Boston Children's Museum
Encyclopedia
Boston Children's Museum is a children's museum
in Boston, Massachusetts
, dedicated to the education of children. Located on Children's Wharf
along the Fort Point Channel
, Boston Children's Museum is the second oldest children's museum in the United States. It contains many activities meant to both amuse and educate young children.
The Women’s Education Association also helped the Science Teacher’s Bureau with the planning for the children’s museum in Boston. After four years of planning, The Children’s Museum officially opened on August 1, 1913, at the Pinebank Mansion
located along Jamaica Pond
in Olmsted Park
in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood. It is the second oldest children's museum in the United States. The first museum contained two cases: one devoted to birds and the other to minerals and shells. The exhibits were kept at children’s eye level, used simple language, and complemented the lessons taught in school. George H. Barton served as the museum’s first president.
During the early years of the museum, leaders created branch museums throughout Boston so that children in other parts of the city could experience the museum as well. The first branch museums were located in schools, including the Quincy School on Tyler Street, the Abraham Lincoln
School, the Samuel Adams
School in East Boston, and the Norcross School in South Boston. These museums usually consisted of a single room that contained a case of some specimens. In 1919, the Children’s Museum opened a much larger branch museum in the Barnard Memorial Building on Warrenton Street. Known as the Barnard Memorial Branch Museum, it contained a number of different exhibits throughout the building. The Barnard branch closed in 1926.
In 1935, the museum’s lease on the Pinebank Mansion expired, and leaders decided that they needed a bigger space for the museum. They learned that a property was available a few blocks away on 60 Burroughs Street on the Jamaica Way and purchased the building from the Mitton family. The Children’s Museum opened at its new location on November 18, 1936.
Michael Spock, son of Dr. Benjamin Spock
, served as the director of the museum from 1962-1985. Under Spock's leadership, Boston Children's Museum introduced the idea of “hands-on learning” to the museum field, and the first interactive exhibit in the museum, “What’s Inside,” was created during his term. In 1972 the museum was accredited by the American Association of Museums.
In 1979 Boston Children’s Museum moved into half of an empty wool warehouse on the Fort Point Channel in order to gain more space and become more accessible to people in Boston. (From 1993 through 1999, the other half of the building was occupied by The Computer Museum
.) The following year, Boston’s Japan
ese sister city Kyoto
donated a Japanese silk merchant’s house to the museum. The house, known as Kyo-no-Machiya, is still one of the landmark exhibits at Boston Children’s Museum.
In 1986 Kenneth Brecher became the director of the museum. During his term, Kids Bridge, a groundbreaking exhibit on cultural diversity and racism, opened at the museum. The exhibit later moved to the Smithsonian Institution
before embarking on a 3-year tour around the United States.
Lou Casagrande served as the museum’s president and CEO from 1994 to 2009. The museum opened several important exhibits during Casagrande’s term including Five Friends from Japan, access/Ability, and Boston Black: A City Connects. In 2004, The Children’s Museum of Boston officially became Boston Children’s Museum.
In April 2006, the museum broke ground on a $47-million expansion and renovation project designed by Cambridge Seven Associates
and closed for four months at the beginning of 2007 to complete the project. The project added a 23,000-square-foot (2,100 m2), glass-walled enclosure to the front of the museum, a new theater, new exhibits, and a newly landscaped park. The museum also focused on making its renovation “green” and is the first green museum
in Boston. It reopened on April 14, 2007. In early 2008 Boston Children's Museum received LEED
Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
Carole Charnow is the Museum's president and chief executive officer.
, Philippines
, and Le Musée des Enfants in Brussels
, Belgium
.
). Outside, a large deck overlooks the Fort Point Channel and Boston Harbor
and hosts the landmark Hood Milk Bottle.
