The initial seven members were soap manufacturer Samuel Simeon Fels, attorney Frank P. Prichard, Dr. George Stanley Woodward, William Henry Pfahler, J. Percy Keating, trade unionist Alfred D. Clavert, and dry-goods merchant Frederic H. Strawbridge.

In January 1905, this core group expanded to form the ongoing Committee of Seventy, "to keep watch and ward over the public interests".

[1][2][3][4][5] New members included engineer Morris Llewellyn Cooke, book publisher John C. Winston,[6] banker George Washington Norris,[7] dye manufacturer Joseph Henry Scattergood,[8] Quaker merchant Joshua Longstreth Baily, William W. Justice, William H. Jenks, Louis Childs Madeira, Walter Wood, Francis B. Reeves, and lawyer Russell Duane.

They built support among press, civic and religious organizations for broad reforms, challenging candidates from the entrenched Republican political machine.

Blankenburg headed a nonpartisan administration that focused on the businesslike provision of city services, cutting costs while improving schools, hospitals and transit.

[17] In 2018, the Committee of Seventy launched Draw the Lines PA, leading a coalition of academic and civic groups that developed its own redistricting map based on 1,500 submissions.

From the organization's website, "Chronicling the Israelites’ journey through the desert, Exodus tells of seventy elders who were appointed to assist Moses in the governance of the people.

[30] The Committee of Seventy provides nonpartisan information on a variety of issues related to government and politics, traditionally focusing on elections and voting, campaign finance, ethics and transparency, and redistricting.