Reading Public Museum facts for kids
Outside view
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| Location | West Reading, Pennsylvania |
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The Reading Public Museum is a fantastic museum located in West Reading, Pennsylvania. It sits in the 18th Ward, right along the Wyomissing Creek. This museum is special because it has over 280,000 amazing things! You can explore art, science, and learn about different civilizations. It even has a planetarium called the Neag Planetarium, where you can see the stars. Outside, there's a huge 25-acre arboretum, which is like a big park with lots of trees and plants.
Contents
A Look Back: Museum History
The museum started way back in 1904. The local school district bought some cool exhibits from a big event called the Saint Louis World's Fair. These new items joined a special collection of natural history things owned by Dr. Levi Walter Mengel.
Opening and Growth
The museum first opened its doors to everyone in 1913. That same year, it also started collecting works of art. Dr. Levi Walter Mengel was the museum's very first director and is known as its founding father. Christopher Shearer, a famous landscape artist, became the first art curator.
New Building and Arboretum
In 1925, construction began at the museum's current spot. By 1928, the beautiful new building, designed in the Beaux-Art style by William Forbes Smith, was open to the public. Later, in 1998, architect Der Scutt added a new entrance atrium. The large arboretum outside was planned in the late 1920s by the well-known American landscape architect John Nolen. Since 1991, a group called The Foundation for the Reading Public Museum has been in charge of running the museum.
Explore the Collections
The museum has a huge collection of items from many different cultures. It is especially strong in American art. Its fine art collection includes more than 700 oil paintings by artists from America and around the world.
Amazing Artworks
You can see paintings by famous American artists like Benjamin West, Gilbert Stuart, Frederic Church, Childe Hassam, William Merritt Chase, John Singer Sargent, and N. C. Wyeth. There are also modern American artworks by artists such as Milton Avery, Alexander Calder, and Helen Frankenthaler.
The museum also has European paintings by artists like Edgar Degas and Julien Dupre. You can find sculptures by famous artists such as Auguste Rodin, Henry Moore, and Deborah Butterfield.
Works on Paper and Photos
The collection also includes over 12,000 works on paper. These range from old illuminated manuscripts to prints by artists like Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt, Andy Warhol, and Keith Haring. You can also see photographs by important artists like Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, and Ansel Adams.
Ancient Worlds and Cultures
One of the most exciting parts of the ancient collection is Nefrina, a real mummy from ancient Egypt! There are also many Greek vases, including the famous Herakles Vase, and beautiful Greek and Roman marble sculptures. The Arms and Armor gallery shows off European armor from the 1500s and 1600s, including a full suit of Maximilian armor. You can also see weapons and armor from Japan, the Islamic world, Africa, and the South Pacific.
The museum has hundreds of historic artworks made by North American Indian peoples. These include items from the Lenape, Inuit, Hopi, Sioux, and Cherokee tribes. There are also Asian collections with art from China, Japan, India, and Thailand.
Local History and Nature
You can also explore a large collection of items from Pennsylvania German culture. These include colorful folk art called fraktur, painted furniture, and pottery. The museum has special galleries for American Art, Modern Art, European Art, North American Indian arts, Ancient Civilizations, and Natural History.
The natural history collections are huge! They include thousands of moths and butterflies, many collected by Dr. Levi W. S. Mengel himself. You can also see other insects, birds, nests, bird eggs, mammals, fossils, minerals, and plant specimens.
See also