The Hood Milk Bottle is an ice cream stand and snack bar located on the Hood Milk Bottle Plaza in front of Boston Children's Museum. It has been located on this spot since April 20, 1977, when Hood shipped the bottle by ferry to Boston on a voyage it called the "Great Bottle Sail." The structure is 40 feet (12 m) tall, 18 feet (5.5 m) in diameter and weighs 15,000 pounds. If it were a real milk bottle
, it would hold 58,620 gallons (221,900 L) of milk
.
The bottle recently underwent extensive renovations. In fall 2006, the bottle was "uncapped" -- its original top half was sliced off and preserved—so that its base could be moved slightly and rebuilt on the new Hood Milk Bottle Plaza. A renovated bottle was put back in place and officially re-dedicated by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino
on April 20, 2007, thirty years to the day after it was moved to Children's Wharf.
The Hood Milk Bottle was originally located on the banks of the Three Mile River
on Winthrop Street (Route 44) in Taunton, Massachusetts
. Arthur Gagner built the structure in 1933 to sell homemade ice cream
next to his store. It was one of the first fast-food drive-in
restaurants in the United States and was built using the "Coney Island
" style of architecture. Gagner sold the bottle to the Sankey family in 1943. It was abandoned in 1967. The bottle stood vacant for ten years until H.P. Hood and Sons, Inc.
was persuaded to buy it and give it to Boston Children's Museum in 1977.
Movies are sometimes projected onto the side of the structure for museum events.
42°21′5.84"N 71°2′59.15"W
Children's museum
Children's museums are institutions that provide exhibits and programs to stimulate informal learning experiences for children. In contrast with traditional museums that typically have a hands-off policy regarding exhibits, children's museums feature interactive exhibits that are designed to be...
in Boston, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, dedicated to the education of children. Located on Children's Wharf
Children's Wharf
Children's Wharf is a wharf on Congress Street in Boston, Massachusetts, on the Fort Point Channel with views of the Financial District and Boston Harbor...
along the Fort Point Channel
Fort Point Channel
Fort Point Channel is a maritime channel separating South Boston from downtown Boston, Massachusetts, feeding into Boston Harbor. The south part of it has been gradually filled in for use by the South Bay rail yard and several highways...
, Boston Children's Museum is the second oldest children's museum in the United States. It contains many activities meant to both amuse and educate young children.
Early Years
The idea for a children’s museum in Boston developed in 1909 when several local science teachers founded the Science Teacher’s Bureau. One of the Bureau’s main goals was to create a museum:
"it is planned to inaugurate at the same place, a Museum, local in its nature and to contain besides the natural objects, books, pictures, charts, lantern slides, etc., whatever else is helpful in the science work of the Grammar, High and Normal Schools. The specimens are to be attractively arranged and classified and the room open daily to children or anyone interested in such work."
The Women’s Education Association also helped the Science Teacher’s Bureau with the planning for the children’s museum in Boston. After four years of planning, The Children’s Museum officially opened on August 1, 1913, at the Pinebank Mansion
Pinebank Mansion
Pinebank Mansion was a Queen Anne-style house sited on a hill overlooking Jamaica Pond in Boston, Massachusetts. Built in 1868 by John Hubbard Sturgis, it was the only mansion retained by Frederick Law Olmsted in his plans the Emerald Necklace park system...
located along Jamaica Pond
Jamaica Pond
Jamaica Pond is a kettle pond, part of the Emerald Necklace of parks in Boston designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. The pond and park are in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, close to the border of Brookline...
in Olmsted Park
Olmsted Park
Olmsted Park is a linear park in Boston and Brookline, Massachusetts, and a part of Boston's Emerald Necklace of connected parks and parkways. Originally named Leverett Park, in 1900 it was renamed to honor its designer, Frederick Law Olmsted....
in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood. It is the second oldest children's museum in the United States. The first museum contained two cases: one devoted to birds and the other to minerals and shells. The exhibits were kept at children’s eye level, used simple language, and complemented the lessons taught in school. George H. Barton served as the museum’s first president.
