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[Arizona] [California] [Colorado] [Connecticut] [Delaware] [District of Columbia] [Hawaii] [Illinois] [Indiana] [Kansas] [Kentucky] [Maryland] [Massachusetts] [Michigan] [Minnesota] [Missouri] [New Jersey] [New Mexico] [New York] [Ohio] [Oklahoma] [Oregon] [Pennsylvania] [Texas] [Virginia] [Wisconsin] [Canada] [Children's]
United States
Arizona [return to top]
University Art Museum, Arizona State University Art Collections Nelson Fine Arts Center and Matthews Center, Arizona State University Tempe, AZ 85287 602-965-ARTS
Founded in 1950, Arizona State's collection includes American paintings of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; a fine print collection with Rembrandts, Whistlers, and Durers; fine Americana and decorative arts, particularly pottery; European painting and sculpture; Latin American arts; and crafts.
California [return to top]
California Palace of the Legion of Honor Lincoln Park San Francisco, CA 94121 415-221-4811
The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco M.H. deYoung Museum Lincoln Park San Francisco, CA 94121 415-750-3600
These museums are run by a joint administration, although they are not located near each other. Founded in 1924 and 1895, respectively, each museum has extensive collections. The deYoung includes the Hearst collection of Flemish Gothic tapestries; fine primitive pre-Columbian artifacts; Northwest Coast Native American, African, and Oceanic arts collections; and Renaissance and Baroque art. The California Palace is noted for its eighteenth-century French furniture and decorative arts; its French paintings, including those of Monet, Renoir, Fragonard, Boucher, Manet, and Corot; Rodin sculptures; and an extraordinary collection of prints and drawings of all periods.
J. Paul Getty Museum 17985 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, CA 90265 310-458-2003
The world's best-endowed museum, the Getty was created in 1953. This popular museum is housed in a re-creation of the first-century B.C. Villa dei Paryri at Herculaneum, complete with elaborate gardens. The Getty has acquired extraordinary classical collections, including illuminated manuscripts and French decorative arts.
Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Garden 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, CA 91108 818-405-2100
In the Huntington complex, established in 1919, a beautiful garden setting enhances the extraordinary collections of eighteenth-century British paintings, including Gainsborough's Blue Boy and Lawrence's Pinkie ; Renaissance bronzes and eighteenth-century marbles; early editions of Shakespeare and Chaucer in the extensive library; and prints and drawings. The setting includes a Japanese garden and sixteenth-century samurai's house.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art 5905 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90036 213-857-6111
Established in 1910, this museum houses a general collection in three pavilions surrounded by a sculpture garden with works from Rodin's time to the present. Its acquisitions include early Near and Middle Eastern antiquities; Roman, Greek, Western, and modern art; Far Eastern collections; textiles; costumes; Indian arts; pottery; Italian mosaics; pre Columbian, African, and Oceanic arts; and nineteenth- and twentieth century American and European paintings.
Norton Simon Museum 411 W. Colorado Boulevard Pasadena, CA 91105 213-449-6840
Established in 1924 as the Pasadena Museum of Modern Art, this museum has developed worldwide prominence through the loans of collector Norton Simon. His collections include European art from the Renaissance to recent times, with Old Masters of the highest quality.
Colorado [return to top]
The Denver Art Museum
100 West 14th Avenue Parkway Denver, CO 80204 303-640-2295
The Denver Art Museum is noted for its collection of primitive African, Oceanic, American, Native American, and Northwest Indian arts; its Peruvian art; its collection of the arts of China, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia, Tibet, and the Middle and Near East; period rooms; Impressionist, post-impressionist, and modern paintings; prints, drawings, and photographs; and the Neusteter Institute of Fashion, Costume, and Textiles.
Connecticut [return to top]
The New Britain Museum of American Art 56 Lexington Street New Britain, CT 06052 203-229-0257
The New Britain Collection, established in 1903, focuses on outstanding American paintings from colonial times to the present. It includes Hudson River School painters and the Low memorial collection of American illustration, with N. C. Wyeth classics.
Yale Center for British Art 1080 Chapel Street Box 2120 New Haven, CT 06520 203-432-2800
This collection of British watercolors, drawings, paintings, books, and prints is the largest of its kind outside of Great Britain. Established in 1977, the center was the gift of Paul Mellon, a lifelong collector of British art.
