Hold onto your yarmulkes and brush up on your Hebrew! In this week's blog post, we'll delve deep into the archives of Mikveh Israel of Philadelphia, one of the oldest Jewish congregations in the United States. Its congregants have included many luminaries who were influential in religious and secular contexts, locally and often nationally. Of course, not all of Mikveh Israel's members are famous. Mikveh Israel's extensive archives also document the lives of ordinary Jews and the Jewish community in Philadelphia, covering more than 250 years. 

Elwyn was one of the first American schools for children with intellectual disabilities, founded in 1852 as the Pennsylvania Training School for Idiotic and Feeble-Minded Children. Established in the midst of changing social and scientific trends in the understanding and treatment of intellectual disability, Elwyn has remained consistently at the vanguard of this field -- usually for the better, but occassionally with regrets -- for over 150 years.

This Thanksgiving we are grateful to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, for funding the HCI-PSAR Project another 18 months through April 2016, to the over 130 small repositories who have been so hospitable in welcoming us into their archives over the past three years, and to everyone who is interested in our project and follows this blog. Happy Turkey Day, everyone!