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Smedley Butler Destroying Kegs of Beer
Philadelphia received help from the federal government twice in the 1920s to combat its Prohibition-fueled crime problem. The first intervention involved the appointment of General Smedley Butler (1881-1940), shown here in 1924 destroying a barrel of…
New Homes For Wage Earners
This flyer advertises how the Octavia Hill Association makes and maintains homes for "wage-earners," making sure to clarify that their housing projects benefit immigrants to work and contribute to the economy.
Housing Bill No. 863, 864
Title page for new legislation. Bill No. 863 regarded water for small dwellings, and Bill No. 864 regarded sanitary inspections.
Help Us Acquire
Newspaper ad asking for people to buy company stock in Octavia Hill Association reads "Help US Acquire Ownership or Management of Property Like This and rid the city of a menace by replacing it with a sanitary home that will yield a profit at a small…
Hector McIntosh Playground, 1908
This booklet published by the Octavia Hill Association depicts images of Hector McIntosh Playground, at Front and League Streets in the Southwark neighborhood of South Philadelphia, a small playground owned by the Association, a housing reform…
Hector McIntosh Playground
This informational pamphlet describes the benefits of the Octavia Hill Association's project, the Hector McIntosh playground at Front and League Streets. Members of the Octavia Hill Association received this pamphlet so they could see how their money…
Friendly Rent Collectors
Newspaper ad from the Octavia Hill Association showing that Philadelphians could Americanize the foreign-born through friendly rent collectors.
Filthy Surface Sewage
"Filthy Surface Sewage in Which Children Play" - this Octavia Hill Association photo shows the unsanitary conditions that working-class, immigrant families faced. Their crowded tenements often lacked basic utilities such as plumbing and had no clean,…
Casa Ravello
Overview of immigrant home projects throughout the course of several years, including one project that had a "demoralizing effect on O.H.A. [Octavia Hill Association]." This list chronicled the organization's efforts to improve housing conditions for…