Museum of the American Revolution

The Museum of the American Revolution, formerly The American Revolution Center, is a museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania dedicated to telling the story of the American Revolution. The museum was opened to the public on April 19, 2017, the 242nd anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, some of the battles of the American Revolutionary War, on April 19, 1775.[2]

Museum of the American Revolution
Logo of the Museum of the American Revolution
Museum of the American Revolution logo
Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia
Established2000
April 19, 2017
Location101 S. Third St., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Coordinates39.9484°N 75.1458°W / 39.9484; -75.1458
TypeHistory museum
Collection size3,000[1]
PresidentDr. R. Scott Stephenson
Public transit accessBus transport SEPTA bus: 21, 42, 57
Bus transport Philly PHLASH, 2nd Street station
Websitewww.amrevmuseum.org

The museum is located at 101 South Third St. in Philadelphia, the city that served as the revolutionary capital during America's founding. The site is across the street from the First Bank of the United States and two blocks from Independence Hall, the National Constitution Center, Second Bank of the United States, American Philosophical Society, Carpenters' Hall, and the Liberty Bell.

Overview

The museum owns a collection of several thousand objects including artwork and sculpture, textiles and weapons, manuscripts, and rare books. Permanent and special exhibition galleries, theaters and large-scale tableaux portray the individuals and events and engage people in the history and continuing relevance of the American Revolution.

Philadelphia area media entrepreneur and philanthropist Gerry Lenfest served as chairman of the board of directors from 2005 until 2016 and was instrumental in launching the museum in 2017.[3] Dr. R. Scott Stephenson was named president and CEO in November 2018. Morris W. Offit[4] serves as the museum's current chairman.

Design and construction

The building was designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA), and on June 12, 2012, RAMSA partner and Driehaus Prize winner Robert A. M. Stern unveiled designs for the permanent location.[5] Groundbreaking for the museum occurred in fall 2014.

The museum rises three stories above the street and, with a full basement, encompasses 118,000 total square feet, with 32,000 dedicated to exhibits and interpretive spaces. The first floor includes a museum shop and the Cross Keys Café which opens to the sidewalk. The first floor interior is organized around a skylit central interior court and features a cross-vaulted ticketing lobby, a multi-use theater and a changing exhibition gallery. The second floor features 18,000 square feet of galleries and a theater dedicated to the exhibition of George Washington's marquee tent.

The museum's third floor offers rooms for events and two terraces overlooking the First Bank of the United States, Independence National Historical Park, and the Philadelphia skyline beyond. The museum is seeking Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification.[6]

Outdoor plaza

The museum's outdoor plaza opened on September 25, 2016. It is accessible to both museum visitors and to passersby, and feature dramatic installations of Revolutionary War artifacts, bronze sculpture, shaded seating, and – once the museum building opens, seasonal café seating.[7]

Reception on opening

When the museum opened to the public on April 19, 2017, it garnered largely positive reviews. Professional historians praised the museum for providing an in-depth and accessible account of the revolution's warfare, social milieu, and ongoing legacy.[8][9] Jennifer Schuessler for The New York Times commended the museum's treatment of the revolution's complicated legacy and its focus on the role of the common man.[10] Edward Rothstein for The Wall Street Journal penned a more mixed review, appreciating the museum's historical strength but faulting it for "de-sacralizing" the revolution.[11] George Will for The National Review lauded the museum for celebrating the revolution while also examining its violence.[12] In a review of the museum's building, Inga Saffron for The Philadelphia Inquirer praised the exhibits but criticized its take on Georgian architecture, noting the spacious, largely empty rooms were likely designed for the museum to host private events.[13]

Moms for Liberty controversy

In 2023, the Museum of the American Revolution confirmed that it had rented its facilities for the opening ceremony for Moms for Liberty's national summit in Philadelphia, eliciting protests against the museum. Thirty-nine staffers signed a petition condemning museum leadership for sanctioning the event, arguing the reception was "endangering the safety" of LGBTQ workers and "damaging the museum’s reputation."[14][15] Professional historical organizations, including the American Historical Association, Organization of American Historians, National Council on Public History, Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, and Berkshire Conference of Women Historians, criticized the museum for hosting the group.[16][17][18] The museum ultimately held the event on Thursday, June 29th, which featured an address by Tim Barton, president of WallBuilders and son of David Barton.[19] During the ceremony, hundreds of protestors demonstrated across the city with more than fifty protesting outside the museum.[20][21][22]

Exhibits

Visitors follow a chronological journey from the roots of conflict in the 1760s to the rise of armed resistance, the Declaration of independence of 1776 through the final years of the war. Visitors see the diversity of revolutionary-era Americans and their opinions, for example by viewing an Oneida Indian council house, and the 1773 volume Poems on Various Subjects by Phillis Wheatley, America's first published black female poet.

