January 1- 7, 2004

city beat

History Channeling

Collectors items: The Temple Urban Archives collection is a veritable photographic Philadelphia history lesson. Photo By: Michael T. Regan

Temple Urban Archives is a banquet of images.

by Alexa James

When floods, fires or fits of rage engulf our lives, photographs are all too often the innocent victims. Next to loved ones, pictures are often missed the most when disaster strikes.

Last month, you took a pair of scissors to that beach shot at sunset, relocating one half on the dartboard at the local bar. This month, you'll meticulously tape the pieces together, convinced that the weathered image looks timeless.

They may crush you, console you, amaze or annoy, but love or hate them, photographs aren't meant to be destroyed.

That's why, down a dull flight of stairs, through an easy-to-miss office door, on the ground floor of Temple University's Samuel Paley Library, a small staff maintains the more than five million images that comprise the Temple Urban Archives' photojournalism collection. It's a photo album of the Philadelphia metropolitan area dating back nearly two centuries, and it's open to the public.

At first glance, the Urban Archives looks like your typical library stacks. Drab, stiff, silent. But in this department, all a visitor has to do is complete a simple registration form. Describe specifically what you're looking for, including names and dates if possible, and one of the three archivists will try to retrieve it.

"It's like a meal," said archivist and department head Margaret J. Jerrido. "You order from the menu and we serve the food."

The Urban Archives' team gleans photographs for film production companies looking to mimic fashions and scenery for period pieces, and assists with academic research. Popular topics include women's rights, the Great Depression and racial and ethnic controversies. The archives also help individuals explore their family trees and neighborhoods. While the staff can only devote a limited amount of time -- about 20 minutes -- to each request, the team is adept at treasure hunting.

The Urban Archives includes more than 90 photographic collections, the largest being the George D. McDowell Philadelphia Evening Bulletin Collection. When the Bulletin retired its presses in 1982, Temple negotiated to have the paper's entire body of clips and photos, dating back to the 1920s, as well as the newsroom's complete library system, relocated to the university's archives. The Urban Archives also includes negatives from The Philadelphia Inquirer.

This unique collection includes not only the photos that made it into the paper, but the entire roll or rolls of film the photographer shot for each assignment.

Beagles, the Democratic National Convention of 1956, the electric chair, Wawa Food Markets -- the categorical possibilities are endless.

Both Jerrido and assistant archivist Evan Towle hold master's degrees in library science. Jerrido, a Drexel University alum, has directed the archives for about 13 years. Towle moved to Philadelphia about two years ago. He'd considered a career in archeology, but found himself drawn to the information frozen in photographs. "I like the evidence that's presented," he said.

For Towle, one of the most striking photographs in the archives is a shot of the Hindenburg blimp sailing over University City in September 1936. In the photo, the blimp casts a foreboding shadow over the campus below. "I had no idea the Hindenburg had a swastika on its tail," said Towle. "When you see it, it's terrifying."

Towle was also impressed by a photograph from the 1920s of a group of young women, all dressed in white. Towle initially thought the women were suffragettes, rallying for voting rights. Upon closer examination, he realized it was a women's Ku Klux Klan assembly.

If Temple owns the image's copyright, as it does for the Bulletin collection, acquiring a reprint of a photograph is very affordable. For $12, the archives staff will produce a copy from prints, negatives or slides on glossy photo paper. Images can also be burned onto CD-ROMs.

The archives are also popular with publishers and producers. Past clients include ESPN, The History Channel and Philadelphia's WHYY. Thomas Keels' recently released Philadelphia Graveyards and Cemeteries (Arcadia Publishing) includes images from the archives. Money made from royalties and reproductions helps the archives purchase preservation equipment. The library location is neither climate controlled nor fireproof. Neither is the warehouse on Broad and Lehigh streets, where the rest of the collection is stored. As a backup plan, the staff is currently in the process of going digital. To date, more than 45,000 images are digitally banked and about 28,000 are accessible at diamond.temple.edu.

Unfortunately, copyright infringement persists. Towle regularly searches eBay for illegal reprint sales. He said it's not uncommon to find photos of ballparks or celebrities online.

The department also organizes photo exhibits. On display through the end of year is "The Way We Lived: Images of Philadelphia Housing & Reform, 1890-1955," which assembles shots of bandbox homes -- narrow three-story structures with basement kitchens and one room per floor -- in Southeast Philadelphia and dog manure storage sites in Center City. The exhibit is available online at www.library.temple.edu/exhibits/housing.