Blogs

As Rights and Reproductions Associate, Hillary handles orders for digital copies of HSP materials and permission to publish these materials in books, exhibitions, and other media. She majored in history and English at Dickinson College and earned a M.A. in history from Villanova University and a M.L.I.S. from Rutgers University. Hillary's research interests include American political history, presidential campaigns, as well as digital libraries and youth programming.

This Author's Posts

Here She Is, Miss America

This Saturday, January 12th, a new Miss America will be crowned amidst the glitz and glamour of the Las Vegas strip, a far cry from the pageant's humble origins on the Atlantic City boardwalk. Thankfully, for those who yearn for the days when bathing beauties roamed the Jersey shore, you can travel back in time with these historic images recently added to HSP's Digital Library.

Fondly, Pennsylvania

1/9/13

Give History for the Holidays

Looking for a unique and personal gift this holiday season? Archival prints of materials from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's collections are the perfect gift for the history lover on your holiday shopping list.

Fondly, Pennsylvania

12/5/12

New in the Digital Library: The Edith Madeira Papers

With 21 million manuscripts and hundreds of thousands of graphical items in HSP's collections, choosing what materials to digitize and make accessible via the Digital Library is a daunting challenge. To assist us in this endeavor, we recently revamped our Digital Collections and Humanities Internship to focus on describing and digitizing one entire collection. Throughout the spring, Digital Center staff nominated collections for

Fondly, Pennsylvania

9/19/12

20th century, Science and Medicine, Women, World War I

Now launching: New Digital Library features and services

The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is excited to unveil several new Digital Library features and services. Looking for an interesting illustration for your next book or an eye-catching image to display in your home? Now digital images, archival prints, and permission to reproduce, publish, exhibit, and distribute these materials are available directly through HSP’s Digital Library, a growing online repository of over 50,000 images.

Fondly, Pennsylvania

9/5/12

Dispatch from the beaches of HSP

It's certainly the dog days of summer in Philadelphia right now, making all of us at HSP yearn for a little sun, sand, and ocean breeze. Thankfully, those of us who aren't lucky enough to be on vacation can find escape in the Digital Library and images of inviting beach vistas and boardwalks. Looking for something to liven up your stay-cation? Check out these gems:

Fondly, Pennsylvania

7/17/12

Minstrels, Circuses, and Burlesques, Oh My!

If an event takes place, but leaves no evidence of having occurred, did it really happen? Recently, I found myself pondering this historical variation on the age-old question “If a tree falls in a forest, does it make a sound?” when I digitized several items from HSP’s collection of Theater Posters [V06]. As historians and archivists, our understanding of the past is so dependent upon the evidence left behind and some events are so ephemeral they are simply lost to the passage of time.

Fondly, Pennsylvania

5/23/12

19th century, Arts and Culture

Grover Bergdoll: America’s Most Wanted “Slacker”

In an era when millions “keep up” with the Kardashians, it’s easy to see tabloid culture as a modern phenomenon, an ill effect of our 24-hour news cycle and social media that puts every tweet and Facebook update at our fingertips. But one need only look to the Lindbergh baby, Bonnie and Clyde, and countless others to see the nation’s fascination with celebrity and scandal is nothing new.

Fondly, Pennsylvania

3/21/12

20th century, Philadelphia, World War I

A Day in the Life, or, what is Rights and Reproductions anyway?

Since becoming HSP’s Rights and Reproductions Associate in July 2011, I’ve fielded countless questions about what exactly “R&R” entails. I often tell curious folk that I handle orders for digital copies of HSP materials and the rights to publish these materials in books, exhibitions, and other media, but this description only skims the surface of how a reproduction request goes from first contact to completed order. Inspired by my colleague Cary Majewicz’s fabulous blog entry on a day in the life of an archivist, what follows is an insider’s look at a day in MY life as HSP's Rights and Reproductions Associate.

Fondly, Pennsylvania

1/23/12

Images of “by-gone days:” Visualizing the Manayunk of yesteryear

Oftentimes, history can seem like an accumulation of paper trails, a collection of stories told through the letters, diaries, and other written records that our ancestors leave behind. However, graphic materials are also compelling historical artifacts, as I’m continually reminded while working on rights and reproductions orders at HSP.

Fondly, Pennsylvania

12/16/11

digitization, graphics collections, history, Philadelphia

Rights and Reproductions, or “R&R” for those in the know

Fondly, Pennsylvania

9/14/11