Experience Philadelphia! permanent exhibition

Anchored by a 40-by-40-foot Rand McNally map of the region, Experience Philadelphia ! invites you to walk across the gallery floor from South Philadelphia to Montgomery County . This unique gallery features objects from the AKMP collection and answers the questions: Where in the world is Philadelphia ? Who lives there? What do they do? How does the city work? Visitors experience a 300-year overview of city history, an orientation to the region and are able to link the stories of urban life to locations on the world's largest map of Philadelphia . Experience Philadelphia ! is funded by The William Penn Foundation, The Philadelphia Foundation and individual gifts from the AKMP Board of Trustees.

How Philly Works: Streets as Barometers of Urban Life, on Exhibit October 6, 2006 through 2008

Presented in collaboration with the City Records Department and drawn from City Archives, City Departments, and AKMP's City History collection, the exhibit includes paintings, photographs, prints, objects and documents that use William Penn's vision to explore Philadelphia street activity over 300 years. Since 1682, Philadelphia 's streets have been central to the city's identity as an urban center. While Penn's vision often clashed with the expectations of Philadelphia residents, it has remained a touchstone, a barometer, for subsequent generations to measure their care of the city's legacy.
Featured in the exhibition are the Philadelphia City Charter drafted by William Penn to residents in 1701, the wampum belt believed to have been given to Penn by the Lenape tribe, a waywiser used to measure city streets, police paraphernalia from the late 1800s, a pushcart used on the streets by Freihofer's Bread Company in 1900, torches from the 19th century used in parades, a banner from the 1840s opposing immigration, and parade puppets from Spiral Q. Visitors are welcome to access the City records on computers provided in the exhibition. Another special feature of the exhibition is an original soundscape created in Fall 2006 by Philadelphia audio artist John J.H. Phillips.

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So, what's the story about violence in Philadelphia? Philadelphia Partnership for Peace

The exhibition is the Atwater Kent Museum of Philadelphia's contribution to the Philadelphia Partnership for Peace, a two-year initiative to combat youth violence, headed by the Free Library of Philadelphia. Providing historical context to an issue of extraordinary contemporary importance, the exhibit is installed as kiosks at five library branches through 2008:

Widener Library, 2808 West Lehigh Avenue
Wyoming Library, 231 East Wyoming Avenue
Wynnefield Library, 325 Overbrook Avenue
Paschalville Library, 6942 Woodland Avenue
Blanche A. Nixon/Cobbs Creek Library, 5800 Cobbs Creek Parkway

Another partner, the House of UMOJA, based in West Philadelphia, created the docudrama, "A Place to Go Home," that is shown in the exhibition room daily. The film, produced by Strong Majic Film Productions, traces the House of UMOJA's nonviolence initiatives. It may also be seen at the branch libraries listed above. A fourth partner, WXPN-FM 88.5 radio station, produced "16 Keepers of the Culture", stories about peace and non-violence broadcast monthly. A complete listing of all Partnership for Peace programs is listed on the Web site: http://kidscorner.org/peace. The Philadelphia Partnership for Peace is sponsored by: Partnership for a Nation of Learners, a Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services Leadership Initiative.

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Norman Rockwell: The Artist Behind the Image

The exhibition of 45 Saturday Evening Post covers celebrates the artistic talent of this iconic American artist by highlighting some of his particular visual and technical skills as a painter and illustrator. Rockwell’s depictions of American life rank among the most popular images produced during the 20th century in the United States. His unforgettable characters and their environs are a mixture of reality and an ideal version of the country during the modern era. Jonathan Wallis, Chair of Liberal Arts and an assistant professor of Modern and Contemporary Art at Moore College of Art and Design, is Guest Curator of the exhibition.

Wonderful World of Radio Exhibition, December 20, 2006 through 2008

The Wonderful World of Radio features early radios along with advertising artwork from the Atwater Kent Manufacturing Company. Excerpts of popular radio shows from 1920-1950 are available in the gallery so visitors may listen to vintage recordings including Eddie Cantor and the stock market crash in 1929, the Hindenburg disaster of 1937, Jesse Owens at the Berlin Olympics in 1936, and Lou Gehrig’s farewell address on July 4, 1939.

> Radio production flourished in Philadelphia and Greater Philadelphia during the first half of the 20th century. Two giants in the field, the Atwater Kent Manufacturing Company and Philco had their plants in Philadelphia and RCA had its headquarters in Camden, New Jersey. These companies employed thousands of people directly in production, advertising, and distribution of their products as well as indirectly through the expansion of radio programming. The exhibition highlights examples of these products and provides a historical overview of Philadelphia’s pivotal role in radio manufacturing and distribution.

Programs

"Philadelphia at your Feet", a 15-minute program including historical film footage, is presented at 2 p.m. every Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday.

Quest for Freedom, every Friday, 2:00 p.m. through December, 2008. Free with AKMP admission.

Philadelphian's stories in the Quest for Freedom for African Americans during the 1800s are the focus of this 30-minute program. Visitors see 12 important objects from the Philadelphia City History Collection including the portrait of Stephen Smith, a prominent African American businessman and abolitionist leader, a child's dress made from free (non-slave grown or manufactured) cotton, a portrait of the white abolitionist John Brown who led the 1859 attack on Harper's Ferry, and an Elks Lodge banner honoring the African American voting rights activist Octavius V. Catto. Other objects include a silver bowl that accompanied an enslaved child to Philadelphia in 1692 and wrist shackles from the 1700s. This program is held in the building where Stephen Smith introduced the author, abolitionist, and former slave Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) at a recruitment rally for black soldiers in 1863.