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Cliveden 'emancipates' its history in new exhibition

Since 1972, when members of Philadelphia's long-prominent Chew family transferred ownership of Cliveden, the historic family residence, to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, it has functioned as a traditional house museum. Every day, visitors serenely toured the mansion, built by patriarch Benjamin Chew in 1767, admiring the elegant period furniture and listening to stories of the old-money gentry and the exciting days of the War of Independence. Every year, crowds massed to watch a vivid reenactment of the 1777 Battle of Germantown, George Washington's gallant but failed attack on British troops holed up at Cliveden. But in addition to the house on 5.5 acres along Germantown Avenue, the Chew family left behind hundreds of thousands of family documents. It seems they never threw anything away over the centuries, and now the ghosts of those papers are lighting the path to Cliveden's future.

This 1867 photograph of former slave James Smith in front of Cliveden is on display at the exhibit at the Germantown house-museum. Smith purchased his own freedom and remained at Cliveden from 1819 until his death in 1871.
This 1867 photograph of former slave James Smith in front of Cliveden is on display at the exhibit at the Germantown house-museum. Smith purchased his own freedom and remained at Cliveden from 1819 until his death in 1871.Read more
    by Stephan Salisbury<br/>INQUIRER STAFF WRITER<br/>
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