Philadelphia’s First Catholic Cathedral

...races its history to 1763, when a second church was needed for the growing number of Catholics in the city. Built on land originally bought to serve as a cemetery for Old St. Joseph’s, Old St. Mary’s was referred to as “Mission Number 1” as St. Joseph’s was seen as

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Catholics in WWII

...which Philadelphia had the second most with 51. As the war continued that number would increase to 68, unfortunately eight of those Philadelphia priests would die in the war, the most of any U.S. diocese.[7] Meyer Photo: Margherita Camp Chapel From his priests, Dougherty would often receive monthly progress reports

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Thomas Nast Anti-Irish Cartoons

Among the recently digitized images added to our online collection are a number of drawings by cartoonist Thomas Nast. In 1846 at the age of six, Nast immigrated with his mother to the United States and by age 15 he had begun drawing for Frank Leslie’s Illustrated News.[1] He joined

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Centennial Exposition

...and featured exhibits and displays from numerous countries including Peru, Egypt, Japan, and Switzerland.[6] Other prominent buildings included: Machinery Hall, Horticultural Hall, Agricultural Hall, United States Building, Memorial Hall, and the Women’s Pavilion. 15 countries and 26 states also constructed their own buildings.[7] Of all the buildings, only two survived

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