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Northeast USA Museums and Culture

    GuildHall Museum, New York State

  158 Main Street - East Hampton, NY            
The John Drew Theater stage provides dramatic, comedic and musical entertainment, as well as films, lectures, literary series, and staged readings, all featuring prominent artists and writers with ties to the community.
The Guild Hall Museum features world-class art exhibitions of internationally renowned visual artists and emerging regional artists. The Museum also encourages local talent with community art exhibitions. One of the directives of the Museum is to collect, preserve and present the works of accomplished East End artists. We have a significant permanent collection and archive approximately 2,100 works of art. Our Education program is devoted to serving the needs of the community and the local schools by integrating arts education into those programs that lend themselves to creative learning. We conduct master classes, studio workshops and outreach in the East Hampton School District. While Guild Hall is proud of our heritage, we remain committed to shaping a future that nurtures creativity and inspires innovation.
    Morven Museum & Garden, New Jersey
  55 Stockton Street - Princeton, NJ           
The mission of Historic Morven, Inc. is to “preserve and operate the National Historic Landmark known as Morven as a museum and public garden showcasing the cultural heritage of New Jersey.” Morven’s historic garden includes a formal, grand lawn dotted with majestic trees, beds of heirloom annuals from the 18th and 19th centuries, and a re-creation of the Colonial Revival style garden that was planted at Morven in the early 20th century. Spring bulbs appear in April, followed by peonies and iris in May. The phlox burst forth in June and continue through August, concluding with a late summer display of dahlias and other annual flowers.
    Ocean County Historical Society Museum, New Jersey
  26 Hadley Ave - Toms River, NJ           
The Ocean County Historical Society Museum and Research Center was built in several stages, beginning in 1820. The final phase of construction was the Research Center, completed in 1990. The museum is dedicated to the mission of the Society founders: Telling The Stories of Ocean County.
    National Soaring Museum, New York State
  51 Soaring Hill Drive - Harris Hill - Elmira, NY           
The NSM is an aviation museum working to preserve the history of motorless flight. Stop in and see a multitude of gliders on display, try out computerized flight simulators, and participate in fun educational programs.
    Japan Society, New York State
  333 East 47th Street - New York, NY           
Set against an absolutely stunning cascading waterfall and reflective pool sits Manhattan’s premier link between Japanese culture and the American people. The Japan Society is a hotbed of activity and display with the central message of establishing a comprehensive link between Japan and the United States. With a constantly rotating selection of exhibits and displays, the Japan Society is an always fresh experience that encourages multiple visits in order to fully grasp the underlining message. While there, visitors are also able to engage in a variety of other ways, including visits to the Japan Society library, special guest lectures from a variety of Japanese-American artists and influential people, hands-on workshops and special seminars dedicated to shaping the global leaders of tomorrow. Spring 2012 brings a look at the political application of the museum as they delve into Japan’s role with the United Nations, and the healing and rebuilding process facing Japan after their multiple catastrophes over the last several years. Summer 2012 continues with a concert by Japan superstar JERO with benefits from sales going towards the Japan Earthquake Relief Fund. The Japan Society is an ever-growing hub of information and offers some of the most professional and informational materials in all of Japanese and New York culture.
    Greater Cape May Historical Society, New Jersey
  653 ½ Washington Street - Cape May, NJ           
The mission of the Greater Cape May Historical Society is to collect, preserve, document , interpret and share the history of the greater Cape May area. The headquarters of this 26year old organization is the Colonial House Museum c 1775, located behind Alexander’s Restaurant and next to Cape May City Hall at 653 ½ Washington St, Cape May. This museum was originally a tavern and the family house of Revolutionary War Patriot Memucan Hughes. The front room features an annually changing exhibit. Other rooms open to the public in this unsung survivor from Cape Island’s very beginning depict a colonial era cooking/eating room and bedroom.
