Massachusetts Museums Attractions
American Textile History Museum
Tells America’s story through the art, history, and science of our textiles.
http://www.athm.org
Armenian Library & Museum of America
ALMA houses the most extensive collection of Armenian artifacts in North America, with over 20,000 items, 18,000 books, 5,000 coins, 3,000 textiles, 930 rare books, 800 oral histories and 170 Armenian oriental rugs. The building includes Bedoukian Hall, the main exhibit gallery, as well as several smaller side galleries, the research library, a contemporary art gallery, studio space, offices, meeting rooms, and climate-controlled vaults for the storage of rare and delicate pieces.
http://www.almainc.org
Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum
Our primary mission is to foster interest in the history of railroading in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts through the provision of safe, educational, and entertaining tourist train rides between Lenox and Stockbridge.
http://www.berkshirescenicrailroad.org
Bidwell House Museum
Authentically restored, filled with antiques and surrounded by beautiful grounds and hiking trails.
http://www.bidwellhousemuseum.org
Boston Children's Museum
Hands-on learning center for kids, parents and teachers. Information on hours, exhibits, events, membership and the museum shop.
http://www.bostonkids.org
Buttonwoods Museum
Visit the John Ward House, the Duncan House and the Daniel Hunkins Shoe Shop. Experience our hands-on education and outreach programs that make this unique history come alive for people of all ages.
http://www.haverhillhistory.org
Cahoon Museum of American Art
The heart of the collection is the fanciful primitive paintings of the late Ralph and Martha Cahoon, local legends who had their home, studio and gallery in the old house for 37 years.
http://www.cahoonmuseum.org
Cape Cod Museum of Natural History
The museum is housed in a 17,000 square foot building on its own 80-acre site, abutted by 300 acres of town-owned conservation land. There are two floors of exhibits about the flora and fauna of Cape Cod, including exhibits on whales, indigenous birds, and coastal change, and several aquaria holding different species of crustaceans, mollusks, fish, frogs, turtles and snakes.
http://www.ccmnh.org
Charles River Museum of Industry
Power up your imagination and get your inventiveness in gear for an industrial
strength museum experience.
http://www.crmi.org
Concord Museum
The collection contains numerous examples of 17th, 18th and 19th century decorative arts including case furniture, tables, seating furniture, clocks, looking glasses, textiles, ceramics and metalware - all with histories linking them to first owners in Concord. The collection has been recognized for its national significance by curators, historians and educators for more than a century.
http://www.concordmuseum.org
DeCordova Museum & Sculpture Park
The largest museum of modern and contemporary American art in the region that is dedicated to the exhibition, collection and preservation of works by living New England artists.
http://www.decordova.org
Discovery Museums
Our mission is to encourage children, families and educators to explore the wonders of science, nature, humanities and the arts by engaging visitors in positive innovative experiences.
http://www.discoverymuseums.org
Franklin D. Roosevelt American Heritage Museum
Home to a large, diverse and historically significant collection of Roosevelt and New Deal materials. Let your New Deal adventure begin.
http://www.fdrheritage.org
Fruitlands Museums
Our 210-acre landscape includes the site of the 1843 Fruitlands experiment led by Bronson Alcott, the first Shaker Museum in the world, a Native American museum, a fine art gallery of Hudson River landscapes, 19th century portraits, changing exhibits, and trails through woodlands and meadows. Our collections include more than 6,000 objects and six historic structures. The collections, landscape and experiences interpret the history and culture of Native people, colonial farmers, 19th century utopians, Shakers, artists and others whose identity, values and sense of place are rooted in New England.
http://www.fruitlands.org
Hammond Castle Museum
Explore the castle on a self-guided tour of eight rooms including the great hall, indoor courtyard, Renaissance dining room, two guest bedrooms, the inventions exhibit room, the Natalie Hays Hammond exhibit room, the tower galleries, as well as several smaller rooms and passage ways. Visitors may also enjoy the beauty of the castle grounds and a view of the Atlantic shore line.
