Everhart Museum facts for kids
Everhart Museum
|
|
| Established | 1908 |
|---|---|
| Location | 1901 Mulberry Street Nay Aug Park, Scranton, Pennsylvania |
| Type | Art, natural history |
The Everhart Museum of Natural History, Science & Art is a special place in Nay Aug Park in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It's a museum that shows off both amazing art and cool things from nature.
A doctor named Isaiah Fawkes Everhart started the museum in 1908. He was also a very good taxidermist, which means he prepared animal specimens to look lifelike. Many of the bird displays you see at the museum came from his own collection!
Besides animals, the museum has lots of other interesting things. You can see beautiful artworks, especially by artists from Northeastern Pennsylvania. There are also items from different cultures around the world and even fossils of ancient life. The museum is also known for its great collection of American folk art.
Contents
Museum History
How the Museum Started
The Everhart Museum was created by Dr. Isaiah Everhart. He was a kind person from Scranton who loved birds and wanted to help his community. When the museum first opened on May 30, 1908, it was one of only a few public museums in Pennsylvania. Dr. Everhart wanted to bring the wonders of the world to the people of Scranton. His goal was to build a place that would "educate and delight for generations to come."
After working as a surgeon in the Civil War, Dr. Everhart had an idea. He wanted to gather a huge collection of Pennsylvania's native birds and animals. He was so good at taxidermy that his collection became one of the best and largest in the United States.
In 1905, he decided to use money from his estate to build a museum in Nay Aug Park. He also set aside money to help the museum keep running. Three years later, he realized he wanted to build the museum while he was still alive. In 1907, he announced his plan to create a museum "for the young and old of this generation... for their pleasure and education."
Architects Harvey J. Blackwood and John Nelson designed the museum in a "modern Renaissance" style. Construction began quickly, and the first part of the Everhart Museum opened on Memorial Day, May 30, 1908. At that time, most of the museum's exhibits were Dr. Everhart's bird specimens.
To honor the founder, a bronze statue of Dr. Everhart and a lake named Lake Everhart were dedicated on May 20, 1911. Dr. Everhart passed away just five days later. He had originally planned for three separate buildings. However, the museum's leaders decided to add two wings to the original building instead. These additions were finished in 1929. Later, in 1962, a new small gallery was built in the basement for changing exhibits. In the 1980s, the entire top floor was updated to show the permanent collections and create new spaces for temporary exhibits.
Changes in Leadership
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, people started to think about how the Everhart Museum was managed. For a long time, county judges were in charge of the museum. Dr. Everhart had chosen them because he thought they were the most trustworthy. However, judges were very busy, and it was hard for them to give the museum all the attention it needed.
A local arts supporter named Robert N. Lettieri suggested a new idea. He thought it would be better to have a community board of directors. This board would be made up of people from the community who had experience in arts and business. The judges liked this idea and agreed to let a community board manage the museum for two years.
During this time, the new board worked hard to improve the museum. They looked at all the programs, collections, and the building itself. After two years, the museum was doing much better. The court officially changed Dr. Everhart's will, and the community board became the official leaders of the Everhart Museum. Mr. Lettieri was the first president of this new board.
Art Collection Decisions
In the 1990s and early 2000s, the Everhart Museum faced a big decision about a painting by a famous artist named Matisse. The painting, called Pink Shrimp, had been given to the museum in the 1960s. The idea was to let smaller museums have famous artworks so more people could see them.
The new Community Board felt that while owning a Matisse was special, selling it could help the museum more. They wanted to use the money to buy a wider variety of artworks and bring in more different exhibits. This is a practice called deaccessioning, where museums sell items that don't fit their current collection goals.
The painting was offered for sale but didn't reach its price. Later, it was sold to a private buyer for $1 million. This money was put into a special fund to buy new art and create new exhibitions. This decision helped the museum bring more diverse art experiences to its visitors.
Stolen Artworks
On November 17, 2005, two artworks were stolen from the museum. These included a painting by Jackson Pollock and a work by pop artist Andy Warhol called Le Grande Passion. Thieves used ladders and a careful plan to take the pieces.
The FBI and Scranton police worked hard to find the stolen art, but it has not been returned to the museum. There was some discussion about whether the Pollock painting was truly authentic. The museum stated they believed it was real, and the owner who lent it also believed it was. However, some appraisers could not confirm it was a real Pollock.
The Everhart Museum still identifies the painting as Pollock's 1949 Springs Winter. The person who lent the painting said its correct title is Winter in Springs. From 2019 onwards, the FBI arrested and charged a group of 10 men for robbing the Everhart and other museums.
Museum Collections
The Everhart Museum has about 20,000 objects in its collections! About half of these are related to the humanities. This includes fine arts like paintings and sculptures, and items from different cultures such as Native American, Oceanic, South American, and Asian art. There are also pieces from ancient civilizations, African art, American folk art, and decorative arts like Dorflinger glass.
The other half of the collection focuses on natural science. This includes fossils, birds, mammals, reptiles, fish, minerals, insects, and shells. The natural science collection often inspires new exhibits. Artists and children alike use these collections to learn and create.
Natural Science Exhibits
The natural science collection has specimens from Pennsylvania and from all over the world.
- The bird collection has 2,300 specimens, many of which you can see in the museum's Bird Gallery.
- The mammal collection has about 400 specimens, including primates, local animals, and animals from tropical places.
- There are about 285 fish, reptile, and amphibian items.
- The shell collection has 3,500 specimens.
- The mineral collection has 800 pieces.
- The fossil collection has 300 pieces, some of which are in the Life Through Time Gallery.
- The insect collection includes about 300 butterflies, moths, and beetles.
- In 1913, a local botanist named Alfred Twining gave his collection of 2,100 plant specimens to the museum.
Fine Art Displays
The fine art collection features paintings from the 1800s by both famous national artists and local ones. It also has modern prints and paintings, a small group of European paintings, and both classical and modern sculptures.
The ancient civilizations collection has 500 pieces. These include ancient Egyptian burial objects, Roman glass and bronze items, sculptures, coins, and jewelry. The ethnographic collections have 4,000 pieces, such as pottery, fabrics, religious items, and weapons from different cultures. The African art collection has 500 pieces, including masks, figures, tools, and textiles.
Americana and Folk Art
The Americana and folk art collection includes paintings, sculptures, textiles, and furniture. In 1934, Mr. and Mrs. John Law Robertson lent many important pieces of American Folk Art for an exhibit. Most of these were later bought by the museum between 1946 and 1948, forming the core of this large collection.
Mrs. Robertson was one of the first people to dedicate her time and money to collecting folk art. She loved art that was often overlooked by museums that only focused on "fine arts." She believed in the beauty, craftsmanship, and history of these unique American objects.
Decorative Arts
The decorative arts collection includes ceramics, glass, and furniture from Asia, Europe, and America. A special part of this collection is the Dorflinger Glass. This beautiful cut glass and stemware was made in White Mills, Pennsylvania, from 1852 to 1921.
The Dorflinger factory was very famous for its high-quality glass. Eight American presidents, from Abraham Lincoln to Woodrow Wilson, and even some European royalty, wanted Dorflinger tableware!