Yale University Art Gallery 1111 Chapel Street New Haven, CT 06520 203-432-0600
This outstanding world art collection has been built up since the gallery's founding in 1832. It includes the Jarves collection of early Italian paintings; collections of American silver, painting, and decorative arts; modern art; Greek and Roman vases; manuscripts; prints and drawings; and primitive arts.
Delaware [return to top]
Delaware Art Museum 2301 Kentmere Parkway Wilmington, DE 19806 302-571-9590
The Delaware Art Museum, founded in 1912, specializes in American paintings, with examples by Hudson River School painters such as John Sloan, Howard Pyle, and the Wyeth family. There is an extensive collection of English pre-Raphaelites; a research library on American arts; and prints and drawings.
Henry Francis Du Pont Winterthur Museum Route 52 Winterthur, DE 19735 302-888-4600
Founded in 1930, Winterthur has an outstanding collection of American furniture, furnishings, and decorative arts from the colonial period to the mid-nineteenth century. Period rooms display extensive collections of ceramics, glass, Chinese porcelain. fabrics, lighting fixtures, and carpets.
District of Columbia [return to top]
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution 1050 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20560 202-357-2700
This gallery contains a permanent collection of Asian art, including ancient works from China, the Indian subcontinent, and Southeast Asia as well as scrolls and other work by notable twentieth-century painters.
Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution 12th Street at Jefferson Drive, SW Washington, DC 20560 202-357-2104
Established in 1906, the Freer has one of the world's best collections of Oriental art and a comprehensive collection of Whistler paintings (his close friend Charles Freer gathered the collection and donated it).
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution Independence Avenue at 7th Street, SW Washington, DC 20560 202-357-3091
Created in 1966 to specialize in modern art, the Hirshhorn's collection is so vast that only a small portion can be displayed at any time.
National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution Sixth Street and Independence Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20560 203-357-2700
Founded in 1946, this museum houses a definitive collection of aeronautical and astronautical items; air and space craft; and instruments, equipment, art, uniforms, and personal memorabilia related to air and space.
National Gallery of Art Constitution Avenue and 4th Street, NW Washington, DC 20565 202-737-4215
The National Gallery was endowed by Andrew Mellon in 1937 and continues to benefit from his children's donations. It includes paintings and sculptures of all schools of Western art, decorative arts, and drawings and prints, with all the classic masters represented.
National Museum of American Art, The Smithsonian Institution 8th and G Streets, NW Washington, DC 20560 202-357-2700
Housed in the historic Greek Revival Old Patent Office, the museum has a definitive collection of American arts, including graphic and decorative arts, from colonial times to the present.
Hawaii [return to top]
Honolulu Academy of Arts 900 South Beretania Street Honolulu, HI 96814 808-538-3693
The academy, founded in 1927, has a general collection representing everything from ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean arts to European and American arts. Medieval art, the Michener Collection of Japanese prints, Monet's Water Lilies , and the arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas are also included.
Illinois [return to top]
The Art Institute of Chicago Michigan Avenue at Adams Street Chicago, IL 60603 312-443-3600
Founded in 1879, the Art Institute of Chicago has excellent collections in all areas of art. It is noted for the works of Old Masters, Impressionists, and American and Far Eastern artists; graphics; and Thorne miniature rooms. Famed works include Seurat's Sunday Afternoon on the Island of la Grande Jatte , Rembrandt's Young Girl at an Open Half-Door , and Mary Cassatt's The Bath .
The Field Museum of Natural History Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive Chicago, IL 60605 312-922-9410
Founded in 1893, the Field Museum contains definitive collections on anatomy, anthropology, costumes, ethnology, geology, Native American artifacts, science, textiles, and zoology. Among its highlights are a full scale replica of a Pawnee Earth Lodge and a herbarium.
Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago 1155 East 58th Street Chicago, IL 60637 312-962-9520
Founded in 1919, the Oriental Institute houses a top collection of archeology and art of the ancient Near East, Babylonia, Egypt, early Christian cultures, and Islamic civilization.
Indiana [return to top]
Indiana University Art Museum Fine Arts Building Bloomington, IN 47405 812-855-5445
This fine general collection, founded in 1941, includes everything from ancient to contemporary art, with Egyptian, Greek, and Roman sculpture; coins and glass; Western fine and decorative arts from the fourteenth to the twentieth centuries; and Far Eastern arts.
