South Street History Museum
Exhibits on Display
March 5th 12th, 19th, 26th , 12 noon to 6 pm

Joel Spivak has been involved with South Street for many years; he has lived in the area since 1969. That’s when he became involved in documenting its history and collecting artifacts related to its commercial and communal activities.

The collection has been exhibited in a number of places. In 1974 the first display was at 337 South Street and was featured in the Philadelphia Magazine August issue. There was also a walking tour, “From Headhouse to Levis’ – South Street’s Unique Contribution to American History.”

Joel contacted the Historical Society of Pennsylvania concerning preservation of fragile objects. The society was impressed with the collection and its excellent documentation detailed in tags and dates. They agreed to take over the housing and curating the collection. Unfortunately the Historical Society gave up their collections, turning over the South Street materials to the Atwater Kent where some of it was exhibited. And now that institution is no more and the collection made before 1990 is in storage.

However, Joel never stopped his documenting and collecting and the new materials can be seen on display at the South Street History Museum which has opened again to the public.

The South Street History Museum now at 523 South 4th Street will be moving again so the current display can only be seen on Saturdays in March 2022. The hours are 12 noon until 6 pm.