The Library Company of Philadelphia, founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1731, was the first subscription library on this side of the Atlantic. Today it is a non-profit independent research library with collections documenting every aspect of American history and culture from the colonial period to the end of the nineteenth century. A collection of national importance, its holdings number approximately half a million printed volumes; 75,000 graphics; 160,000 manuscripts; and a small, distinguished collection of early American art and artifacts.

Specializing in images depicting the city of Philadelphia and works by Philadelphia artists, the Library Company's graphics collection contains numerous lithographic views of Philadelphia scenes published by Philadelphia firms in the early years of commercial lithography. Many of these prints are described by Nicholas B. Wainwright in his book Philadelphia in the Romantic Age of Lithography. (Philadelphia: The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1958), and are known collectively as the "Wainwright Collection." Covering a variety of subjects, the lithographs illustrate early 19th-century Philadelphia storefronts, factories, public buildings, and landmarks.

Backstage worked jointly with LCP to digitize over 300 items from the Wainwright Collection. During one week in May, we set up a scanning center at the Library Company. Items smaller than 12" x 17" were scanned on a flatbed scanner at 400 dpi (24-bit RGB). The larger prints, up to 40" wide, were scanned using a Vidar Titan Atlas Pro scanner at 300 dpi (24-bit RGB). With the images linked to the bibliographic data (which we also formatted), LCP patrons will be able to access the images via the OPAC (WolfPAC).


For more information contact:
Jennifer Ambrose
Associate Curator of Prints and Photographs
The Library Company of Philadelphia
1314 Locust Street,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107
(215) 546-8229
ambrose@librarycompany.org
http://www.librarycompany.org


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