Please explore our wonderful city. We have included excursions for a variety of interests and ages so that any scribal or heraldic spouses and children will also have interesting activities while in Philadelphia.
Art and Culture
The Philadelphia Museum of Art hosts most of the Early Modern art and artifacts (and architectural fragments) in the city. Every Friday night (5:00–8:45 p.m.), admission is pay whatever amount you’d like. You can get entry tickets at the door, or you can skip the line by reserving ahead (even for Pay What You Want hours). Some examples of what you could see: Arms & Armor; South Asian Art from the second millennium BCE to the present day, including a pillars from a sixteenth-century South Indian Temple Hall; European Medieval Art, including a cloister; and East Asian Art from the Neolithic period (2500 BCE) to today and contains the oldest works in the museum.
This is also where we will have available a Friday Evening Gathering.
2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway – https://philamuseum.org/visit/getting-here
Getting there on your own: If you are in Center City already, the 38 bus will take you directly to the PMA’s easiest entrance. From the University of Pennsylvania, the 49 bus will take you from 33rd Street (there are stops from Spruce to Market Streets) to 25th & Fairmount Avenue, which is on the far side of some very wide streets (with crosswalks and crossing lights) and will put you below the iconic Museum steps (and near the Rocky statue, should you want that photo op) and you can either run up the step or walk up the sidewalk that curves around to the back entrance. Ride shares and taxis should also be a very affordable option.
Young Children
The Please Touch Museum is the ideal place to take children from about six months through age 8, and it’s located in the middle of a section of Fairmount Park. You need to reserve a ticket ahead of time. A lot of thought has been put into this museum’s accessibility, and there is a child-friendly cafe on site.
Memorial Hall, 4231 Avenue of the Republic – https://www.pleasetouchmuseum.org/visit
Getting there on your own: If you are in Center City already, the 38 bus will take you directly to the Please Touch Museum’s entrance. The 40 bus runs WEST along Spruce and NORTH on 38th before going NORTH to Parkside Avenue, where there’s a stop at West Memorial Hall Drive, which will have you walking past a playground to get to the Please Touch Museum.
Outdoors at the Zoo
The Philadephia Zoo can be a full day (9:30 AM to 3:00 PM) activity for all ages. Watch your energy levels, though, because it’s a downhill grade going in, and an uphill slog to leave if you wait until you’re already tired. Advance online registrations are required for general admission.
3400 W. Girard Avenue – https://www.philadelphiazoo.org/visit/
Getting there on your own: If you are in Center City already, the 38 bus will take you directly to the Zoo entrance. Otherwise your next best option is taxi/ride share or driving yourself (parking is $17). If we have enough interest for a group trip, we could arrange special bus service.
Penn Museum
The Penn Museum contractually does not compete for material with the Philadelphia Museum of Art, so they do not collect European Early Modern History art or artifacts. They do, however, have an excellent ancient Mediterranean collections, and their Central American and their African exhibits cover a wide range of time (from ancient to contemporary), so there will be some representation for most time periods. We are still in negotiations about repatriating our Benin Bronzes, and as far as I know we have not negotiated repatriating Egyptian mummies. During the Symposium, the Museum’s main Egyptian galleries will be closed for renovation, but they have relocated over 200 of the items that are usually displayed in those galleries so that they can still be viewed. The Museum is also being criticized for the racism and harm inherent in its skull collection (read more here), but also the museum has done extensive work with the local Lenape nation and has repatriated many native American artifacts and rebuilt those exhibits collaboratively.
Penn Museum will offer free admission to its galleries on June 28 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Online reservations are required. For more information, visit penn.museum
3269 South Street – https://www.penn.museum/visit/plan-your-visit
Getting there on your own: walk EAST on Spruce Street past 33rd, where the road bends and becomes South Street. Enter through the first (elevated) gate into a courtyard. Even though there is a ramp to that gate, if you want wheelchair access continue all the way to the end of the building, turn right, and follow the driveway to the group entrance (PDF link) by the parking lot.