Several immersive gallery experiences feature a full-scale replica of Boston's Liberty Tree, the recreation of an Oneida Indian Council, the Battlefield Theater featuring the Battle of Brandywine, a recreation of Independence Hall, and a large model of an 18th-century privateer ship. A dedicated theater houses an iconic surviving artifact of the Revolution: General Washington's Headquarters Tent, which served as both his office and sleeping quarters throughout much of the war.

The museum's president and CEO, formerly the Vice President of Collections, Exhibitions, and Programming, Dr. R. Scott Stephenson holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in American History from the University of Virginia. Stephenson is a specialist in colonial and revolutionary American history and material culture with a background in visual storytelling. Dr. Philip C. Mead, Chief Historian and Curator, holds an M.A. and PhD in American History from Harvard University.

Other historians who have been consulted on the project include: Richard Beeman (University of Pennsylvania), Vincent Brown (Harvard University), Thomas Chavez (National Hispanic Cultural Center), Thomas J. Fleming (writer and novelist), James Hattendorf (US Naval War College), Don Higginbotham (University of North Carolina), Pauline Maier (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Holly Mayer (Duquesne University), Thomas McGuire (Malvern Preparatory School), David McCullough (Yale University), Gary Nash (University of California, LA), Ray Raphael (University of California, Berkeley), Matthew Spooner (Columbia University), Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (Harvard University), and Gordon S. Wood (Brown University).

In February 2023, the museum opened a new exhibit, "Black Founders: The Forten Family of Philadelphia." The 5000-square-foot exhibit centers around James Forten, a Black Founding Father and abolitionist, and his family's push for voting rights and civil liberties for African Americans.[23][24][25]

Collection
George Washington's tent

The Museum of the American Revolution has a collection of several thousand objects. The museum's collection includes items owned and used by General George Washington during the War of Independence, an extensive collection of historic firearms and edged weapons, important art, important manuscripts, and rare books. The collection started by Rev. W. Herbert Burk in the early 1900s makes up the core of the collection.[26]

Some items have been displayed at George Washington's Mount Vernon, Valley Forge National Historical Park, the National Constitution Center, the Winterthur Museum, the Senator John Heinz History Center and the North Carolina Museum of History. [27]

Highlights include:

Selections from the collection

Awards

2012 MUSE Award (Silver level) from the American Alliance of Museums in the category of Mobile Applications, recognizing the museum's American Revolution Interactive Timeline iPad app.[34]

2017 Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Award in the category of Preservation Planning for Washington's War Tent

2017 nominee for Leading Cultural Destinations Award 2017 – “The Museum Oscars” – for Best New Cultural Destination of the Year, North America

2017 Communication Arts 2017 Design Annual Awards for the museum's digital interactives by Bluecadet

2017 Award of Merit from the British Guild of Travel Writers

2017 Engineering News-Record’s Best Projects 2017 Award of Merit in the Cultural/Worship Category

2017 ACE 2017 URBAN PROJECT OF THE YEAR.

2018 Excellence in Exhibition Award for Special Achievement for engaging audiences in something they think they know in new ways from the American Alliance of Museums (AAM)

2018 PA Museums' Institutional Award for Washington's War Tent

2018 American Association for State and Local History Award of Merit

2018 Institute of Classical Architecture's Stanford White Award in the category of commercial, civic, and institutional architecture

2019 PA Museums Special Achievement Award for Revolution Place discovery center

2019 American Alliance of Museums (AAM) Award for Sustainability

2019 American Association for State and Local History Award for Revolution Place discovery center

2020 American Association for State and Local History Award for Hamilton Was Here special exhibit

2020 PA Museums Special Achievement Award for Hamilton Was Here special exhibit

2021 Bronze-level American Alliance of Museums (AAM) MUSE Award for “Finding Freedom” Online Experience

2021 Webby Awards honoree for the Museum’s redesigned website, AmRevMuseum.org

2021 American Association for State and Local History Award for Cost of Revolution special exhibit

2021 PA Museums Special Achievement Award for Cost of Revolution special exhibit

2021 Philadelphia Business Journal’s Faces of Philanthropy Award for Citizenship Initiative

2022 Silver-Level Anthem Award from The Webby Awards for “Finding Freedom” Online Experience

2022 American Association for State and Local History Award for When Women Lost the Vote special exhibition

2022 PA Museums Special Achievement Award for When Women Lost the Vote special exhibition

2022 Philadelphia Business Journal’s Faces of Philanthropy Award for African American Interpretive Program partnership with Comcast NBCUniversal

