Just this past week, the Atwater Kent did, in fact, reenter the public eye.
On Thursday, the Philadelphia Museum of Art announced it had purchased Charles Willson Peale's 1819 oil portrait of Yarrow Mamout, one of the nation's earliest and most significant formal portraits of a free African, from the Atwater Kent.
The sale, which Atwater Kent officials said was necessary to cover a $1.4 million construction loan, has thrown the museum's long-standing problems into sharp relief.
It is Philadelphia's charter-mandated history museum, leaning heavily on city subsidies that have declined steeply over time. The museum has been unable to sustain a broad fund-raising effort and has a minuscule endowment - less than $1 million.
The museum board of trustees is small, with several positions held by city officials who appear to view their roles as passive.
The result has been a brew of inadequate finances and fitful management - all amply on display thanks to Yarrow Mamout, a painting sold because the Atwater Kent embarked on an ambitious renovation project without adequate funding in hand or in the pipeline.
"A great city deserves a great history museum," said lawyer and trustee David Rasner, named to the board in 1993 by Mayor Ed Rendell to get a handle on the Atwater Kent. "I believe this place can become that, with a lot of hard work. Not all the steps are in a straight line. There have been zigs and zags, maybe some errors made, mistakes in judgment. But it now is an institution of significance. Will it have vitality? That remains to be seen."
The museum's vast collection certainly has some intriguing art and artifacts - everything from the famous wampum belt given by Native Americans to William Penn to 19th-century trading cards, industrial tools, Atwater Kent radios, and a Jimmy Rollins 2008 Phillies jersey.