Philadelphia’s Free Library and its Rare Books
The Free Library of Philadelphia has many locations, but the one on the Parkway is the main branch and that’s one of the places they have rare books. They offer a free tour of their Rare Book Department every Friday and Saturday at 11am, you meet on the 3rd floor in the lobby of the rare books department.
Other activities they will be offering while you are in town: Chair Yoga Friday at 1pm; Teen Video Games Friday at 3pm, and a PRIDE Summer marching band concert Saturday at 1pm.
1901 Vine Street (map) – they are open Friday and Saturday 9-5 and closed Sunday
Getting there on your own: walk to 33rd Street and catch the 49 bus. Pull the cord for your stop when the bus is crossing the big wide diagonal street with flags, and it will let you off just slightly North of the library. So get off the bus and turn right to walk back towards the Parkway, and then turn left to come around to the front of the library building.
The Rosenbach Museum and Library has ALSO ben affiliated with the Free Library since 2013. It was founded in 1954 by Dr. A.S.W. Rosenbach (1876-1952) and his brother, Philip (1863-1953). Renowned dealers in books, manuscripts, and fine art, the brothers played a central role in the development of private libraries that later became our nation’s most important public collections of rare books, such as the Folger and Huntington Libraries. The brothers’ own personal collection, now the core of the Rosenbach, features treasures the brothers were unable to part with, including the only surviving copy of Benjamin Franklin’s first Poor Richard Almanac and the manuscript of James Joyce’s Ulysses. Our collection is continuously growing, including the addition of the papers of poet Marianne Moore, and Bram Stoker’s notes for Dracula.
The Rosenbach brothers’ 1865 townhouse at 2010 Delancey Place is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and features an official marker placed by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in recognition of the enduring legacy of the Rosenbach brothers.
They have also offered to host a special presentation tailored to our conference on Friday from 2-4pm! You will need to register for $15 and space is limited. (more information)
2008-2010 Delancey Street – https://rosenbach.org/visit/
They are open Fridays and Saturdays 10:30am-6pm and Sundays 10:30am-4:30pm; Visitors are strongly encouraged to pre-register for timed tickets
Getting there on your own: from University City, go to Chestnut Street, catch either the 21 or 42 bus. Get off at 20th Street. Walk half a mile SOUTH to Delancey. (If you would like to get closer by bus, the 17 bus goes SOUTH on 19th and NORTH on 20th, but it is not a particularly frequent line. Also if you are starting at the Free Library, walk SOUTH on 19th to JFK Boulevard to pick up the 17 bus.) Turn Right/WEST onto Delancey, and the museum will be on the SOUTH side of the street. It should also be a fairly inexpensive ride share or taxi trip, especially if you share a ride with friends.
Anachronistic Castles of the northern Philadelphia Suburbs
Fonthill Castle was built between 1908 and 1912 for Henry Mercer, who was a wealthy American archaeologist/anthropologist and tilemaker. Fonthill Castle was was designed to be both his residence and showplace for his Moravian tiles. Nearby is the affiliated Mercer Museum which focuses on his collection of everyday objects and the tools used to create the tiles.
525 East Court Street, Doylestown, PA (map) https://www.mercermuseum.org/buytickets/
Glencairn Museum was built by a religious community using Gothic and Romanesque-style techniques between 1928 and 1939 for Raymond and Mildred (Glenn) Pitcairn and their children. The building now serves as a not-for-profit museum of religious art and history. Collections include ancient Egyptian, ancient Greek and Roman, medieval Christian, Islamic, Asian, and American Indian artifacts.
1001 Cathedral Rd #0757, Bryn Athyn, PA (map) https://www.glencairnmuseum.org/getting-to-the-museum
Getting there on your own: You will need a car.
