Past Meeting

At our public meeting on Sunday, February 20, 2011 the featured presentation was:

A Critical Look at Philadelphia History

Successful Philadelphia businessman and former mayoral candidate Sam Katz and his team have provided the Society with an advance copy of the pilot video from a new series of programs about Philadelphia history called "Philadelphia: The Great Experiment." More information can be found on their project website.

The pilot episode "The Floodgates Open, 1865-1876" concerns the city"s growth and growing pains following the Civil War, and explores ethnic conflicts, the growth of local government, and its corruption by ruthless capitalists. It includes high definition views of still photographs from the era, most spectacularly of the 1876 Centennial Exposition.  There are also motion picture reenactments of several controversial episodes in local neighborhood history. This provacative look may generate some debate.

We had the opportunity to view this half-hour program and then discuss what we had seen, with the idea that we could provide some qualified feedback aboutits historical merits and entertainment value. The audience filled out a questionnaire after the viewing and the results were to be compiled and sent back to the producers.