View source for Philadelphia History Museum

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name = Philadelphia History Museum
| nrhp_type = 
| image = Philadelphia History Museum at the Atwater Kent from south.jpg
| caption = (2013)
| location = 15 S. 7th Street<br/>[[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]]
| coordinates = {{coord|39|57|1|N|75|9|9|W|display=inline,title}}
| locmapin = Philadelphia#Pennsylvania#USA
| built = 1825
| architect = [[John Haviland]]
| architecture = [[Greek Revival architecture|Greek Revival]]
| added = August 1, 1979
| refnum = 79002319<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2007a}}</ref>
}}

The '''Philadelphia History Museum''' was a public history museum located in [[Center City, Philadelphia]] 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]] structure built in 1824–1826 for the [[Franklin Institute]].<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Cite web|url=https://www.philadelphiahistory.org/about/museum-history/|title=Museum History — Philadelphia History Museum|website=www.philadelphiahistory.org|language=en-US|access-date=2017-07-15}}</ref> 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.<ref name=nris/>

==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]], and [[A. Atwater Kent]], radio pioneer and inventor. In 1938 Kent purchased the former [[Franklin Institute]] building, which the Institute had vacated in 1933,<ref name=philarch>{{cite philarch}}, p.36</ref> 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.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

After years of declining attendance and financial shortfalls, the museum closed its doors in 2018.<ref>{{Cite news|url= https://whyy.org/articles/philadelphia-history-museum-shuts-its-doors-indefinitely/|title=Philadelphia History Museum Shuts its Doors Indefinitely|access-date=2021-03-06}}</ref> 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. Drexel was granted control of the collection in April 2022.<ref>{{Cite news|url= https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia-history-museum-transfer-drexel-university-atwater-kent-20190911.html|title=Drexel is Prepared to Take Charge of Philadelphia History Museum holdings|access-date=2021-03-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://whyy.org/articles/historical-society-pushes-back-on-plan-to-transfer-philly-history-museum-to-drexel-university/|title=Historical Society Pushes Back on Plan to Transfer Philly History Museum to Drexel University|access-date=2022-06-11}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hopkins |first=Earl |title='A museum without walls': the Atwater Kent collection is now accessible online |url=https://www.inquirer.com/arts/atwater-kent-collection-drexel-university-online-database-20230216.html |url-status= |access-date=2023-07-12 |website=Philadelphia Inquirer |date=16 February 2023 |language=en}}</ref>
[[Drexel University]] has reverted the name of the collection to refer to [[Atwater Kent]] as the [[Atwater Kent Collection at Drexel]].

Since closing, the city-owned building has been boarded up and neglected, with the rear garden accumulating trash and the building violating code.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Marin |first=Max |date=2025-06-27 |title=Philadelphia’s defunct history museum is now a blighted eyesore on East Market |url=https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia-history-museum-closed-blight-atwater-kent-building-20250627.html |access-date=2025-06-27 |website=Inquirer.com |language=en}}</ref>

==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]] art and artifact collection in 2009, 1700 [[Quaker]]-related items from Friends Historical Association Collection, and collections reflecting Philadelphia manufacturing, the 1876 [[Centennial Exposition]], toys and miniatures, and radio broadcasting.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Highlights from the permanent exhibitions included the boxing gloves of [[Joe Frazier]],<ref name="broadstreetreview.com">{{Cite news|url=https://www.broadstreetreview.com/museums/philadelphia-history-museum-at-the-atwater-kent|title=Philadelphia History Museum at the Atwater Kent|access-date=2017-07-15}}</ref> the desk of [[George Washington]],<ref name="philadelphiahistory.org">{{Cite web|url=https://www.philadelphiahistory.org/collections/special-collections/|title=Special Collections — Philadelphia History Museum|website=www.philadelphiahistory.org|language=en-US|access-date=2017-07-15}}</ref> a drinking glass owned by [[Benjamin Franklin]],<ref name="broadstreetreview.com"/> and a [[wampum]] belt allegedly given to [[William Penn]] by the [[Lenape]].<ref name="philadelphiahistory.org"/>

==See also==
*{{Portal-inline|Philadelphia}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[https://www.philadelphiahistory.org/ Official website]
*[https://www.ushistory.org/tour/tour_atwater.htm Virtual Tour of Philadelphia's stop at the Atwater Kent]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060324094511/https://www.phila.gov:80/recreation/historical/atwater/ Philadelphia Department of Recreation]
*{{HABS |survey=PA-121 |id=pa0696 |title=Franklin Institute, 15 South Seventh Street, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA |photos=1 |dwgs=8 |data=2 |cap=1 |supp=yes}}
*{{Philadelphia Architects and Buildings|pj=17587|Atwater Kent Museum}}
*Atwater Kent Collection at Drexel [https://philadelphiahistory.org/about]

{{Philadelphia}}
{{Museums in Pennsylvania |state=collapsed}}
{{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania|state=collapsed}}

{{Authority control}}

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