The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and community outreach. It was founded by the polymath Benjamin Franklin and is considered the first learned society founded in what became the United States.
The society has about 1,000 elected members. As of April 2020, 5,710 members had been inducted since its creation. Through research grants, published journals, the American Philosophical Society Museum, an extensive library, and regular meetings, the society supports a variety of disciplines in the humanities and the sciences.
History
Benjamin Franklin in 1746Library Hall in 2024Thomas Jefferson Garden adjacent to Library HallFranklin Hall at the American Philosophical Hall, named for Benjamin Franklin, the organization's founder
On January 2, 1769, the society united with the American Society for Promoting Useful Knowledge under the name American Philosophical Society Held at Philadelphia for Promoting Useful Knowledge. Franklin was elected the first president.[5] During this time, the society maintained a standing Committee on American Improvements; one of its investigations was to study the prospects for a canal to connect the Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware River.[6] The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, which had been proposed by Thomas Gilpin,Sr., was built in the 1820s.[7]
Many members of the Society of the Cincinnati were among the APS's first board members and contributors; the APS and SOC still maintain an informal, collegial relationship.
Membership
Membership of the APS "honors extraordinary accomplishments in all fields." It has about 1,000 elected members, comprising about 840 "resident" members (United States citizens or those working or living in the United States) and about 160 "international" members. As of April 2020[update] it had elected 5,710 members since its foundation.[8]
In 1786, the society established the Magellanic Premium, a prize for achievement in "navigation, astronomy, or natural philosophy," the oldest scientific prize awarded by an American institution, which it still awards. Other awards include the Barzun Prize for cultural history, the Judson Daland Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Investigation, the Benjamin Franklin Medal, the Lashley Award for neurobiology, the Lewis Award, and the Thomas Jefferson Medal for distinguished achievement in the arts, humanities, or social sciences.
APS holds the ACLS Collection (American Council of Learned Societies Committee on Native American Languages, American Philosophical Society) which is a collection of indigenous language documents from around the United States including recordings of the Odawa language from northern Michigan.[12] APS has created a guide[13] to help provide broad coverage of the Native American and Indigenous archival collections at the Library & Museum of the American Philosophical Society. These materials date from 1553 to 2020 and include manuscript, audio, and visual materials relating to Indigenous peoples throughout the Americas.
The society also has a collection of manuscripts on the history of the British colonies, Revolutionary War, the history of American science, quantum physics, Charles Darwin and evolution, genetics and the history of technology.[14]
Philosophical Hall, at 104 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, between Chestnut and Walnut Streets, immediately south of Old City Hall, was built in 1785–1789 to house the society and designed by Samuel Vaughan in the Federal style.[15][16] A third floor was added in 1890 to accommodate the expanding library, but was removed in 1948–1950,[16] when the building was restored to its original appearance for the creation of Independence National Historical Park.[17] In 2001, it was opened to the public as The American Philosophical Society Museum, hosting revolving, thematic exhibitions that explore intersections of history, art, and science. The museum features works of art, scientific instruments, original manuscripts, rare books, natural history specimens, and curiosities of all kinds from the APS's own collections, along with objects on loan from other institutions.[18]
Library Hall
Reading room for researchers at Library Hall in 2019
In 1789–90, the Library Company of Philadelphia (LCP) built its headquarters directly across 5th Street from APS. In 1884 LCP sold its building, which was demolished for the expansion of the Drexel & Company Building in 1887. This building was demolished in the mid-1950s, during the creation of Independence National Historical Park.
APS built a library on the site in 1958 and recreated the façade of the old LCP building.
Benjamin Franklin Hall
APS restored the former Farmers' & Mechanics' Bank building at 425–29 Chestnut Street, which was built in 1854–55 to the design of John M. Gries in the Italianate style,[19] to serve as a lecture hall. It is the site of meetings and most major events the society hosts.[20]
Richardson Hall
The Constance C. and Edgar P. Richardson Hall at 431 Chestnut Street, immediately west of Benjamin Franklin Hall, is the former Pennsylvania Company for Insurances on Lives and Granting Annuities Building, which was built in 1871–1873 and designed by Addison Hutton.[21] It contains offices and the Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine.[20]
↑ Gallery, John Andrew, ed. (2004), Philadelphia Architecture: A Guide to the City (2nded.), Philadelphia: Foundation for Architecture, ISBN0962290815 p.160
1 2 Teitelman, Edward & Longstreth, Richard W. (1981), Architecture in Philadelphia: A Guide, Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, ISBN0262700212 , p. 30
↑ Richard Webster, Philadelphia Preserved (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1976), p. 92.
↑ Gallery, John Andrew, ed. (2004), Philadelphia Architecture: A Guide to the City (2nded.), Philadelphia: Foundation for Architecture, ISBN0962290815 , pp. 55–56
↑ Gallery, John Andrew, ed. (2004), Philadelphia Architecture: A Guide to the City (2nded.), Philadelphia: Foundation for Architecture, ISBN0962290815 , p.64
Independence Hall is a historic civic building in Philadelphia, where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were debated and adopted by the Founding Fathers of the United States. The structure, which is the centerpiece of Independence National Historical Park, was designated a World Heritage Site in 1979.
Thomas Ustick Walter was the dean of American architecture between the 1820 death of Benjamin Latrobe and the emergence of H. H. Richardson in the 1870s. He was the fourth Architect of the Capitol and responsible for adding the north (Senate) and south (House) wings and the central dome that is predominantly the current appearance of the U.S. Capitol building. Walter was one of the founders and second president of the American Institute of Architects. In 1839, he was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society.
