Fondly, Pennsylvania

With part two of the Digital Center for Americana project underway, collections coming up the digital library pipeline include family album watercolors and oral history sound recordings that provide unique glimpses into Philadelphia family life, as well as how family life changes when individuals leave their country of origin for Philadelphia.

While processing the business records portion of the Morris Milgram Papers I found numerous references to Milgram's expulsion from CUNY (City College, City University of New York). But that's all I had seen so far; vague references and comments about how the event was not only revealing of his political compromise in his early years but also a crucial point of departure.

When I started interning in the Digital Collections and Systems Department here at HSP several months ago, I had no idea what was in store. Though I had recently completed my MLIS degree from the University of Pittsburgh, the fact that I was working full-time in another field unrelated to library science, archives or collections made it so that this internship, along with another internship I’m doing here this summer in the Collections area, constitutes the first actual job experience I have in my chosen field.

The Magdalen Society of Philadelphia was founded in 1800 to help reform “fallen” women.  White-Williams Scholars is a funding organization in Philadelphia provides scholarships to select high school students in need.  What could these seeming unrelated institutions possibly have in common?  Read on to find out.