http://www.hammondcastle.org
Hancock Shaker Village
The Shakers called this community "The City of Peace."
http://www.hancockshakervillage.org
Harvard University Art Museums
One of the world's leading arts institutions, with the Arthur M. Sackler, Busch-Reisinger, and Fogg art museums, the Straus Center for Conservation, the Center for the Technical Study of Modern Art, the HUAM Archives, and the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis, in Turkey.
http://www.artmuseums.harvard.edu
Higgins Armory Museum
Features 5,000 objects on 4 floors. The only institution in the Northeast dedicated to the collection, preservation, exhibition and interpretation of arms and armor.
http://www.higgins.org
Historic Deerfield
Situated on a 330-year-old, mile long street, Historic Deerfield preserves and interprets the architecture, artifacts and lifestyle of a prosperous early New England town. The extraordinary houses with their antique furnishings, along with the exhibition galleries and collections, comprise some of the finest examples of publicly available Americana in the United States.
http://www.historic-deerfield.org
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The galleries are filled with paintings, sculpture, tapestries, furniture, and decorative arts from cultures spanning thirty centuries.
http://www.gardnermuseum.org
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum
Upcoming events, highlights and breaking news.
http://www.jfklibrary.org
Larz Anderson Auto Museum
As you will discover, the Museum cares for and protects many unique and remarkable vehicles, as well as many other significant historic artifacts. We offer engaging educational programs for all age levels. And throughout the Museum’s castle-like building, we present enriching exhibits and displays that are not only captivating, but you may just learn something from them as well.
http://www.mot.org
Longyear Museum
Our mission is to advance the understanding of the life and work of
Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer, Founder and Leader of Christian Science.
http://www.longyear.org
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
From the exhibit on Artificial Intelligence to the country’s largest display of Arthur Ganson’s much-loved gestural sculptures, to the cutting edge Emerging Technologies Gallery, visitors are engaged, entertained and educated by what they find.
http://web.mit.edu/museum
Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Arts
A welcoming place that encourages dynamic interchange between making and presenting art, between the visual and performing arts, and between our extraordinary historic factory campus and the patrons, workers and tenants who again inhabit it.
http://www.massmoca.org
Museum of Afro-American History
Dedicated to preserving, conserving and accurately interpreting the contributions of African Americans in New England from the colonial period through the 19th century.
http://www.afroammuseum.org
Museum Of Bad Art
The world's only museum dedicated to the collection, preservation, exhibition and celebration of bad art in all its forms.
http://www.museumofbadart.org
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
With a collection of 450,000 objects, the MFA owns some of the most rare and important artistic treasures in the world. At every turn, you’ll find breathtaking works of art, from masters of American painting to the icons of Impressionism, from exquisite Asian scrolls to Egyptian mummies.
http://www.mfa.org
Museum of Printing
Dedicated to preserving the history of the graphic arts, printing equipment and printing craftsmanship.
http://www.museumofprinting.org
Museum of Science, Boston
Our mission is to stimulate interest in and further understanding of science and technology and their importance for individuals and for society. Offers more than 400 interactive exhibits each year.
http://www.mos.org
Museum of World War II
A 10,000 square foot, fully staffed, private collection containing the most comprehensive display of original World War II artifacts on exhibit anywhere in the world. The Museum is located just west of Boston, at the junction of two major highways.
http://www.museumofworldwarii.com
Nantucket Life-Saving Museum
Dedicated to the human drama of man's efforts against the relentless sea and is testimony to those early Nantucketers who saved hundreds of lives in and near the island's treacherous shores and shoals.
http://www.nantucketlifesavingmuseum.com
National Heritage Museum
Our exhibitions tell thrilling stories of patriotism, adventure, invention, community and dissent—all aspects of how we as a people have worked, and played, struggled and achieved. And because our exhibitions change regularly, you always experience something new.
