Items

Historic resources from our archives - images, maps, documents, and more.

Laboratory Alkalinity test, ca. 1943

Making It Safe to Drink: Water History Video 2

Rebirth of the Rivers: Water History Video 3

The Water Supply Problem of Philadelphia, 1899

Diagram and description of the typhoid bacteria

Typhoid bacteria diagram, 1905

William Penn balks at drinking the "mixed drink" offered him: Schuylkill water, mixed with pollution from the upstream sources named. Editorial cartoon by Fred Morgan, Philadelphia Inquirer, April 6, 1899. One of a series of cartoons drawn by Morgan protesting the state of the city's drinking water and trying to encourage the passage of legislation authorizing the construction of a water filtration system.

“A Decidedly Mixed Drink,” April 6, 1899

Black-and-white image of two cylinders on a white surface

Effects of Expansion of Gas Bubbles in Enscher Sludge Shown in Right-Hand Cylinder

Philadelphia Underground, Jan. 29, 1961

“Philadelphia Underground,” Jan. 29, 1961

Gillette Schuylkill mud cartoon

‘Gillette, All By Himself, Gets Fine New Idea On Germ Slaying’

State Street pipeline construction

State Street pipeline construction, 1904

Belmont Filters construction 1903

Belmont Filters construction, 1903

Upper Roxborough filter beds

Upper Roxborough filter beds under construction, July 1902

Rudolph Hering

Rudolph Hering