This museum has also been known as the Atwater Kent Philadelphia History Museum is now known as the Atwater Kent Philadelphia Museum.
It was started in 1938 by A. Atwater Kent, the radio pioneer who was the first to mass produce radios, producing 5,000 radio sets per day at the height of his prominence. The Company was privately owned and never went public. Atwater Kent, at the suggestion of John Wanamaker, bought the building which housed the Franklin Institute and saved the building from being dismantled and moved to Grose Point by Henry Ford. The process of collecting Philadelphia related memorabillia started by going to all the auctions of the time and purchasing famous prints, furniture, artifacts, paintings, toys and other objects that were typically enjoyed by Philadelphians. The Museum now has in its possesion an estimated 10,000 additional collectibles from the Historical Society of Philadelphia.
William Strickland and Thomas U. Walter taught the first architecture courses in the United States in this building.
Notable facts
- An exhibit of Norman Rockwell's art is now on display at the Atwater Kent having been brought over from the now-closed Norman Rockwell museum.
- It was the site of the nation's first weather bureau.
- The building was designed by John Haviland and loosely based on the design of the Greek Monument of Thrasyllus.
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