https://www.nationalheritagemuseum.org
New England Pirate Museum
Relive the adventures of Captains Kidd and Blackbeard, who roamed freely offshore plundering merchant ships. Participate in an educational, historically accurate and entertaining, live walking tour with a qualified guide who encourages student participation and questions.
http://www.piratemuseum.com
Norman Rockwell Museum
Houses the world's largest and most significant collection of original Rockwell art. Highlights include enduring favorites from Rockwell's Saturday Evening Post covers, the powerful Four Freedoms and the nostalgic Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas.
http://www.nrm.org
Old Sturbridge Village
In the years 1790 to 1840 a new nation took shape. In rural towns across New England, ordinary people worked to better their lives, build strong communities, apply new technologies, and define the meaning of democracy. Learn their story at Old Sturbridge Village as you journey into the past.
http://www.osv.org
Peabody Essex Museum
The environment contributes to a stimulating, contemplative experience, with comfortable places to pause and reflect, to plan the day’s journey across cultures and over time.
http://www.pem.org
Pilgrim Hall Museum
Through its exhibition of Pilgrim possessions and Native American artifacts, it tells the stories of America’s founding and traditions in stirring detail.
http://www.pilgrimhall.org
Plimoth Plantation
Visit Plymouth as it was in the 17th century: it is a centuries-old Wampanoag homesite, a welcoming bench covered in furs, bluefish roasting slowly over an bed of hot coals, and a man dressed in traditional deerskin clothing. It is townspeople speaking the poetic language of Shakespeare's England, the sharp smell of gunpowder during a military drill, the sound of laughter around a glowing hearth and the salty breeze blowing across a wooden ship's deck.
http://www.plimoth.org
Salem Witch Museum
Visitors are given a dramatic history lesson using stage sets with life-size figures, lighting and a narration - an overview of the Witch Trials of 1692.
http://www.salemwitchmuseum.com
Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum
Dedicated to preserving and operating Shelburne Falls & Colrain Street Railway trolley car No. 10.
http://www.sftm.org
Smith College Museum of Art
Features a world-famous collection, spanning an impressive 4,500 years.
http://www.smith.edu/museum
Springfield Museums
Comprised of four world class museums; the Museum of Fine Arts, the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, the Springfield Science Museum, and the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum. The Museums Association is proud to be home to the Dr. Seuss Sculpture Garden, a series of full-scale bronze sculptures of Dr. Seuss’s whimsical creations, honoring the birthplace of Theodor Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss.
http://www.springfieldmuseums.org
Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute
An art museum and a center for research and higher education, dedicated to advancing and extending the public understanding of art.
http://www.clarkart.edu
United States Naval Shipbuilding Museum
Home to the USS Salem, the world's only preserved Heavy Cruiser.
http://www.uss-salem.org
Waltham Museum
Preserves the history and shares information on the great city of Waltham, Massachusetts.
http://www.walthammuseum.com
Wenham Museum
Invites visitors of all ages to explore how we have lived, worked, dressed and played from the 17th century to today.
http://www.wenhammuseum.org
Willard House & Clock Museum
Today, over 80 Willard clocks are exhibited in the birthplace and original workshop of the Willard clockmakers, along with family portraits, furnishings and other Willard family heirlooms. Works of brothers Franklin and Zabdiel are also documented.
http://www.willardhouse.org
Williams College Museum of Art
One of the finest college art museums in the country. Houses 12,000 works that span the history of art. Within the broad range of time periods and cultures represented, the collection emphasizes modern and contemporary art, American art from the late 18th century to present and the art of world cultures.
http://www.wcma.org
Worcester Art Museum
Experience magnificent artwork from five millennia of world cultures. View paintings by Cassatt, Gauguin, Goya, Monet, Sargent and Whistler; admire floor mosaics from the ancient city of Antioch; see cutting-edge contemporary art; and discover the Museum's many other treasures.
http://www.worcesterart.org