Project Evolution

As early as 2022, PACSCL began thinking about how to help its member institutions participate in the 250th celebrations even if those institutions did not exist in 1776.  

PACSCL took inspiration from the American Association for State & Local History’s (AASLH) Making History at 250: The Field Guide for the Semiquincentennial, which offered its members five themes which any organization could use to frame exhibits or programming.

The Engaging Liberty team selected two themes that it felt best speak to the broad course of history in the greater Philadelphia area: Power of Place and Unfinished Revolutions. Contributors are encouraged to find stories within their collections that reexamine ideas about our natural and built environments and to reorient when and where we find our country’s history. Or contributors can share stories of people who worked tirelessly to secure the blessings of liberty for themselves and their posterity.

Efforts to secure grant funding did not end well, so the team decided to fall back on the deep skills, experience, knowledge, and – frankly – the exceptionalism that exists among the over 250 special collections professionals who work across the 38 member institutions in PACSCL.

We built it ourselves.

Engaging Liberty is not a one and done project.  Contributions will be accepted through June 2027.  After all, the search for liberty did not end on one day in July 1776.