Since its founding in 1862, the Union League has been a civic leader in the city of Philadelphia. Over the past 150 years, this service has ranged from raising troops during the Civil War and lobbying for enforcement of the “freedom” amendments during Reconstruction, to feeding the hungry during the Great Depression, to finding jobs for returning veterans after World War II. The Foundations of The Union League—Youth Work, Scholarship and Abraham Lincoln—carry on this legacy of civic and charitable activity. The Heritage Center of The Union League of Philadelphia is a manifestation of this work.

Increasing public access

The Heritage Center is designed to allow greater public access to the resources of The Foundations, including exhibition space, a lecture hall and a reading room. It includes offices to support The Foundations’ increasing activity, and a larger collections storage facility to accommodate the Union League’s archival and Civil War Library material and to house several collections of which the Abraham Lincoln Foundation is the steward. These include the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States and Daughters of the Loyal Legion of the United States archives, and The Civil War Museum of Philadelphia. These collections are currently being catalogued and organized and are temporarily located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. They will be brought to The Center when the new collections space is completed in 2013.

History on display

A permanent exhibit, Love of Country Leads, presents the history of the Union League from its founding in 1862 to the present. It includes two short films produced for the Dr. Russell P. Heuer Room exhibit space, Gentlemen in Crisis, and The Union League at 150.

Now on display through December 2012: Philadelphia 1862: A City at War. By 1862, the Civil War had touched the lives of every Philadelphian. Thousands of men streamed through the city on their way to fight. And waves of them returned, wounded and sick, from the battlefields and camps. A City at War focuses on the home front, as Philadelphia’s citizens responded to the war with their money and their time. They cooked. They sewed. They raised funds to support the troops. They nursed the sick and wounded. Public figures continued to debate and disagree. Was the war justified? Was it well fought? Philadelphia was now, in all ways, a city at war. The exhibit includes objects rarely seen by the public, not only from the Union League’s collection but also from collections of partner organizations in Philadelphia and beyond, including the Thomas Jefferson University Archives, the First Regiment Infantry, the Civil War Museum of Philadelphia, the York W. Bailey Museum at St. Helena Island, SC.

How the Center came about

In 1997, the Union League determined that the increased activity of its Foundations required a dedicated space. By the end of 2010, a successful fundraising campaign led by former League President Frank Giordano, generated nearly $10 million for the construction of the Center and the endowment of the three Foundations, making possible the Center’s opening in May 2011.

The Center was named The Sir John Templeton Heritage Center in honor of a recipient of the League’s Lincoln Award in 1986 and a long-time friend of the League’s interests. The naming of the Center was made possible through the generosity of League members Drs. Jack and Pina Templeton, who are active leaders in all of the League’s philanthropic endeavors.