Two Emmys for “A Taste of History”

For “A Taste of History,” the television series that explores America’s culinary roots, City Tavern Chef Walter Staib immerses viewers in the dishes and cooking techniques of the nation’s founders as a way into the historical context. Prints, maps, broadsides, pamphlets, and engravings from the Library Company’s collections are used extensively to help illustrate the show’s larger themes. The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences acknowledged Staib’s skill with a Best Host Emmy Award in September and bestowed an additional award upon show director James Davey. 

“We use food as a way to bring history to life,” says producer Ariel Schwarz. In each episode, Staib explores the origins of featured recipes and ingredients to unearth their stories. Past episodes have been taped in significant historic locations, such as Philadelphia’s Rittenhousetown, the banks of the Delaware River at Washington’s Crossing, and Monticello. In each case cooking leads to a larger examination of such subjects as Martha Washington’s contributions at Valley Forge, the Washingtons’ well-known slave-chef Hercules, or the operation of Jefferson’s gardens and kitchen.

“A Taste of History” airs Sunday afternoons on WHYY and PBS NJN.

Capital Improvements: LCP Generates Heat!

Al Dallasta, Chief of Maintenance & Security

This fall, the Library Company is making an investment in high-efficiency heating and humidification equipment that will save an estimated $40,000 to $50,000 annually and help ensure environmental stability for our priceless collections. 

When the building at 1314 Locust Street was built for our use in 1965, it was connected to the “City steam loop,” a municipal system for provision of steam. As the years went by, the costs of the City’s steam rose to almost three times that of producing our own steam in house. 

With the help of contributions from the McLean Contributionship and a Commonwealth of Pennsylvania RACP grant, the Library Company has been able to invest in a pair of dual-fuel boilers that will allow us to precisely control the temperature and humidity in the building as well as saving annual fuel costs.  The boilers are fired with natural gas, but can use heating oil as a back-up in the case of an emergency. 

The conversion involves tapping into a high-pressure gas main that runs down 13th Street and running a new line into 1314 Locust St., as well as hoisting the boilers and one of the oil tanks up to the 8th floor by means of a crane.  We appreciate the patience of our neighbors with the resulting occasional closures of Locust Street!  Additional work includes installation of new pipes for the humidification system and electrical wiring for the boilers.  Work began in late August and is expected to be complete well before the end of the year. 

Shareholder Spotlight: Betty Shellenberger, Share No. 568

Betty Shellenberger, age 90, remembers bi-weekly trips downtown with her mother and father to visit the Library Company in our previous Frank Furness-designed home at Juniper and Locust streets. At the time the Library Company still functioned as a lending library, and this was the way Betty’s father was supplied with the detective stories he loved.  Her maternal grandfather, the Reverend George W. Lincoln, had originally purchased share 568 in 1917 when he moved to Germantown in the early part of the last century.  Her mother—also Elisabeth Shellenberger—took over ownership of the share on her father’s death in 1927, and she assumed ownership in her own right on her mother’s death in 1982.  Betty, a star athlete in her younger days, is a member of the US Lacrosse Hall of Fame, the Field Hockey Hall of Fame, the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame.  She is active as a guide at Cliveden and a supporter of Strawberry Mansion. For her, the Library Company is one of the most important institutions that remains in Philadelphia from colonial times.  Committed to the preservation of Philadelphia’s historic legacy, she believes “what the Library Company has to offer is wonderful!”