Indianapolis Museum of Art 1200 West 38th Street Indianapolis, IN 46208 317-923-1331
Noted for its Chinese, primitive, and American art, this museum, founded in 1883, has an outstanding general collection of Old Masters, Turner watercolors, and European and American decorative arts.
Kansas [return to top]
Wichita Art Museum 619 Stackman Drive Wichita, KS 67203 316-268-4921
Established in 1935, this museum's outstanding collection ranges from art of the Old West by Charles M. Russell to Eakins' Starting Out After Rail . It is noted for its American paintings, sculptures, prints, and drawings.
Kentucky [return to top]
J.B. Speed Art Museum 2035 South Third Street Louisville, KY 40208 502-636-2893
This extensive collection, founded in 1925, includes European painting, sculpture, and decorative arts from the Middle Ages to the present; French and Flemish tapestries; and Kentuckiana.
Maryland [return to top]
The Baltimore Museum of Art Art Museum Drive Baltimore, MD 21218 301-396-7101
Best known for its classic modern collections, this outstanding museum, established in 1914, displays contemporary drawings, period rooms illustrating stylistic development in Maryland, Old Masters paintings, and Far Eastern art.
Walters Art Gallery 600 North Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21201 301-547-9000
Assembled by father and son, the Walters Art Gallery opened in 1931 with exquisite medieval treasures and Byzantine and Islamic art; early Christian liturgical vessels, Renaissance enamels, and jewelry; paintings from various periods; and Greek, Roman, and Etruscan art.
Massachusetts [return to top]
Fogg Art Museum 32 Quincy Street Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138 617-495-9400
With the largest and most extensive art collection of any university in the United States, the Fogg, opened in 1895, is particularly noted for its drawings and prints of all periods. It also has a fine collection of Chinese sculptures, stones and bronzes, jades, and ceramics.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum 280 The Fenway Boston, MA 02115 617-566-1401
This personal collection, founded in 1900, covers a wide range of world art, with masterpieces such as Titian's The Rape of Europa , Giotto's Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple , and Botticelli's Madonna of the Eucharist .
Museum of Fine Arts 465 Huntington Avenue Boston, MA 02115 617-267-9300
This collection, founded in 1870, includes masterpieces from around the world. It is noted for its Far Eastern, ancient, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman collections, as well as Old Masters, Impressionist, and post-impressionist works, and American paintings and decorative arts. It also has American silver, prints and drawings, ancient musical instruments, and ship models. Famed works include Paul Revere's Liberty Bowl, Renoir's Le Bal a Bougival , and a Greek marble Head of Aphrodite .
Museum of Science Science Park Boston, MA 02114 617-589-0100
Founded in 1830, this science and technology museum includes collections of mineral and plant specimens, mounted animals, and exhibits on human physiology. Interactive exhibits demonstrate the principles of electricity as well as the inner workings of computers. The planetarium features rotating shows relating to space.
Old Sturbridge Village Sturbridge, MA 01566 508-347-3362
Set up in 1938 as a living history museum, Old Sturbridge has a considerable collection of tools, crafts, arts and artifacts, decorative arts, and more than 100 period buildings of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Michigan [return to top]
The Detroit Institute of Arts 5200 Woodward Avenue Detroit, MI 48202 313-833-7900
Founded in 1885, this institute is renowned for its comprehensive collection of world arts, especially its Old Master paintings of northern Europe, French eighteenth-century decorative arts, art of the ancient world, period rooms, prints and drawings, and American arts since colonial times.
Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village 20900 Oakwood Boulevard Dearborn, MI 48121 313-271-1620
Described as a "Disneyland of Americana," the indoor/outdoor facilities, established in 1929, of the museum and village offer demonstrations of crafts and manufacturing techniques that complement its extensive collections of arts, crafts, artifacts, and technology. Activities include everything from antique car rallies to country fairs on its 14 acres.
Minnesota [return to top]
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts 2400 Third Avenue South South Minneapolis, MN 55404 612-870-3000
This outstanding general collection is strongest in European paintings from Old Masters to the present. Founded in 1912, the institute also houses the Pillsbury Collection of Chinese bronzes, Japanese prints and paintings, textiles, and photographs.
Walker Art Center Vineland Place Minneapolis, MN 55403 612-375-7600
Founded in 1879, this museum contains contemporary art, including paintings, sculpture, drawings, and prints. Its renowned Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is a 7 1/2-acre urban garden featuring 40 sculptures and a conservatory with horticultural displays.
