Caption: Portraits of Lenape chiefs Tishcohan (left) and Lapowinsa (right), painted around the time of the Walking Purchase treaty, circa 1735.
Atwater Kent Museum (Historical Society of Pennsylvania)
Caption: The landscape of Pennsylvania as it might have appeared at the time of William Penn's arrival is captured in this Christopher Shearer painting.
Gift of Mr. And Mrs. Elmer Gring, The State Museum of Pennsylvania 68.138
Caption: After landing at New Castle and Chester, William Penn took a barge up the Delaware River to a lightly populated area of Swedes, Dutch, and Indians, that he decided would be the site for a settlement he named Philadelphia. Penn landed near the mouth of Dock Creek, which flowed into the Delaware near present-day Spruce Street.
Gift of Mr. And Mrs. Meyer P. Potamkin, The State Museum of Pennsylvania 95.75.89
Caption: In this building at Chester, Pennsylvania, William Penn convened his first legislature and wrote and enacted the first version of what is now known as his "Great Law," over three days in December, 1682.
Painting by William L. Breton, courtesy The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Caption: William Penn's relationship with the Native Americans has become the stuff of legend. Many versions of his alleged meeting with them were created to memorialize it, including this German lithophane. The scene has become symbolic of Penn's intention of peace and tolerance.
Gift of Mr. And Mrs. Meyer P. Potamkin, The State Museum of Pennsylvania 95.75.74
Caption: A 19th century reprint of a letter written by William Penn to his Native American friends before his return to England in 1682. In it, he states: "If any thing should be out of order, expect when I come, it shall be mended…"
Gift of Mr. And Mrs. Meyer P. Potamkin, The State Museum of Pennsylvania 95.75.106
Caption: The "Treaty Elm," the giant elm tree where Native Americans may have met with William Penn. It was blown down in a storm in March of 1810.
Courtesy of the State Museum of Philadelphia.
Caption: In 1827, a monument was placed near the site of the Treaty Elm, known as the Penn Treaty Park in Philadelphia.
Gift of Mr. And Mrs. Meyer P. Potamkin, The State Museum of Pennsylvania 95.75.70
Caption: Between 1870 and 1920 Philadelphia's population exploded from 674,000 to close to 1,824,000 people, as immigrants from Europe and African Americans from the American South poured into the city's expanding industrial neighborhoods. In 1920, Philadelphia was still the nation's third largest city.
Library of Congress
Caption: Another view of Philadelphia in 1876, with vignettes of prominent buildings in the city.
Library of Congress
Caption: The Eastern State Penitentiary was begun in 1787 by a group of Philadelphians who wanted to address the overly harsh treatment and unsanitary conditions they had witnessed in other Pennsylvania prisons. They were influenced by the Quaker belief in the inherent goodness of man, and the reforming power of a mind educated by moral principles.
The Library Company of Philadelphia
Caption: Older male students at Carlisle were expected to learn a trade, such as printing or tin-smithing. Student printers at Carlisle produced many of the school's promotional materials, including a student magazine
Library of Congress