2023 PA Museum’s Special Achievement Award for Liberty special exhibit

2023 Webby Awards Nominee for Virtual Tour of Washington’s Field Headquarters

References
  1. "Washington's Wartime 'Oval Office' Getting Remade For Philadelphia Museum". CBS Local (Philadelphia). 31 March 2013. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  2. "Museum of the American Revolution to Open April 19, 2017". Museum of the American Revolution. June 16, 2016.
  3. "Board of Directors". Museum of the American Revolution. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  4. Salisbury, Stephan. "New board chair chosen for Museum of the American Revolution". inquirer.com. Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  5. Pogrebin, Robin (11 June 2012). "Design Shown for Museum of American Revolution". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  6. "Museum of the American Revolution". Robert A.M. Stern Architects – Official Website. Archived from the original on 1 April 2013. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  7. Kenneth, Hilario (29 August 2016). "Upcoming Revolution Museum to open outdoor plaza before 2017 debut". Philadelphia Business Journal. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  8. Boudreau, George W. (February 2018). "Review: The Museum of the American Revolution". The Public Historian. 40 (1): 131–136. doi:10.1525/tph.2018.40.1.131.
  9. Beard, Rick (2017). "Review: Museum of the American Revolution, Philadelphia, Pa". Journal of American History. 104 (3): 737–743. doi:10.1093/jahist/jax320.
  10. Schuessler, Jennifer (13 April 2017). "A New Museum of the American Revolution, Warts and All". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  11. Rothstein, Edward (12 April 2017). "A Politically Correct Revolution". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  12. Will, George (2 July 2017). "The Scars of Our Nation's Violent Birth". The National Review. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  13. Saffron, Inga (14 April 2017). "Museum of the American Revolution's building at odds with revolutionary content". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  14. Reyes, Juliana Feliciano (7 June 2023). "American Revolution Museum staffers are fighting to cancel a Moms for Liberty event". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  15. Hunt, Kristin (28 June 2023). "Moms for Liberty event still set for Museum of the American Revolution despite outcry from staff, historians". Philly Voice. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  16. Schuessler, Jennifer (28 June 2023). "Historians Criticize Moms for Liberty Event at Museum in Philadelphia". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  17. Conde, Ximena (27 June 2023). "More groups of historians denounce Moms for Liberty event at Museum of the American Revolution". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  18. Dafoe, Taylor (29 June 2023). "Historians Are Calling Out Philadelphia's Museum of the American Revolution for Hosting a 'Dangerous' Right-Wing Group". Artnet News. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  19. "Joyful Warriors National Summit Schedule of Events". Moms for Liberty. Moms for Liberty. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  20. Sharber, Cory (6 July 2023). "Hundreds protest Moms for Liberty as weekend-long summit kicks off in Philadelphia". WHYY. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  21. O'Connell, Chris; Cole, Jeff (29 June 2023). "Protests erupt as controversial Moms for Liberty annual summit in Philadelphia continues". Fox 29. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  22. Jackson, David (30 June 2023). "'Get out of my city': Moms For Liberty hears from Trump, DeSantis and noisy protesters in Philly". USA Today. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  23. Hopkins, Earl (10 February 2023). "New exhibit centers on the legend and legacy of Black Founding Father James Forten and his family". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  24. Swartz, Laura (16 February 2023). "New James Forten Exhibit Brings the Black Founding Father to Life". Philadelphia (magazine). Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  25. Hunt, Kristin (8 February 2023). "New exhibit sheds light on James Forten, Black abolitionist and Revolutionary War fighter". Philly Voice. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  26. Ferguson, Andrew (1 May 2017). "Immerse Yourself in 1776 and All That". Weekly Standard. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  27. Mason, ZeeAnn (19 May 2011). "Rare Objects from American Revolution Center Collection on Display Through Loans to Historic Mount Vernon and the National Constitution Center" (PDF) (Press release). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: American Revolution Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 October 2011. Retrieved 2013-04-07.
  28. "Washington's Camp Cups". Museum of the American Revolution. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  29. "The March to Valley Forge". Museum of the American Revolution. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  30. "A Founding Father's Roman History". Museum of the American Revolution. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  31. "First Newspaper Printing of the Declaration". Museum of the American Revolution. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  32. "Plan of the Battle of Brandywine". Museum of the American Revolution. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  33. "Hessian Headgear". Museum of the American Revolution. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  34. Miller, Aaron. "2012 AAM MUSE Awards". Bluecadet. Archived from the original on 4 April 2013. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
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