To Encourage Outstanding Scholarship: The Collecting Legacy of Dr. Roger W. Moss
In 1968, Dr. Roger W. Moss was appointed Executive Director of a moribund 19th century subscription library. During his 40-year tenure on Washington Square, he restored and expanded The Athenaeum of Philadelphia building, secured its nomination as a National Historic Landmark, hired a professional staff and doubled its membership. Under his guidance, The Athenaeum attracted internationally significant collections documenting architecture, interior design and urban design, including architectural drawings, photographs, maps, prints, rare books, manuscripts and objects.
This exhibition, displaying highlights of Moss’s outstanding legacy of collecting, is part of the 2025 Roger W. Moss Symposium, Material Culture, Architecture and Preservation: The Work and Legacy of Dr. Roger W. Moss (1940-2025). It is curated by Bruce Laverty, former Gladys Brooks Curator of Architecture, The Athenaeum of Philadelphia.
Building America, Becoming American: Philadelphia's Early Immigrant Designers
In the Lantern Gallery.
This exhibition explores the foundational role immigrant architects and designers played in establishing the character of Philadelphia's urban landscape. Mainly from Western Europe, early figures like John Haviland, Paul Philippe Cret and Nicola D'Ascenzo reflected Philadelphia's role as a primary destination for immigration in the 19th century. As these architects and designers built Philadelphia, so did the immigrant communities they represented come to define Philadelphia's – and America's – ethnically diverse, culturally rich character. Grounded in these foundational figures, the exhibition also points to more recent immigrant architects who continue to bring their diverse viewpoints to America's built environment.
Curated by The Athenæum of Philadelphia Archives Staff.
Image: "Rodin Museum." Cret Collection, The Athenæum of Philadelphia.
Lost Creeks of Philadelphia: Burying the Streams, Building the City
In the Dorothy W. & F. Otto Haas Gallery.
Between the 1760s and the 1960s, hundreds of miles of the Philadelphia’s surface streams were channeled into underground sewers — some more than 20 feet across — that became integral to the drainage of the expanding urban grid. Burying streams was one of many drastic alterations to the city’s original landscape that provided a more level surface for its buildings and streets. Using maps and plans, drawings and paintings, and old and modern photographs, The Lost Creeks of Philadelphia reveals why and how this work was done and shows how this work still affects the city today. This exhibit challenges the way visitors look at any city, reminding us that what we see on the surface tells only part of the story. Curated by Adam Levine, Philadelphia Water Department, and Joseph Elliott, photographer.
Adam E. Levine first began researching the city’s lost creeks in 1988, after learning that Mill Creek in West Philadelphia had been buried in a sewer. In 1997 he wrote a newspaper story about the city’s sewer system, which led to a job with the Philadelphia Water Department as an historical consultant, which continues to this day. As part of PWD’s public affairs team, Levine presents lectures about the city’s water and sewer infrastructure, leads tours of the city’s hidden watersheds, maintains the PWD Historical Collection and curates the department’s history website, WaterHistoryPHL.org. His book, tentatively titled The Lost Landscapes of Philadelphia, will be published by Temple University Press in 2027.
Joseph Elliott specializes in photography of historic infrastructure, industry and architecture. Over the past 30 years he has worked with the Historic American Buildings Survey and many private clients. Elliott’s books include The Steel: Photographs of the Bethlehem Steel Plant, Palazzos of Power, co-authored with Aaron Wunsch, Philadelphia: Finding the Hidden City, co-authored with Peter Woodall and Nathaniel Popkin, and In Exchange for Gold, co-authored with Richard Niesenbaum. Elliott is a lecturer in the Department of Historic Preservation Program at the Stuart Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania.
Image: Rock Creek Sewer in Ashdale Street, looking west from Sta. 11+08. August 3, 1922. Neg. 19223, Philadelphia City Archives.
