Hidden GEMS

Hidden

GEMS A PERIODICAL HIGHLIGHTING THE FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA’S RARE AND UNIQUE SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

A Letter FROM THE DIRECTOR

Welcome to Hidden Gems, a new periodical highlighting the Free Library of Philadelphia’s rare and unique special collections.

Each year, scholars and curiosity seekers from around the globe visit the Free Library to examine our unparalleled holdings, including Charles Dickens’s manuscripts, rare orchestral sheet music, original drawings by Alexander Calder, and more. We are incredibly proud of these literary and cultural treasures, and look forward to sharing more about them with you.

In Hidden Gems you’ll have a peek inside our special collections and hear directly from the passionate librarians who work with them. You’ll gain deeper insights about our treasures, get tips on how to use them, and read some of our favorite stories about how these collections touched lives around the world.

I hope you enjoy this first issue of Hidden Gems, and that you stop by and visit us in person soon! And don’t forget, you can see many digitized items from these amazing collections online anytime at freelibrary.org.

Warmly,

Siobhan A. Reardon, President and Director

HIDDEN GEM

63

#

SHOWN HERE IS A GORGEOUS,

hand-painted page

from Genesis FROM A 15TH CENTURY FRENCH BIBLE. THE TEXT IS A

french translation OF THE LATIN

VULGATE, MARKING AN EARLY ATTEMPT IN THE CHURCH’S HISTORY TO RENDER THE

sacred words

OF THE BIBLE INTO A LANGUAGE THAT MORE PEOPLE COULD UNDERSTAND. THE MANUSCRIPT WAS

illuminated BY TWO DIFFERENT ARTISTS FROM THE WORKSHOP OF THE MASTER OF THE ÉCHEVINAGE DE ROUEN IN THE PROVINCE OF NORMANDY.

THIS BIBLE IS PART OF THE RARE BOOK DEPARTMENT’S EXTRAORDINARY COLLECTION OF MANUSCRIPTS, PRINTED BIBLES, AND OTHER SACRED BOOKS DATING FROM THE 10TH TO THE 16TH CENTURIES.

Bible. Rouen, France, 15th Century. Illustrated at the Workshop of the Master of the Échevinage de Rouen. Gift of Joseph E. Widener.

Top: Rich Boardman in Parkway Central’s Map Collection. Bottom: G.M. Hopkins Map of Philadelphia, 1876.

Connecting our Collections TO THE 21ST CENTURY

The Free Library’s extensive map collection contains more than 130,000 current and historical cartographic creations, including Sanborn maps, world atlases, and aerial photos of the Delaware Valley. But in the digital age, are maps even necessary anymore? Richard Boardman, Head of the Free Library’s Map Collection, explains why these historic treasures are an essential part of modern life.

Why do (or should) we care about a collection of “old maps?” After all, in this age of GPS, digital cameras, YouTube, and everything instant, what’s to be gained from looking backwards? The practical answer is: quite a bit. Understanding the past very often helps us understand what goes on in our lives today. Let’s take a look at some examples.

A common question in the Map Collection is, “When was my house built?” Deeds won’t give you the answer, and tax records won’t either. Old city property atlases, while not supplying an exact date, will get you pretty close, often within a few years. Sometimes, individuals or non-profit groups need to know how their particular neighborhood developed over time. And if your basement is wet after a storm, it’s possible that your house is built over or near an old stream. We once had a question from someone who was thinking about purchasing a particular house but was worried about water. It turned out the houses on the block were built over an old stream bed. Just think: An old map might have kept him from making a modern mistake!

Sometimes, the big picture is better than the iPhone view of things. Google Maps and MapQuest show you a nice street map of an area and will tell you how they think you ought to get there, but what if you want to construct your own route or see interesting sights along the way to your final location? The Map Collection has thousands of country, city, and town maps from all over the world when you need to “look at the big picture” and connect all the dots without having to move the cursor.

Finally, if you think a picture is better than a thousand words, the Map Collection has lots of them for Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley. Stretching back almost 85 years, old aerial photographs are a great way to see how Delaware Valley towns and countryside developed over the years. It’s another great “big picture” tool that has plenty of uses.

Left: Janine Pollock in the Rare Book Department. Right: Original drawing for the Household Edition of Dickens’s Pickwick Papers, 1873, “The Goblin and the Sexton.” Gift of William M. Elkins.

A YEAR WITH “THE INIMITABLE”

Charles Dickens Photo credit: Ryan Brandenberg

Home to one of the world’s largest collections of Charles Dickens first editions and ephemera, the Free Library of Philadelphia is excited to celebrate the Bicentenary of his birth throughout 2012. Janine Pollock, Head of the Free Library’s Rare Book Department, shares her insights into the history and breadth of the Library’s extensive Dickens collection.

The upcoming Bicentenary of Charles Dickens presents an opportunity for the Rare Book Department to showcase its outstanding collections related to the life and work of “The Inimitable,” as he liked to call himself. Dickens was the most popular English writer of the Victorian age whose work continues to be studied, read, and enjoyed. In his career, which spanned a mere 35 years, he wrote 15 novels (if you include the unfinished The Mystery of Edwin Drood) and countless shorter pieces, bringing into the world some 1,000 memorable characters.

