Pennsylvania State Archives

[2] The State Archives also collects private papers relevant to Pennsylvania history.

Created in 1903 as the Division of Public Records in the State Library, it was combined in 1945 with the State Museum and the Pennsylvania Historical Commission to form the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC).

[3] The State Archives collection, as of 2000, contained one hundred and sixty-five million pages of documents, seventeen thousand reels of microfilm, and one million special collection items, including photographs, maps and blueprints, motion picture rolls, and audio and video tapes[3] covering the period 1664 to the present.

[3] Among the items housed at the State Archives is the 1681 Charter from Great Britain's King Charles II to William Penn, the 1737 Walking Purchase, an 1857 photograph of the Horseshoe Curve, photographs of the ruins of Chambersburg taken in 1864, the 1878 Death Warrant for John J. Kehoe[4] and a letter to Governor Duff relating to the 1948 Donora smog disaster.

[2] In 2018, archivists negotiated the acquisition of the original Minutes of General Assembly taken on March 16, 1779, which documented Revolutionary War-era deliberations of the Pennsylvania Assembly regarding the purchase of supplies for the Continental Army, pay rates for members of state militia units, and the pension eligibility of military widows.