Scope and Contents note From the Collection: This collection contains photographs of the Fairmount Park system and Philadelphia recreation facilities created between 1855 and 2012, primarily photographic prints with some slides, negatives, contact sheets, and transparencies. The collection consists largely of 8 x 10 inch prints documenting park features such as historic houses, guard boxes, landscapes, construction, and demolition, as well as recreation centers, playgrounds, pools, and recreational programming, though sizes and...

Scope and Contents From the Collection: The History Files collection contains research materials documenting parks, sites, structures, organizations, events, and individuals associated with the Fairmount Park System and Philadelphia Parks and Recreation. This collection compiles materials from diverse sources over time rather than representing the records of a single office or individual. Typical materials include correspondence, deeds, leases, newspaper clippings, photocopies of published articles and book excerpts, research...

Scope and Contents Note From the Collection: Of the 70+ parks within the Fairmount Park system, there is a disparate amount of material available in this collection. Major watershed parks (such as Fairmount Park and Wissahickon Park) are not covered in this collection, nor are significant indepedent parks such as FDR Park and Bartram's Garden. This collection is concentrated on neighborhood parks, particularly smaller parks and squares. Some parks are undocumented, or have only one or two related items, while other parks...