Vol. 41, No. 3, July 2012
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Welcome To Philadelphia!
by Babak Ashrafi (PACHS)
The Philadelphia Area Center for History of Science (PACHS) and its consortium partners look forward to welcoming you to the 2012 Joint Meeting of the British Society for the History of Science, the Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, and the History of Science Society. The meeting will take place at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) with an opening key-note lecture at the American Philosophical Society (APS) and a reception at the Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF). In addition to attending many stimulating conference sessions, participants will have opportunities to tour several other consortium members: the Mütter Museum at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia (founded 1787), the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University (founded 1812), and the Wagner Free Institute of Science (founded 1855) and to visit many other sites in a city rich in history and historical collections.
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Philadelphia is home to some of the New World's oldest scientific institutions. They, and other area institutions established later, have been collecting books, manuscripts and other historic artifacts since the eighteenth century and their collections now span most of the world and reach back to the fifteenth century. PACHS, now five years old, provides research fellowships for using area collections, hosts academic and public events, and produces online resources about the history of science, technology and medicine: http://www.pachs.net/.
The Old City neighborhood, where the APS and CHF are located, has many of the city's best restaurants and galleries and is home to an active nightlife. Dining options of every variety, live music, and many other entertainment options are within easy walking distance. Within a few blocks you will find: Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, Pennsylvania Hospital (North America's oldest), with its archives and surgical amphitheater, the home of Phillip Syng Physick (known as the "father of American surgery"), Christ Church Burial Ground, Elfreth's Alley (oldest continually inhabited street in the U.S.), historic City Tavern, the First and Second Banks of the United States, Carpenters' Hall, Franklin Court Museum and Historic Site, the Betsy Ross House and the Athenaeum of Philadelphia. Restaurants, nightlife, historic sites, museums and libraries are sprinkled from Old City by the Delaware River across Philadelphia to UPenn in University City by the Schuylkill River. Of particular interest to conference participants would be the Library Company of Philadelphia (established in 1731), the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (1824) and the Franklin Institute (also founded in 1824)—in addition to the libraries and museums of the APS, CHF and UPenn.
Philadelphia is once again a growing city with a vibrant cultural and intellectual life. The region is home to a large and active community of historians of science. The city has an extensive mass transit system and easy bus, rail and air connections to other cities in the US, Canada and UK. We are very pleased to be helping with the local arrangements for the Three Societies Meeting this year and look forward to welcoming you to Philadelphia, a city in which all historians can find something to enjoy.
[HSS would like to offer its special thanks to the University of Pennsylvania, the Chemical Heritage Foundation, the Philadelphia Area Center for the History of Science, and the American Philosophical Society for their support of the joint meeting.]