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The McNeil Center for Early American Studies, located at 3619 Locust Walk, will be relocated to a new building on 34th and Walnut streets.[Caroline New/DP File Photo]

The McNeil Center for Early American Studies celebrated its 25th anniversary last December by announcing plans for a new building.

At the moment, the plan's architectural details are being examined. The construction site will open in November and will be located at 34th and Walnut streets, near Hill College House.

Staffers at the McNeil Center, currently located at 3619 Locust Walk, welcomed the announcement, since it puts an end to a long list of location changes -- eight since the center's birth.

"We never really had the kind of permanent center we need," McNeil Center Director Daniel Richter said. "Our program has expanded."

The new building will have a lecture hall and increased research space to accommodate the growing program.

"Right now, we're competing for space with the Penn Humanities Forum, which is right downstairs," said seventh-year English graduate student Martha Schoolman, a former fellow who now oversees weekly luncheon events where scholars present their papers.

While today the McNeil Center's seminars are scattered around Philadelphia for lack of an appropriate permanent location, the new building will allow for a more predictable meeting space.

Its proximity to Van Pelt Library will also facilitate researchers' perusing of the University's archives.

The McNeil Center focuses on studies concerning the history and the culture of North America in the Atlantic world before 1850.

Even after the move, McNeil Center activities will likely remain unaltered, at least initially. Current offerings already include seminars, conferences, a book series and the publication Early American Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal.

"We're not looking for any major change in direction," Richter said. "Our major focus is scholarships for five to seven dissertation fellows."

In time, the McNeil Center hopes to increase its number of fellowships and bring more scholars to the Philadelphia area.

"There are other centers, but what is unique [to] Penn is its position in Philadelphia and its really thriving community," post-doctoral fellow Ben Irving said. "On a weekly basis, you can expect scholars from Princeton, Washington, D.C. and all the surrounding area."

The center receives an annual endowment of $350,000 from various organizations, including the School of Arts and Sciences, the Barra Foundation and former McNeil Laboratories Chairman Robert L. McNeil, Jr., after whom the center was renamed in 1998 as a tribute to his philanthropy.

"It's a fantastic program that allows for the creation of a collegial setting to share works and ideas, take advantage of the faculty and the archives in Philadelphia and at Penn," Irving said. "It's the epicenter of early American history."

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