Philadelphia History Museum (Atwater Kent Museum)
The Philadelphia History Museum was a public history museum located in Center City, Philadelphia from 1938 until 2018. The museum occupied architect John Haviland's landmark Greek Revival structure built in 1824–1826 for the Franklin Institute. 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 on August 1, 1979.
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, and A. Atwater Kent, radio pioneer and inventor. In 1938 Kent purchased the former Franklin Institute building, which the Institute had vacated in 1933, and gifted the building to the city for use as a public history museum. Following renovations carried out by the Works Progress Administration, 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 who would preserve the collections and offer them out for loan. The case remains with the courts as of the Spring of 2022.
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, and A. Atwater Kent, radio pioneer and inventor. In 1938 Kent purchased the former Franklin Institute building, which the Institute had vacated in 1933, and gifted the building to the city for use as a public history museum. Following renovations carried out by the Works Progress Administration, 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 who would preserve the collections and offer them out for loan. The case remains with the courts as of the Spring of 2022.
Map - Philadelphia History Museum (Atwater Kent Museum)
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Indigenous peoples have inhabited the Americas for thousands of years. Beginning in 1607, British colonization led to the establishment of the Thirteen Colonies in what is now the Eastern United States. They quarreled with the British Crown over taxation and political representation, leading to the American Revolution and proceeding Revolutionary War. The United States declared independence on July 4, 1776, becoming the first nation-state founded on Enlightenment principles of unalienable natural rights, consent of the governed, and liberal democracy. The country began expanding across North America, spanning the continent by 1848. Sectional division surrounding slavery in the Southern United States led to the secession of the Confederate States of America, which fought the remaining states of the Union during the American Civil War (1861–1865). With the Union's victory and preservation, slavery was abolished nationally by the Thirteenth Amendment.
Currency / Language
ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
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USD | United States dollar | $ | 2 |
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EN | English language |
FR | French language |
ES | Spanish language |