Our collections are the result of the generosity of two great collectors, D. Jacques Benoliel and William McIntyre Elkins. The 1947 bequest of William Elkins, which included his actual stained pine-paneled library, initiated the Rare book Department into the world of Dickens collecting. With it came the so-called sentimental library with association copies and presentation copies of the novels in their original parts along with other printed rarities. Elkins also collected the original art of many of Dickens's illustrators. Among

personal mementos collected by Elkins is a desk from Gads Hill Place, Dickens’s home along the Dover Road.

D. Jacques Benoliel had a particular interest in items that related to Dickens's keen fascination with the theatre. Playbills from the elaborately staged private theatricals at the family home, where Dickens had one of the rooms converted into a makeshift theater, are among Benoliel’s gifts. A trove of early letters written by Dickens to close friends, business associates, and some of the most prominent people of his day enhance the collection and have been supplemented by letters purchased through funds endowed by Benoliel so that they now number nearly 3,000.

Plans are underway to place the Free Library front and center during what we are billing as the “Year of Dickens.” Letters, art, and manuscripts are being digitized and cataloged and made available through a brand new Rare Book Department web presence. In addition, a year-long series of exhibitions at Parkway Central, literary salons, and other special events will help us celebrate the 200th birthday of “The Inimitable”!

Photo credit: Ryan Brandenberg

Stories from the Shelves Kim Bravo in the

tion ference Collec

Automobile Re

Because the Free Library’s special collections are world-renowned in their depth, breadth, and rarity, our librarians frequently interact with individuals from around the globe who are in search of that golden nugget of information that will help piece their research puzzle together.

Kim Bravo, Head of the Library’s Automobile Reference Collection, recounts her favorite story.

Founded in 1948 when Philadelphia socialite and antique car collector Thomas McKean presented his collection to the Free Library, the Automobile Reference Collection (ARC) has since grown to become one of the largest public archives of automotive literature in the United States, containing rare and unique materials unavailable anywhere else.

As the full-time librarian for this extraordinary collection for more than five years, I have provided service to a very wide variety of researchers from all over the world, including artists, attorneys, authors, business people, collectors, filmmakers, historians, hobbyists, journalists, mechanics, restorers, students, and university professors. What is unique about our collection is best explained by contrasting it with the National Automotive History Collection (NAHC) at the Detroit Public Library, from where many of our

patrons are referred. While the NAHC contains complete information about the large auto manufacturers, the Free Library’s ARC is particularly comprehensive with regard to small and obscure manufacturers, many of whom made only a handful of cars while the industry was still in its infancy. I will never tire of hearing patrons tell me that they had scoured prestigious automotive archives the world over for the elusive item or piece of information that I'd just found for them, and how they never imagined their search would end at the Free Library of Philadelphia.

I have many cherished anecdotes from working in the ARC, but my all-time favorite is the story of my patron Terje and his 1924 Flint E-55.

He lives in Sand, Norway, and discovered our collection while surfing the internet. He emailed asking if we had any materials pertaining to the car he was restoring. Sure enough we did—quite a lot in

Top: An archival photograph of a Flint from the ARC. Bottom: A snapshot, sent from Norway, of Terje’s restored version.

fact—and I scanned and emailed every last piece to him. He was completely astonished at what I’d found.

His 1924 Flint was of a somewhat uncommon make, but he had a very personal reason for restoring it: This was the same type of car that his grandfather had driven around Sand in the 1920s as a young man with his own taxi service. Terje was so delighted to have the information I'd found that he in turn sent me the whole story of his project, including some wonderful color photos of each step of the car’s restoration. He purchased the car on eBay from a seller in Atlanta, Georgia and restored it from the ground up in painstaking detail—and the information I provided him from our ARC played a vital role in the process.

DR. FREDERICK SIMEONE IS A DISTINGUISHED NEUROSURGEON AND ONE OF THE NATION’S MOST NOTABLE “GEAR HEADS.”AS A TEEN, HE USED TO SEEK OUT AUTOMOBILE RESOURCES AS A “DESIGNEE” OF THE LIBRARIAN AT THE FREE LIBRARY. HE STILL CARRIES THE CARD AUTHORIZING HIM TO COLLECT MATERIALS FOR US. TODAY, DR. SIMEONE’S COLLECTION OF RARE AND UNIQUE RACING SPORTS CARS FORMS THE BACKBONE OF PHILADELPHIA’S SIMEONE FOUNDATION MUSEUM, AND HE HAS GENEROUSLY DONATED AUTO MANUALS, SALES LITERATURE, AND MORE TO THE FREE LIBRARY’S RENOWNED AUTOMOBILE REFERENCE COLLECTION, ENRICHING OUR HOLDINGS WITH HISTORIC, ONE-OF-A-KIND LITERARY GEMS.

FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA FOUNDATION 1901 VINE STREET, SUITE 111, PHILADELPHIA, PA 19103

Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage

PAID Philadelphia, PA Permit No. 5872

Don’t forget!

NEXT TIME YOU’RE IN PARKWAY CENTRAL, EXPLORE THE EXHIBITION CASES THROUGHOUT OUR DEPARTMENTS AND CORRIDORS FEATURING UNIQUE ITEMS FROM OUR MANY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS.

The Free Library is one of the most important educational and cultural institutions in Philadelphia.

The City of Philadelphia provides funds for the operations of the Free Library system, including staffing at our 54 locations. Through the generosity of individual gifts, the Free Library Foundation supports many of the Library’s incredible programs as well as its renowned special collections—like the ones you’ve read about in Hidden Gems—which promote literacy and enrich the cultural fabric of our region. To learn how you can make a gift to the Foundation, please visit freelibrary.org/support or call 215-567-7710.