During the early years of the museum, leaders created branch museums throughout Boston so that children in other parts of the city could experience the museum as well. The first branch museums were located in schools, including the Quincy School on Tyler Street, the Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
School, the Samuel Adams
Samuel Adams
Samuel Adams was an American statesman, political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. As a politician in colonial Massachusetts, Adams was a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, and was one of the architects of the principles of American...
School in East Boston, and the Norcross School in South Boston. These museums usually consisted of a single room that contained a case of some specimens. In 1919, the Children’s Museum opened a much larger branch museum in the Barnard Memorial Building on Warrenton Street. Known as the Barnard Memorial Branch Museum, it contained a number of different exhibits throughout the building. The Barnard branch closed in 1926.
In 1935, the museum’s lease on the Pinebank Mansion expired, and leaders decided that they needed a bigger space for the museum. They learned that a property was available a few blocks away on 60 Burroughs Street on the Jamaica Way and purchased the building from the Mitton family. The Children’s Museum opened at its new location on November 18, 1936.
Michael Spock, son of Dr. Benjamin Spock
Benjamin Spock
Benjamin McLane Spock was an American pediatrician whose book Baby and Child Care, published in 1946, is one of the biggest best-sellers of all time. Its message to mothers is that "you know more than you think you do."Spock was the first pediatrician to study psychoanalysis to try to understand...
, served as the director of the museum from 1962-1985. Under Spock's leadership, Boston Children's Museum introduced the idea of “hands-on learning” to the museum field, and the first interactive exhibit in the museum, “What’s Inside,” was created during his term. In 1972 the museum was accredited by the American Association of Museums.
Move to Fort Point Channel
The Computer Museum
The Computer Museum may refer to:* The Computer Museum, Boston* The Computer History Museum, in Mountain View, California...
.) The following year, Boston’s Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese sister city Kyoto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
donated a Japanese silk merchant’s house to the museum. The house, known as Kyo-no-Machiya, is still one of the landmark exhibits at Boston Children’s Museum.
In 1986 Kenneth Brecher became the director of the museum. During his term, Kids Bridge, a groundbreaking exhibit on cultural diversity and racism, opened at the museum. The exhibit later moved to the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
before embarking on a 3-year tour around the United States.
Lou Casagrande served as the museum’s president and CEO from 1994 to 2009. The museum opened several important exhibits during Casagrande’s term including Five Friends from Japan, access/Ability, and Boston Black: A City Connects. In 2004, The Children’s Museum of Boston officially became Boston Children’s Museum.
In April 2006, the museum broke ground on a $47-million expansion and renovation project designed by Cambridge Seven Associates
Cambridge Seven Associates
Cambridge Seven Associates, Inc. is an American architecture firm founded in 1962 and based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The firm was founded upon the idea that the collaborative efforts of a varied group of designers and architects would be far more effective than those of any one individual...
and closed for four months at the beginning of 2007 to complete the project. The project added a 23,000-square-foot (2,100 m2), glass-walled enclosure to the front of the museum, a new theater, new exhibits, and a newly landscaped park. The museum also focused on making its renovation “green” and is the first green museum
Green museum
A green museum is a museum that incorporates concepts of sustainability into its operations, programming, and facility. Many green museums, but not all, use their collections to produce exhibitions, events, classes, and other programming to educate the public about the natural environment...
in Boston. It reopened on April 14, 2007. In early 2008 Boston Children's Museum received LEED
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design consists of a suite of rating systems for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings, homes and neighborhoods....
Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
Carole Charnow is the Museum's president and chief executive officer.
Permanent exhibits
- Arthur & FriendsArthur ReadArthur Timothy Read is the title character of both the book series and the PBS children's television show Arthur which was created by Marc Brown. On the show, he is eight years old, in Mr. Ratburn's third grade class, and lives in Elwood City...
: The exhibit features the characters from Marc Brown’s books and the television series. Children can learn and play in the Read Family Kitchen, Mr. Ratburn’s Classroom, and the Backyard Sleepover. - Art Studio: The Art Studio is a place where children and families can create art together.
