The Philadelphia Area Archives Research Portal

The Philadelphia Area Archives Research Portal more than 5,000 collections from approximately 200 libraries, archives, historic sites, and historical societies in the greater Philadelphia region. It contains the 171 collections representing 5,526 linear feet of manuscript collections, processed during the two Hidden Collections Processing Projects funded by the Council On Library and Information Resources, as well as other finding aids created by PACSCL member libraries before and after the project.

The portal also contains additional records from dozens of smaller institutions in the greater Philadelphia area, from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania’s project, “Hidden Collections Initiative for Small Archival Repositories,” funded by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Database hosted by the University of Pennsylvania Libraries.

Go to the Portal

Additional information on the project from the project blog: http://clir.pacscl.org/
Information on the Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories:https://hsp.org/historical-heritage-organizations-0/hidden-collections-initiative-for-pennsylvania-small-archival-repositories

Note for beginning researchers: a “finding aid” is a collections guide that will help you decide whether or not to visit a library or archives to view the materials. It includes

a biographical/historical note that provides information on the subject of the collection
a scope and content note that describes the collection generally
a list of containers (boxes, folders, etc.) with brief descriptions of their contents
links to digitized resources, in some (but by no means all) cases