Morris Museum facts for kids
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| Former name | Morris Children's Museum, Morris Junior Museum, Morris Museum of Arts and Sciences |
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| Established | 1913 |
| Location | 6 Normandy Heights Rd, Morristown, NJ 07960 |
The Morris Museum is a fantastic place in New Jersey where you can explore history, art, and science! It's been open since 1913, making it over 110 years old. This museum is one of the biggest in New Jersey, covering a huge area of about 75,524 square feet. It's also officially recognized by the American Alliance of Museums, which means it meets high standards for museums.
Contents
The Museum's Story
How It All Started: 1913–1957
The Morris Museum began in 1913 as the "Morris Children's Museum." It wasn't a big building at first, just a collection of interesting items, like a "curio cabinet," kept at the Neighborhood House School in Morristown, New Jersey.
As the museum grew, it moved into two rooms of an old macaroni factory in 1922. Imagine a museum in a macaroni factory! In 1938, it moved again to the Maple Avenue School, where its collections of stuffed birds, toys, fossils, and other cool things were on the third floor.
The museum became an official organization in 1943. It even started lending out exhibits to local schools and libraries so more people could learn from them. In 1956, the museum hired its first director, Chester H. Newkirk. It kept adding new collections, like a Native American exhibit in 1949. In 1957, the museum bought its own building at 141 Madison Avenue and changed its name to the "Morris Junior Museum."
Growing Bigger: 1958–Today
In 1963, the Morris Junior Museum bought a beautiful old house called the Twin Oaks Mansion. This mansion, built between 1910 and 1913, is where the museum is located today! It's a grand building with a special style called Neo-Georgian.
The museum reopened in its new home in 1965. It grew even more in 1969, adding new galleries and a theater. With this expansion, it changed its name again to the "Morris Museum of Arts and Sciences."
By 1972, the museum was officially recognized by the American Association of Museums. To help with costs, a small entrance fee was added in 1976. In 1985, the museum got its current name, the Morris Museum. It expanded again in 1989, finishing in 1990. Today, the museum is a large space with many permanent exhibits and a busy theater.
What You Can See: Exhibits and Collections
The Morris Museum has many amazing things to see! Its permanent exhibits focus on local wildlife, cool musical boxes, moving figures called automata, and history.
Some of the exciting collections include:
- A fossil exhibit, where you can see ancient life.
- A natural science exhibit, teaching about the natural world.
- Minerals, showing off Earth's beautiful rocks.
- Textiles, displaying different fabrics and weaving.
- A Native American collection, sharing the history and culture of Indigenous peoples.
- A model train room, with miniature trains.
There's also the Dodge Room, dedicated to Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge. She was a kind person who helped many causes, especially animals. This room has paintings and sculptures related to her work. The museum also hosts temporary art exhibits throughout the year, featuring local artists and even student artists.
The museum also helps local teachers by lending out exhibits for their classrooms!
The Murtogh D. Guinness Collection
In 2003, the museum received a very special gift: the Murtogh D. Guinness Collection. This amazing exhibit opened in 2007 and covers a large area of 5,000 square feet. It displays 150 pieces from a huge collection of 750 mechanical musical instruments and automata. These are like old-fashioned robots that play music or move on their own!
Many pieces not currently on display can be seen in a special storage area in the museum's basement. You can even watch a daily demonstration of these incredible automata and music boxes every day at 2:00 pm. The museum also hosts "AutomataCon," a convention about automata, which started in 2016.
Kinetic Art
Since 2018, the museum has been showing a special series of exhibits called "A Cache of Kinetic Art." This series focuses on kinetic art, which is art that moves! It features art from both new and famous artists from all over the world.
The first exhibit in this series was "Curious Characters," which showed unique moving figures. Future exhibits planned for this series include "Simply Steampunk," "Tiny Intricacies," and "Timeless Movement."
Images for kids
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A taxidermy fox and bird, part of the mammals exhibit at the Morris Museum
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Children playing in the interactive area of the Guinness Collection.
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A section of the Digging Dinos exhibit at the Morris Museum.
See also
- List of music museums
