"At an exhibit opening Thursday, visitors can get a snapshot of Philadelphia history from its 17th century beginnings to its more recent baseball victories.

" Philadelphia Revealed: Unpacking the Attic" will tell the story of the city through 650 items. Some, like the teapot fragments recovered from a British ship in the Delaware River, nod to Philadelphia's colonial origins. Others highlight its bygone department stores, such as two enormous murals that hung in the flagship Gimbels on 9th and Market streets. Still more reflect Philly's sports mania. An old turnstile from Veterans Stadium and a Phillies uniform worn by third baseman Mike Schmidt are featured, along with a 2008 Phillies World Series championship ring. (No one stole it off Chase Utley; it was donated by former Mayor Michael Nutter, who received it while in office.)

The exhibit will be on display at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts through Sunday, Dec. 1, but the items come from the Atwater Kent Collection at Drexel University. The college became the steward of the 130,000-plus pieces in the collection in 2019, after the museum that once housed them permanently closed. Through the exhibit, Drexel hopes to properly introduce the public to collection, which it sees as a 'museum without walls.'"

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Read the full article "A 650-piece exhibit on Philly history features items from a sunken British ship and a World Series ring" online at phillyvoice.com by Kristin Hunt (July 16, 2024). Philadelphia Revealed: Unpacking the Attic is on view at PAFA until December 1, 2024. 

Featured Image: Industrial Philadelphia – The Workshop of the World, oil on canvas by Morris Berd (1914–2007), 1952 (Gift of Stern’s Department Stores; acquired Gimbels, 90.81.1).