American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society has, by far, the most elegant and refined research area in all of Philadelphia. Beautiful wood bookshelves line the walls and old dusty archive collections cover the research tables. It really gets you in the mood to do some intellectual research.
This was the second busiest place I visited (after HSP). However they also have the most closely controlled research area. Magnetic passes, computer sign in, double sets of doors--its all very carefully guarded. That's not a bad thing if you know what you're doing...in fact it helps them run everything very smoothly. However, if you've never visited an archive before, or still feel a little shaky on how to go about the work, this probably wouldn't be the best place to start out at.
In fact, as I mention in the appointment section, I had my most unpleasant experience of the whole summer here. I should preface that by saying once I arrived, the staff who helped me were phenomenal...they met with me individually, suggested helpful material, and generally got me going on my way. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the first time I called to make an appointment here. I was greeted by an elderly gentleman who spoke to me with such a condescending and inappropriate tone (not to mention he was completely unhelpful) I was tempted to just not visit at all. Thankfully I did end up visiting, because the material here is great.
Why visit APS?
Not that it applies here, but APS has a lot of material on the Philippines and Indonesia. Other than that, the Library's manuscript collections "include a vast range of materials covering such topics as eighteenth-century natural history, American Indian linguistics and culture, nuclear physics, computer development, and medical science." Within all that is more than ample material on Asia.
Where to Start
- Once you arrive in the reading room, printed Finding Aids can be found on the bookshelves that have busts on top.
- But before you go, you need to look at some of the manuscript collections and identify your 'targets'. A limited number of finding aids are available online here.
- A wider range of manuscript collections can be searched with MOLE, but not all have online finding aids
- The most important source of information for me when researching here, however, was sitting down and talking with a librarian. He was able to point out material I simply would not have found had I only used the lists above.
- (Also, the APS has posted a number of "digital collections" online, but as of now nothing pertains to China.