Missouri [return to top]
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art 4525 Oak Street Kansas City, MO 64111 816-561-4000
This museum contains prestigious collections of European and American art. Its renowned Oriental Collection is comprised of the Chinese Temple Room, galleries displaying furniture and porcelain, a specially humidified gallery of delicate scroll paintings, a sculpture gallery, and a display of glazed T'ang dynasty tomb figures.
The St. Louis Art Museum Forest Park St. Louis, MO 63110 314-721-0067
Founded in 1881, the St. Louis Art Museum contains a comprehensive collection of art from all eras of civilization. Among its more than 35,000 works are important pre-Columbian and German Expressionist collections.
New Jersey [return to top]
The Art Museum Princeton University Princeton, NJ 08544 609-258-3788
Opened in 1882, this comprehensive collection contains a wide spectrum of world art, including Chinese paintings and bronzes, classical antiquities, and French paintings and sculptures.
New Mexico [return to top]
Explora Science Center and Children’s Museum of Albuquerque
1701 Mountain Road NW
Albuquerque, NM 87104
505 224 8300; group reservations 505 224 8341
Over 250 interactive science, technology and arts exhibits for all ages, including an experiment bar, an arts and crafts area, a high-wire bike and a robotics lab. Visitors can also discover a new way of looking at the performing arts in the Explora Theater.
The University of New Mexico Art Museum Fine Arts Center Albuquerque, NM 87131 505-277-7315
Established in 1963, the museum has important collections of nineteenth- and twentieth-century prints and photographs and American painting of the twentieth century, with emphasis on artists who worked in New Mexico.
New York [return to top]
Albany Institute of History and Art 125 Washington Avenue Albany, NY 12210 518-462-1522
Founded in 1791, the institute's collection focuses on the fine and decorative arts of Albany and Hudson River artists, with portraits, silver, furniture, and period rooms.
American Museum of Natural History Central Park West at 79th Street New York, NY 10024 212-873-1300
One of the world's largest natural history museums, opened in 1869, it has exceptional collections on Native Americans, Eskimos, dinosaurs, wildlife, minerals, and fossil specimens.
The Brooklyn Museum 200 Eastern Parkway Brooklyn, NY 11238 718-638-5000
The Brooklyn Museum was founded in 1823 and has amassed comprehensive collections of Egyptian and classical arts; American arts; European and American graphics; and pre-Columbian, African, Native American, and other primitive arts.
The Cloisters Fort Tryon Park, NY 10040 212-923-3700
A branch of the Metropolitan Museum devoted exclusively to medieval art, the Cloisters was built on a 4 1/2-acre site overlooking the Hudson. It was opened in 1938 and incorporates four medieval cloisters, an arcade, a chapel, and exhibition rooms. The museum features twelfth- and thirteenth-century Byzantine and Romanesque art from France and Spain.
Cooper-Hewitt National Museum of Design, The Smithsonian Institution 2 East 91 st Street New York, NY 10128 212-860-6868
Established in 1897, the Cooper-Hewitt is housed in the Carnegie mansion. Its excellent collection of decorative arts includes furniture, fabrics, wallpaper, ceramics, drawings, prints, architecture and design publications, and metalwork. It boasts the world's largest collection of Winslow Homer drawings and sketches by other late nineteenth-century artists.
The Frick Collection 1 East 70th Street New York, NY 10021 212-288-0700
The former home of Henry Clay Frick, built in 1914 as an eighteenth century model, still has most of its original furnishings intact, including excellent European paintings from the fourteenth through the eighteenth centuries.
Guggenheim Museum
See Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
The Jewish Museum 1109 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10128 212-399-3344
This preeminent U.S. collection numbers over 23,000 objects spanning 4 millennia, ranging from ancient Eastern Mediterranean archeological artifacts to contemporary art and including paintings, sculpture, ceramics, textiles, wood, metalwork, photography, drawings, prints, coins, medals, and broadcast materials. A permanent exhibit, The Jewish Experience, spans 4,000 years of history and culture.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street New York, NY 10028 212-879-5500
One of the world's major museums, founded in 1870, the Metropolitan houses definitive collections covering about 5,000 years of art. A few of the highlights include medieval armor collections, Tiffany stained-glass windows, the complete Temple of Dendur (an early Christian structure from Egypt), extensive painting collections, sculpture, decorative arts, and a re-creation of a classic Ming dynasty Chinese garden court.