    The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Connecticut
  600 Main St. - Hartford, CT             
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"We’re more than just the first public art institution in the United States. We were the first museum in America to begin collecting contemporary American art – resulting in our world renowned Hudson River School collection. We staged the first retrospective of Pablo Picasso in America; we were the first museum to both exhibit and purchase works by Surrealist artists – today almost every exhibition about Surrealism includes works borrowed from our collection. We were the first art museum to also have a theater – and we were the first to show Gertrude Stein’s Four Saints & 3 Acts – which we also produced."
    National Postal Museum, Washington DC
   - Washington, DC            
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The National Postal Museum, a Smithsonian Institution museum, is located in the old Post Office building next to Union Station in Washington, D.C. The Museum was created by an agreement between the Smithsonian Institution and the United States Postal Service in 1990 and opened to the public in 1993.
    Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania
  1300 Locust Street - Philadelphia, PA            
Founded in 1824 in Philadelphia, The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is one of the oldest historical societies in the United States and holds many national treasures. The Society's building, listed on the City of Philadelphia's Register of Historical Places, houses some 600,000 printed items and over 19 million manuscript and graphic items. The Society is one of the largest family history libraries in the nation, has preeminent printed collections on Pennsylvania and regional history, and offers superb manuscript collections renowned for their strength in 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century history. With the addition of the holdings of The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies in 2002, the Society has become a chief center for the documentation and study of the ethnic communities and immigrant experiences shared by people whose American history began more recently-between the late nineteenth century and our own times. Together these holdings, old and new, make the Society one of the nation's most important special collections libraries-a center of historical documentation and study, education, and engagement.
    Koshland Science Museum, Washington DC
   - Washington, DC           
Opened to the public in April 2004, the new Marian Koshland Science Museum uses engaging, interactive exhibits to bring to life the numerous reports conducted by the prestigious National Academies every year.
    Seashore Trolley Museum, Maine
  195 Log Cabin Road - Kennebunkport, ME            
Founded in 1939 with one open trolley car, No. 31 from the Biddeford & Saco Railroad Company. Over the years thousands of members have followed the founding fathers by helping the Museum grow to be the premier electric railway museum in the world. Today, our collection contains over 250 transit vehicles, most of them trolleys, from all over the United States, Canada, and many other countries. We are the oldest, and largest electric railway museum in the world.
The mission of the Museum is to present a living history of public transportation relevant to North American life through community-related educational programs. The Museum shall collect, restore, preserve, exhibit and demonstrate the operation of significant transit vehicles with emphasis upon traditional streetcar and interurban service, including rapid transit, trackless trolley and bus service with select world wide comparative representation. The Museum shall provide a repository for artifacts and information of an educational and historic nature relating to the origin and development of the transit industry and its contribution to modern society.
    Hillwood Museum and Gardens, Washington DC
  4155 Linnean Avenue, NW - Washington, DC             
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Founded by American collector and heiress to the Post cereal empire Marjorie Merriweather Post, Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens is one of the premier art collector’s museums in the United States. The museum features the most comprehensive collection of Russian imperial art outside of Russia and a world-renowned collection of eighteenth-century French decorative art and furnishings. The collection includes Fabergé eggs, Russian porcelain, Russian Orthodox icons, Beauvais tapestries, and Sèvres porcelain. Encircled by woodlands, the twenty-five acre estate provides visitors a tranquil oasis of luscious formal gardens.
    Virginia Museum of Natural History, Virginia
  21 Starling Avenue - Martinsville, VA             
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The Virginia Museum of Natural History’s innovative Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education programs reach students, teachers, and the general public statewide and throughout the region. From "at-the-museum" programs to outreach education programs that bring the museum to locations across the Commonwealth, the museum's education programs are correlated directly to the Virginia Standards of Learning and the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. VMNH educators are leaders in the field of informal science education throughout the state, providing a vital link between the museum's important research and collections programs and all citizens of Virginia and beyond.
    American Helicopter Museum, Pennsylvania
  1220 American Boulevard - West Chester, PA             
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The American Helicopter Museum and Education Center is the nation's premier aviation museum devoted exclusively to helicopters. We collect, restore and display historic aircraft and chronicle the origin and development of rotary wing aircraft. Each year the Museum hosts thousands of visitors, school groups, families and senior citizens. Tourists of all ages from the U.S and abroad come here to witness the history and the future of the helicopter.
