Love your local archives? Celebrate with us this month! The roster of happenings planned for the next few weeks include a quizzo night, a lantern slide salon, dynamic lectures, behind-the-scenes tours, and more events that will showcase the vibrant resources of Philadelphia's archives.

October is American Archives Month, an opportunity for archives and archivists around the country to raise public awareness about the value of historical records and collections. Archives Month Philly is an annual celebration of archives, special collections and cultural institutions organized by the Delaware Valley Archivist Group.

You can mingle with HCI-PSAR staff at Philly History Quizzo, scheduled for 7-9 pm on Thursday, October 30th at National Mechanics Philadelphia Bar & Restaurant! With our deep knowledge of local history gleaned from surveying at 130 small repositories in the five-county Philadelphia area, we are excited to be organizing the event (and writing the questions). Hope to see you there! Tell your friends you're going on Facebook.

HCI-PSAR participants are even getting in on the Archives Month action! The Margaret R. Grundy Library is displaying an exhibit on Bristol's Riverfront Connection that will be on view from October 18th to November 15th. Bartram's Garden is holding two special curator-led tours on October 25th of the John Bowman Bartram Special Collections Library and its collections. The library's current exhibition features a letter from Benjamin Franklin, dated London, 1769, with an undated seed list of 102 species by John Bartram on the rear!

The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is hosting several events this month including the debut of a new database of World War I casualties, a moustache-themed cocktail hour, a talk about reconstructing LGBT historical narratives (hurry up and register - this event is tomorrow!), and an exhibit about Pennsylvania geography.

We're also excited for an event highlighting the University of Pennsylvania's famous rocket cats, propaganda toilet, and other archival materials relating to conflict; a talk at the Heritage Center at the Union League about the infamous Wanamaker organ; an event at Haverford College Library about the history of beer; and a sauerkraut-making workshop at the German Society of Pennsylvania.

Don't miss out on these and all of the other fun events and exhibits planned for Archives Month Philly 2014! Follow Archives Month Philly on Facebook or Twitter to stay in the loop.