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THE PHILADELPHIA CITY ARCHIVES

The Philadelphia City Archives was established in 1952 in accordance with Section 5-1101d of the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter of 1951. Its mission is to preserve all City records not in current use which possess historical, administrative, legal, research, cultural or other important value. Currently, it forms an integral part of the Records Management Division of the Department of Records.

The City Archives is located at:

Suite 150
3101 Market Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104

Telephone: 215-685-9401
Fax: 215-685-9409
e-mail: archives@phila.gov

Staff:

Ward J. Childs, City Archivist

David Baugh, Archivist I

Finding Aids to the Collections:

General Collections

Genealogical Resources at the City Archives

Naturalizations

Deeds and other architectural research resources

Philadelphia County Subdivisions, 1683-present

Districts, Townships and Boroughs

Exemplification Records

Mayors of Philadelphia, 1691-2000

Mayor's Executive Orders

Placenames & Neighborhoods in Philadelphia

Articles from the Newsletter of the Philadelphia City Archives

Browse Philadelphia government agencies by name

      • Use this to view the list of governmental departments, bureaus and agencies, both past and present. A complete list of the City Archives' holdings of the records of each agency may be found under the listing for that agency.


Philadelphia Court Sampling Project

Under a series of grants from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission from 1997 to 1999, the Philadelphia City Archives undertook a project to sample the criminal records of the Quarter Sessions Court from 1940 to 1952. Click on the link above to view the various grants and the results of this project.

      • Also, visit our on-line exhibits: Our 1994-1995 exhibit showed the history of child welfare and the private-public partnership necessary for successfully caring for children. The Department of Human Services still uses the majority of the exhibit for its promotional uses. It was called For the Care of Children
      • Our 1995-1996 exhibit highlighted the Department of Streets, entitled Clean and Safe Streets which was on display at the Municipal Services Building during October 1995-September 1996.
      • Our 1996-1997 exhibit highlighted the history and work of the Fairmount Park Commission and was entitled For the Health and Enjoyment of Citizens.