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| Eastern Pennsylvania Museum | |
|---|---|
| Name | Eastern Pennsylvania Museum |
| Established | 1976 |
| Location | Allentown, Pennsylvania |
| Type | Regional history and art museum |
| Collections | Colonial, Industrial, Religious, Decorative arts, Folk art |
| Visitors | 250,000 (annual, 2019) |
| Director | Dr. Margaret H. Adler |
| Publictransit | LANta bus |
Eastern Pennsylvania Museum is a regional institution dedicated to the cultural, industrial, and artistic heritage of eastern Pennsylvania, with particular emphasis on the Lehigh Valley, Philadelphia Main Line, and the Pocono Mountains. The museum houses collections spanning colonial settlement, industrialization, immigration, and religious communities, and operates rotating exhibitions, educational programs, and community partnerships. It serves as a center for research, preservation, and public engagement linked to institutions across Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic.
The museum was founded in 1976 amid bicentennial initiatives involving the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the City of Allentown, and local historical societies such as the Lehigh County Historical Society and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Early leadership included curators with prior affiliations to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, and the Penn Museum. Fundraising campaigns attracted support from foundations like the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the William Penn Foundation, while capital projects received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts. Over subsequent decades, the museum expanded through collaborations with the University of Pennsylvania, the Lehigh University, and the Muhlenberg College history departments, as well as acquisitions from private collectors associated with the Reading Railroad and the Bethlehem Steel archives.
The museum's holdings include material culture, fine art, and archival records related to eastern Pennsylvania. Key categories feature colonial-era furniture linked to cabinetmakers active in Philadelphia, Quaker meetinghouse textiles connected to Germantown, and religious artifacts associated with the Moravian Church community in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Industrial collections document the history of Bethlehem Steel, the Lehigh Canal, and the Reading Railroad, including engineering drawings, photographs, and worker ephemera. The fine art collection encompasses works by artists from the Pennsylvania Impressionists and 19th-century portraitists with ties to the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts; holdings also include prints and posters produced by studios such as Barnett Newman-era printmakers and regional graphic artists. Folk and decorative arts collections represent Pennsylvania Dutch ceramics, Fraktur manuscripts from Lancaster County, and textile samplers associated with local schools and benevolent societies. Archival materials consist of town records from Easton, Pennsylvania, family papers from prominent industrialists, and oral histories conducted in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution and the Library of Congress.
The museum mounts permanent galleries tracing settlement, industry, and immigration, alongside rotating exhibitions organized with partners like the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Princeton University Art Museum, and the National Archives. Past special exhibitions have focused on the American Revolution in Pennsylvania, the industrial landscapes of the Anthracite Coal Region, and the art of the Ashcan School as represented in regional collections. Public programs include lecture series featuring scholars from Rutgers University, Temple University, and Drexel University, family days in collaboration with the Children's Museum of Manhattan-style educators, and performance partnerships with the Allentown Symphony Orchestra and the Kaufman Center. The museum also hosts conservation workshops with experts from the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts and curatorial residencies funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
The museum occupies a renovated 19th-century brick building adjacent to a restored canal towpath near downtown Allentown, designed by architects who worked with the Bertrand Goldberg studio and influenced by adaptive reuse projects such as the High Line and the Tate Modern conversion. Facilities include climate-controlled storage and conservation labs meeting standards of the American Institute for Conservation, a research center with reading room modeled on practices from the New-York Historical Society, a 200-seat auditorium, and education studios equipped for hands-on workshops. The grounds incorporate landscape design referencing the Olmsted Brothers firm’s regional parks and provide outdoor interpretation along the Lehigh Canal.
The museum is governed by a board of trustees drawn from civic leaders, academics, and business executives with ties to organizations including the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation, the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, and local chambers of commerce. Executive leadership reports to the board and maintains professional staff in curatorial, education, conservation, and development roles. Funding streams combine municipal support from the City of Allentown, grants from state agencies such as the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, philanthropic gifts from donors linked to the Heinz Endowments and the Knight Foundation, corporate sponsorships from regional companies formerly connected to Bethlehem Steel and the H.J. Heinz Company, and earned revenue from admissions, rentals, and museum shop sales.
Located within walking distance of the Allentown Art Museum and the Liberty Bell Museum satellite, the museum is accessible via LANta bus routes and regional rail connections to Philadelphia and New York City. Hours, admission fees, and membership information are published seasonally; the campus offers accessible entrances, wheelchair seating in the auditorium, tactile exhibits for visitors from National Federation of the Blind-affiliated groups, and assistive listening devices aligned with standards promoted by the Americans with Disabilities Act. On-site amenities include a café featuring regional foods, a museum shop with publications produced in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania Press, and bicycle parking linked to the Lehigh Valley Greenways network.
Education initiatives serve K–12 schools, adult learners, and community organizations through partnerships with the Allentown School District, the Pennsylvania State Education Association, and nonprofit groups such as the Boys & Girls Clubs of America chapters in the Lehigh Valley. Programs include curriculum-aligned school tours, teacher professional development workshops in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Council for the Social Studies, internship and fellowship opportunities affiliated with the Library Company of Philadelphia, and traveling trunks loaned to rural libraries coordinated with the Pennsylvania Library Association. Community outreach emphasizes multilingual offerings and collaborations with immigrant-serving organizations like the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians.
Category:Museums in Pennsylvania