For those unaware, PAFA has a new exhibit called "Philadelphia Revealed: Unpacking the Attic". It's an exhibit showcasing vignettes from the collection of the former Philadelphia History Museum, highlighting important pieces of Philadelphia's history. Rather than being narrative, it's organized into themes - industry, transportation, sports, etc

It's a very well done exhibit, and focuses on the more mundane items in the Atwater Kent collection, highlighting more on daily life than celebrities and politicians. I highly recommend a visit, and the upstairs exhibit about PAFA on Appalachian art is also very nice

But visiting the exhibit was sad for me - much of the history it highlights is now history in Philadelphia, and the collection was assembled in part from other defunct museums and institutions - the Philadelphia Civic Center museum among others

Sadly, that now includes the Atwater Kent itself. In lieu of providing a fairly modest subsidy to run it, even after the Nutter administration spent several million on renovations to modernize it, the Kenney administration shut the museum down. On his way out Kenney made sure to give the collection away to Drexel University, all but ensuring that the Philadelphia History Museum will never re-open. Rendell kept the museum open during the bad days of the early 90s - Kenney wouldn't keep it open during the boom years of the late 2010s

this exhibit was well done, and Drexel seems to have done a decent job managing the collection so far - but it's likely that no dedicated Philadelphia History Museum will ever exist again. Objects from the collection will be displayed here and there, occasional special exhibits like this will be established, Drexel might set up a small permanent exhibit on campus with rotating space for its museum studies students to display their thesis projects. But a flagship city museum for Philadelphia is gone, likely for good

In my view, having a city museum is a sign that a city is proud of itself and believes in itself. New York and Chicago have them. London and Paris have them. Shanghai has two. Philadelphia used to have one, but no longer, and probably never will again

But please if you have the time, visit the PAFA exhibit. It's well done and informative, you'll feel city pride (even if of the bittersweet sort), and by showing strong visitor numbers to this exhibit, hopefully it will convince other city institutions to use the Atwater Kent's collection more. And who knows, maybe we can convince the Parker administration to give the Atwater Kent another shot