You know that beautifully, hand-written Declaration of Independence, with “In Congress, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration…” across the top? Well, that’s not this story. Instead, we’re talking about how the Declaration of Independence really reached the masses, and why that was so important in the years leading up to the American Revolution.

Guests

• Joseph Adelman, professor of history at Framingham State University, 2026 visiting senior fellow at Brown University, author of Revolutionary Networks: The Business and Politics of Printing the News 1763-1789
• Jessica Peterson, Director of the Common Press, University of Pennsylvania’s Letterpress and Typography Research Lab
• Michelle Craig McDonald, worked in universities, museums, historic sites for 30 years, most recently as the director of the library museum at the American Philosophical Society, author of Coffee Nation: How One Commodity Transformed the Early United States

Things To Do

• Register to print your own copy of the Declaration of Independence at the Common Press.
• View many of these early print documents at the American Philosophical Society’s exhibit These Truths: The Declarations of Independence.
• Experience the colonial printing process at the Franklin Court Printing Press.

Credits

This episode was mixed by Carolina Duque, audio engineer.

Music arranged by Steve Sechi for Funk Soul Productions.

Companion Blog

Learn more and check out some images on the Episode 29 Companion Blog.

Resources

Adelman, Joseph M. Revolutionary Networks: The Business and Politics of Printing the News, 1763-1789. Studies in Early American Economy and Society, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019.

The Adverts 250 Project. Edited by Carl Robert Keyes, professor of history at Assumption University. Retrieved June 30, 2026 from https://adverts250project.org/

Bly, Antonio T. “‘Pretends He Can Read’: Runaways and Literacy in Colonial America, 1730—1776.” Early American Studies, vol. 6, no. 2, 2008, pp. 261–94.

Craig, Michelle L. “Grounds for Debate? The Place of the Caribbean Provisions Trade in Philadelphia’s Prerevolutionary Economy.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 128, no. 2, 2004, pp. 149–77.

Franklin, B., et al. “William Dunlap, Colonial Printer, Journalist, and Minister.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 103, no. 2, 1979, pp. 143–65.

Letter from William Brown and Thomas Gilmore to William Dunlap – April 29, 1768. Neilson Collection, MG 24, B1 Volume 47, file 2: Brown & Gilmore record – correspondence of William Brown & William Dunlap, 1763–1771 (pages 1–23, 25–29). Microfilm C-15778, Library and Archives Canada. (Online at https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/inde-wbrown-tgilmore-wdunlap-1768.htm)

“Manuscript Americana.” Michael Brown Rare Books. Retrieved July 1, 2026 from http://mbamericana.com/andrew-bradford-estate-inventory.

McDonald, Michelle Craig. Coffee Nation: How One Commodity Transformed the Early United States. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2025.

Middeleton, Simon. “Runaways, Rewards, and the Social History of Money.” Early American Studies, vol. 15, no. 3, 2017, pp. 617–47. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/90011105. Accessed 24 June 2026.

Sneff, Emily. When the Declaration of Independence was News. Oxford University Press, 2026.

Taylor, Jordan E. “Enquire of the Printer: Newspaper Advertising and the Moral Economy of the North American Slave Trade, 1704–1807.” Early American Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, vol. 18 no. 3, 2020, p. 287-323. 

Waldstreicher, David. Runaway America: Benjamin Franklin, Slavery, and the American Revolution. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004.

The post Episode No. 29 – Printing the Revolution, Part 1 first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.

What is the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia? And how have its juicy bits of history been created? In this episode, we’ll find out with the help of two of the founders of this online history project.

Many of the guests for this series “Reflecting on the 250th” are linked to the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia in some way. They’ve contributed to the Encyclopedia project, or they are colleagues of those contributors. Looking under the hood at the inner workings of the Encyclopedia seemed like a great place to start.

Guests:

Charlene Mires, professor emerita in history at Rutgers University Camden, author of Independence Hall in American Memory, and freelance tour guide

Howard Gillette, professor emeritus in history at Rutgers University Camden, author and editor

Credits:

This episode was mixed by Carolina Duque, audio engineer.

Music arranged by Steve Sechi for Funk Soul Productions.

Philadelphia Resources:

Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia philadelphiaencyclopedia.org

The Greater Philadelphia Region: A New History for the Twenty-First Century, Volume 1. Eds. Howard Gillette Jr. and Carolyn T. Adams. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2025.

