American Philosophical Society

In addition to recommending areas and boundaries for federal acquisition, Appleman devoted considerable attention to the treatment of particular buildings and the handling of these and other issues in the Shrines Commission's report and the bill authorizing the park. He suggested that the insurance companies should be permitted to retain their buildings on the north side of Walnut Street for a decade or two, to avoid disruption of their business. Provisions of the legislation should cover two of the area's historic private institutions. The Carpenters' Company should be allowed to "tenant" its building, and the American Philosophical Society should be given the option of constructing a replica of the old Library building on Fifth Street. During his visits to Philadelphia, Appleman had met several times with Dr. Lingelbach, the society's librarian. Appleman found Lingelbach a sound and helpful source of information on the history of the project area. He was also influential: Lewis, in particular, respected and relied on his judgment. Lingelbach had been one of the strongest proponents of the idea of a federal park. He was motivated, like many of its other adherents, by patriotism and an interest in the past. In addition, he was concerned for the future of his institution. The Philosophical Society had long since outgrown its ancient headquarters on Fifth Street behind Old City Hall. It was currently housing many of its books in rented space in the Drexel Building at the corner of Fifth and Chestnut Streets, but a move to larger quarters elsewhere in the city had been discussed. Lingelbach preferred to remain close to Independence Square. Early in his acquaintance with Appleman he had broached the feasibility of reconstructing the Library Company's building to serve the society's need. Appleman believed that there was sufficient evidence on which to base a good reconstruction and recommended that these matters should be covered in the bill. The legislation should also provide for the preservation of all existing structures erected prior to 1800 and pinpoint those erected after that date that were also to be preserved, such as the Second Bank of the United States and the Merchants' Exchange. Appleman believed that the bill should not go into detail on development plans. The development issues were complicated and required considerable additional research and study. The legislation should ensure that the National Park Service had broad powers in planning development and an interpretive program.

Appleman shared the fruits of his researches into Philadelphia's documentary and pictorial resources with Lewis and McCosker. Although Appleman helped to determine the content and, indeed, provided a detailed outline of the Shrines Commission's report, Lewis felt that the final product should be prepared by someone retained by the commission-working under his super-vision and guidance-not by an employee of the National Park Service. "The final body of the report, [the] ideas expressed, however," Appleman remembered, "of course had to be judge Lewis's and the commission's, but from my early work with judge Lewis, it would appear to me that his views were accepted by the rest of the commission with very little objection, if any at all, and that he in effect was the commission, and it was his drive and his energy and his leadership at that time that saw the thing through to a successful conclusion."

McCosker appeared to be well qualified for the task of preparing the historical section of the report. As director of the Atwater Kent Museum, he had a broad familiarity with Philadelphia history, and he had been chairman of the committee that put together the Independence Hall Association's 1943 exhibit on the Hall and its neighbors. Over the summer, despite bouts of illness, he proceeded to collect historical data and illustrative material for what he referred to as "the book." True to his conviction that the report should be a Shrines Commission project, Lewis had raised $4,000 from the Insurance Company of North America to pay for the services of McCosker and a staff of three: a research assistant, a secretary-typist, and a photographer. McCosker resented the involvement of the National Park Service specialists. He was particularly at odds with Peterson, who, he believed, was attempting to make him alter the findings to emphasize Christ Church at the expense of the commission's plan for a narrow extension of the park south of Walnut Street. He found Appleman helpful, but became annoyed when he had not received the latter's research notes by the end of the first week of August. "I fear," he wrote to Lewis, who was vacationing in Maine, "that the combined 'help' of the two Federal men has not meant much in concrete aid to the work at hand." A week later, however, he reported to Lewis that Peterson had returned to Philadelphia and had "become cooperative." Perhaps McCosker sensed that the two were not impressed with the quality of his work. Appleman subsequently recommended that the commission's report not be published unless it was carefully edited to remove its many mistakes.

While McCosker worked on the historical background, Lewis was com-posing the section detailing the Shrines Commission's recommendations for the scope of the park. On October 6, 1947, the commission, which had not met for six months, gathered to consider a draft. The members present, in addition to Lewis, were McAneny, Morris, Van Doren, and McGarvey. Guests included Edward Hopkinson, Jr., representing the City Planning Commission; E. Norris Williams II of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Edward M. Biddle, treasurer of the Independence Hall Association; and Sydney Martin. What might be termed the commission's staff was also present: Simon, McCosker, and Lewis's assistant, Dwight Lowell. The commission quickly proceeded to recommend four areas for acquisition by the federal government: the three blocks east of Independence Square, a lateral extension south to Pine Street, Franklin Court, and the site of the Graff House. The idea of extending the federal park to the vicinity of Christ Church won support from McAneny. The other members of the commission, however, decided that Christ Church should be a separate area, with sufficient land cleared around it to constitute a firebreak.