David J. Kennedy (painter)

[1] Born in Port Mullin, Scotland, Kennedy worked various jobs, including as a stonecutter, and took a few painting lessons.

In 1836, he moved again to Nashville, Tennessee, where he worked for a dry goods store and practiced painting, mostly miniatures, in his spare time.

His wife's connections found him a job as a clerk in the new office of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad at Broad and Cherry Streets.

[2] During his half-century of painting, he captured grand houses, railroads, street scenes, and other buildings in and around Philadelphia; of particular note are the pictures he did of the 1876 Centennial Exhibition.

[4] The largest collection, held by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania,[5] consists of 40 boxes, two folders of indices and inventories, eight volumes and one oversized folio.