Greater Philadelphia and the Nation: A New History for the Twenty-First Century, Volume 2. Eds. Charlene Mires and Jean R. Soderlund. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2025.

Greater Philadelphia and the World: A New History for the Twenty-First Century, Volume 3. Ed. Andrew Heath. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2025.

Philadelphia: a 300 Year History. Ed. Russell Frank Weigley, Nicholas B. Wainwright, and Edwin Wolf. W.W. Norton, 1982.

Other Resources Mentioned:

Encyclopedia of Chicago www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org

Encyclopedia of New York City (2nd Edition). Eds. Kenneth T. Jackson, Lisa Keller, and Nancy V. Flood. Yale University Press, 2010.

The post Episode No. 28 – Reflecting on the 250th: Collaborating with the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.

The Found in Philadelphia podcast is back in 2026! It’s been 250 years since the creation of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia.

We’re collaborating on a new series with the community that brought you the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. Listen in to meet the founders, creators, and sustainers of this online Philly history project, as well as some others who believe it’s important to know our own history. On this anniversary, we’re reflecting on the city’s past to try to understand the present.

Learn more about the podcast at foundinphiladelphia.com.

The post Episode No. 27 – Trailer: Introducing a New Series “Reflecting on the 250th” first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.

Over the past 50 years, the streets of Philadelphia have been a living laboratory for ethnographer Elijah Anderson. He’s been on the ground here since 1975 studying the people and the culture of our city. He’s published his findings in a series of groundbreaking books that have brought the lessons he’s learned in Philly to the rest of the world.

This is the second half of a two-part series. In this episode, we’ll pick up the story where Professor Anderson tries to understand the rise in violence in Philly streets.

Elijah Anderson is currently the Sterling Professor of Sociology and of African American Studies at Yale University. He’s the author of A Place on the Corner (1978), Streetwise (1990), Code of the Street (1999), the Cosmopolitan Canopy (2011), and Black in White Space (2021). In 2021, Professor Anderson was awarded the international Stockholm Prize in Criminology for his pioneering work. The Stockholm Prize in Criminology is awarded for outstanding achievement in criminological research and the advancement of human rights.

Code of the Streets is being re-released by W.W. Norton in Spring 2025 with a new introduction by Professor Anderson.

The post Episode No. 26 – In Conversation with Elijah Anderson: Studying Culture on Philly Streets, Part 2 first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.

Over the past 50 years, the streets of Philadelphia have been a living laboratory for ethnographer Elijah Anderson. He’s been on the ground here since 1975 studying the people and the culture of our city. He’s published his findings in a series of groundbreaking books that have brought the lessons he’s learned in Philly to the rest of the world.

Over two episodes, we’ll learn how Professor Anderson became an ethnographer, what drew him to the streets of Philadelphia, and what he learned there.

Elijah Anderson is currently the Sterling Professor of Sociology and of African American Studies at Yale University. He’s the author of A Place on the Corner (1978), Streetwise (1990), Code of the Street (1999), the Cosmopolitan Canopy (2011), and Black in White Space (2021). In 2021, Professor Anderson was awarded the international Stockholm Prize in Criminology for his pioneering work. The Stockholm Prize in Criminology is awarded for outstanding achievement in criminological research and the advancement of human rights.

Code of the Streets is being re-released by W.W. Norton in Spring 2025 with a new introduction by Professor Anderson.

The post Episode No. 25 – In Conversation with Elijah Anderson: Studying the Culture of Philly Streets, Part 1 first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.

Casting a ballot on Election Day transformed into a completely different experience in the early twentieth century. Generally, voting in Philadelphia moved indoors, grew safer, more inclusive, and, maybe, a little boring. Or has it?

Our guest for this series is Professor Mark Brewin, Associate Professor of Media Studies, at the University of Tulsa. This mini-series relies heavily on Professor Brewin’s 2008 book Celebrating Democracy: The Mass Mediated Ritual of Election Day.

If you want to learn more and see images of Election Day in Philadelphia throughout history, follow this link to read the Election Day in Philadelphia Companion Blog. You’ll find a full list of my sources there as well.

This episode was mixed by The Wave Podcasting. Guitar, bass and drums played by Kai Reuter.

The post Episode No. 24 – Election Day on the Streets of Philadelphia (Part 4 – The 20th Century City) first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.

