Smithsonian Institution Research
Information System has an extensive searchable public art catalog
for the whole country, including entries from the next item. Be careful
of duplicate and conflicting entries.
Parkway Central Library has an extensive text listing from the Fairmount
Park Art Association of sculptures and murals
indexed by artist and title. There is only one copy, and it cannot leave
the room.
Public Art in Philadelphia
by Penny Balkin Bach, Temple
University Press, 1992, discusses
207 murals and sculptures. The book is illustrated
with small black and white photos and is written as a history
of the concept of public art.
The Association for Public Art (formerly FPAA)
web site
includes an online and updated version of
Public Art in Philadelphia, a guide to the many agencies that
deal with public art in Philadelphia, and several other very useful
features.
streetsdept.com has regularly updated news, videos, links, and events related to Public Art in Philadelphia
with a strong social media presence
Black and White Photos, structural details and extensive
histories of most of the pieces from City Hall along the Parkway,
to the Art Museum and behind the museum
can be found in the book
Philadelphia's Outdoor Art, A Walking Tour
by Roslyn F. Brenner. The first edition ( Camino Books, 1987)
was used as a reference for this site. Several editions have been published since.
Temple University's Paley Library had a collection of clippings related to art at Temple; advance permission was required for on-site access.
You should check with the Temple library system to see if the collection is accessible at the new
Charles Library
Gerry Wilkinson's
Temple University:
Some History includes a great deal of information about the
construction of the buildings.
phillyhistory.org is a mapping website that allows users to search for,
view by location, and purchase thousands of historic photographs dating back to the late nineteenth century. Individual pictures
linked from this site were found through location searches as well as searches for keywords such as "statue," "fountain," "memorial,"
and "monument." This site is recommended for its photographic value, and not as a primary source
for titles or artists of the pieces pictured.
wikipedia.org is an increasingly valuable source for biographies and landmark information
Louis N. Ferrero of the American Catholic Historical Society provided information on
the statues at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul and historical pictures of the Catholic Total Abstinence Union Fountain.
Philadelphia Then and Now
by Kenneth Finkel and
Susan Oyama, Dover, 1988, has two large black and white pictures each of 60
Philadelphia sites, and includes pictures of
Sagg Main Street, Welcome Park and
Mail Delivery.
Gargoyles of Philadelphia
has pictures and information from more than a dozen buildings. The site is no longer maintained and as of 9/27/2024 the pictures were not displaying.
askart.com is useful for checking the names of American artists.
hiddencityphila.org has published several articles that that helped track down information for this site
SEPTA's Art in Transit Program had pages for individual pieces on septa.org which were gone when checked on 9/22/2024
The Philadelphia Church Project provided information on religious buildings and church art as well as interesting reviews and pictures of churches.
The website no longer exists and the facebook page has not been updated since 2016
brynmwar.edu's Places in Time:
Historical Documentation of Place in Greater Philadelphia
was a useful ressource for dating sculptures on buildings. The site is no longer accessible.
emporis.com was another useful source of information about some of the newer, taller
buildings. When checked on 9/22/2024 it was redirecting to another domain that did not have the same information
Additional resources for artists, artworks,
landmarks
and people are listed at the bottom of each listing page on this site under "See Also".
phila.gov has all kinds of interesting information, including articles about the parks.
ushistory.org, maintained by
the Independence Hall Association, includes extensive references to
many of the sites and historical individuals referenced here.
Philadelphia : A 300-Year History,
edited by Russell F. Weigley, Norton, 1982, will tell you more than you
ever wanted to know about this incredible city.
In the midst of the tours, if you should happen to wonder where the
street names came from, you may well find the answer in
Mermaids, Monasteries, Cherokees and Custer: The Stories Behind Philadelphia Street Names, by Robert I Alotta