Ben's Lens: June 2005

In June 2005 our Ben’s Lens featured a turn of the century Philadelphia street scene. We speculated that the photograph taken by Philadelphian Frank Berry depicted Main Street in Manayunk possibly decorated for the Peace Jubilee, a celebration of the end of the Spanish American War. While researching the Berry Photograph Collection, Graphics Assistant Linda Wisniewski discovered a reproduction of our photograph with some additional information in a collection at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. We now know that our photograph depicts the 4300 block of Main Street during the Manayunk Carnival and Parade, an event held from November 8-13, 1909 to celebration the establishment of the Manayunk Business Men’s Association.