Libraries, historical societies, museums, and related cultural heritage institutions in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania contain cultural heritage historical collections of great depth and richness. The mission of PA Digital is to make the digital collections of the Commonwealth’s cultural heritage institutions widely discoverable.
PA Digital is a cross-institutional initiative with a variety of contributors from across Pennsylvania. PA Digital became a Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) Service Hub in August 2015 and our collections went live in the DPLA in April 2016. Participating in the DPLA enhances discovery of and access to Pennsylvania cultural heritage content, thus broadening its use and impact worldwide. As technologies and partnerships develop, PA Digital will continue to expand the ways in which the unique cultural heritage collections of Pennsylvania are made available to the widest audience.
Original institutional sponsors for PA Digital were the State Library of Pennsylvania, Temple University, the Pennsylvania State University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Free Library of Philadelphia. Until 2021, the initiative was also funded through Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which were administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Other major partners have included the Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium, Inc. (PALCI), Hosting Solutions and Library Consulting (HSLC), the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries (PACSCL), and Historic Pittsburgh.
