Call Number:

SCRC 86

Repository:

Temple University Libraries: Special Collections Research Center

Extent:

• 25.04 linear feet (35 boxes + 1 map folder)
• 19.8 gigabytes (2,581 digital files)
• 2 archived websites

Language:

English and Spanish; Castilian

Preferred Citation:

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], City Parks Association of Philadelphia Records, SCRC 86, Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Date:

1854-2019 (inclusive), 1999-2021 (inclusive), and 2002-2022 (inclusive)

Creator:

City Parks Association of Philadelphia

Form:

Architectural drawings, Audiocassettes, Born digital, Clippings, Compact discs, Correspondence, Printed ephemera, Financial records, Floppy disks, Legal documents, Manuscripts, Membership lists, Minutes (administrative records), Pamphlets, Photographs, Property records, Reports, Scrapbooks, Slides, Sound recordings, Web sites, video recordings (physical artifacts), VHS (TM), and Maps

Abstract:

The City Parks Association (CPA) of Philadelphia was chartered on May 23, 1888 "to promote the acquisition, preservation, development, improvement, use and extension of parks, squares and playgrounds in the city of Philadelphia and surrounding territories." In addition to creating and maintaining public parks and open spaces including Florence Park (renamed Palumbo), League Island Park (renamed FDR) and Bartram's Garden, CPA worked with city government to develop an integrated network of parks, encompassing the Cobb's Creek, Pennypack Creek, and Tacony Creek watersheds. In 1916, members of the Cope family donated approximately 20 acres of their family estate, Awbury to the City Parks Association to be used as a public park and arboretum.

The City Parks Association played a role in Philadelphia's urban planning, advocating for the beautification of the Schuylkill River banks, vacant land use, conservation of street trees, and promoting the establishment of the city's first zoning code.

The City Parks Association of Philadelphia went on hiatus in 2019.

The collection documents the activities of the City Parks Association of Philadelphia from its founding in 1888 until 2019. Records include board meeting minutes and agendas, annual reports, membership information, financial records including grant requests, correspondence, and newspaper clippings; property records including deeds for residential, private, and commercial properties; photographic prints and slides of local parks and other green spaces; and extensive programming records related to projects, workshops, symposia and related events the City Parks Association of Philadelphia organized or was involved with. This collection also includes preserved versions of the organization's website, available through Archive-It. There are limited board and administrative records from the 1960s through the 1980s. The bulk of the collection is in English with a small amount of records in Spanish.

The collection is arranged into 7 series as follows:

Series 1: Accession 407, 1854-1971

Subseries 1.1: Administration, 1888-1971

Subseries 1.2: Parks, 1912-1971

Subseries 1.3: Properties, deeds, and wills, 1854-1968

Subseries 1.4: General files, subject and other organizations, 1901-1977

Subseries 1.5: Awbury Arboretum, 1876-1971

Subseries 1.6: News clippings, 1930-1961

Series 2: Accession 586, 1855-1956

Series 3: Accession 591, 1949-1982

Series 4: Photographs (PC-28), circa 1890-1930

Series 5: Website versions in Archive-It, captured 2002-2022

Series 6: Accession 2016-18, 1967-1995, bulk 1989-1992

Series 7: Accessions 2019-30 and 2021-01, 1992-2019, modified 1999-2021

Subseries 7.1: Board and administrative records, 1992-2019, modified 2021

Subseries 7.2: Funding and grant requests, 2003-2017

Subseries 7.3: Program records, 1992-2017, modified 1999-2018