Historical Society of Pennsylvania
In the heady world of archival research, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania is clearly the big kid on the block in Philadelphia. It is housed in a cavernous building with a spacious research area and large staff. The library is filled with serious researchers who clearly know what they are doing, and the research process is very official. However its size is both a strength and a weakness, because while it contains literally millions of items, it is also less personal than other smaller libraries. One staff member registers patrons at the front desk, while a second works the reference desk, a third processes request slips and a fourth retrieves items from the archives. On busy days, it can take up to 45 minutes to retrieve a single item, so plan ahead. That being said, in my experience the staff was always friendly, helpful and knowledgable. So while this my not the place to go if you're looking for hand holding during your research (i.e. what most people need on their first ever visit to archives), it is a smoothly run library with spectacular resources.
Why visit HSP?
In its own words, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP) has become perhaps the prime location to do research on ethnic and immigrant experiences in 19th and 20th century America. This specialty was streghtened in 2002 when the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies merged with HSP. HSP is very strong in China and Japan material, China Trade material as well as material on Japanese-American relocation during World War II are both well represented. There is scant coverage of Vietnam or Korea, though the library is currently working to increase its Korean holdings. An overview of the collections available can be found here.
Where to Start
- Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies: This holding of manuscript collections is probably the most useful for people interested in China and Japan. The Balch Institute merged with HSP in 2002 and is now housed in the same building.
A guide is avaible online, but some finding aids with box location deatils are only available in print form
behind the reference desk.
- see Asian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese
- HSP has two online catalogs for locating manuscript collections:
- MANX: The Manuscript and Archive Information Exchange is dedicated soley to searching for manuscripts at HSP and is thus very convenient and easy to use. However it is based on a 1991 publication and because it has not been updated since then, is relatively outdated.
- OPAC: HSP's Online Public Access Catalog is relatively up-to-date and is good to look at after exhausting all the options found in MANX. However, as you will notice it searches both manuscripts AND all other books held at HSP. A quick search for "China" returns 422 entries - not very useful for locating the one or two relavent collections that are not published books. Including [Keyword Anywhere = manuscript] as a second search term to narrow down the number to 17, but also eliminates some useful results.
- The Card Catalogs (on your left as you enter the Reference Services area) were created in the 1920's, but still contain some information not yet online, so they cannot be ignored. They are divided into 9 sections, each alphabetized individually, so don't just start at the first "C" drawer you find and ignore the rest of the section.
Finding aids can often be found at the reference desk in paper form.
- Manuscript Catalog: a name index which documents primary source material including letters, diaries, journals, account books, ledgers, minutes, etc.
- Images Catalog
- Map Catalog
- Finding Aids: Many finding aids are available online (in PDF form) using the link at the left. However others (especially ones referenced by the Card Catalog and from the Balch collection) are only available in print form behind the Reference Desk. The librarian there is always happy to provide the relevant binder if you have the name of the collection ready, preferably written down on paper.
Online Collections and Exhibits
HSP has put a number of exhibits online that draw from their collections. These are both great sources of information and a great introduction to the type of material found at HSP.
- Sumiko Kobayashi Papers, 1980-1988: about a Japanese American who was sent to live in an internment camp during World War II.
- Iwata Family Correspondence: also concerning Japanese-American Internment; coming soon.
- Freedom for Some: The Japanese American Internment Experience (source of picture at right)
Other Tips
- In general, HSP does not have a unified call number system, which can be a bit confusing. For some card catalog files, the number is outdated or no call number is given at all. As a rule of thumb, just write down as much information as possible about the file on the call slip, and hopefully it will offer enough of a clue to find the correct file. When pulling a box off the shelf, the librarians have their own internal computer system to consult.
- On the same note, pieces of information about one single collection are often scattered in many different places. For example, the record for Sadwith Drinker's journal during a trip to China is most easily found by performing a physical search of the HSP Card Catalog. But the card's reference for the journal's location in the archives is outdated, and the current location can only be found by performing a MANX or OPAC search. Upon performing this search you would discover that the Drinker collection also contains correspondence and photographs, but that information is not held in the card catalog. Lastly, there is no finding aid is available online to tie this information together or indicate in which specific box the journal might be found. Sometimes, your best bet to cross reference a particular collection or item against each of the tools listed under Where to Start.
- The Historical Society of Pennsylvania's website, perhaps moreso than any other, is exceptionally rich with information, links, online exhibits, finding aids, etc. However sometimes information is not always obvious or easily accessible, so you are encouraged to visit the site yourself and explore the various pages found there.