The Philadelphia History Museum was a public history museum located in

Center City, Philadelphia Center City includes the central business district and central neighborhoods of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It comprises the area that made up the City of Philadelphia prior to the Act of Consolidation, 1854, which extended the ci ...

from 1938 until 2018. From 1938 until 2010, the museum was known as the Atwater Kent Museum. The museum occupied architect John Haviland's landmark

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

structure built in 1824–1826 for the

Franklin Institute The Franklin Institute is a science museum and a center of science education and research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named after the American scientist and wikt:statesman, statesman Benjamin Franklin. It houses the Benjamin Franklin ...

. The Museum operated as a city agency as part of Philadelphia's Department of Recreation. The building was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on August 1, 1979.

History

The museum was established through the efforts of Philadelphia Mayor S. Davis Wilson, Frances Wistar, president of the

Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks The Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks (aka Landmarks) founded in 1931, maintains and preserves four historic house museums in the region around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. These are: * Grumblethorpe * Hill–Physick–Keith ...

, and A. Atwater Kent, radio pioneer and inventor. In 1938 Kent purchased the former

building, which the Institute had vacated in 1933,, p.36 and gifted the building to the city for use as a public history museum. Following renovations carried out by the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

, the Museum opened in 1941. After years of declining attendance and financial shortfalls, the museum closed its doors in 2018. In September 2019, the city approved a plan to transfer the museum's collections to

Drexel University Drexel University is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony Joseph Drexel, Anthony J. Drexel, a financier ...

who would preserve the collections and offer them out for loan. Drexel was granted control of the collection in April 2022.

has reverted the name of the collection to refer to

Atwater Kent Arthur Atwater Kent Sr. (December 3, 1873 – March 4, 1949) was an American inventor and prominent radio manufacturer based in Philadelphia. In 1905, he invented the Unisparker which combined ignition points, condenser, centrifugal advance m ...

as the Atwater Kent Collection at Drexel.

Collection

The Museum's collections included more than 80,000 objects related to Philadelphia and regional history, including an estimated 10,000 17th- to 20th-century artifacts transferred from the

Historical Society of Pennsylvania The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a historic research facility headquartered on Locust Street in Center City Philadelphia. It is a repository for millions of historic items ranging across rare books, scholarly monographs, family chron ...

art and artifact collection in 2009, 1700

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

-related items from Friends Historical Association Collection, and collections reflecting Philadelphia manufacturing, the 1876

Centennial Exposition The Centennial International Exhibition, officially the International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures, and Products of the Soil and Mine, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876. It was the first official wo ...

, toys and miniatures, and radio broadcasting. Highlights from the permanent exhibitions included the boxing gloves of

Joe Frazier Joseph William Frazier (January 12, 1944November 7, 2011) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1965 to 1981. Nicknamed "Smokin' Joe", he is widely regarded as one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time. He was known for ...

, the desk of

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

, a drinking glass owned by

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

, and a

wampum Wampum is a traditional shell bead of the Eastern Woodlands tribes of Native Americans. It includes white shell beads hand-fashioned from the North Atlantic channeled whelk shell and white and purple beads made from the quahog or Western ...

belt allegedly given to

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quakers, Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonization of the Americas, British colonial era. An advocate of democracy and religi ...

by the

Lenape The Lenape (, , ; ), also called the Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. The Lenape's historica ...

References

External links

Official websitePhiladelphia Department of Recreation
* * *Atwater Kent Collection at Drexe

{{Authority control Museums in Philadelphia City museums in the United States History museums in Pennsylvania Historic American Buildings Survey in Philadelphia National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia Museums established in 1938 Works Progress Administration in Pennsylvania Market East, Philadelphia 1938 establishments in Pennsylvania Greek Revival architecture in Pennsylvania Buildings and structures completed in 1825 John Haviland buildings Defunct museums in Pennsylvania

History

Collection

See also

References

External links