Martha Crary Halpern Research Papers

Martha Crary Halpern promoted public awareness of the historic houses situated in Philadelphia's vast Fairmount Park through her work overseeing restoration projects, operations, and interpretation of the houses. Halpern served as the Assistant Curator for the Fairmount Park Houses from the early 1990s until her passing in 2004. She began as a Park House guide in 1975. The majority of this research collection is made up of subject files related to Fairmount Park and its historic houses, Philadelphia history, and 19th and 18th century life and domestic interiors. Photocopies of primary and secondary sources comprise the bulk of material. Correspondence, photographs, ephemera and draft writings are interspersed throughout the collection, including the Park House study sheets Halpern researched and produced for guides.

The organization of this collection aims to remain faithful to Halpern's original record keeping, with some additional arrangement and description in order to aid the researcher. The first three series include subject files containing documents related to estate ownership and family histories, land development in Philadelphia, exhibits, inventories of the historic houses, organizations involved in house stewardship, and the development of interpretive educational programs for historic houses. Dates included at the folder level estimate when Halpern was actively researching the subject based on correspondence, draft writings, and events dates. The series Personal Papers details Halpern's employment and curatorial activities related to the operation and interpretation of Cedar Grove and Mount Pleasant. Finally, the series Reference Publications contains photocopies of texts and manuscript material prepared by and/or for Halpern and Park House staff and volunteers.