Worcester Historical Museum facts for kids
Main entrance
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| Former name | Worcester Society of Antiquity |
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| Established | 1875 |
| Location | 30 Elm Street Worcester, Massachusetts |
| Type | History museum Historic house museum |
| Architect | Frederick Coulson |
| Historian | Wendy Essery |
The Worcester Historical Museum is a cool place in downtown Worcester, Massachusetts. It started way back in 1875 as the Worcester Society of Antiquity. This museum is special because it's the only one in the area that focuses completely on local history and old stuff from the past.
The museum has a huge collection! It covers history from the early days of America (colonial times) all the way up to the 1900s. You can find old letters, clothes, paintings, and even pottery here. The museum has exhibits that stay for a long time and others that change often. It also has a special library for research and owns the historic Salisbury Mansion. The library alone has more than 7,000 books and documents!
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Awesome Exhibits to Explore
The museum has a main exhibit that's always there, called "In Their Shirtsleeves." You can find it in the Fuller Gallery of Industrial History. This exhibit tells the story of how Worcester became a big industrial city. It shows off cool old tools and inventions. These items were either given to the museum recently or collected over many years. The exhibit covers more than a hundred years of history. It highlights what people from Worcester achieved and how their inventions changed the area and even the world!
The museum also has three other areas where they put up new exhibits all the time. These temporary displays often focus on different parts of history and culture.
Cool Past Exhibits
The museum has shown many interesting exhibits over the years. For example, "Smiley - An American Icon" was an exhibit about the famous Smiley face. It also talked about its designer, Harvey Ball, who was from Worcester. This exhibit was on display from October 2006 to February 2007. In 2013, another fun exhibit called "Game On!" showed 150 years of toys. You could even explore it like a board game!
Celebrating Worcester's Diverse People
For over 40 years, the museum has shared the history of all the different groups of people who live in Worcester. In the 1980s and 1990s, they had exhibits like “Water Street: A World Within a World.” This one was about the history of the Jewish community in a part of Worcester called Water Street. Another exhibit was “ga till Amerika: Swedes in Worcester 1868-1993,” which focused on people from Sweden who moved to Worcester.
Since then, the museum has continued to collect and display items about many different groups in Worcester. In 2008, an exhibit called “The Things We Carried: Guatemalan Stories” focused on people who immigrated from Guatemala. Since 2018, the museum has worked with the Worcester Black History Project. They have collected stories, objects, and photos about the history of Black people in the area.
In 2018, a temporary exhibit called "The Legacy of Water Street" looked back at the original Water Street exhibit. It shared even more about the history of the local Jewish community.
New Exhibits Coming Soon
Working with the Latino History Project of Worcester, the museum will open a new permanent exhibit in 2024. It will be called "Somos Worcester" and will show the history of the Latino community in the area.
Research Library
The museum has a special research library that is open to everyone. You can visit it Tuesday through Saturday from 10 AM to 4 PM. There is a small fee to use the library. If you want to look at very old or special documents, you need to make an appointment first.