- Boston Black . . . A City Connects: This exhibit explores Boston’s Black community and its history and diversity. Children can decorate and ride on a Carnival float, shop at a Dominican store, learn about hairstyles at Joe’s Barber Shop and African Queen Beauty Salon, and dance to Cape Verdean beats.
- The Common: The Common is a place where visitors can experience light shows, musical chairs, a gigantic chess game, and many other activities. The Common is also used for gatherings.
- Construction Zone: Inspired by the Big Dig, the Construction Zone gives visitors a chance to ride a Bobcat, play with trucks, and use jackhammers.
- Countdown to Kindergarten!: This model classroom welcomes kids to take part in a typical Kindergarten experience while adults can ask staff “teachers” questions they may have about Kindergarten.
- The Gallery: The Gallery is an activity and art exhibition area.
- Global Gallery: The 2500 square feet (232.3 m²) space hosts exhibits from around the world.
- Japanese House: The JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese House is a real two-story house from KyotoKyotois a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
, Japan, Boston’s Japanese sister city. Visitors can learn about Japanese family life, culture, art, architecture, and seasonal events at the exhibit. - Johnny's Workbench: Visitors are able to work with hand tools and natural materials at this exhibit. The exhibit was recently updated, and now visitors are able to create a small woodworking project to take home.
- Kid Power: This exhibit teaches visitors how to live healthier lives by eating right and exercising.
- KidStage: At KidStage, visitors can watch and often participate in performances on the kid-sized stage. The exhibit introduces children to the performing arts—music, singing, dance, and comedy.
- New Balance Climb: The New Balance Climb is a three-story climbing structure located in the front of the museum. It was designed by Tom Luckey.
- Peep's World: Peep's World recreates the world from the WGBH series Peep and the Big Wide WorldPeep and the Big Wide WorldPeep and the Big Wide World is an animated cartoon that teaches nature and basic science concepts to preschoolers. The main characters include a baby chicken named Peep and his friends Quack, a blue duck, and Chirp, a red robin with purple eyelids...
and teaches young children science skills. - PlaySpace: PlaySpace is for the museum’s youngest visitors—children between the ages of 0–3 years. Children can explore a tree house climber, a toy train area, and a see-through painting wall. The exhibit also includes an infant area with soft areas to lie and climb on.
- Science Playground: Visitors can learn about the natural world in "Investigate," discover the laws of motion in "Raceways," or play with bubbles in “Bubbles.”
Collections
Boston Children’s Museum has an extensive collection of objects from around the world. Most of the objects were donated to the museum. The museum currently has more than 50,000 objects, but most are kept in storage away from visitor areas. Visitors can see some of the objects in the Native American Study Storage area and the Japanese Study Storage area on the third floor of the museum and in window displays throughout the museum. The museum also lends objects to schools through its Educational Kits Program.Influence
Boston Children’s Museum has inspired both the Museo Pambata in ManilaManila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
, Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, and Le Musée des Enfants in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
.
Building
The Museum is housed in a renovated industrial building. A large glass elevator provides access to the upper floors of the museum. (The elevator was once located outside the museum but is now located inside after the 2006-2007 expansion and renovation). The ground floor houses the museum's admissions area, a gift shop, and an Au Bon Pain outlet (previously McDonald'sMcDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
). Outside, a large deck overlooks the Fort Point Channel and Boston Harbor
Boston Harbor
Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeast.-History:...
and hosts the landmark Hood Milk Bottle.
Hood Milk Bottle
Milk bottle
Milk bottles are bottles used for milk. They may be reusable glass bottles used mainly for doorstep delivery of fresh milk by milkmen. Customers are expected to rinse the empty bottles and leave on the doorstep for collection...
, it would hold 58,620 gallons (221,900 L) of milk
Milk
Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...
.
The bottle recently underwent extensive renovations. In fall 2006, the bottle was "uncapped" -- its original top half was sliced off and preserved—so that its base could be moved slightly and rebuilt on the new Hood Milk Bottle Plaza. A renovated bottle was put back in place and officially re-dedicated by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino
Thomas Menino
Thomas Michael "Tom" Menino is the mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, United States and the city's first Italian-American mayor...
on April 20, 2007, thirty years to the day after it was moved to Children's Wharf.
