Paintings, photographs, prints, objects and documents use William Penn’s vision to explore Philadelphia street activity over 300 years in an exhibition that showcases objects from the City Records Department, individual City departments and the Atwater Kent Museum collection. Since 1682, Philadelphia’s streets have been central to the city’s identity as an urban center. While Penn’s vision often clashed with the expectations of Philadelphia residents, it has remained a touchstone, a barometer, for subsequent generations to measure their care of the city’s legacy.

Featured in the exhibition are the Philadelphia City Charter drafted by William Penn to residents in 1701, the wampum belt believed to have been given to Penn by the Lenape tribe, a waywiser from the Department of Licenses and Inspection, police paraphernalia from the late 1800s, a pushcart used on the streets by Freihofer’s Bread Company in 1900, torches from the 19th century used in parades, a banner from the 1840s opposing immigration, and parade puppets from Spiral Q.