Independent Bookstores of Philadelphia
Actually someone else has already made a MAP
UPenn and Slavery Walking Tour
The Penn & Slavery Project have been investigating Penn’s connections to slavery and scientific racism since 2017. The UPenn students have put together an app to take you on an augmented reality tour of Penn’s campus. The tour has 6 stops, each of which tells a part of the story of Penn’s deep relationship to slavery, including the University’s founding, its history as an academic institution, And the experience of marginalized Black and Indigenous lives. (link)
Self Guided Walking Tour (of pretty streets and coffee shops) of Philadelphia
This is a path I’ve taken several couchsurfers I’ve hosted on. I hope you enjoy it, too. Start off walking EAST on Spruce Street, and at 33rd, it will angle a little and turn into the start of South Street. You’ll walk between the University Museum on your right and the Athletic Stadium on your left. Continue across the South Street bridge and enjoy the scenic Schuylkill River. Turn Left/NORTH on 27th, and enjoy the cute little houses. This street will curve to the right/EAST and become Lombard Street. Follow Lombard to visit Rival Bros Coffee Shop at 24th Street. Then turn Left/NORTH on 24th Street and walk a couple blocks to Pine Street, where you will see Fitler Square and walk a curve through the park and come out at 23rd and Pine street. We’ll continue on Pine for just 1 more block and turn Left/NORTH on 22nd to stop by Good Karma Cafe.Turn Right/EAST onto Spruce Street. Walk 2 blocks on Spruce, and then turn Left/NORTH on 20th Street. Two blocks north, at 20th & Locust, you will find Ultimo Coffee and, if you need something more substantial now, on the other corner is Tortorice’s Sandwiches To-Go. Grab your sandwich and walk 1 block EAST (the same direction as cars are going) to Rittenhouse Square for a picnic lunch.
After lunch you have a few options:
Option 1) I’m tired and want to go home! Great! You are right by Walnut Street (the street that runs along the NORTH side of the park) and can catch the 21 bus back to campus!
Option 2) I would like to buy some fancy groceries and then go home. Walk diagonally through Rittenhouse Square and exit at 18th & Walnut. Continue NORTH on 18th for 2 blocks, and we’re going to DiBruno Brothers (there are entrances on both 18th and Chestnut Streets). Feel free to ask for a cheesemonger to help guide you through samples of the cheeses at the back of the store.
Option 3) I would like some Philadelphia History! Locust is a prettier walk than Walnut Street at this point, so head to the Southeast corner of the park, but not all the way to the corner. And start heading EAST. We’re going all the way to Broad Street (which would be 14th) – have a look around and see our larger theaters and orchestra halls – cross halfway and stop on the median for a photo op with City Hall in the background – and then continue on to the block of Locust Street between Broad and 13th, where you’ll find both the Historical Society (their exhibits are usually a bit dry, but they can be viewed free of charge anytime during library open hours) and The Library Company, which has a great collection and is open to researchers, but they do not usually have much in the way of exhibits. And then once you hit 13th Street, you’ll be greeted by a wonderful mural and rainbow crosswalks for Philadelphia’s Gayborhood! Once you get to 12th Street, if you turn Left and go a little bit NORTH, you can visit J’aime French Bakery, which I always hit up during OutFest. After that brief detour, we are going SOUTH on 12th to Pine Street, where we will visit Giovanni’s Room, an historic queer and feminist bookstore. Continue EAST on Pine to 11th Street, where you’ll see Kahn Park. When you reach 10th, there’s Jiggy Coffee. Continuing on Pine, you’ll be able to see the old historical part of Pennsylvania Hospital between 9th and 8th Streets (north side of the street). Once you reach 7th street, turn Left/NORTH. Continue north on 7th until you run into Washington Square Park. Walk diagonally through to Walnut at 6th Street. And then as you go NORTH on 6th, you will start to pass Philadelphia’s Independence Historical Park on your right. At this point, do not jump over any fences or jaywalk or try to find alternative entrances or shortcuts – the National Park Rangers will yell at you. Just keep going all the way North to Market Street. On the North side of the street is the Independence Visitor Center, and they will have maps and tickets and guides to the historic district. To get home from there, you can either take the Market-Frankford (subway) Line or the 21 bus.