assists with making historically significant collections from the Free Library available on PhillyHistory.org.

We have chosen to include images from the Centennial Exhibition Digital Collection and the Historical Images of Philadelphia Collection. Photographs from these two Free Library collections will begin appearing in PhillyHistory.org in the next few months. Keep an eye out for these spectacular images!

This project is supported jointly by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. The Institute works at the national level and in coordination with state and local organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support professional development. To learn more about the Institute, please visit www.imls.gov.

Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities. NEH grants enrich classroom learning, create and preserve knowledge, and bring ideas to life through public television, radio, new technologies, museum exhibitions, and programs in libraries and other community places.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in the website do not necessarily reflect those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services or the National Endowment for the Humanities.