Here’s another piece of Franklin Institute ephemera, likely from the late 1930s. One interesting aspect of this, is that its printed on waxed paper (like a magazine), which surprises me considering the age. A lot of this stuff likely got printed in FI’s own functional print shop, which I believe used to be housed behind glass walls (for public display) in the basement level (now office space). It was only natural for them to have a print shop, as Ben Franklin himself worked in a print shop for quite a while in his lifetime.
One clue as to the age of this, is the mention about the “Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company”, the predecessor of SEPTA, which ran from 1902 to about 1940. After 1940 the company was renamed the “Philadelphia Transportation Company”, and later into SEPTA; the South Eastern Philadelphia Transportation Authority. Since the FI building opened in 1936, and the picture shows a lot of open land around the building, this was likely from between 1936-1940.
Here’s a couple links regarding Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company:
https://hsp.org/blogs/fondly-pennsylvania/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-philadelphia-rapid-transit-company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Transportation_Company
Another aspect of this is that it was targeted to a convention of Order of the Eastern Star members, a group that continues to exist today. I couldn’t find any definitive mention of a 1930s convention on their web site.
Anyways, onto the flyer, which was folded into quarters, ultimately a little smaller than a postcard when folded, and about half the size of a sheet of paper when unfolded.
