The Value of Primary Sources

1684 William Penn land warrant

The Bureau of Archives and History preserves and makes accessible the primary sources that are the foundation for our interpretation and understanding of Pennsylvania’s rich history. Teachers use original documents to bring history to life for their students. Genealogists use state records to trace their family history. Scholars mine records and manuscripts for new evidence of the past. Legal researchers, journalists and businesses use archival records to inform current questions and issues and to ensure that the appropriate transparency of government is maintained. Whether it is technical assistance and training for local government officials, providing access to documents for a researcher, providing online materials for teachers through our Web site or publishing books of interest to the general public, the purpose of the bureau’s work is to ensure that the documents of Pennsylvania’s history are available now and for future generations.

 

Mary Frances Berry, the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought at the University of Pennsylvania, was the keynote speaker at the PHMC’s 31st Annual Conference on Black History in Pennsylvania.

• Valued Resources: The Archives provided service to more than 2,600 on-site patrons who consulted appr oximately 11.2 million pages of original records, as well as 7.5 million micr ofilm pages. The State Archives placed several hundred thousand images of the original records of the Commonwealth Land Office on the PHMC Web site. These images document the transactions betw een the Penn family or commonwealth with the first pur chaser(s) of each tract.
  
• Valued Protection: The State Archives accessioned 824 cubic feet of state and local go vernment records, 69 cubic feet of manuscript materials and 1 ,163 rolls of microfilm. The State Records Center accessioned 37,618 cubic feet of state records and disposed of 27,824 cubic feet while responding to 33,167 requests for information from 55 agencies.
  


Vintage photograph taken at a Grange picnic, and History of the Early Grange Movement in Lawrence County (1874).

• Valued Memories: The State Archives became the official repository for the records of the Pennsylvania State Grange. The collection dates from the creation of the Grange in the early 1870s and includes records of the State Grange headquarters and records of nearly 60 local chapters, some now defunct. With still close to 400 granges comprising 25,000 members across the state, the Pennsylvania State Grange continues to be a family-oriented fraternal organization dedicated to the betterment of rural Pennsylvania through community service, education, legislation and fellowship.
  
• Valued Services: In partnership with the State Historical Records Advisory Board and with funding from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, an itinerant archivist assists counties with their records programs, working on site with local officials for six to eight weeks in at least six counties in southwest Pennsylvania. This process continues through 2008 and will be repeated next year in the northeast. The Document Image Service Center (DISC) generated more than 16 million computer output microfilm images and almost 10 million bitmapped images, scanned more than 1.25 million paper images and scanned more than 2 million film/fiche images for 27 agencies. Microfilming 719 volumes and 7 cubic feet of loose paper records from 10 public institutions guaranteed permanent preservation of historically valuable local government records. On June 23, 2008, DISC was moved to the Department of Revenue.
  
 

The PHMC Publications and Sales Division, along with the Pennsylvania Heritage Society, co-published four issues of their award-winning quarterly magazine Pennsylvania Heritage.

• Valued Education and Training: More than 220 people attended this year’s annual Archives and Records Management Seminar with sessions on disaster salv age and recovery, promoting archives through outreach, electronic records and the law. William Pencak, professor of History at Penn State University, delivered the keynote address. PHMC’s 31st Annual Conference on Black History in Pennsylvania, held in conjunction with the University of Pittsburgh, featured Mary Frances Berry, former chair, U.S. Civil Rights Commission and professor, University of Pennsylvania, as the keynote speaker. The bureau also offered a series of archives and records management workshops, training sessions and public history programs for 3,470 individuals representing over 1,600 public and private institutions. Over 270 state employees attended 20 different records management classes concerning disaster preparedness, understanding the archives and scheduling records. Staff in all state agency human resource offices were trained to use the Enterprise Records Management system to securely request confidential personnel records held at the State Records Center.
  
• Valued Products: The bureau co-published four issues of Pennsylvania Heritage, an award-winning quarterly history magazine, with the Pennsylvania Heritage Society®. Special articles in each issue featured the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the New Deal in Pennsylvania.