1901 Vine Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 686-5322
Print
and Picture Collection (215) 686-5405
Art
Department (215) 686-5403
Map
Collection (215) 686-5397
Aerial Photograph Index, of thousands of views held by the Library Company of Philadelphia and the Free Library of Philadelphia (as a text-string searchable table).
Ernest Hexamer and William Locher, Maps of the City of Philadelphia, 7 vols., Philadelphia, 1858-62 (from the Map Collection, Free Library of Philadelphia). The earliest of the detailed downtown atlases. [scanned to the level of index maps only, except for Eastern Center City, which is scanned to the individual plate level].
Philadelphia
Suburban Homes, c. 1885-95, c. 150 "photo-collotypes."
A set of large-format images of large Victorian suburban houses, most bearing
their owners' and architects' names in red letterpress. A website provides
information on this and some overlapping collections belonging to the same
set of portfolios, including a set at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Samuel J. Castner Collection, a richly illustrated collection of scrapbooks that comprises some 8,000 items, including many large prints, unique photographs, and newspaper clippings. Most items date to the 19th century. The originals, in the Print and Picture Department, are organized in volumes focused on a place, building type, or theme. Readers are first directed to the microfilm copy, which gathers the 46 volumes among five reels. There is a card index initiated by Castner himself.
Link to: The Vintage Postcards of Philadelphia Collection at the Free Library of Philadelphia.