The Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books, and Manuscripts opened a full-scale recreation of a colonial coffeehouse as part of the "Revolution at Penn?" exhibit in recognition of the Semiquincentennial — the 250th anniversary of America’s birth.
Located on the 6th floor of the Van-Pelt Dietrich Library, the recreation was designed in the style of a famous Philadelphian coffeehouse during the 18th century, the Old London Coffee House. Establishments such as the Old London were regarded as crucial places for political debate and mobilization in the years leading up to the Declaration of Independence.
The exhibit will be on view from Feb. 13 to May 27 this year, and the coffeehouse itself will be available for visitors even when the gallery is closed.
“We wanted to try to evoke as best we could what it might have been like in the center of the Revolutionary city,” John Pollack, curator for the Kislak, said in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer. “We know that coffeehouses were places of conversation, argument, and debate.”
The coffeehouse exhibit is part of a larger collection of material on display in "Revolution at Penn?" which seeks to place the university in the greater context of the American Revolution. Drawing from original documents, writings, and other manuscripts, the exhibit explores the development of the University during the revolution and its eventual reformation as the University of Pennsylvania in 1791.
Penn Libraries is bringing together organizations from across campus to celebrate the Semiquincentennial, or the 250th anniversary of America's birth, including — exhibitions, art commissions, performances, courses, and conferences — all of which engage "with a number of important ideas raised by the Declaration that continue to resonate in our time."
"The Semiquincentennial (250th anniversary) of the Declaration of Independence, also being referred to across the country as America 250, provides the Penn community with an ideal opportunity to re-examine one of the founding documents of our country from both historical and contemporary perspectives," according to a Penn Libraries webpage.
The exhibition also discusses both historical and political challenges that Penn grappled with during this time, from the campus’ treatment of women as well as black and indigenous communities or Penn’s own internal conflicts as an institution in 1779.
“Debates over education were part of larger arguments about liberty, freedom, and power,” Pollack told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Brittany Merriam, director of exhibits at Penn Libraries, echoed this statement in an interview to the Inquirer.
“The times marry each other,” Merriam said. “These are turbulent periods, and Penn has been enmeshed in these really political areas all throughout the past. It is speaking to a time and place that could resonate.”
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