Call Number:

SFS

Repository:

Philadelphia Museum of Art Archives

Extent:

4 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

[Item identification and date], [Series info.], Special Format Records. Scrapbooks, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Archives.

Date:

1874-1930 (inclusive)

Creator:

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Abstract:

None available.

America celebrated its first 100 years of independence with an exhibition to rival Europe's expositions popularized during the second half of the 19th century. Officially organized as the International Exhibition of Arts, Manufacturers and Products of the Soil and Mine, the event was commonly referred to, both then and now, as the Centennial Exhibition, and intended to focus on the country's progress and equality with foreign industry, technology and culture. Held in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park, the exhibition was staged over 285 acres, with more than 250 pavilions to present displays from the United States and those of the 37 participating countries. One of the Centennial's most enduring legacies was its art gallery that led to the establishment of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Intended as a permanent building, Memorial Hall was constructed to house more than 4,000 works of art and applied arts and countless photographs from 20 countries. The following year the building, which still stands today, reopened as a permanent museum. It was chartered as the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, the original name of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Memorial Hall served as the Museum's home for more than half a century. During its earliest years and in the spirit of the Centennial celebration, the Museum's holdings focused on the industrial arts. The collections, however, would expand to encompass fine and decorative art objects, including objects made in Europe and Japan. Perhaps the earliest major expansion in the Museum's collection occurred In 1893. That year Mrs. W.P. Wilstach, widow of a Philadelphia leather manufacturer, bequeathed her large painting collection to the City of Philadelphia, as well as an endowment of half a million dollars to purchase additional works of art. The gift allowed for new acquisitions of art, which in turn, made obvious the need for additional space.

The following year, Philadelphia's City Councils, at the urging of the Fairmount Park Commission, appropriated funds to design a new museum, and in 1895 an announcement was made that a competition would be held. At that time, a Federal period house known as Lemon Hill, which was located in the City's Fairmount Park, was to be razed so that the grounds would serve as the site for the new building. Almost four decades would pass before the new museum would open to the public. During that period, a number of changes occurred that would lead to starts and stops in the grand project, including changes in design, architects, municipal government endorsement, and, thus funding. One of the most significant changes, occurring more than 20 years into the project planning, pertained to the building's location. In 1919 the City decided to stop using the water reservoir located on a flat hill in Fairmount Park, and this site became the new and final location for the museum. Ironically, the early 19th century house originally planned for demolition to accommodate the building later served as the home to Fiske Kimball, the Museum's director from 1925 to 1950, who tirelessly orchestrated the completion of the new building's construction and the new direction of the Museum's interior spaces and collection goals. Also during this period, and in typical Philadelphia fashion, private citizens would take the lead in forming committees to push the project to its completion. On March 26, 1928, the citizens of Philadelphia finally were able to visit the magnificent neoclassical structure of dolomite and terra cotta that welcomed them atop the hill.

Works Consulted
1. (Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1977). Brownlee, David B. Making a modern classic: the architecture of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
2. Centennial exhibition digital collection. Free Library of Philadelphia. "Exhibition facts" and "Tours: Memorial Hall."

This collection, primarily of newspaper clippings, documents the Museum's earliest developments as reported by the media. The Centennial Exhibition scrapbooks that comprise the first series pertain to the international event that led to the establishment of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Oversized and detailed illustrations make up most of the approximately 400 pages of clippings taken from newspapers published in various states, as well as a few European countries. Comprised of five letter-sized volumes of clippings and one oversized book primarily of ephemera, the "Memorial Hall and School" series documents the museum's earliest mission as a museum and school focusing on American-made objects with an emphasis on textiles and the industrial arts. The two scrapbooks that comprise the final series, "New Building," document the construction and opening of the facility that continues to serve today as the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The scrapbooks were compiled by the firm of Zantzinger, Borie and Medary, the architects retained by the Fairmount Park Commission to construct the new building.

Similar in scope is the scrapbook compiled by Hannah Ann Zell, which is part of the Museum Archive's manuscript collection. The clippings pertain to Zell's activities during the Centennial Exhibition and later for the Associates Committee of Women on behalf of the Pennsylvania Museum's School of Industrial Art. For documentation of the Museum's more recent history, see the Public Relations Department Records. An entire series is devoted to 64 scrapbooks that contain clippings of museum-related events, exhibitions and people from 1927 to 1972.