Engaging Liberty acknowledges that the quest for liberty is never ending.
PHILADELPHIA, PA (June 24, 2026) The Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Library is pleased to release Engaging Liberty, a consortium-wide exploration of the semiquincentennial through two themes: Power of Place and Unfinished Revolutions.
Engaging Liberty was developed by PACSCL’s 250th Working Group as a means through which any PACSCL member, regardless of the date of their founding, could speak to Philadelphia’s history at this pivotal moment.
Project co-PI Chrissie Perella/Drexel University College of Medicine Legacy Center stated, “The quest for “liberty and justice for all” is an ongoing story of courage, sacrifice, and struggle. We wanted to create a project that observes the 250th anniversary of the United States by examining the past and connecting it to the present: How did we get where we are today, how far have we come, and how far do we have yet to go? The stories presented here illustrate the progress and setbacks experienced by everyday Americans in their search for liberty.”
Inspired by the American Association for State & Local History’s field guide, Making History at 250, the working group selected themes that elicit stories that go beyond Philadelphia as the site of the nation’s founding. Power of Place opens doors to the natural, Indigenous, structural, migration, industrial, and medical histories that are so often forgotten in the consideration of the political and economic foundations at the heart of the American Revolution. Unfinished Revolutions proudly reminds us all that the American Revolution was just one of many societal, political, and racial movements that have defined Philadelphia as a focal point in the pursuit of liberty, justice, and equality.
PACSCL members are invited to contribute to Engaging Liberty through June 2027.
The site was developed by Jill Borin, Head of Archives & Distinctive Collections at Widener University; Beth Lander, PACSCL Managing Director; and Chrissie Perella, Project Archivist at Drexel University College of Medicine Legacy Center.
The thirty-nine member libraries and archives of the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries (PACSCL) collect, care for, and share with a world-wide audience collections that, in their depth and variety, comprise an internationally important body of unique materials for students, scholars and lifelong learners at any level. The collections of PACSCL member libraries include a total of more than 4,000,000 rare books, 260,000 linear feet of manuscripts and archival materials, and 9,000,000 photographs, maps, architectural drawings, and works of art on paper.