| Peale's Baltimore Museum | |
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| (U.S. National Register of Historic Places) | |
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| Location: | 225 North Holliday Street, Baltimore, Maryland |
| Coordinates: | |
| Built/Founded: | 1814 |
| Architect: | Rembrandt Peale |
| Architectural style(s): | No Style Listed |
| Added to NRHP: | October 15, 1966 |
| NRHP Reference#: | 66000915 [1] |
| Governing body: | Local |
The Peale Museum is a museum of paintings and natural history, located in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. It is the oldest museum building in the Western Hemisphere. Locals may refer to it as the American Museum or simply as The Museum. The Peale Museum was created by Charles Willson Peale. The museum is managed by the Maryland Historical Society. Charles Peale received his inspiration for a public museum in 1783 while illustrating mastodon fossils belonging to Dr. John Morgan. Conceived of the idea for an American museum of natural history, Charles Peale opened a museum to the public in Philadelphia on July 18, 1786. In 1810, Charles retired from his work with the museum, leaving its management and responsibility to his sons. Later in 1814, a museum was established at 225 North Holliday Street by Rembrandt Peale - the second son of Charles Willson Peale. It was then dubbed as "Peale's Baltimore Museum and Gallery of Fine Arts" and had the early exhibits including portraits of famous Americans (many by the founder) and the complete skeleton of a prehistoric mastodon exhumed by C.W. Peale in 1801. In 1830, the museum was sold and the exhibits were moved to a space on Calvert Street. In few years, the building became home to the Baltimore's first City Hall, Number 1 Colored Primary School and was rented out to a series of private businesses. By 1928, it had been repeatedly condemned and was in danger of demolition. With the inspiration of historians and journalists, the restoration of the old museum took place with an expense of $80,000. The building was rededicated in 1931 as the Municipal Museum of Baltimore. The Museum had undergone a major renovation from 1979 for two years and was reopened in 1981 as Peale Museum. In 1985, the Peale became part of the City Life Museums system.
Started with a combination of Peale's portraits of Revolutionary War heroes and an assortment of curiosities, the museum's collection, over time, became dominated the displays of animal, mineral, and ethnographic specimens. The museum became a repository for the collection of the American Philosophical Society, including many of the fossils donated by Thomas Jefferson. The centerpiece of Peale's Museum remains the skeleton of the giant mastodon. The museum occupied parts of two substantial buildings. The Independence Hall housed three rooms — The Quadruped Room displaying 90 specimens of mammals, The Long Room with more than 700 bird specimens situated in mini-dioramas, about 4000 insects in glass cases, numerous minerals and scores of Peale's portraits and a third room showcasing marine specimens. The walls of the museum were surmounted by a large collection of portraits of American politicians and leaders. Peale Museum also became the home for many of the Native American artifacts and natural history specimens collected during the Lewis and Clark and other government-sponsored expeditions.
Notes
- ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23).
External links
- Peale's American Museum information from the Academy of Natural Sciences
