Academy of Natural Sciences, on the Parkway at Logan Circle, was founded, 1812, in the house of Thomas Say, Esq., northwest corner of Second and Market Streets. The Museum, for its historic value and extent of its collection, is one of the most important in existence; arranged in two series, an exhibition for the public, and reference for specialists. Library contains about 60,000 volumes, nearly all on natural sciences; several important publications are issued by the Academy, and numerous lectures on natural history are given annually. Contains portraits of founders, Thomas Say, Gerard Troost, William Maclure, Charles Lesueur, Sir Joseph Banks, Samuel L. Mitchell. All painted by Charles Willson Peale, and hung in Peale’s Museum; others by noted artists are Robert Bridges, Isaac Lea, Joseph Leidy, by Bernard Uhle; Jacob Gilliams by P. F. Rothermel; William Hempbell and George Ord by John Neagle; Samuel G. Morton by Paul Weber; W. S. W. Ruschenberger by William K. Hewitt; Isaac Wistar by Robert Vonnoh; also a fine study model of Alexander Wilson, the ornithologist, by Charles Grafly, and statuette of same by Alexander Calder.
American Philosophical Society, 103 South Fifth Street, on lot in State House yard, given the Society by the state in 1785; colonial, brick; built, 1789: originated in “The Junto” formed by Benjamin Franklin, 1727, with the object of mutual improvement; received its name 1769, “The American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, for Promoting Useful Knowledge.” Benjamin Franklin, then in Europe, sole American plenipotentiary to France from the thirteen provinces, was elected first president, and continued until his death in 1790. David Rittenhouse, second president, served until his death in 1796; he, with other members, successfully observed the Transit of Venus, June 3, 1769, giving the first approximately accurate results to the world, in the measurements of the spheres; he also constructed an orrery for measuring heavenly bodies. Thomas Jefferson, third president, served eighteen years, while he was also Vice-President and President of the United States, and established its library and cabinet. Present President, Dr. W. W. Keen. Its membership is world wide. At the meetings, held regularly, the most advanced thought in scientific investigation is presented. The Society now owns most of the Franklin papers in existence, recently calendared in five volumes by Dr. I. Minis Hays; field notes of Lewis and Clark expedition; original copy of Penn’s Charter of Privileges, dated 1701; manuscript volume, Laws of Pennsylvania prior to 1700, and original broadside, Declaration of Independence. Oil portraits of all its Presidents are here and of many leading members; notably, George Washington, by Gilbert Stuart; President Jefferson, Benjamin Rush, John Vaughn, Caspar Wistar, P. S. DuPonceau, all by Thomas Sully; David Rittenhouse and Samuel Vaughn by C. W. Peale; Joseph Priestly and Chief Justice William Tilghman by Rembrandt Peale; Daniel G. Brinton by Thomas Aikens; Professor Alexander Dallas Bache by Huntington; General Isaac Wistar and Joseph Henry by Bernard Uhle; several notable busts of Jefferson, Turgot, and Condorcet by Houdon; Benjamin Franklin by Caffieri; and of Lafayette, Alexander Hamilton, and Nicholas Biddle.
The Franklin Institute, Seventh Street above Chestnut; organized, 1824; open free daily; classic, marble, built, 1825; John Haviland, architect. First organization in the United States to combine science with practice; the lecture course presents, free to the public, latest advances in useful arts and sciences, by distinguished technologists; also popular illustrated addresses on topics of the day; school of Mechanic Arts includes instruction in mechanical and architectural drawing, said to be one of the most thorough and practical in the United States. Library is second to none, in extent and completeness, as reference for scientific literature; The Franklin Journal, published since 1825, monthly, is the only record extant of a number of early United States patents. They held first exhibition in America of American manufactures, 1824, in Carpenters’ Hall, and first electrical exhibition in America. Portraits include Dr. Benjamin Franklin and Matthias W. Baldwin by Sully, Daguerre by Abraham Whiteside, and bust of Henry Clay by William Rush, carved wood. Among relics are typesetting and electrical machines, used by Benjamin Franklin, and early models of machinery. Will be moved to Parkway, Race Street, east of Nineteenth Street.
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1300 Locust Street, in mansion of General Robert Patterson, enlarged and made fireproof; founded, 1824. Open 10.00 A.M. to 6.00 P.M.; July and August, closes at 4.00 P.M.; publishes the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography; contains probably the largest collection of sources of American history assembled in any one place; includes over 100,000 bound books, 250,000 pamphlets, 7000 volumes of manuscripts and some 3500 volumes of newspapers, which are invaluable to the student of colonial and Revolutionary history; an Index to the Marriages and Deaths, in Dunlap, Claypoole and Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser, creates a constant demand for the files of that newspaper for genealogical purposes; Tom Paine’s American Crisis, 1776, and many other rare imprints of Americans. The Society has a large and exceedingly rich collection of oil paintings; practically all the governors of the state are represented in portraiture on its walls, some of the mayors of Philadelphia, and portraits of many Revolutionary officers; a portrait of Johannes Kelpius, the “Hermit of the Wissahickon,” by Christopher Wick, in 1704, is believed to be the earliest portrait in oil painted in America; portraits of Gustavus Hesselius, his wife, and of Robert Morris, Sr., father of the financier, painted by Gustavus Hesselius, are of historic interest; a fine collection of original
GEORGE WASHINGTON
From the collection in Independence Hall
Painted by Rembrandt Peale
portraits, drawings, studies, and manuscripts by Benjamin West, includes the full length portrait of William Hamilton of the Woodlands, and his niece, Mrs. Ann Hamilton Lyle, probably the most beautiful of West’s portraits in this city; other artists represented are Charles Willson Peale, Jacob Eicholtz, Thomas Sully, Rembrandt Peale, John Neagle, Charles Gilbert Stuart, Robert Edge Pine, John Singleton Copley, Walter G. Gould, Henry Inman, Paul Weber, and William E. Winner. Among the miniatures are those by John Trumbull, James Peale, and Robert Fulton. Marble busts are of Washington, Franklin, Milton, Henry Clay, Major General Robert Patterson, T. Buchanan Read, and Dr. Joseph Parrish. Relics of great historic interest include the Ephrata Printing Press, the Charter of the City of Philadelphia, and the “Great Belt of Wampum,” representing the famous Shackamaxon Treaty between William Penn and the Indians, “never signed and never broken.”