Professor Morscheck’s presentation will feature a guided tour of the paintings and sculptures in A. J. Drexel’s house in 1893, views of the Drexel Museum on the first floor of the Main Building, a photographic survey of the paintings as they were hung in the Picture Gallery in the early years of the Drexel Institute, and a reconstruction of the collection as it was before 80 paintings were sold at auction in 1944.

The Drexel Collection began in 1891 when Anthony J. Drexel gave funds to the Drexel Institute’s first president, James MacAlister, to purchase artwork for the new institution. The Drexel Collection expanded greatly in 1901 when Drexel's brother-in-law, John D. Lankenau bequeathed his collection of landscape paintings to the Institution. This expansion lead to the relocation of the collection to the the third floor of the new Randell Building, into what is today the Anthony J. Drexel Picture Gallery.

 

The Anthony J. Drexel Picture Gallery was renovated in 2002 and 2012 to restore it to its original 1902 appearance and improve its environmental controls and security. This past February, the gallery was reinstalled to include an additional 29 paintings and rehung in its original salon style.