Information
Landmark: Philadelphia History MuseumCity: Philadelphia
Country: USA Pennsylvania
Continent: North America
Philadelphia History Museum, Philadelphia, USA Pennsylvania, North America
Overview
The Philadelphia History Museum, once called the Atwater Kent Museum, stood as a leading institution devoted to sharing and safeguarding Philadelphia’s rich, varied past-right down to the cobblestones once walked by its earliest residents.The physical museum shut its doors in 2018, but Drexel University still cares for its vast collection, keeping Philadelphia’s heritage within reach-like the worn brass nameplate from a long-gone factory.The museum began in 1938 and, after three years of preparation, opened its doors to visitors in 1941.It sat in a historic Greek Revival building at 15 South 7th Street, right in Philadelphia’s Old City, its white columns catching the afternoon sun.Built in 1826, the building was the work of renowned architect John Haviland, its stone steps still worn smooth by nearly two centuries of use.It first housed the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia’s trailblazing center for science and technology, where visitors once marveled at gleaming brass instruments and whirring machines.Thanks to A’s generosity, the old building found new life as the city’s history museum, its brick walls now lined with faded maps and photographs.Atwater Kent, a well-known inventor and radio pioneer, bought the building and gave it to the city so it could become a public museum, its tall brick façade still catching the afternoon sun.The museum’s mission was to gather, protect, explain, and showcase artifacts that bring Philadelphia’s role in American history to life-from its founding days to the present-like a weathered quill pen once used to sign a city charter.It aimed to draw in locals and tourists alike, bringing Philadelphia’s cultural, social, political, and industrial story to life-like the clang of a factory bell echoing beside a mural splashed with city history.The exhibits brought a mix of stories to life-early colonial days with creaking wooden floors, the surge of industry, waves of immigrants, and Philadelphia’s pivotal moments in the American Revolution, the abolition movement, and beyond.The museum’s Atwater Kent Collection holds more than 130,000 objects, from delicate porcelain cups to weathered maps.This remarkable collection holds artifacts from over three hundred years, tracing Philadelphia’s story from its cobblestone beginnings in the late 1600s all the way to the bustling city you see today.The collection spans everything from brittle historical documents and hand-written manuscripts to vivid oil paintings, vintage photographs, worn maps, and even a quilt that still smells faintly of cedar.You’ll find tools, industrial relics, political memorabilia, and personal mementos from well-known Philadelphians, with standout pieces tied to Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Joe Frazier, and artifacts honoring the city’s Lenape heritage.In 2009, the museum shut its doors for a while to refresh its galleries-sleek new lighting, brighter walls-and give visitors a better experience.It reopened in 2012 with fresh, updated exhibits, redesigned so visitors could step in, touch, and explore the displays as if they were part of the scene.Around then, the museum took on a new name-the Philadelphia History Museum at the Atwater Kent-to capture its broader mission, like telling the city’s story from cobblestone streets to skyscrapers.The renovated space brought in fresh interpretive methods, interactive screens that flickered with old photos, and a focus on sharing Philadelphia’s stories through many different eyes.Even with renovations underway, the museum couldn’t shake its drop in visitors or the strain on its budget, and crates of artifacts sat waiting for transfer.In 2018, the city shut down the museum, locking its heavy oak doors for good.In 2019, Philadelphia gave Drexel University the reins to care for the museum’s collection, from rare fossils to weathered maps.In 2022, Drexel took over the collection, promising to preserve it, digitize every fragile page, and open it up for easier public access.Drexel University came up with the idea of a “museum without walls,” letting people browse the collection anywhere-whether on a laptop at home or walking through a public square.You can now browse the Atwater Kent Collection online through a detailed digital platform, letting researchers, teachers, and anyone curious sift through thousands of artifacts-right down to the gleam on a 19th-century brass compass.Drexel teams up with nearby institutions to bring in traveling exhibitions and host public programs drawn from its collection, like a vivid display of antique maps spread across a sunlit gallery.The collection appeared in major exhibitions, including “Philadelphia Revealed: Unpacking the Attic” at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where visitors wandered past hundreds of artifacts and uncovered vivid stories from the city’s past.The Philadelphia History Museum, along with its collection, has played a vital role in capturing and safeguarding the city’s unique place in American history-like preserving George Washington’s chair so future generations can see where he once sat.This collection offers a vivid look at how Philadelphia grew from a modest colonial town into a bustling hub of commerce, culture, and politics, its streets once echoing with the clatter of horse-drawn carts.By placing the collection in Drexel University’s care and opening it up online, the museum keeps its legacy alive-letting Philadelphia’s history glow like polished brass for generations to come.Although the Philadelphia History Museum has closed its doors, the Atwater Kent Collection still preserves a wealth of history, from worn Civil War uniforms to fragile handwritten letters.The collection brings Philadelphia’s history to life with artifacts you can almost smell the age on and stories as varied as the city’s streets.Drexel University runs it, and through lively digital platforms and striking exhibitions, it still stands as a key place to explore the city’s history, culture, and lasting legacy.
