Collections of both documents and artifacts lie at the heart of the Commission's mission. More than 250 million public documents, historical manuscripts, photographs, and maps and four million artifacts and specimens, as well as thirty-nine historic properties and information about more than one hundred twenty-five thousand historic places and twenty thousand archaeological sites, document innumerable subjects, ranging from Native American culture in the centuries before European contact, to the transportation revolution of the nineteenth century, to late twentieth-century debates about abortion and the right to life. These collections have been acquired by the Commission and its administrative antecedents over the past century. Many of these collections are open and available to researchers on a regular basis; others may be studied through special appointment.
Opportunities for research in Commission collections are limited only by the interests and imagination of the researcher. Recent projects have focused on such topics as Susquehannock use of copper-based metals, the political views of Pennsylvania soldiers in the Civil War, the Pennsylvania State Board of Censorship of Motion Picture's efforts to ban films depicting “racial ridicule,” and post World War II war economic development in western Pennsylvania. Given the range and depth of collections, the possibilities for interdisciplinary work, drawing upon a variety of research materials, are especially rich. For example, research on public markets in Pennsylvania has used photographs and documents in the State Archives and survey files maintained by the Commission's historic preservation program. Similarly, a study of the Anthracite Strike of 1902 has drawn upon collections at the Anthracite Heritage Museum and the State Archives.
Responsibility for collections is divided among four administrative units of the Commission: the State Archives, The State Museum, the Bureau for Historic Preservation, and the Bureau of Historic Sites and Museums. Thematically, however, collections cut across bureaucratic lines: Industrial history, for example, is amply documented in various collections: in records and manuscripts at the State Archives; in survey materials, nominations to the National Register of Historic Places, and reports maintained by the Bureau for Historic Preservation; and in artifact collections at The State Museum and several of the agency's historic sites and museums. Other topics are similarly addressed in multiple types of collections maintained by different unites within the Commission. Researchers are encouraged to think creatively about how these diverse sources may address their historical questions.
What follows are two brief descriptions of Commission collections, outlining two ways of thinking about and gaining access to material: first, a thematic overview of collecting emphases; and second, a guide to collections by administrative unit, noting appropriate contacts. Links to more detailed descriptions and finding aids are included throughout.
Links to more detailed descriptions and finding aids are included throughout this document.
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