The Library Company of Philadelphia is pleased to be sharing with PhilaPlace visitors its collection of photographic portraits taken circa 1910-1940 by John Frank Keith (1883-1947). An avid photographer of the residents of South Philadelphia and possibly Kensington, where he lived, Keith captured groups of young men socializing on stoops, family members and friends posing on the sidewalk, and children playfully smiling. In addition to documenting the working-class residents of these neighborhoods, Keith’s portraits evoke memories and ideas of a time when families struggled economically, but enjoyed life and the friendship of their neighbors. They provide an important link to the rich history of Philadelphia’s oldest neighborhoods.

The Library Company is working to increase public access to and intellectual engagement with this significant body of work. Digitized images of the collection are mounted on Flickr.  An online exhibition entitled Faces and Facades of Philadelphia: Three Decades of Portraits by John Frank Keith provides biographical information about Keith and situate his work in an historical context. The photographs will also be cataloged for inclusion in the Library Company’s digital collections catalog, ImPAC.

Visitors to PhilaPlace will hopefully find John Frank Keith’s photographs inspiring and thought-provoking. Perhaps they will even recognize their relatives or themselves as children and feel compelled to share their stories of South Philadelphia and Kensington!

Five children and older woman standing in front of brick building, ca. 1930. John Frank Keith, photographer. Courtesy of the Library Company of Philadelphia.

Young man standing before a storefront, ca. 1930. John Frank Keith, photographer. Courtesy of the Library Company of Philadelphia.

Woman holding baby, ca. 1922. John Frank Keith, photographer. Courtesy of the Library Company of Philadelphia.

Seven men and a young boy sitting on brownstone steps, ca. 1930. John Frank Keith, photographer. Courtesy of the Library Company of Philadelphia.

Charlene Peacock is Curatorial Assistant for the Library Company of Philadelphia, an independent research library specializing in American history and culture from the 17th through the 19th centuries (and HSP’s next-door neighbor on Locust Street). LCP is free and open to the public.