Member Institutions
The Philadelphia Area Center for History of Science was founded in 2006 as a consortium of cultural and educational institutions. The Center helps to make the collections and scholarly resources of the member institutions more broadly available for research in the history of science, technology and medicine.
Research Resources
As arguably the birthplace of American science, Philadelphia contains resources in this field that are unparalleled in their historical depth as well as breadth. Here are some of the highlights. Follow the links to find more.
The Academy of Natural Sciences
Specialty: Natural history
- 17 million plant and animal specimens, including the Lewis & Clark herbarium, Thomas Jefferson’s fossil collection (from the APS) and J. J. Audubon’s bird skins
- 250,000 manuscript items relating to the history of natural history
- 200,000 volumes on all aspects of natural history, with particular strengths in systematics, evolution, ecology, marine and freshwater biology, stratigraphy, comparative biochemistry, history of science, exploration and travel.
American Philosophical Society
Specialty: 18th and 19th century natural history, evolutionary biology, genetics, quantum mechanics and cultural anthropology
- 10 million manuscript items, including papers of Benjamin Franklin and Charles Darwin and of Nobel Laureates Francis Peyton Rous, Salvador E. Luria and Barbara McClintock
- 350,000 volumes and bound journals, including first editions of Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia and Darwin’s Origin of Species
- 100,000 images and thousands of hours of recorded sound
Chemical Heritage Foundation
Specialty: History and heritage of the chemical and molecular sciences, technologies and industries
- 150,000 books and journals dating back to the 15th century
- 60,000 rare books, including the noted Roy G. Neville Historical Chemical Library
- Over 3,500 linear feet of manuscripts, including institutional and corporate collections and the personal papers of Paul Flory, Carl Marvel, Alan MacDiarmid, Richard Smalley and many others
- 28,000 historical photographs of chemists, laboratories and instruments
- Historical artifacts, including over 700 chemical instruments and 90 chemistry sets
- Over 90 works of art and 200 prints of chemical subjects dating back to the 17th century
- More than 260 oral history interviews with leading figures in the chemical and molecular sciences and related process industries
- 2,500 journal titles, dating from 1819
- Special Collections and Exhibits
The College of Physicians of Philadelphia
Specialty: Health sciences
- 340,000 books and bound journals, the oldest book dating from A.D. 1244
- 1 million manuscript items, including the papers of W. W. Keen and S. Weir Mitchell
- Mütter Museum of medical artifacts and specimens
The Franklin Institute
Specialty: Science museum
- Hands-on museum of science and technology
- Fels Planetarium
- Benjamin Franklin Collection, Wright Brothers Aeronautical Engineering Collection, and Fairmount Waterworks Collection
- Archives of Committee on Science and the Arts, with 3,800 Case Files from the early 1800s and documents from the Institute’s Committee on Inventions
Hagley Museum and Library
Specialty: Business and technology
- 36,000 linear feet of records
- Personal and business papers of the DuPont Company and family
- Records of the Pennsylvania Railroad and Bethlehem Steel
- 290,000 bound volumes
- 2 million images
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Specialty: Mid-Atlantic states’ economic, social and political history
- 20 million manuscript items, including the papers of the Penn and Logan families and Joel Poinsett
- 35,000 prints and maps
- 600,000 printed volumes
The Library Company of Philadelphia
Specialty: American history and culture and its European background from the 17th through the 19th centuries
- Papers and medical library of Benjamin Rush
- 500,000 bound volumes, including many early American imprints
- Helfand Collection of Proprietary Medical Pamphlets
Princeton University
Specialty: Research university; library system with holdings in many areas
- 6 million printed volumes
- Subject libraries in astrophysics, biology, chemistry, engineering and geosciences
- 5 million manuscript items, including the papers of Edwin Grant Conklin, Harry Hammond Hess and David Todd Wilkinson
University of Pennsylvania
Specialty: Research university; library system with holdings in many areas
- 5.6 million printed volumes
- Subject libraries in chemistry, veterinary medicine, engineering, math/physics/astronomy and biomedicine
- 10,000 linear feet of manuscripts, including the Edgar Fahs Smith Collection in the History of Chemistry
The Wagner Free Institute of Science
Specialty: Natural history and science education
- Natural history museum
- 45,000 printed volumes, special features of which are university and public school syllabi and publications from smaller, often defunct, scientific institutions
- 500 linear feet of manuscripts, including papers of Joseph Leidy, Edward Drinker Cope and William Berryman Scott
