Call Number:

01

Repository:

Greek American Heritage Museum

Extent:

10.0 linear feet

Language:

English

Date:

circa 1900-2000s (bulk circa 1900-1960s)

Creator:

Greek American Heritage Museum

Abstract:

The Greek American Heritage Society was founded in 2002 to preserve and promote Hellenic culture and to reconnect youth and adults to their Greek heritage. In 2013 the Society established the Greek American Heritage Museum in the historic Saint George's Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Philadelphia. The Greek American Heritage Museum photograph collection, circa 1900-2000s (bulk circa 1900-1960s), contains mostly photographs, negatives, and prints depicting Greek American school children, war heroes, and dancers in folk costumes. There are also scrapbooks which document travel abroad to Greece, Cyprus, and Istanbul.

The Greek American Heritage Society was founded in 2002 to preserve and promote Hellenic culture and to reconnect youth and adults to their Greek heritage. The Society hosts educational and cultural programs and collects archival materials documenting the history of the Greek American community in greater Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 2013 the Greek American Heritage Society entered into an agreement with Saint George's Greek Orthodox Cathedral and relocated to a space in an office building adjacent to the Cathedral, where the Society established the Greek American Heritage Museum.

Many Greeks began immigrating to Philadelphia at the end of the nineteenth century. The Greek Orthodox Community of Philadelphia was established in 1901 to meet the spiritual needs of Greek Americans living in Philadelphia and to preserve Hellenic culture and tradition. The Greek Orthodox Community of Philadelphia purchased All Saints Episcopal Church on November 13, 1908 and renamed it Annunciation/Evangelismos Greek Orthodox Church. Old Evangelismos, as it is known today, was home to Greek Orthodox community of Philadelphia for almost seventy years until many of its parishioners relocated to the Philadelphia suburbs.

Some parishioners began worshiping at Saint Demetrios Parish in Upper Darby, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, while others attended worship services at 504 Elkins Avenue in Elkins Park, Delaware County. In 1969 construction was completed on the Hellenic Cultural Center in Elkins Park and on November 19, 1972 the new Annunciation/Evangelismos Greek Orthodox Church opened its doors to worshipers. Old Evangelismos was sold to a Baptist Congregation in 1967.

Philadelphia is also home to Saint George's Greek Orthodox Cathedral which was declared an historic site in 1964 by the Historic Commission of the City of Philadelphia. It was built in 1822 by noted architect John Haviland, originally as Saint Andrew's Episcopal Church. Saint Andrew's was purchased in 1922 by the Greek Orthodox Kathedrikos of Saint George and became the Cathedral of Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley in 1971.

Bibliography:

Annunciation/Evangelismos Greek orthodox Church. "Our History." 2016. Accessed June 7, 2016. http://www.anngoc.org/about-us/ Hidden City Philadelphia. "As Athens Burns in Protest, Reminders of Greek Philadelphia." 2012. Accessed June 7, 2016. http://hiddencityphila.org/2012/09/as-athens-burns-in-protest-reminders-of-greek-philadelphia/

Saint George Orthodox Cathedral. "About Our Parish." 2016. Accessed June 7, 2016. http://saintgeorgecathedral.org/

This collection contains mostly early twentieth to twenty-first century photographs, negatives, and prints depicting picnics, dinners and other social events as well as Greek American war heroes, dancers wearing Greek folk costumes, and elementary and secondary Greek school children. This collection also contains several scrapbooks with photographs and other ephemera from trips to Greece, Cyprus, and Istanbul. There are also images and exhibit labels which were used as part of an exhibit about Greek Americans at Temple University in the early 1990s.

As of 2016, the photographs are being digitized and entered into a database that will be available on site.