Hosted by Joe Shemtov and Andrea Lemoins

Our first season will be dedicated to artifacts kept at the Free Library of Philadelphia.

In this episode, we talk to Alexis Ahiagbe, Perry Genovesi, and Peter Santa Maria, staff members at the Free Library of Philadelphia, about the labor uprising at the Free Library in the summer of 2020 that led to the resignation of the Executive Director, Siobhan Reardon. Joe Shemtov ties this current labor fight, based on race and class, with the life and works of George Lippard, a famous 19th-century American novelist, journalist, playwright, social activist, and labor organizer. Lippard, a friend of Edgar Allan Poe, was from South Philadelphia. The Free Library of Philadelphia Rare Book Department has several of Lippard’s works in its collection, including The Quaker City.

This podcast was edited by Hannah Cho.