About 10 years ago, when I was searching through the collection at the City Plans Unit of the Streets Department, I found a couple of maps that exemplified the title of this post. Both of them were copies – one a blueprint probably made around 1900, the other a photocopy from the 1960s. Since both were printed on flimsy paper, someone in the office beefed them up by scotch-taping them to posters, printed on heavy cardboard, that must have been lying around the office. The front sides and flip sides of each are shown below, and I’ll let you judge for yourselves which is more interesting, but I think you already know which side I come down on. My vote is for the backsides.
FRONT SIDE: Copy of map in road docket, Philadelphia, showing roads in Germantown, 1751. The road dockets of the Court of Quarter Sessions are a remarkable collection, housed in City Archives of Philadelphia, that include a wealth of information on the history of the city’s streets. Besides the date that a street was dedicated to public use, the docket might include original surveys of the street, and petitions both for and against the street’s opening. From this visual and written information I’ve been able to glean a number of evocative details about the city’s landscape before the streets were built.
BACKSIDE: Poster advertising the 1968 Hero Scholarship Fund Thrill Show, at John F. Kennedy Stadium. The show featured TV star Ted Mack, The Delphonics, Jerry Blavat, motion picture and TV star Robert Wagner, Joe Frazier and his singing group The Knockouts, Singing City Choir, high wire aerial acts, a motorcycle thrill show, marching bands, and dazzling fireworks. To my mind, all this makes this poster a much more thrilling historical artifact than the map on the front. The 69th Hero Thrill Show, which provides scholarships for children of police officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty, will be held September 21, 2024. .
BACKSIDE: Poster advertising Philadelphia Department of Streets at the Latin Casino Theatre Restaurant, Cherry Hill, New Jersey, with entertainment by The O’Jays and Richard Pryor, 1974. If you think the Holmes map above is more exciting than this poster, reading this review of the performance might change your mind.
