Increasing the Impact: Revealing Hidden Collections and Expanding Consortial Processing in Philadelphia-area Institutions

Summary

This consortial project, encompassing 98 collections totaling more than 2,900 linear feet held in 18 area repositories, builds on earlier work that laid the foundation for a regional approach to managing and providing access to historical collections. Collections included address the scientific, cultural, aesthetic, social and spiritual mores of American society from the earliest European settlement across more than three centuries as they were expressed regionally, nationally and internationally. The collections (see appendix) are especially strong in five areas: the political, economic, social and cultural history of the Delaware Valley; the history and evolution of American science and medicine; the American religious experience; history of education; and social justice and activism. While each individual collection has a high research value, often as determined by the PACSCL Survey Initiative, that value is increased in the context of the shared PACSCL Finding Aids site, enabling researchers to draw topical connections between collections and across repositories. This is an extensive and complex project with partners ranging from major universities to smaller libraries and museums. PACSCL has increased the range of partners to include three additional non-PACSCL institutions -- a university, an archives, and a local historical society -- to foster collaboration, extend connections across collections, refine metrics, and test broader applicability of the protocols.