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Philadelphia Research Guide: Photographs

Scope: This finding aid acts as a pathfinder for researchers studying Philadelphians, their relationships, and their physical surroundings since the consolidation of the city and the county in 1854.

Photo Sources

 

Photographs:  In many cases photographic prints are produced by newspapers and so compliment the information from a paper.  In other cases photo records are produced by government or civil agencies and individuals.

Temple University has several resources for photographs:

Digital Collections:

City Parks Association Photographs

Housing Association of the Delaware Valley Photographs

Philadelphia Evening Bulletin Photographs

Digital Diamond

PhillyHistory.org:  "The City's photo archive contains over 2 million photo records that date from the late 1800's. This web site contains a growing collection of those photos. All archive photos may be searched by keyword and date. Archive photos which have been assigned a geographic location are also searchable by proximity to an Address, Intersection, Place Name, or Neighborhood." [*]

Philadelphia Area Special Collections Libraries:   Provides a single index holdings of photographic collections exists.  For any given topic or individual one or many photo archives may be listed along with collection scope and some descriptions.  For deeper access the individual archive must be contacted: 

Main Campus Library & Learning Commons: 215-751-8394 | NERC Learning Commons: 215-972-6270 | WERC Learning Commons: 267-299-5848