The Hood Milk Bottle was originally located on the banks of the Three Mile River
Three Mile River
The Three Mile River or Threemile River is a river in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is formed by the junction of the Rumford and Wading rivers in the town of Norton...
on Winthrop Street (Route 44) in Taunton, Massachusetts
Taunton, Massachusetts
Taunton is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the seat of Bristol County and the hub of the Greater Taunton Area. The city is located south of Boston, east of Providence, north of Fall River and west of Plymouth. The City of Taunton is situated on the Taunton River...
. Arthur Gagner built the structure in 1933 to sell homemade ice cream
Ice cream
Ice cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavours. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners...
next to his store. It was one of the first fast-food drive-in
Drive-in
A drive-in is a facility such as a bank, restaurant, or movie theater where one can literally drive in with an automobile for service. It is usually distinguished from a drive-through. At a drive-in restaurant, for example, customers park their vehicles and are usually served by staff who walk out...
restaurants in the United States and was built using the "Coney Island
Coney Island
Coney Island is a peninsula and beach on the Atlantic Ocean in southern Brooklyn, New York, United States. The site was formerly an outer barrier island, but became partially connected to the mainland by landfill....
" style of architecture. Gagner sold the bottle to the Sankey family in 1943. It was abandoned in 1967. The bottle stood vacant for ten years until H.P. Hood and Sons, Inc.
HP Hood
HP Hood LLC is an American dairy company based in Lynnfield, Massachusetts. Hood was founded in 1846 in Charlestown, Massachusetts by Harvey Perley Hood. Recent company acquisitions by HP Hood have expanded its reach from predominantly New England to the broader United States...
was persuaded to buy it and give it to Boston Children's Museum in 1977.
Movies are sometimes projected onto the side of the structure for museum events.
See also
- Children's museumChildren's museumChildren's museums are institutions that provide exhibits and programs to stimulate informal learning experiences for children. In contrast with traditional museums that typically have a hands-off policy regarding exhibits, children's museums feature interactive exhibits that are designed to be...
- Children's WharfChildren's WharfChildren's Wharf is a wharf on Congress Street in Boston, Massachusetts, on the Fort Point Channel with views of the Financial District and Boston Harbor...
- List of museums in Massachusetts
- Benewah Milk BottleBenewah Milk BottleThe Benewah Milk Bottle is a landmark in Spokane, Washington. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, there are two constructed milk bottle-shaped buildings in the Spokane area, which accompanied a successful dairy operation's stores...
- Guaranteed Pure Milk bottleGuaranteed Pure Milk bottleThe Guaranteed Pure Milk bottle is a landmark water tower in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, located at 1025 Lucien L'Allier Street. The , -high Art Deco structure was designed in 1930 by architects Hutchison, Wood & Miller as advertising for the Guaranteed Pure Milk Company.The giant riveted steel quart...
- HP HoodHP HoodHP Hood LLC is an American dairy company based in Lynnfield, Massachusetts. Hood was founded in 1846 in Charlestown, Massachusetts by Harvey Perley Hood. Recent company acquisitions by HP Hood have expanded its reach from predominantly New England to the broader United States...
Additional references
- Sayles, Adelaide B. The Story of The Children's Museum of Boston: From Its Beginnings to November 18, 1936. Boston: Geo. H. Ellis Co., 1937.
- http://www.brooklynrail.org/2006-06/artseen/james-castle-and-walker-evans
- Boston.com. June 2, 2010. "Director at Opera Boston moves to Children’s Museum"
- http://www.boston.com/yourtown/newton/articles/2010/06/02/director_at_opera_boston_moves_to_childrens_museum/
External links
- The official website
- Pinebank First home of Boston Children's Museum
42°21′5.84"N 71°2′59.15"W