Museum of American Folk Art 2 Lincoln Square New York, NY 10023 212-977-7170
This museum, established in 1961, elevates the crafts of the past to fine art status. It includes collections of quilts, weathervanes, folk paintings, sculptures, weavings, and needlework from the colonial period to the early twentieth century.
The Museum of Modern Art 11 West 53rd Street New York, NY 10019 212-708-9400
Begun in 1929, this exceptional collection traces the evolution of art from the Impressionist period forward. It represents a variety of disciplines, including drawings and prints, industrial design, architecture, paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts.
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum 1071 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10128 212-727-6200
Founded in 1937, this excellent collection of modern drawings, prints, paintings, and sculpture emphasizes abstract and nonobjective subjects. It is housed in a stunning Frank Lloyd Wright Building.
Whitney Museum of American Art 945 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10021 212-570-3600
Opened in 1966, the Whitney houses New York's largest collection of twentieth-century art, with changing exhibitions of drawings, paintings, sculpture, and architecture. It shows contemporary avant-garde film and video and holds the Biennial of Contemporary American Art, a major showcase of the best recent work.
Ohio [return to top]
Cincinnati Art Museum Eden Park Cincinnati, OH 45202 513-721-5204
Founded in 1886, this major museum has an excellent, comprehensive general collection noted for its Near Eastern and American arts, Old Masters, medieval art, musical instruments, and drawings and prints. It includes works by Corot, Titian, Grant Wood, Gainsborough, Goya, and Velazquez.
Cleveland Museum of Art 11150 East Boulevard Cleveland, OH 44106 216-421-7340
This excellent museum, founded in 1913, has a wide-ranging collection representing the artistic accomplishments of cultures throughout the world. It is recognized for one of the best Far Eastern collections and for its medieval art, Old Masters, classical antiquities, and American arts from the colonial time forward.
The Toledo Museum of Art 2445 Monroe Street at Scottwood Avenue Box 1013 Toledo, OH 43697 419-255-8000
This museum is a renowned cultural center for art and music, featuring extensive collections of glass, European and American paintings, sculpture and decorative arts. Collections range from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance to contemporary Europe and America.
Oklahoma [return to top]
Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art 1400 Gilcrease Museum Road Tulsa, OK 74127 918-582-3122
This exceptional art collection, founded in 1942, captures the saga of America from prehistoric to modern times; the Gilcrease's art of the Old West is rivaled only by that of the Smithsonian. The institute also has maps, books, documents, artifacts, and manuscripts.
Oregon [return to top]
Portland Art Museum 1219 South West Park Avenue Portland, OR 97205 503-226-2811
The Portland, founded in 1892, focuses on Native American arts of the Northwest. It also includes a unique collection of Cameroon art, pre Columbian arts, Renaissance painting and sculpture, Ethiopian crosses, and European and American painting and sculpture.
Pennsylvania [return to top]
Franklin Institute Science Museum and Planetarium 20th and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway Philadelphia, PA 19103 215-448-1200
Founded in 1824, this comprehensive museum offers collections featuring science, history, industry, technology, aeronautics, astronomy, space exploration, and stamps and coins.
Museum of Art, The Carnegie 4400 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 412-622-1975
This museum, founded in 1896, displays art from around the world, including American art since the colonial period; ancient and classical art; African, pre-Columbian, and Native American art; and European painting, sculpture, and decorative arts from the Renaissance forward. Works by Van Gogh, Cezanne, and Monet are included.
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts 118 N. Broad Street Philadelphia, PA 19102 215-972-7600
Founded in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy offers an excellent collection of American art from the eighteenth century to the present, with major works by Thomas Eakins, Charles Willson Peale, and William Rush.
Philadelphia Museum of Art 26th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway Philadelphia, PA 19101 215-763-8100
This museum, established in 1876, is noted for its masterpieces from the twelfth to the nineteenth centuries; Barberini tapestries designed by Rubens; arms and armor; glass; European and American period rooms; folk, decorative, and primitive art; and the Stieglitz Center collection of photographs.
