Hello, my name is Catherine White, HSP’s new Drexel University Co-op student. I am currently a pre-junior double major studying communication and history, and will be working in HSP’s Programs & Services department until mid-September.

Now that I’ve joined HSP’s team, I’ve been given a chance to see first-hand the behind-the-scenes work that goes into running a special collections library with 21 million items in its collection. Prior to my first day at HSP as a Co-op student, I had visited the library a couple times before as a student researcher. With this blog series, I want to document my experiences with HSP from my first step in as a visitor to my last step out, evaluating my expectations and how accurately they coincide with reality.

When studying history, my professors stress the importance of knowing how and where to research beyond the university library’s doors, which is how my peers and I found ourselves on our way to HSP. We took a class trip – my first visit – and I quickly noticed that even approaching the library can be daunting, with its marble steps, high archways, and strong columns. The architecture gives off an air of seriousness, as if it’s reserved for those with PhDs and professional genealogists. With the help of the staff, I became oriented with the library system, learning the difference between open stacks, items that any patron can utilize from the shelves at any time, and closed stacks, items that must be pulled by an employee from the hidden depths of HSP.

Two weeks after this trip, I returned alone to complete a paper on the Spanish-American war. This time I was prepared for the grandiose exterior and armed with specific call numbers for items in closed stacks. I had a plan of attack and set out to write the most well-researched paper that anyone would ever read…Needless to say, that did not happen. Instead, as I began looking at the Knepper Brothers Letters (Collection #2025), I found myself immersed in their story. I realized that I had a unique opportunity to craft a narrative based on the lives of those who participated in the conflict. Instead of impersonal fact about the war, I followed the story of these young men - struggling to understand how the war affects them on a personal level, complaining about their favorite football team losing, and suddenly being shipped around the world without warning. Using HSP’s vast and diverse collection, I was able to see the human impact of historical events, something often glossed over in history textbooks.

Letter from Oslo Knepper, Knepper Brothers papers [2025]

As I’m beginning to realize, I am not alone in my experience of shock and awe at what unexpected treasures can be found; this is what HSP specializes in, collecting moments and stories from those often forgotten by the historical record. HSP is not a library filled with cold, sterile facts and figures. Instead, HSP is literally filled with the rich and vibrant stories of the famous, the infamous, and the unknown. We have drafts of the Constitution, lectures from Benjamin Rush, and the first photograph taken in North America. But we also have the diary of net-mending Quaker Robert Willis, letters between common clergymen, and unidentified ethnic artwork, all of which allow us to hear the different voices of yesterday.

O'en as the waves of ocean, surge onward to the shore, / Sweep o'er my soul the memories of days that come no more.

O these are voices of the Past, links of a broken chain / Wings that can bear me back to times, which cannot come again.

Sea Shore, Atlantic Beach in the David J. Kennedy watercolors collection [V61]. 

Joining the team at HSP, I am delightfully surprised to learn about those individuals whose voices often go unheard.  As an employee, I get the chance to learn more about HSP’s collections, to find out what it means to work at an archive, and to explore forgotten parts of history. While the exterior may make HSP seem like a place for scholars and professional genealogists, the collections – and staff – are available for all the inquisitive, curious, wide-eyed explorers visiting the Library at 1300 Locust Street.

To learn more about the wide range that HSP holds, stop by to enjoy our upcoming document display entitled “Philadelphia Luminaries.” The display will run from May 3-June 10, and will feature photographs and manuscripts from inspiring Philadelphians who changed the faces of fields as varied as medicine and music.