Voting changed after the Civil War in the newly consolidated City of Philadelphia. More men could vote on Election Day than ever before, and the vast majority of them did, though not without deadly violence. Government corruption also expanded. The Pennsylvania Republican party machine blatantly manipulated the vote. Yet, no one did much about it.

Our guest for this series is Professor Mark Brewin, Associate Professor of Media Studies, at the University of Tulsa. This mini-series relies heavily on Professor Brewin’s 2008 book Celebrating Democracy: The Mass Mediated Ritual of Election Day.

If you want to learn more and see images of Election Day in Philadelphia throughout history, follow this link to read the Election Day in Philadelphia Companion Blog. You’ll find a full list of my sources there as well.

This episode was mixed by The Wave Podcasting. Guitar, bass and drums played by Kai Reuter.

The post Episode No. 23 – Election Day on the Streets of Philadelphia (Part 3 – The Gilded Age City) first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.

The founding fathers wanted to pretend that the government of the newly formed United States stood above faction. But organizing and get out the vote tactics in the streets of Philadelphia proved this wasn’t true. By 1830, political parties had become a driving force behind Election Day. Voting was now a partisan contest limited to only white men. In Philly, the day had a wild, festival feeling that could, and often did, turn violent.

Our guest for this series is Professor Mark Brewin, Associate Professor of Media Studies, at the University of Tulsa. This mini-series relies heavily on Professor Brewin’s 2008 book Celebrating Democracy: The Mass Mediated Ritual of Election Day.

If you want to learn more and see images of Election Day in Philadelphia throughout history, follow this link to read the Election Day in Philadelphia Companion Blog. You’ll find a full list of my sources there as well.

This episode was mixed by The Wave Podcasting. Guitar, bass and drums played by Kai Reuter.

The post Episode No. 22 – Election Day on the Streets of Philadelphia (Part 2 – The New American Capital) first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.

Colonial Philadelphia’s government provided a striking contrast to the more egalitarian, consensus-driven leadership of the Native American Lenape. Election Day in colonial Philadelphia placed a spotlight on the social hierarchy with a highly orchestrated, political ritual where wealthy male voters took the stage. But maintaining the high ground wasn’t always easy.

Our guest for this series is Professor Mark Brewin, Associate Professor of Media Studies, at the University of Tulsa. This mini-series relies heavily on Professor Brewin’s 2008 book Celebrating Democracy: The Mass Mediated Ritual of Election Day.

If you want to learn more and see images of Election Day in Philadelphia throughout history, follow this link to read the Election Day in Philadelphia Companion Blog. You’ll find a full list of my sources there as well.

This episode was mixed by The Wave Podcasting. Guitar, bass and drums played by Kai Reuter.

The post Episode No. 21 – Election Day on the Streets of Philadelphia (Part 1 – The Colonial City) first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.

These are the women’s movement histories that you haven’t heard.

After the Civil War, women from all walks of life worked to make Philadelphia a better place. Some tried to clean up the streets. Some walked the streets in protest. And some continued, quietly, to improve their everyday lives through community and collective action.  

If you learned something new in the episode, don’t forget to leave a review and tell a friend about the podcast!

Find out what I couldn’t fit into this episode at the companion blog for Episode 20 at FoundinPhiladelphia.com. You’ll also find historical images and find a full list of resources for this episode.

Purchase books that inspired the podcast while supporting your local bookstore (and this podcast!) at bookshop.org/shop/foundinphilly.

This episode was edited and mixed by The Wave Podcasting.

The post Episode No. 20: These are the People in the Gilded Age, Part 2 – Women and Reform first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.

When you walk around the city at night, do you enjoy the glimpses you get of other people’s well-lit homes? If you do (and who doesn’t?), then this episode is for you.

We’re going to peer into the homes of the different people living in Philadelphia during the Gilded Age. We’ll look at how they lived, what they ate, and explore what happened when they all met in the street.

If you enjoy the episode, don’t forget to leave a review and tell a friend about the podcast!

Check out some historical images and find a full list of resources for this episode in the companion blog for Episode 19 at FoundinPhiladelphia.com.

Purchase books that inspired the podcast while supporting your local bookstore (and this podcast!) at bookshop.org/shop/foundinphilly.

This episode was edited and mixed by The Wave Podcasting.

The post Episode No. 19: These are the People in the Gilded Age (Part 1) first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.