Our Germantown Stories: Building Community Through Innovative Digital Archiving Work

FAIN: PB-274845-20

Wyck Association (Philadelphia, PA 19144-2112)
Tess Frydman (Project Director: May 2020 to August 2021)

The retention of two positions and the hiring of a contractor to enable the digitization and online display of materials documenting Quaker family life in Philadelphia from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries.

Our Germantown Stories: Building Community through Innovative Digital Archiving at Wyck centers on the idea that artifacts gain meaning by invoking stories that resonate with their audiences. Wyck is home to 10,000+ objects, each of which belonged to the family who inhabited Wyck for 300 years. These objects allow Wyck to tell compelling and immersive stories about the history of daily life in Germantown. Through this project, we seek to engage our community with the rich collections and deepen their appreciation for the site. In addition to digitizing parts of Wyck’s collection, Our Germantown Stories will culminate with an online exhibit featuring objects from the community alongside museum artifacts. The exhibit will change and grow as community members submit content. Wyck will use community submissions to knit together larger narratives, breathing new life into Wyck’s collections and helping neighbors feel more connected to their own history and the history of the site.