Worcester Historical Museum facts for kids
Main entrance on Elm Street
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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 in downtown Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. It started in 1875 as the Worcester Society of Antiquity. This museum is the only place in the area focused completely on local history and old items.
The museum's collection covers history from the colonial times up to the 1900s. It includes old writings, fabrics, paintings, and pottery. The museum has both long-term and changing exhibits. It also has a research library and owns the Salisbury Mansion. The library holds more than 7,000 books.
Contents
Museum Exhibits
The museum has one main exhibit that is always there. It is called "In Their Shirtsleeves" and is in the Fuller Gallery of Industrial History. This exhibit shows the history of industry in Worcester. It features items given recently and things the museum has collected over many years. The collection covers over a hundred years of history. It highlights what people from Worcester created and how their inventions changed the area and beyond.
Temporary Displays
The museum also has three other areas for exhibits that change often. These temporary displays cover different parts of history and culture.
For example, an exhibit called "Smiley - An American Icon" was shown from October 2006 to February 2007. It looked at the Smiley face graphic and its designer, Harvey Ball, who was from Worcester. In 2013, the "Game On!" exhibit showed 150 years of toys. Visitors could explore it like a board game.
Worcester's Diverse Communities
The museum has often shown the history of Worcester's many different groups of people. This has been a focus for over 40 years. In the 1980s and 1990s, there were exhibits like "Water Street: A World Within a World." This exhibit was about the historically Jewish part of Worcester. Another exhibit was "ga till Amerika: Swedes in Worcester 1868-1993."
Since then, the museum has collected items and shown exhibits about many minority communities in Worcester. In 2008, the Guatemalan immigrant community was featured. Their exhibit was called "The Things We Carried: Guatemalan Stories." Since 2018, the museum and the Worcester Black History Project have gathered stories, objects, and photos. These items show the history of local Black people.
In 2018, a temporary exhibit called "The Legacy of Water Street: 35 Years of Sharing Worcester’s Jewish History" was displayed. It looked back at the first Water Street exhibit and added more details about the local Jewish community. From April to October 2019, the "For The Record: ... Worcester" exhibit brought together information about the experiences of diverse communities in Worcester County. This exhibit marked 50 years since a significant historical event. It was created with help from local colleges. The goal was to build a lasting collection of information about these communities.
A new exhibit called "Somos Worcester" will open in 2024. It is a permanent exhibit created with the Latino History Project of Worcester. It will show the history of the local Latino community.
Research Library
The research library is open to everyone for a small fee. You can visit Tuesday through Saturday from 10 AM to 4 PM. If you want to look at special archive materials, you need to make an appointment first.
See also
- List of historical societies in Massachusetts
