George E. Thomas is a cultural and architectural historian who serves as codirector of the Critical Conservation Program at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. His books include First Modern: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and, with David B. Brownlee, Building America's First University: An Architectural and Historical Guide to the University of Pennsylvania, both available from the University of Pennsylvania Press; and Frank Furness: The Complete Works with Michael Lewis and Jeffrey Cohen. He is also lead author of the Buildings of Philadelphia volume in the Society of Architectural Historians' series Buildings of the United States.
David R. Brigham is the Librarian and CEO of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. He has organized dozens of exhibitions and written about early American art and cultural institutions, twentieth-century African American art, and public art. He earned his M.A. and Ph.D. from the Department of American Civilization at the University of Pennsylvania.