The Historical Society of Pennsylvania

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Visit our “Tour Destination: Philadelphia” page to see the entire walking tour of the first Philadelphia cluster of Save America’s Treasures sites.

James Wilson's handwritten draft of the U.S. Constitution
from the collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

The Historical Society of Pennsylvania

1300 Locust Street
Philadelphia, PA  19107-5699

Website:  Historical Society of Pennsylvania

The Treasure: 

—  James Wilson’s first and second handwritten drafts of the U.S. Constitution

—  An official printing of the U.S. Constitution

—  The printer’s proof of the Declaration of Independence

—  A copy of the “Star Spangled Banner” signed by Francis Scott Key

—  Two copies of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Abraham Lincoln

—  The diary of George Washington’s secretary Tobias Lear, which has the only extant eye-witness account of Washington’s death

The Historical Society
of Pennsylvania.

Accessibility:  The items conserved through Save America’s Treasures are only a tiny fraction of the vast collections preserved at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.  Check their website in advance of a visit to learn of their upcoming exhibitions where selected items are displayed.  To ensure long-term preservation of these founding American documents, they spend most of the year in cool, dry, and dark storage as recommended by current best practices.  For a good look at the treasures listed above and many other treasures as well, explore the Historical Society of Pennsylvania Digital Library.

Tobias Lear diary,
from the collection of
the Historical Society
of Pennsylvania.

Notes:  The Historical Society of Pennsylvania was founded in 1824 and is a world renowned research library and archive.  Their collections include over 21 million items that focus on the people and places of Pennsylvania.  This material spans from the 17th century to present day and is second only to the Library of Congress for information on the nation’s founding.

The Historical Society is also one of the largest family history libraries.  Their archives have information from every state east of the Mississippi River.  Thousands of genealogists visit annually to gather information on their ancestors.  In 2002, the Society merged with the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, which added records from more than 60 ethnic groups to the collection, creating a valuable resource for immigrant history.

Here’s a link to a special page on the Historical Society of Pennsylvania website that details the work of conserving the Save America’s Treasures collection items:  Preserving Our Treasures.

Note from the Editor:  I chose to lead off with a Philadelphia cluster partly because I wanted to launch this series with one of the key founding documents—a Declaration of Independence or a U.S. Constitution.  The remarkable collections of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania have both.  And I thought it would be nice to begin with a site where my home organization, the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts, worked on some of the pieces.  We were honored to participate in this project.  Some of our conservators are featured on the special web page noted above.

Manuscript copy of the "Star Spangled Banner"
signed by Francis Scott Key from the collection of
the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

© 2011 Lee Price