The History Department at Temple University hosted me during my stay in Philadelphia. I got to attend  both informative lectures and nurturing discussions of works in progress. But campus life also offered avenues for research. Temple's Charles Library houses a number of collections that proved indispensable and I spent hours combing through the Urban Archives and Annual Report collections as well as the Temple Pulpit, an early publication that featured information about the Samaritan Hospital, Temple Medicine's predecessor. 

Aside from archives, I spent a lot of time at Philadelphia area libraries. The University of Pennsylvania and Temple University offered a wealth of secondary literature and some primary sources for my project. Philadelphia also boasts an amazing public library system with branches in a lot of neighborhoods and the main library close to the famed Rocky statue. 

In 1854, Philadelphia incorporated many of its suburbs. The city grew from roughly 2 square miles to encompass an area of almost 130 square miles. Many of the surrounding towns and neighborhoods retained a distinct identity. Chestnut Hill and Germantown still hold high their local histories including local businesses like Kirk & Nice, the oldest operating undertaking business that occasionally transported sick people to hospitals and, of course, Germantown Hospital. Thanks to archivists at the Chestnut Hill Conservancy and the Germantown Historical Society.

This spring I already spent a couple of days at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and I was glad to come back. The HSP holds a lot of promising materials including annual reports, personal papers, and photographs/etchings. I also visited the German Society's library to study materials related to the German Hospital of Philadelphia, chartered in 1860. At the Presbyterian Historical Society, a complete and bound set of annual reports made my task of tracking the hospital's ambulance work pretty easy. Thanks to all the archivists and librarians for their support.

I am back in Philadelphia for a five month fellowship funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). First stop, Jefferson University where I got to study materials from Jefferson Medical College; and take a picture next to a huge rendering of a photograph of an early electric ambulance.

Blockley almshouse, the institution that would eventually become Philadelphia General Hospital, serviced those city dwellers who could not afford a hospital stay. Working through the almshouse's records and materials of other entities like the Bureau of Charities, lots of them on microfilm, was good fun.

At the Catholic Historical Research Center of Philadelphia's Archdiocese, I looked through the records of three Catholic hospitals St. Agnes, St. Joseph's, and St. Mary's.

In Spring 2025, I got to research at Drexel University's legacy center in Queen Lane. Thanks to the staff who consulted with me ahead of my visit and facilitated the access to records of Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital, the West Philadelphia Hospital for Women, and the Woman's Hospital of Philadelphia.