    Franklin Institute Science Museum, Pennsylvania
  222 North 20th Street - Philadelphia, PA             
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"Resources for Science Learning" are activities and ideas for inspiring scientific curiosity at home, in school, or wherever you are. Find out about the Center for Innovation in Science Learning and its program offerings for learners and for educators.
    The Newport Historical Society, Rhode Island
  82 Touro Street - Newport, RI           
The Newport Historical Society was chartered in 1854 to collect and preserve books, manuscripts, and objects pertaining to Newport’s history. Its manuscripts, portraits, silver, furniture, decorative arts, and genealogical collection are nationally recognized.
    Peabody Museum of Natural History, Connecticut
  170 Whitney Avenue - New Haven, CT             
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The mission of the Peabody Museum is to serve Yale University by advancing our understanding of earth’s history through geological, biological, and anthropological research, and by communicating the results of this research to the widest possible audience through publication, exhibition, and educational programs.
Fundamental to this mission is stewardship of the Museum’s rich collections, which provide a remarkable record of the history of the earth, its life, and its cultures. Conservation, augmentation and use of these collections become increasingly urgent as modern threats to the diversity of life and culture continue to intensify.
    Seabee Museum and Memorial Park, Rhode Island
   - Davisville, RI           
From its founding, the Seabee Museum and Memorial Park has stood on its own, collecting grants from federal, public, and private sectors. The majority of funding received to date has been from the MCB-6 Association, other Seabees, the Rhode Island State Preservation and Historical Society, the Federal HUD Office, and a Federal Grant from the Department of Defense (allowing Seabee Reserves to perform a full summer training program here). While this may sound significant, it’s only a small percentage of the bricks and mortar required to complete this tribute to the "Original Home of the Seabees."
    Drug Enforcement Administration Museum, Virginia
  700 Army Navy Drive - Arlington, VA            
The mission of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Museum and Visitors Center is to educate the American public on the history of drugs, drug addiction and drug law enforcement in the United States through engaging and state-of-the-art exhibits, displays, interactive stations and educational outreach programs.
    National Firearms Museum, Virginia
  11250 Waples Mill Road - Fairfax, VA            
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The mission of the National Firearms Museum is to develop and manage educational programs that promote appreciation, understanding, and participation in gun collecting, and the preservation of the heritage of firearms through collection, conservation, exhibition and research as part of a nationally recognized museum in America.
    African Art Museum of Maryland, Maryland
  5430 Vantage Point Road - P.O. Box 1105 - Columbia, MD           
African Art Museum of Maryland encourages an understanding of African art and culture. The Museum accomplishes this educational objective through numerous activities including exhibits, lectures, workshops, tours to Africa and the development and execution of a vigorous in-museum and outreach program for the public and private primary and secondary schools. The museum's audiences consist of the community at large to include youth, seniors, the disabled and the underserved segments of the population. African art exhibited by the African Art Museum of Maryland includes masks, sculptured figures, textiles, basketry, jewelry, household items, and musical instruments. The Museum is located in Historic Oakland, a restored nineteenth century manor in Columbia, Md. Oakland is owned by the Columbia Association and is operated as a community and social center. Support for AAMM is derived from individual and corporate donations, memberships, various foundations, and grants from government agencies.
    Smith's Castle, Rhode Island
  55 Richard Smith Drive - Wickford, RI           
Dating back several centuries, Smith's Castle remains today a Rhode Island and American treasure.
    WV Museum of American Glass, West Virginia
  230 Main Avenue - Weston, WV            
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Imagine a museum dedicated to the region and nation's rich glass heritage. A place where examples of thousands of products can be viewed and compared and where the stories of people and processes come to life! The MAGWV provides this and much, much more.
    Reginald F. Lewis Museum, Maryland
  830 E. Pratt Street - Baltimore, MD            
Mission: To be the premier experience and best resource for information and inspiration about the lives of African American Marylanders. The museum seeks to realize its mission by collecting, preserving, interpreting, documenting and exhibiting the rich contributions of African American Marylanders from the state’s earliest history to the present and the future.
