2 Best Sights in Pennsylvania, USA

Housed in a national landmark Italianate Revival brownstone built in the mid–19th century, the Athenaeum is a research library specializing in architectural history and design with a collection that features millions of items. The library, founded in 1814, was refurbished in 2022 and contains significant materials on the French in America and on early American travel, exploration, and transportation. Besides books, the Athenaeum has notable paintings and period furniture; changing exhibits are presented in the gallery. Research is by appointment only.

In Philadelphia's main public library building, the grand entrance hall, marble staircase, and enormous reading rooms make the 1927 Greek Revival building look the way libraries should, but it also serves people with facilities such as an area for community gatherings and a Culinary Literacy Center with a kitchen. The children's department houses the city's largest collection of children's books in a made-for-kids setting, and there's a special area for teens. The rare-book department is a beautiful suite of rooms with first editions of Dickens, ancient Sumerian clay tablets, and medieval and other manuscripts, including the only known handwritten copy of Poe's "The Raven." Also here is a taxidermied Grip, Dickens's pet raven. Another treasure, the Edwin S. Fleisher Collection (visitors welcome, but researchers must make appointments), has more than 22,000 circulating orchestral performance sets (a full score and other parts) and is the largest of its kind in the world.   Check the website for events such as author readings, timely special exhibits, and tours of parts of the library.