Pa. Historical Society Gets Grant
to Catalog Special Holdings
The 176-year-old Historical Society of Pennsylvania has received a $250,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to survey and catalog its collection of 15 million-plus items, including over 300,000 photographs, maps, plates, and engravings; a half-million books; and an estimated 11,000 artifacts.
The survey, to begin in July, will cost an estimated $400,000 total; the society’s board has pledged to raise the remainder. Six additional staff will be hired for the project, which will include developing a long-range plan for preservation, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported April 21.
“We have large collections that were given to us, but we’ve never had the staff to allow us to process and organize them in depth,” said David Moltke-Hansen, the society’s president and chief operating officer.
The society holds letters, diaries, scrapbooks, and ephemera dating back to the 17th century. Special items in the collection include George Washington’s desk and two handwritten drafts of the U.S. Constitution.
Posted May 1, 2000.
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