The University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania 33rd and Spruce Streets Philadelphia, PA 19104 215-898-4000
Founded in 1887, the museum is renowned for its worldwide acquisitions of ancient and primitive art, its collection of Native American gold, and the largest grouping of West African art in the Americas. It has sponsored more than 275 expeditions to gather outstanding artifacts from the ancient Near, Middle, and Far East, Southeast Asia, the Mediterranean, the Pacific, Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
Texas [return to top]
Amon Carter Museum 3501 Camp Bowie Boulevard Fort Worth, TX 76107 817-738- 1933
Housed in an impressive building designed by Philip Johnson since its founding in 1961, this museum concentrates on American paintings and sculptures from the nineteenth century forward, specializing in the works of the Old West. It also has a fine print collection and excellent Remingtons and Russells.
Kimbell Art Museum 3333 Camp Bowie Boulevard Box 9440 Fort Worth, TX 76107 817-332-8451
Noted for its masterpieces from around the world, this collection, founded in 1972, ranges from twelfth-century panel paintings to J. M. W. Turner landscapes, Gainsboroughs, and Goyas.
The Museum of Fine Arts 1001 Bissonet Box 6826 Houston, TX 77265 713-639-7300
This wide-ranging collection of world art, established in 1900, is especially strong in contemporary art; pre-Columbian and Native American art; Old Masters; and later European and American paintings and sculptures.
Virginia [return to top]
Colonial Williamsburg Goodwin Building P.O. Box 1776 Williamsburg, VA 23185 804-229-1000
This village-style museum, founded in 1926, showcases American arts from colonial times forward. Colonial Williamsburg has 88 preserved and restored buildings dating from 1693 to 1837 and 50 reconstructed eighteenth-century buildings surrounded by gardens.
Virginia Museum of Pine Arts 2800 Grove Avenue Richmond, VA 23221 804-367-0844
This museum, which opened its doors in 1936, features important collections of British sporting art and French Impressionist and post impressionist art, American paintings since World War II, and art nouveau and art deco objects; a collection of Russian imperial Easter eggs by Faberge; and one of the nation's leading collections of art from India, Nepal, and Tibet. Among its holdings are works by Goya and Monet.
Wisconsin [return to top]
Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin 800 University Avenue Madison, WI 53706 608-263-2246
Established in 1962, this is one of the three largest university museums in the United States. Its wide-ranging collection of world art dates back to ancient times, with fine examples of classical coins and marbles; American painting, sculpture, and decorative arts from the eighteenth century forward; Indian miniatures; and Socialist Realist (propagandist) paintings from Russia.
Canadian Museums [return to top]
Alberta
The Glenbow Museum 130 9th Avenue, SE Calgary, Alberta T26 OP3 403-264-8300
This museum features exhibits on military history, mineralogy, and western Canadian history These include artifacts from Indian and Inuit peoples as well as the Hudson Bay Company and the Canadian Pacific Railroad, which was built during the nineteenth century The art gallery features works by historical and contemporary western Canadian artists, including Francis N. Hopkins, Emily Carr, John Hall, Ron Moppett, and Chris Cran.
The Royal Tyrrell Museum Box 7500 Drumheller, Alberta TOJ 0Y0 403-823-7707
Canada's only museum devoted to paleontology features hands-on displays and computer simulations covering 4.5 billion years of Earth's history Forty full dinosaur skeletons comprise the world's largest exhibit of complete dinosaurs.
British Columbia
The Royal British Columbia Museum of Anthropology 675 Belleville Street Victoria, British Columbia V8V IX4 604-387-3701
The Royal British Columbia Museum displays a range of exhibitions depicting the accomplishments of native peoples, the achievements of early explorers and settlers, and British Columbia's natural heritage and archeological past. It includes a 14-foot-high woolly mammoth roaming a barren hilltop 10,000 years ago and a native Indian penitentiary.
Ontario
Art Gallery of Hamilton 123 King Street West Hamilton, Ontario LOP 4S8 416-527-6610
A major North American museum, this gallery was established in 1914. It is noted for its collection of Canadian art; twentieth-century British and American painting, sculpture, drawings, and prints; and French Impressionist works.
Royal Ontario Museum 100 Queens Park Toronto, Ontario M5S 2C6 416-586-5549
From suits of armor to suits by Chanel, totem poles to monstrous dinosaurs, the ROM is the largest museum in Canada. It is one of the world's few multi-disciplinary museums combining art, archeology, and science. The museum features a planetarium, as well as a prominent display of historical and contemporary ceramic art.
