Monthly Archives: August 2011
Continuing the Civil War at the Centennial Exhibition
“The American Soldier” at the Centennial Exhibition, Centennial Photographic Company, 1876. Our understanding of Philadelphia’s Centennial Exhibition in 1876 suffers from an ironic condition. The first American world’s fair was so thoroughly documented that the sheer amount of material keeps better understanding at bay. To come to terms with the significance of the event considered [...]
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Why Remember Edison High School?
Edison High School, originally Northeast Manual Training School, October 16, 1912. Nearly every high school in America sent graduates off to the place we nervously called “Saigon U.” In the late 1960s, we knew all too well that some would return in body bags. But no high school in America suffered as many casualties as [...]
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“The Boulevard”
Roosevelt Boulevard, officially named the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Boulevard, is one of Philadelphia’s most important traffic arteries. It carries millions of drivers every day and is arguably the backbone of Northeast Philadelphia. Roosevelt Boulevard has become such a part of Philadelphia that when one speaks of “the Boulevard” anyone who’s lived in Philadelphia for any [...]
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Travels In The Unpretentious City
View From Temple University, “Progress – Permanent Paving – Broad Street East Side of Berks Street. August 17, 1926.” Philadelphia is my city. That’s for better and for worse, which can make living here inspiring or infuriating. But if I had to pick a single word to describe the real Philadelphia, it would be “unpretentious.” [...]
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Words, Not Pictures, Tell Philadelphia’s Earthquake History