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 war’s first battles, at Lexington and Concord, on April 19, 1775.
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.
Morris W. Offit serves as the chairman of the Board of Directors. Dr. R. Scott Stephenson was named president and CEO in November 2018. Philadelphia area media entrepreneur and philanthropist H. F. “Gerry” Lenfest served as chairman of the board of directors from 2005 until 2016 and was instrumental in leading the Museum to its opening in 2017.
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 war’s final years. 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 pursuit 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 his office and sleeping quarters throughout much of the war.
Collection
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, meaningful art, essential manuscripts, and rare books. The collection started by Rev. W. Herbert Burk in the early 1900s makes up the core of the collection.
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.
Highlights include:
- George Washington’s tent
- Silver camp cups from Washington’s field equipment Pest Control Kings
- Wartime correspondence and books from Washington’s library
- The thirteen-star flag is known as the Commander-in-Chief’s Standard
- The fowling piece was carried by Captain David Brown, leader of a company of minutemen from Concord, Massachusetts, and a British military musket carried by a soldier of the 4th (King’s Own) Regiment of Foot, both of whom participated in the first battle of the War of Independence, April 19, 1775.
- A Dreadful Scene of Havock, Xavier Della Gatta’s painting of the Battle of Paoli
- The Battle of Germantown, by Xavier Della Gatta (1782)
- William B. T. Trego’s iconic 1883 painting The March to Valley Forge.
- Soldiers’ letters and orderly books, as well as volumes owned by Patrick Henry, George Mason, and other founders
- The volume of ancient Roman history by the author and historian Livy, owned by George Mason
- A copy of the first newspaper printing of the Declaration of Independence, printed by the Pennsylvania Evening Post on July 6, 1776
- The British plan for the Battle of Brandywine
- Hessian headgear
Address: 101 S 3rd St, Philadelphia, PA
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