About a year ago, the staff and board at the Chestnut Hill Conservancy began discussing ideas for an exhibit to honor the semiquincentennial. According to Alex Bartlett, curator and archivist at the Conservancy, the idea of a Revolutionary War-themed exhibit was unlikely.
The Conservancy “has text describing the role of our area in the Revolutionary War, but how do you illustrate that? People don’t want to just stand and look at a wall that’s full of text,” Bartlett explained. “So we started to think, ‘How can we riff on the subject of the semiquincentennial and go on a tangent …
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About a year ago, the staff and board at the Chestnut Hill Conservancy began discussing ideas for an exhibit to honor the semiquincentennial. According to Alex Bartlett, curator and archivist at the Conservancy, the idea of a Revolutionary War-themed exhibit was unlikely.
The Conservancy “has text describing the role of our area in the Revolutionary War, but how do you illustrate that? People don’t want to just stand and look at a wall that’s full of text,” Bartlett explained. “So we started to think, ‘How can we riff on the subject of the semiquincentennial and go on a tangent from it?’ And then it occurred to us: What about doing something a little more general in terms of how we celebrate and mark moments?”
The Conservancy’s new exhibit, “Marking the Moment,” which opened on June 20 and will run through spring 2027, examines how Northwest Philadelphia celebrates major milestones. The exhibit is organized across four themes: With Our Organizations, In Our Neighborhoods, On Our Blocks, and In Our Parks.
Parades, festivals, block parties, and everyday celebrations are captured in the exhibit through a combination of photographs and objects such as program booklets, plaques, pins, and more.
Bartlett said the vast majority of the items on view come from the Conservancy’s archives, while several institutions and people donated objects. For instance, Allens Lane Art Center, the Roxborough Manayunk Wissahickon Historical Society, and Friends of Pastorius Park all contributed to the exhibit.
Many of the photographs displayed originally were published in the Chestnut Hill Local, which has housed its archives at the Conservancy since 2006.
For Bartlett, the exhibit exemplifies how people in Northwest Philadelphia enjoy celebrating — and have for a long time.
“This exhibit illustrates that there is a great breadth and depth in terms of what we celebrate and how we celebrate it throughout Northwest Philadelphia,” Bartlett said. “The way we celebrate is in some ways very timeless. Other than the clothes people were wearing and period cars, in the July 4th parade content, it could have been taken 100 years ago or 10 years ago.”
In addition to Bartlett’s contributions in putting the exhibit together, he also credits Dan Preston, the vice president of collections on the Conservancy’s board, and other volunteers and staff members.
“It was definitely a group effort, and that’s something to celebrate in itself,” Bartlett said.
“Marking the Moment” is on view at 8708 Germantown Ave. on Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. The exhibit will run through spring 2027.
Maggie Dougherty can be reached at Margaret@chestnuthilllocal.com.
