Exhibition from September 9, 2016 through January 4, 2017. The Drexel Collection opened in 1891 when the Drexel Institute of Art, Science, and Industry was founded by Anthony J. “A.J” Drexel.  The first president of the institute, James MacAlister, traveled abroad to buy artwork for the collection. He traveled to places such as Greece, India, Pakistan, and Europe where he purchased various items including textiles, metals, ceramics, and glassware.

Exhibition from May 20, 2016 through August 22, 2016. The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, founded in 1812, is America’s oldest natural history museum. For over 200 years, the Academy has carried out its mission to encourage and cultivate the sciences, exploring the remarkable diversity of our natural world and sharing these discoveries with the public. In 2011, an affiliation between the Academy and Drexel University was formed, drawing on the strengths of both institutions.

Exhibition from February 29, 2016 through May 6, 2016. The Drexel Collection houses nearly 200 19th-century Japanese woodblock prints, also known as Ukiyo-e, a popular technique and genre of woodblock printing in Japan from the 17th to the 19th century. The majority of the prints were donated by James W. Paul, Jr. (1851-1908), the husband of Anthony J. Drexel’s second child, Frances Katherine Drexel (1852–1892). There are over a quarter of the prints displayed in this exhibition, representing the different styles and categories found in the collection, from actors and beauties to scenes of daily life.

Exhibition from December 4, 2015 through February 15, 2016. The nostalgia for childhood playthings is especially strong around the holidays. Relive your childhood in The Drexel Collection's toy wonderland. These tiny objects and toys are some of the most captivating pieces in the collection. They represent the playthings of the past, from elegant miniature furnishings to horse carts to blocks, as well as some more recognizable pieces from your childhood. Lovingly selected and carefully preserved, they can now be appreciated as decorative art objects that inspire us to admire their craftsmanship as well as their evocative powers.

Exhibition from August 28, 2015 through November 13, 2015. Larry Clark (b. 1943), an American photographer, film director and writer, documented his life and the lives of his friends and their drug use through the years of 1963–1971. The culmination of this series of photographs was a book, Tulsa, published in 1971, that shed light on the reality of drug use in suburban America. Clark’s gritty, unmodified photographs of teenage drug-use, sex and violence became a new style of documentary photography, one which photographers continue to pursue today. Clark’s lived experience while taking these photographs “upped the ante for engaged photography” requiring more involvement between the photographer and his subject matter. Through Tulsa’s harsh imagery a new form of documentary photography was developed.

Exhibition from April 27, 2015 through August 7, 2015. In the 1920s, the Romanian-born, Montreal-educated Gershon Benjamin arrived in New York City, and was soon befriended by a group of progressive artists who favored European modernism to the popular American Scene and Regionalist art of the day. Milton Avery was a member of this group, and he and Benjamin became close and life-long friends. Their circle included Rothko, Gottlieb, Gorky, Sloan and the Soyer brothers, among others. Exhibiting together, they were labeled "expressionists" and praised for their individualistic style and use of color. The Rincliffe Gallery show featured more than 60 works by the artist – portraits, still lifes, landscapes and city scenes – in oil and watercolor, representing all periods of Benjamin’s prolific seven-decade career.

Exhibition from January 16, 2015 through March 27, 2015. Combining images of historic interiors and examples of furniture and decorative arts, this exhibition offered the viewer a sense of the decorating techniques found during the dramatically changing world of the 19th century.

Exhibition from October 24, 2014 through December 18, 2014. Both decorative and durable, ceramic animal and human figurines have survived from as early as 24,000 BC. The first functional ceramics, used to store food and water, were produced in 9000 BC. Since the earliest years of production, ceramic technology and application have undergone continuous development and refinement, eventually achieving the numerous forms and elaborate colors found in ceramics today. Every step in the process of making a ceramic has an effect on the end result: anything from selecting the body type to changing the type of fuel used in the kiln can change the outcome. Individual cultures manipulated these techniques to create pieces specific to their regions, traditions and tastes.

Exhibition from August 11, 2014 through October 6, 2014. The value of ancient coins lies not in their monetary value but in what they can teach us about the civilizations from which they came. Ancient coins from the Greek and Roman civilizations were original works of art with indications of when and where they were made. The marks on coins are some of the first examples of how these people portrayed their gods, heroes and historical events. They depict lost monuments of architecture, sculpture and painting. One of the greatest values lies in the coins that portray rulers, some of which are the only representations we have of these historical figures.

Exhibition from June 9, 2014 through August 4, 2014. This exhibition displayed 32 photographs donated to The Drexel Collection by Mr. and Mrs. Paul Ingersoll in 1985. Mr. Paul Ingersoll (1929–2012), a great-grandson of Anthony J. Drexel, embodied the Drexel family’s love and support of the arts, being an avid collector and a contributor to the cultural community. Ingersoll opened the Philadelphia office of Christie’s Auction in 1979, where he worked for 30-plus years. He was a trustee to the Atwater Kent Museum (now the Philadelphia History Museum), the Library Company and founder of Friends of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The collection of photographs generously donated to The Drexel Collection includes some of the most influential and pioneering photographers including Eugene Atget, Edward Weston and Eadweard Muybridge, creating an indispensable asset to the collection.