Millions of Pennsylvania’s state documents, other historic treasures get new home

A historic map showing 18th century road development in Pennsylvania had fallen into a “black hole” at the old State Archives building next to the Capitol.

For 35 years, it was missing. If it wasn’t for the move to the new archives building a few blocks north of the Capitol Complex, the protective folder that held the centuries-old map might never have been found.

But in emptying the shelves and drawers in the 20-story windowless tower that for over half a century housed reams of Pennsylvania’s irreplaceable government records, the map that shows a horse-and-wagon road network from the 1740s was discovered in the base of a cabinet.

“Nobody knew where that thing was and we finally have it,” said state archives director David Carmichael. “We know where it is now.”

That map is one of 1 billion paper records, along with millions more digital government records that must be kept in perpetuity, that had been stored for more than 50 years in the crowded tower that had run out of room and offered less-than-prime environmental conditions for permanent storage of historic documents.

Now, they sit in a well-secured, climate-controlled building located at 1681 North Sixth Street, an address number that matches the state’s birth year, with miles of empty shelf space.

The four-story, 150,000-square-foot building, costing $69 million to construct, was more than a decade in the planning and took a little longer than expected to construct because of pandemic-related supply chain issues.

But now with the building finished and relocation of the records that amount to the equivalent of moving a three-story house 78 times over, the State Archives will reopen next month.

As for the old archive’s building, it is being repurposed as a storage facility for the adjacent State Museum of Pennsylvania, said Howard Pollman, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission.

“We do have a need in the museum to relieve the congestion we have in some of our collection areas,” he said. “So the old archives will be used for that.”

Getting to this point

Originally, the new archives was going to be built at a location in Susquehanna Township but former Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse fought successfully to keep it within the capital city’s boundaries and arranged for the city’s archives to be housed at the new facility too.

Once the land was acquired, construction on the building began in May 2020, just after the pandemic hit which caused some further delays.

“It was a challenge to build during a pandemic,” Carmichael said. “There were supply chain issues, but they weren’t as bad as they could have been but they did create issues for us.”

For example, he said the arrival of the 12 boxcar sized units that help control the airflow, temperature and humidity in the six storage areas were delayed. Because those units had to be put in place with a crane, he said completing the outer walls on the building got pushed back.

Supply chain issues also has left the archives staff waiting for display cases for an otherwise finished exhibit room and some doors, he said.

“That has been a bit frustrating,” he said. “I want the building to be 100% finished and it ls like 98%. That’s not good enough.”

The archives staff is using this time before the opening to get trained in using new equipment and accustomed to new ways of doing things. For example, the archives will allow people to pre-order records, something they couldn’t do before. This way, the records will be pulled and ready to view at the time of a prearranged visit.

“There’s just a lot of little logistical things that we’re also using this opportunity to rethink how we do things,” Carmichael said. “We need to work through all those things so that people have a good experience when they come.”

The new state ‘attic’

At its new location, the archives presents a far more welcoming environment. It even offers free parking on the property although it is restricted to its visitors who will need a code to be able to exit the gated lot.

With trees and a grassy area leading to its entry doors, the modern looking façade is a far cry from the intimidating tower and hard-to-find entrance at the old archives.

“We consciously built a building that is the exact opposite of that and I think we succeeded,” Carmichael said.

The state-of-the-art building features big windows with solar shields to provide some shade from the afternoon sun, two large research rooms, a web-conferencing capable classroom, and locker and an eating area accommodations for those who plan to spend the day doing research.

Upon entering, visitors will check in at a registration desk that sits in front of large abstraction of the signature section of the state’s 1776 constitution that offers a glancing preview of the historic documents stored on its three upper floors.

To the right is the digital gateway featuring two large touch screens that the public could spend hours perusing through the maps, video clips, timelines and other historically significant information.

To the left is the self-service area where visitors can find half-filled shelves of books about county histories and railroads as well as tables dotted with computers available to access the archives’ collection of 21 million digitized records such as birth and death certificates and military records.

The computers also provide free access to Ancestry.com for folks researching their family history through a data-sharing arrangement with the Ancestry, Carmichael said.

Nothing in the archives’ collection leaves the building but it is possible to access original records in a secure and restricted area under staff supervision.

The parts of the building the public won’t get to see are the upper floors where offices for its 36 staff members are found, along with six storage rooms kept at anywhere from 20 to 60 degrees, depending on the type of record stored there, and at 35% relative humidity. The rooms combined contain 34 miles of shelving that hold 88,560 boxes containing about 250 million documents.

As designed, Carmichael said the collection fills only half of the storage areas with the hope the building will be able to house the commonwealth’s growing collection of government records for a century or more since many of the documents now are digitized.

The archives’ most treasured artifact – the 342-year-old Penn Charter – was the last item to be moved from the old archive, arriving with police escort to its new resting place. It is now safely tucked away in a highly-secured room enclosed in a cabinet because of its fragile condition. Traditionally, the Charter is brought out once a year on March 12, Charter Day, for the public to view.

A feature that may get overlooked in the building is the ceiling in the self-service area that features a replica section of the Penn Charter’s elaborate border.

At its old location, Carmichael said the archives had about 2,000 visitors each year with anywhere from 4 million to 6 million people accessing its records online.

He expects the new building will draw more in-person visits with its more easily accessible location and possible plans to open the facility to college classes, career days for high school students and community events.

“We want the public to come. This is their archives,” Carmichael said. “And we want them to come and see exhibits, see records, research their own family history.”