The Library Company of Philadelphia is an independent research library specializing in American history and culture from the 17th through the early 20th centuries. Founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin, the Library Company is America's oldest cultural institution and has the mission to preserve, interpret, make available, and augment the valuable material in its care. The Library serves a diverse constituency throughout Philadelphia and internationally, offering comprehensive reader services, an internationally renowned fellowship program, online catalogs, and regular exhibitions and public programs. Open to the public free of charge, the Library Company houses an extensive collection of rare books, manuscripts, broadsides, ephemera, prints, photographs, and works of art including material relating to World War One.
From November 11, 2016 through April 21, 2017, the Library Company of Philadelphia will have on display the exhibition Together We Win: The Philadelphia Homefront During the First World War. Co-curated by Reference Librarian Linda August and Curator of Prints and Photographs Sarah Weatherwax, this exhibition commemorates the 100th anniversary of America’s entrance into the war and the sacrifices and contributions Philadelphians made to the Allied cause. More specifically, the exhibition examines the role that the Library Company, its staff and its shareholders, played in supporting the war effort. Books, photographs, audio clips of World War I era music, home-made Allied flags, a scrapbook, and other ephemera will explore the story of the city and its residents during the war years and their immediate aftermath.
For more information about the exhibition and upcoming programming, please visit: http://togetherwewin.librarycompany.org/
The Library Company of Philadelphia’s World War One graphics collection primarily consists of posters encouraging military recruitment, the purchase of liberty bonds, support for the Red Cross, and home front frugality and photographs of the Philadelphia Navy Yard and patriotic parades and rallies held around Philadelphia.
The digitized collection materials can be found on ImPAC, the Library Company's digital collections catalog:
Link to World War One Posters
Link to World War One Photographs and Ephemera
A selection of these digitized images can be found on Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/library-company-of-philadelphia/sets/72157640298734693/