Museum of Civilization Victoria Memorial Museum Building Metcalfe and McLeod Streets Ottawa, Ontario KIA OM8 613-992-3497
Opened in 1845, this museum specializes in history and folk culture, with excellent collections of the arts and crafts of Native Americans, particularly Eskimos and Northwest Coast Indians.
National Gallery of Canada 380 Sussex Drive Ottawa, Ontario KIN 9N4 613-990-1985
With more than 40,000 works, this museum contains the largest collection of Canadian art in the world and includes painting, sculpture, prints, drawings, photographs, video, film, and Inuit art.
Children's Museums [return to top]
There are more than 90 museums located throughout the United States devoted to children While most museums offer at least a few special programs for children, those listed here focus almost exclusively on young visitors. A representative group is described in detail. For additional information, see the listing "Children's and Junior Museums" in The Official Museum Directory, published annually by the American Association of Museums.
Brooklyn Children's Museum 145 Brooklyn Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11213 718-735-4400
Founded in 1899, this was the world's first children's museum. Its teaching collection includes more than 50,000 items, with exhibits on cultural history, natural history, and technology. It houses a greenhouse, a steam engine, and a gristmill. Children may attend workshops in school classes or groups. A portable loan collection and children's resource library is also available.
Capital Children's Museum 800 Third Street NE Washington, DC 20002 202-543-8600
Founded in 1974, Capital Children's International Hall has a hands-on exhibit on Mexico where children learn to make their own tortillas, weave, and do other Mexican arts and crafts. Additional facilities include a living room, a metric exhibit, a simple machines display, a computer classroom, a communications exhibit, and a futuristic center.
Children's Museum Museum Wharf 300 Congress Street Boston, MA 02210 617-426-6500
Located on Boston's picturesque waterfront, Children's Museum was founded in 1913. It offers special collections of Native American and Japanese art; Americana; games, toys, dolls, and doll houses; and bird, insect, shell, and mineral specimens. The Exhibit Center presents participatory and cased exhibitions on child development, natural history, science and technology, careers, handicaps, and cross-cultural understanding. Its Resource Center makes available over 10,000 books, games, and other items to teachers, parents, students, and visitors.
The Children's Museum of Manhattan 212 West 83rd Street New York, NY 10024 212-721-1223
Founded in 1979, this museum features hands-on, participatory exhibits related to science, nature, and art. A center for media and performing arts includes a television production and editing studio where children create their own television programs. Other activities include making paper, painting and drawing in an art studio, and creating postage stamps. Children contribute their art, toys, and found objects to the museum's rotating exhibits.
Eugene Field House and Toy Museum 634 South Broadway St. Louis, MO 63102 314-421-4689
Founded in 1936, this museum is housed in the birthplace of Eugene Field. It contains a collection of antique toys and dolls, along with a library on the works of Field.
Explora Science Center and Children’s Museum of Albuquerque
1701 Mountain Road NW
Albuquerque, NM 87104
505 224 8300; group reservations 505 224 8341
Over 250 interactive science, technology and arts exhibits for all ages, including an experiment bar, an arts and crafts area, a high-wire bike and a robotics lab. Visitors can also discover a new way of looking at the performing arts in the Explora Theater.
The Exploratorium 3601 Lyon Street San Francisco, CA 94123 415-563-7337
Housed in the Palace of Fine Arts, this science museum offers 500 participatory exhibits and art works illustrating the physical nature of the world and the sensory mechanisms through which we perceive it. Founded in 1969, it hosts field trips, concerts, lectures, and school groups.
Kidspace -- A Participatory Museum 390 South El Molino Pasadena, CA 91101 213-449-9143
Kidspace offers creative learning experiences for children, as in a mock television studio that children operate, a radio booth for broadcasting, and a medical clinic. There is even a robot who talks to visitors. Parents may host birthday parties in the museum.
Los Angeles Children's Museum 310 North Main Street Los Angeles, CA 90012 213-687-8801
Children participate in a variety of activities at this museum in such places as Sticky City, with giant foam blocks for construction fun; City Streets, with city vehicles and street signs; TV Studios, where children create their own news broadcasts; and Workshop Place, which fosters creativity in arts and crafts.
Please Touch Museum 210 North 21st Street Philadelphia, PA 19103 215-963-0667
Founded in 1976, the Please Touch Museum issues a children's newspaper and offers special exhibits on cultural artifacts of daily life, folk art and sculpture, natural science, technology, musical instruments, games, registered toys, costumes, masks, foot gear, and hats.