Better Philadelphia Exposition

[DCnPhilly]

I'm reading a book about Ed Bacon and it keeps referencing the Better Philadelphia Exhibition. Does anyone know if there is any information still out there about the exposition? I found a few pictures online, but not a lot. It's a shame Philadelphia doesn't have a City Museum. If the model used in the exposition is still out there, it really should be preserved.

[Jayfar]

We do have a city museum, the Atwater Kent Museum.

Atwater Kent Museum - Programs & Exhibitions

There's also the city archives.

Department of Records - City of Philadelphia

The Ed Bacon Foundation website, has a page with photos of the Better Philadelphia Exhibition.

http://www.edbacon.org/bacon/betterphila.htm

and a pdf of the brochure:

http://www.edbacon.org/bacon/pdf/bpe_brochure.pdf

Fascinating to read the list of contributors on the last page of the brochure, many of which are long gone.

[DCnPhilly]

We do have a city museum, the Atwater Kent Museum.

I pride myself on being a nerd, and I didn't even know this was a city museum.

[ZARK]

If I am not mistaken I think I remember seeing this as a boy at the old Commercial Museum in the early 60s. Would have blocks of the city that would filp around, showing before and after neighborhood rehabilitation.http://diamond.temple.edu:81/search~...ORT=D&9%2C9%2C

[Colin P. Varga]

If I am not mistaken I think I remember seeing this as a boy at the old Commercial Museum in the early 60s. Would have blocks of the city that would filp around, showing before and after neighborhood rehabilitation.http://diamond.temple.edu:81/search~...ORT=D&9%2C9%2C

So that long building where the Gallery is now with the road leading into it was going to solve the parking problem for years to come I suppose?

Where are the flying cars? Where are the flying cars? I don´t see any flying cars...

[rjwhite]

1947BetterPhiladelphiaExhibitsm.pdf - Box.net | PDF | 12.6 MB


The Architectural Forum, December 1947. Big article about the exhibition.

[snick33]

I pride myself on being a nerd, and I didn't even know this was a city museum.

Don't feel bad. Its closed for renovation until next fall.

I went the day before it closed last year and I will say while the quality was excellent...the amount was clearly lacking. Hopefully that will change after renovations.

[Mr Morley]

Years ago, the Atwater Kent was working on a deal that would have let them expand in to the office building behind them. It fell apart (I think because the economy got better and the owners of the building decided there were other things they could do with the space).

They have a really great collection covering the entire history of Philadelphia, but their current home is so small that they only can show a small fraction of it at any given time.

[Oladybug]

I pride myself on being a nerd, and I didn't even know this was a city museum.

I pride myself on being "a phillyphile" and can't believe I haven't visited AK yet. Another one of those bucket list items.