State Museum of Pennsylvania
Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Since its creation in 1905, The State Museum of Pennsylvania has collected, preserved, researched, and interpreted the cultural and natural history of the state. Over the years, the museum has greatly expanded its collections and modernized its public offerings to serve the needs of succeeding generations of Pennsylvanians. First located next to the Capitol, the museum moved here in 1964. It became part of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in 1945.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Established in 1905, the State Museum of Pennsylvania has spent more than a century collecting, preserving, and interpreting the commonwealth's cultural and natural history. First housed beside the Capitol, it joined the newly formed Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in 1945 and moved to its present building in 1964, steadily expanding its collections and public programs for each new generation.
Why it matters
State museums like this one are how a society keeps and tells its own story, safeguarding the objects and knowledge that connect Pennsylvanians to their shared past.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Pennsylvania State Archives
Harrisburg, PA ยท est. 2003
Founded in 1903 as a division of the State Library, the Pennsylvania State Archives gathered up the paper memory of a commonwealth whose records reach back to 1681 and William Penn's founding charter. In 1945 it joined the newly created Historical and Museum Commission, cementing its role as guardian of the state's documentary past. Its shelves preserve the raw material from which Pennsylvania's history is written.
William Maclay
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Mira Lloyd Dock (1853-1945)
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