Broad Street Review | Discover Philly’s new, old, and untold stories with these fascinating objects—PAFA presents Philadelphia Revealed: Unpacking the Attic
The Atwater Kent Museum, later dubbed the Philadelphia History Museum, closed in 2018. Fortunately, its collection lives on at Drexel University, and now, it gets a new exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
Philadelphia Revealed: Unpacking the Attic evokes memories with every step—if not your own, then ones you’ve heard from older friends and relatives.
"The show, a nod to the old museum’s informal title, Philadelphia’s Attic, features 600 objects from the Atwater Kent Collection (AKC), which was founded in 1939 by inventor and radio pioneer A. Atwater Kent to preserve Philadelphia history. And the new exhibition just one part of the experience: Philadelphia Revealed is also a WHYY-produced podcast and a First Person Arts platform for sharing your Philadelphia stories.
Paintings, photos, postcards, and diaries
Of course the usual museum suspects are here, but so is the stuff of everyday life, elevated to unexpected prominence. Benjamin West’s portraits King George III (1778) and Queen Charlotte (1775), in gold frames topped with little crowns, from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, hang right by Water Department clerk William H. Green’s (1875-1959) photograph Seven Stars (Hotel), taken in 1909. Green’s image depicts the long-gone Frankford structure looking like a patriotic wedding cake, its three tiers bedecked with star-spangled banners. Dozens of his glass negatives of Northeast Philadelphia were donated by Louis Gramlich. Many such gifts made AKC’s photographic archive particularly strong.
Philadelphia Revealed comes to life in the images and interactives designed by Drexel media students. In one, you can swipe through vintage postcards of the 1876 Centennial Exposition while reading excerpts from the youthful diary of attendee Dr. Frances Allen DeFord (1855-1937). DeFord later graduated from Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, a forerunner of Drexel University College of Medicine."
Read the full article "Discover Philly’s New, Old, and Untold Stories With These Fascinating Objects: PAFA Presents Philadelphia Revealed: Unpacking the Attic," online at broadstreetreview.com by Pamela J. Forsythe (Broad Street Review, July 30, 2024).
Featured Image: From the opening reception for Philadelphia Revealed: Unpacking the Attack, July 18, 2024. Wyche Studios (Credit); Liz Russell (Photographer)
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