Watch ONLINE via ZOOM from the safety and comfort of your home. 

A link with instructions will be provided two hours prior to this virtual lecture. 

Engineering the Metropolis: The Sellers Family and the Rise and Fall of Industrial Philadelphia

presented by Domenic Vitiello PhD

What made Philadelphia the leading center of industrial America in the 19th century, and why did the region's manufacturing economy decline so precipitously in the 20th century? This talk will explore these questions through multiple generations of the Sellers family, a leading family of millers, surveyors, mechanics, engineers, and factory owners in the Delaware Valley. The Sellers' various firms, other factories and neighborhoods they helped build, and institutions they led illuminate the long arc of Philadelphia's rise and fall as the Workshop of the World.

Domenic Vitiello is an urban historian and professor of urban studies and planning at the University of Pennsylvania. His research, teaching, and practice have focused on industrial history, immigrant communities, and urban agriculture and community food systems. 

$15 | General Admission

$12 | Alliance Member 

Free | Students*

If you have been affected by the pandemic and would like to attend this virtual lecture but cannot afford to do so, please email Vinni Cheng on vcheng@preservationalliance.com for complimentary access.

*Email photo of valid student ID to Vinni Cheng to register as a student.

View speaker schedule at https://www.preservationalliance.com/building_philadelphia_2022/