Video Library
Explore our collection of public talks below.
Black Bibliographies: A Conversation and Workshop
Recorded on September 17, 2024
Groundings: An Exhibition, uses visual art, historical records, and the art of storytelling to help us to explore the known and unknown histories of Black congregants at Christ Church. The exhibit is part of On Buried Ground, a performance that brings to life the hidden histories of enslaved and freed people of African descent in colonial Philadelphia.
Join Groundings Curator Malkia Okech and community archivist Wynn Eakins in conversation to explore how the politics of memory and knowledge production impact Black history and research. Black Bibliographies is an invitation to learn about our local archival repositories and how to approach research questions about Black history. Gain insight on what went into research for the Groundings Exhibit, and hear from memory workers with vast experience in various Philadelphia-area archives.
About Wynn Eakins: Wynn Eakins is a librarian and community archivist from Richmond, VA. Before joining Haverford College as the Community Archivist for the Graterford Archive, Wynn was a reference librarian and subject specialist of African Americana at the Library Company of Philadelphia. With a background in Black history, information science, and anti-colonial struggle, Wynn stewards projects towards cultural care and belonging in the digital age.
About Malkia Okech: Malkia Okech is the curator of Groundings: An Exhibit. They are a memory worker, researcher, cultural producer, and community archaeologist. Their praxis is formed by the past, present, and future continuum of freedom dreaming.
Memorializing Native American and Lenape History
Recorded on June 2, 2023
Harvard Professor Morgan Ridgway will explore what efforts to memorialize Native American and Lenape history in particular might means.
Ona Judge
Recorded on March 30, 2023
This talk was given by Jessie MacLeod, an Associate Curator at Mount Vernon, where she has worked since 2012. MacLeod was the lead curator for the landmark exhibition Lives Bound Together: Slavery at George Washington’s Mount Vernon, and a contributor to the accompanying publication.
Digitizing the Records of Philadelphia's Historic Congregations: Hidden Stories and Surprising Uses
Recorded on November 16, 2022 at the Athenaeum of Philadelphia
- Welcome, overview of project and website
- Paul Peucker, The Yellow Fever Pandemic of 1793 and the Moravians
- Brandon Zimmerman: Resurrect Dead: Mount Vernon Cemetery and the Burial Ground of the Second Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia
- Mike Krasulski, St. Paul’s and its Contributions to the Growth of Religion in Philadelphia
- Kathryn Pyle, A congregation’s response to its racial history
- Jean Craig, Pew Rent records and Social History
- Elizabeth Mosier, Accidental Findings: Ephemera as Literary Inspiration
- Josie Smith, Discovering Genealogies in the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends Manumissions Records, 1772-1790
- Keynote address: Julie Winch, Between the Lines and Across the Lines
Elizabeth Willing Powel: Philadelphia’s First Political Influence
Recorded on May 19, 2022
Elizabeth Willing Powel and her husband Samuel, a vestryman of Christ Church and Mayor of the city of Philadelphia, were at the center of political and social activity in Philadelphia throughout the late eighteenth century. The couple entertained the era’s dignitaries in their elegant townhouse that still stands on South Third Stree
The Rev. Thomas Bray and His Associates: Patrons of Libraries and Black Education in Early Philadelphia
Recorded on September 27, 2021
From the end of the 17th century to the early 19th century the Rev. Thomas Bray, an Anglican clergyman, and after his death in 1730 his Associates, provided books to Philadelphia and operated schools for the education of young Black Philadelphians, both enslaved and free.
Benjamin Franklin and His Lightning Rods Across the Atlantic
Recorded on June 10, 2021
A co-presentation with the Benjamin Franklin House in London, United Kingdom.
The Treasures of Christ Church
Recorded on May 13, 2021
Join Philadelphia Museum of Art curator, David Barquist as he highlights some of the important material culture objects of Christ Church.
Sustaining the Christ Church Steeple for the Age
Recorded on April 22, 2021
The Christ Church Steeple dates to 1754 and was built by colonial mastercraftsman Robert Smith. Learn about Smith’s work in colonial America and how the Steeple has been sustained over the ages.
Franklin & His Leather-Apron Men and Women
Recorded on April 15, 2021
Co-presented with the Carpenters’ Company. Historian Jay Robert Stiefel hosted a lecture that highlights Franklin and other colonial artisans and their life in colonial America.
Benjamin Rush and Christ Church
Recorded on February 18, 2021
Stephen Fried discusses his book, Rush, about the extraordinary life of Benjamin Rush.
Better Angels in America’s Civil War
Recorded on February 4, 2021
The story of Christ Church Rector Benjamin Dorr and his son. As a son fights to save the Union, his father strives to save a divided church.