Philadelphia’s proposed Atwater Kent arrangement would settle who owns the collection without determining where the public can see it. The city would retain about 130,000 objects related to its history, while Drexel University would continue conserving, exhibiting and lending them, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The proposal departs from a plan approved by Orphans’ Court in 2022 to transfer the collection to Drexel; that transfer agreement was never signed, the Inquirer reported. Mayor Cherelle L. Parker initiated the shift after taking office in 2024, saying in a joint statement that she wanted the collection to remain city-owned. Under the arrangement being negotiated, trustees drawn from the former Atwater Kent museum board—not Drexel—would oversee the artifacts, according to the newspaper.
Ownership does not settle public access
The Philadelphia History Museum at the Atwater Kent has been closed since 2018, and the ownership plan does not announce a reopening or a dedicated exhibition site. Drexel has made collection records available online and presented objects publicly since taking on its stewardship work, according to the university’s collection updates. The collection was moved to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Center City by January 2023; that is its storage location, not a permanent public museum space.
The former museum building is a separate concern from where the collection is stored. A 2025 city inspection identified code violations that remained unresolved as of July 2026, while the vacant property had accumulated trash, weeds and graffiti, according to PhillyVoice.
Care and funding remain part of the arrangement
Drexel has continued digitizing and conserving objects, arranging exhibitions and seeking support despite the lack of a completed transfer. The Inquirer reported that the university’s management costs were described as roughly neutral and that the city pays the storage lease at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
The Inquirer reported that grants to the collection totaled $2,700,297 as of September 2026 and donations totaled $739,641 as of December 2025. An endowment campaign had raised $637,500 toward a $2 million target, with investment income intended to support collection care over time.
A separate line in the city’s museum budget
Philadelphia’s proposed FY2027 General Fund budget includes $2,142,000 to support Philadelphia Museum of Art operations, according to the museum’s budget testimony. The testimony does not identify that funding as support for the Atwater Kent Collection.
The collection originated with A. Atwater Kent, who bought the former Franklin Institute building on Seventh Street, just south of Market, and donated it for a museum devoted to Philadelphia history. The museum opened in 1941. The collection includes George Washington’s mahogany desk and objects connected to the 1876 Centennial Exposition, among other material, according to the Inquirer. The pending agreement addresses who owns and oversees the collection; when or where it might again have a permanent public exhibition space remains unanswered.
