One of the first churches in the United States founded by and for persons of African descent, the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas is significant in the history of Philadelphia, the Episcopal Church, and civil rights. Its founder, the Reverend Absalom Jones (1746-1818), was the first person of African descent ordained in the Episcopal Church of the United States.

Large numbers of Irish immigrants came to the United States in the second half of the 19th century seeking better opportunities. Many of them settled in the large cities they arrived in because they did not have enough money to travel very far. During the 1870s, several members of Michael Kelly and Mary (Loughnane) Kelly’s family immigrated to Philadelphia, including their daughters Mary Ann, Margaret, and Sarah. Mary Ann soon met and married Dennis O’Brien.

It's still a few months before football starts, but if you can't wait that long, remember that archival research is always in season! Youth football in King of Prussia "kicked off" in 1956 when the King of Prussia Indians team was formed by Mary and Dave Vannicelli. Still going strong nearly 60 years later, the story of the sports organization, now known as the Upper Merion Viking Youth Football Association, is told in the Mary and Dave Vannicelli collection on the King of Prussia Football Association. The collection can be found at the King of Prussia Historical Society in Montgomery County, Pa.

During the second half of the 19^th century, Philadelphia was known as “The Workshop of the World.” Unlike many other cities in the United States that had become known for a particular industry, Philadelphia was known for its variety of industry, especially in the area north of Market Street and east of 10^th Street, part of Philadelphia’s Old City neighborhood. Among these streets one could find clock manufacturers, tin and sheet iron factories, shoe factories, toy factories, and several other manufacturing companies.