Visiting the City of Brotherly Love

To help conference-goers prepare for their trip to Philadelphia, News Library News offers a few resources.

"The City of Brotherly Love" was founded by William Penn in 1682, so named because of the easy exchange with the Swedish settlers and others already occupying the land granted to him. Penn had become a Quaker, much to his father's dismay, and hoped to find a place where all could live in peace.

Philadelphia holds an important place in our nation's history. It was where:

• The Continental Congress met


• The Declaration of Independence was signed


• George Washington was elected our first president


• The first mint was located


• The Bank of North America was established

The city also served as our nation's capital until 1800 -- when it was the largest city in the U.S. -- and is where the famous Liberty Bell is located.

Get in touch with the history of Philadelphia with ushistory.org from the Independence Hall Association. At PhillyHistory.org, you can view historic images from the city's photo archive with contributions from several archives and libraries.

The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia is "a civic project to increase understanding of one of America’s greatest cities." The site contains a collection of essays on topics about the history and culture of the city.

The official visitor site can help you find things to do and see during your free bits of time away from the conference.

In addition to the information found on the Convention and Visitors Bureau's site, they also offer an online version -- and a downloadable one for the iPad -- of their Visitors' Guide.

The Philadelphia Inquirer's philly.com offers their own Guide to Philly.

If anyone has any suggestions of not-to-be-missed attractions, restaurants or other places of interest, please leave them in the comments.

--Julie Domel