Last Chance

Catch it or Regret It

by Rachel Frankford

(CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

In conjunction with the Department of Records' archival site phillyhistory.org, the Art Institute is showing more than 80 prints that illustrate the evolution of the city over the past 150 years. The display includes original blueprints of City Hall, and photos taken during the construction of Philadelphia's now-iconic buildings and bridges.

Sometimes called the West Philly Wyeths, the Tiberino family has been making art for more than 30 years. Sande Webster Gallery's "The Family Tiberino: A Legacy of Art" collects drawings and paintings from five family members: Ellen Powell (who died in 1992), her husband, Joseph, and their children Gabriel, Raphael and Ellen.

Diaries, letters and recordings give a firsthand look at charged and sometimes literally explosive moments in United States history (visitors can tune in to the live radio account of the Hindenburg disaster). Other highlights include Lady Bird Johnson describing JFK's assassination, and a 1966 television interview during which Jeremiah Denton, an American POW in Vietnam, blinked out the word "torture" in Morse Code.