The Philadelphia History Museum was a public history museum located in Center City, Philadelphia from 1938 until 2018. From 1938 until 2010, the museum was known as the Atwater Kent Museum. The museum occupied architect John Haviland's landmark Greek Revival structure built in 1824–1826 for the Franklin Institute. The Museum operated as a city agency as part of Philadelphia's Department of Recreation. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 1, 1979.
Timothy Matlack was an American politician, military officer and businessman who was chosen in 1776 to inscribe the original United States Declaration of Independence on vellum. A brewer and beer bottler who emerged as a popular and powerful leader in the American Revolutionary War, Matlack served as Secretary of Pennsylvania during the conflict and a delegate to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1780. Matlack was known for his excellent penmanship, and his handwritten copy of the Declaration is on public display in the Rotunda of the Charters of Freedom at the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C.
The Syng inkstand is a silver inkstand used during the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the United States Constitution in 1787. Besides paper documents, it is one of four still-existing objects that were present during the Constitutional Convention, along with the Liberty Bell, the chair that George Washington sat in as the convention's presiding officer, and Independence Hall itself.
The Library Company of Philadelphia (LCP) is a non-profit organization based on Locust Street in Center City Philadelphia. Founded as a library in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin, the Library Company of Philadelphia has accumulated one of the most significant collections of historically valuable manuscripts and printed material in the United States.
Philip Syng was, like his namesake father, Philip Syng, Sr. (1676–1739), a renowned silversmith who created fine works in silver and sometimes gold for the wealthy families of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1752 he created the Syng inkstand, which was used to sign the 1776 United States Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution in 1787.
The Powel House is a historic house museum located at 244 South 3rd Street, between Willings Alley and Spruce Street, in the Society Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Built in 1765 in the Georgian style, and embellished by second owner Samuel Powel (1738–1793), it has been called "the finest Georgian row house in the city." As with other houses of this type, the exterior facade is understated and simple, but the interior was elaborately appointed.
Carpenters' Hall, in Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the official birthplace of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and a key meeting place in the early history of the United States. Completed in 1775, the two-story brick meeting hall was built for and is still privately owned by the Carpenters' Company of the City and County of Philadelphia, the country's oldest extant craft guild.
William Temple Franklin Jr, known as Temple Franklin, was an American diplomat and real estate speculator who is best known for his involvement with the American diplomatic mission in France during the American Revolutionary War. Beginning at the age of 16, he served as secretary to his grandfather Benjamin Franklin, who negotiated and agreed to the Franco-American Alliance.
Robert Maskell Patterson was an American professor of mathematics, chemistry and natural philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania from 1812 to 1828 and professor of natural philosophy at the University of Virginia from 1828 to 1835. He served as the 6th director of the United States Mint from 1835 to 1851 and as president of the American Philosophical Society from 1809 to 1854.
Robert Edge Pine was an English portrait and historical painter, born in London. He was the son of John Pine, the engraver and designer.
The Hill–Physick–Keith House, also known as the Hill–Keith–Physick House, the Hill–Physick House, or simply the Physick House, is a historic house museum located at 321 S. 4th Street in the Society Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Built 1786, it was the home of Philip Syng Physick (1768–1837), who has been called "the father of American surgery". The house was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976. It is now owned and operated by the Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks as a house museum.
The College of Physicians of Philadelphia is the oldest private medical society in the United States. Founded in 1787 by 24 Philadelphia physicians "to advance the Science of Medicine, and thereby lessen human misery, by investigating the diseases and remedies which are peculiar to our country" and to promote "order and uniformity in the practice of Physick," it has made important contributions to medical education and research. The College hosts the Mütter Museum, a gallery of 19th-century specimens, teaching models, instruments, and photographs, as well as the Historical Medical Library, which is one of the country's oldest medical libraries.
The Clark Family Library, formerly U. Grant Miller Library is the academic library for Washington & Jefferson College, located in Washington, Pennsylvania. The library traces its origins back to a donation from Benjamin Franklin in 1789. The Archives and Special Collections contain significant holdings of historical papers dating to the college's founding. The Walker Room contains the personal library of prominent industrialist John Walker, complete with all of his library's fixtures and furniture, installed exactly how it had been during Walker's life.
Philosophical Hall is a historic building at 104 S. 5th Street in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Located near Independence Hall, the building has, for over 200 years, been the headquarters of the American Philosophical Society. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965 for its association with that organization.
The Carpenters’ Company of the City and County of Philadelphia is the oldest extant craft guild in the United States. Founded in 1724, the Company consists of nearly 200 prominent Philadelphia area architects, building contractors and structural engineers and has had nearly 900 members in its almost three centuries of existence. The Company built, owns and continues to operate Carpenters' Hall located in Philadelphia's Independence National Historical Park. In 1774 the Hall served as the site of the First Continental Congress.
John Lukens was a surveyor and astronomer and a member of the Young Junto, elected in 1766. He was Surveyor-General of Pennsylvania and Delaware.
The Papers of Benjamin Franklin is a collaborative effort by a team of scholars at Yale University, American Philosophical Society and others who have searched, collected, edited, and published the numerous letters from and to Benjamin Franklin, and other works, especially those involved with the American Revolutionary period and thereafter. The publication of Franklin's papers has been an ongoing production since its first issue in 1959, and is expected to reach nearly fifty volumes, with more than forty volumes completed as of 2022. The costly project was made possible from donations by the American Philosophical Association and Life magazine.
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