Unique set of history books put Philly in perspective ahead of 250th celebration

University of Pennsylvania Press is publishing three historical books ahead of the nation s th celebration next year The trio Greater Philadelphia Region Greater Philadelphia and the Nation and Greater Philadelphia and the World will offer various support including essays untold stories and analyses of regional issues The books were made in partnership with The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia a project out of Rutgers University-Camden aiming to increase knowledge about the history of Philadelphia Charlene Mires the co-editor of Greater Philadelphia and the Nation explained that these books were created following locality input This is a project that grows from population engagement she stated The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia s origins started with public activities and we listened to what people were interested in and what they needed to learn more about And since when we began those engagement programs we have been building topic by topic and hundreds of people have contributed their time and talents to creating the content that you ll find in these books Mires commented the book is unique as it compiles and streamlines information that may not be as easily accessible to audiences Often when certain historical items are first published it s in an academic journal where people might not have wide access to it she explained So part of what we accomplish in a book like this is to convey the best of what we know from those sources to a more widespread audience I think that bulk people who look at these books are going to learn a lot of things they didn t already know The books will be issued to the general on Oct The three books Mires explained the three-volume set of books will be called Greater Philadelphia A New History for the st Century Each book has a distinct focus The first she revealed will focus on Philadelphia as it relates to the surrounding counties and regions The Greater Philadelphia Region is the book that has the geographical rise of the region she stated It has all of the sections of the city and it has all the counties I think the avenues that we re connected whether it s through transportation or through governance it s really amazing that so multiple hundreds of municipalities share this region The first book in the series The Greater Philadelphia Region will focus on Philly in relation to other towns in Southeastern Pennsylvania New Jersey and Delaware Photo courtesy of The University of Pennsylvania Press She commented this history can be major to analyzing and addressing regional issues such as funding SEPTA or how to respond to a regime shutdown The second book will focus on Philadelphia s relation to the nation This book is perfect for the th anniversary she disclosed This book talks about the foundational history of the American Revolution and Philadelphia s role in it But then it proceeds beyond that time period to trace out how the nation has grown and changed and how the Philadelphia region has made an imprint on that She reported the book will also explore how the nation has grown and changed with sections on the struggle for civil rights and Philly s relation to popular beliefs including music movies and sports The final book will focus on Philadelphia s relation to the world Philadelphia and the surrounding region is an incredibly diverse place and so this book explains how and why we got that way she declared So you learn about immigration in that book and how people over time have come from all parts of the world You also learn about world religions in our region and about industries as Philadelphia has long been known as the workshop of the world You also learn about global conflicts and the techniques that Philadelphia has participated in those The final book will focus on Philadelphia s relation to the world Photo courtesy of The University of Pennsylvania Press Mires stated the book s topics were frequently sourced from The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia The impact These books will explore a cohesive set of topics and relate them to Philly We have also learned that there are a lot of topics that have been studied but not for Philadelphia in particular or not for the region in particular she mentioned So we might set out to write about something like World War II for example and say What really did happen in Philadelphia during World War II Or in South Jersey or in Wilmington Delaware How can we get a broader view of those topics Additionally she explained that there hasn t yet been a cohesive set of historical guidance for certain topics such as African American or women s history Having this history in this kind of book will also provide it to a more widespread audience I think we continue to add to the layers of these histories in terms of locations but also in terms of the numerous groups and individuals who are parts of these histories she explained So in the last generation of scholarship a lot of new material has been written about African American history about women s history about LGBT history and about a number of different nationality groups Mires hopes readers can see themselves differently after exploring these books and find parallels between their own life and Philly s history So I think these books speak for our generation of knowledge about Philadelphia and the region she revealed And it s a way to put a pin in that and say This is what we know about our region at this key moment in our history But we all hope that that s then a springboard for the next generation of building new knowledge about our region We hope that people will take these and learn from them and pursue their own questions And in the matter of the scholars in the region start writing the next generation of books Beyond use for everyday readers Mires revealed the books will also be used in Philly institutions such as libraries and schools Our publisher University of Pennsylvania Press has received particular funding from The Philadelphia Funder Collaborative for the Semiquincentennial and that is allowing the books to be distributed into branch libraries and into schools she declared And we re also doing workshops for Philadelphia school teachers using these books so we hope they have a lot of educational value The books can also help those in the media with vital quick context for stories she explained Beyond the hundreds of experts and historians who have put time into creating these books Mires reported there has also been help from graduate students editors and other society members We ve also been proud to involve countless of the graduate students in our regional universities often helping them to get their first professional publications by publishing with us through a very extensive process of peer review and fact-checking where we all learn so much from each other she mentioned And those people writing we have had plenty of editors leading the project and cultivating sets of essays Over time I would say there have been perhaps or people who ve taken leading responsibility for editing And then to make these books there are five of us who have taken the leading roles in creating the books but we all benefit from the work of everyone else all throughout the project and I hope we ve represented them well The post Unique set of history books put Philly in perspective ahead of th celebration appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY