American Swedish Historical Museum

     This is a picture of a map of Philadelphia drawn by Thomas Holme in 1687 in the American Swedish Historical Museum's New Sweden Gallery, and it originally came from the Library Congress' Geography and Map Division. The caption is titled "Detail from 'A map of the improved part of the Province of Pennsilvania in America: begun by Wil. Penn, Proprietary & Governour thereof anno 1681'" which is informative in the sense that it is descriptive but it does not give us the background behind it. It is the plaques below that give the background of the map and history of what happened to the New Sweden colony after it collapsed. This map is important not only for the Swedish community but also for Philadelphians, and Americans in general, especially people who are interested in American history. It is important for Americans and people who are interested in American history because it illustrates the layout of one of the earliest and most iconic cities in America almost at the time of its founding. It is also an important part to the Swedish community because it shows where Swedes were living in the surrounding area. The people who would not be interested in it would be people who do not have Swedish cultural heritage or who are not interested in American history.
     This map of Philadelphia and the surrounding area is on display because the New Sweden Gallery exhibit is about the rise and fall of the New Sweden community, and this map exhibits the layout of part of the New Sweden colony after it collapsed. One way I could explore this object is by doing more research into the founding of Pennsylvania and therefore, of Philadelphia, researching other maps of American cities from the same time period, or researching how colonial cartographers made these maps. In addition, the English people or possibly English historians would disagree with this assessment and would possibly claim that William Penn and the rest of the Quakers were benevolent to the Swedish. A way the public could engage with this map would be to try to find the neighborhoods of Philadelphia (except for the Center City neighborhoods) on the map, especially in the areas where farmland is noted.