This orientation gallery, which opened in February 2012, offers a layered presentation of the city’s entire history from the 1680s to today. More than 40 objects help to tell the story of our city’s diverse citizens.

City Stories: An Introduction to Philadelphia invites visitors to explore the city’s history in an engaging, first person style, and to use their mobile device to add their own Philadelphia descriptions via text message.

A visual and dynamic “tag cloud” displays the collected descriptions on a monitor on the exhibition’s final panel. PhillyCAM, Philadelphia Community Access Media, and local agency Night Kitchen Interactive handled the production and installation of the City Stories media experience, drawing upon Philadelphians’ passion for their city to offer a contemporary voice among such historic objects.