A Partnership to Increase Access to Our Nation's Historical Records

FAIN: PK-50064-08

City of Philadelphia, Department of Records (Philadelphia, PA 19107)
Joan Decker (Project Director: March 2008 to January 2011)

Development of an enhanced Web site (www.PhillyHistory.org) featuring historically significant collections at the City of Philadelphia's Department of Records and the Free Library of Philadelphia and the creation of tools to increase the level of access to and usefulness of these collections for researchers, students, and members of the general public.

The City of Philadelphia, Department of Records, in collaboration with the Free Library of Philadelphia has designed this collaborative project in an effort to link critical historical data collections from across the region, providing access to a broader scope of information to researchers, historians, genealogists, students, and other members of the public. To conduct this project, the partnership is seeking $108,882 over a two year period from this grant award (to be matched by $37,644 in City General Revenues). This project is designed to begin the process of collaboration between these two organizations with two of the library's most critical and historically significant digital collections--the Centennial Exhibition of 1876 Collection and the Historical Images of Philadelphia Collection. Through this project the partners will both integrate metadata and implement new user tools that will enhance end-user access.