    National Great Blacks in Wax, Maryland
  1601-03 East North Avenue - Baltimore, MD             
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The National Great Blacks In Wax Museum is among the nations most dynamic cultural and educational institutions. Because it is a wax museum committed solely to the study and preservation of African American history, it is also among the most unique. Primarily, the presentation of life-size, life-like wax figures highlighting historical and contemporary personalities of African ancestry defines its uniqueness.
    Children's Museum, New Hampshire
  280 Marcy Street - Portsmouth, NH             
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Founded in 1983 in Portsmouth, the Children's Museum of New Hampshire relocated to Dover in 2008. It offers a blend of art, science and cultural experiences for families. At the heart of our mission is a commitment to offering access to all children and families by minimizing barriers that prevent fair and meaningful educational and cultural opportunities. Since its inception, the Museum has served over 2 million people from New Hampshire and beyond. The Children's Museum is New Hampshire's most visited educational and cultural institution. In our three years in Dover, the Museum has reached over 280,000 students and families from 110 New Hampshire towns and cities, communities throughout New England, and visitors from all over the world. 50% of our visitors came in free or with reduced admission, and 24% are from underserved audiences.
    The Brick Store Museum, Maine
  117 Main Street - Kennebunk, ME           
The mission of The Brick Store Museum is to preserve the rich heritage of the Kennebunks for year-round residents, seasonal visitors and future generations through the collection, preservation, interpretation and exhibition of its material culture.
History - William Lord was born at Kennebunk Landing in 1799, the third son of Tobias Lord and Hephzibah Conant Lord. As a merchant and ship owner, Lord became one of Kennebunk’s most important patriarchs and citizens. In 1820 he married Sarah Cleaves of Biddeford, and they lived in what was then the Jonas Clark house at 20 Summer Street. It sits high on the hill and is now known as the William Lord Mansion, a private residence. It was here that Lord and his wife raised their large family of 10 children.
    Submarine Force Museum, Connecticut
  1 Crystal Lake Rd - Groton, CT           
The Submarine Force Museum, located on the Thames River in Groton, Connecticut, maintains the world's finest collection of submarine artifacts. It is the only submarine museum operated by the United States Navy, and as such is the primary repository for artifacts, documents and photographs relating to U.S. Submarine Force history. The museum traces the development of the "Silent Service" from David Bushnell's Turtle, used in the Revolutionary War, to the Ohio and Virginia class submarines.
The museum's collections include more than 33,000 artifacts, 20,000 significant documents and 30,000 photographs. With so many holdings, the displays change frequently and a return visit will be a new experience. The 6,000 volume reference and research library is a world-renowned collection relative to the history of U.S. submarines and is open to anyone looking for information on submarines or submarine history.
    John Brown Wax Museum, West Virginia
  168 High St. - Harpers Ferry, WV            
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Sunday, October 16, 1859, Brown, accompanied by about 20 men, all fully armed, crossed the Potomac into Virginia (now West Virginia) at Harper's Ferry. They overpowered the watchmen at the following locations: the Baltimore & Ohio railroad bridge, the United States armory and arsenal, and the rifle factory above the town on the Shenandoah. They placed guards at those points and at the street corners of the town. Brown established himself in the thick-walled brick building at the armory gate, one room of which was the quarters of the watchman and the other contained a fire-engine. He then sent six men, to seize the principal citizens in the neighborhood and incite those of African decent to rise and join in the insurrection.
    USS Constitution Museum, Massachusetts
  P.O. Box 1812 - Boston, MA            
The USS Constitution Museum serves as the memory and educational voice of USS Constitution, by collecting, preserving, and interpreting the stories of "Old Ironsides" and the people associated with her. We seek to create a positive, memorable experience for both children and adults by inspiring within them a love for the freedom that Constitution symbolizes. We will share Constitution's contributions with a global audience, and we will strive to be the best museum possible based on scholarship and innovative ways of sharing Constitution's stories.