Established 1882 Collection size 4 million Phone +1 414-278-2728 Date founded 1882 | ||
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Visitors 500,000-600,000 annually Hours Closed now Wednesday10AM–5PMThursday10AM–5PMFriday10AM–5PMSaturday9AM–5PMSunday11AM–5PMMonday10AM–5PMTuesday10AM–5PMSuggest an edit Similar Discovery World, Milwaukee Art Museum, Pettit National Ice Center, Milwaukee County Historical, Kentucky Science Center Profiles |
Milwaukee public museum 2016
The Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) is a natural and human history museum located in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The museum was chartered in 1882 and opened to the public in 1884; it is a not-for-profit organization operated by the Milwaukee Public Museum, Inc. MPM has three floors of exhibits and the first Dome Theater in Wisconsin.
Contents
- Milwaukee public museum 2016
- Milwaukee public museum montage sept 8 2016
- The German English Academy
- Early years
- Modern history
- Exhibits
- Permanent exhibits
- Research and collections
- References
Milwaukee public museum montage sept 8 2016
The German-English Academy
MPM was one of several major American museums that were established in the late 19th century. Although it was officially chartered in 1882, its existence can be traced back to 1851, to the founding of the German-English Academy in Milwaukee. The Academy's principal, Peter Engelmann, encouraged student field trips, many of which collected various specimens—organic, geological, and archaeological in nature—which were kept at the Academy. Later, alumni and others donated various specimens of historical and ethnological interest to the collection.
By 1857, interest in the Academy's collection had grown to such an extent that Engelmann organized a natural history society to manage and expand the collection. Eventually, the collection, which had come to be informally called "The Museum", grew to exceed the Academy's ability to accommodate it. August Stirn, a city alderman and member of the national history society, obtained legislation from the state legislature for the City of Milwaukee to accept the collection and take the measures necessary to establish "a free public museum".
Early years
The newly formed Board of Trustees hired Carl Doerflinger to be the museum's first director and rented space to place exhibits. The Milwaukee Public Museum opened to the public on May 24, 1884. Doerflinger placed emphasis on using MPM's exhibits for study and research as well as for public education, until he resigned in 1888. He also urged the city to purchase land on which a building could be constructed to house both the museum and the Milwaukee Public Library; the new building (at 814 W. Wisconsin Avenue) was completed in 1898.
In 1890, Carl Akeley, a taxidermist and biologist noted as the "father of modern taxidermy" completed the first complete museum habitat diorama in the world, depicting a muskrat colony.
Henry L. Ward, hired as MPM's fourth director in 1902; previously, the museum had focused solely on the natural sciences: this was changed when Ward began the creation of a History Museum. To further this goal, Samuel A. Barrett, the recipient of the first doctorate in anthropology awarded by the University of California, to head an anthropology-history department.
Barrett later succeeded Ward and led the museum through the Great Depression of the 1930s. Barrett made use of the Works Progress Administration and other New Deal programs to keep the museum running and to create employment beyond the previous basic staff.
Modern history
Construction on MPM's current building was begun in 1960 and completed in 1962. The current site is at 800 W. Wells Street, a block north of the old Museum-Library building, still the home of the Milwaukee Central Library, which continued to house exhibits until 1966.
A controversy over new admittance fees imposed on non-city resident visitors led to the jurisdiction of the museum being transferred away from the City of Milwaukee and to Milwaukee County.
In 2006, charges were filed against former museum chief financial officer Terry Gaouette, following the revelation that the museum was several million dollars in the red, a fact that allegedly had been hidden for years via illegal money transfers. Gaouette pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor charge of falsifying a financial report, and his CPA license was restored in 2010.
In 2010, the Milwaukee Public Museum welcomed new director Jay B. Williams, formerly of PrivateBank. He has focused on fundraising and improving repeat traffic.
MPM's current president and CEO is Dennis Kois. MPM is investigating whether to construct a new museum building downtown to replace the 60-year-old county-owned building it currently occupies.
Exhibits
The Milwaukee Public Museum houses both permanent and traveling exhibits.
Permanent exhibits
The first major exhibit in the current Museum to be completed was "Streets of Old Milwaukee", which opened in January 1965. It is one of the more popular exhibits in MPM, and it is estimated that several million people have visited it since its completion.
Currently, MPM holds seventeen permanent exhibits:
Special exhibitions
The Milwaukee Public Museum also hosts special travelling exhibitions which are only available for viewing for limited times. One of the most famous, and popular, in recent years was Saint Peter and the Vatican: Legacy of the Popes, a travelling exhibition which made three stops in North America, the last of which was at MPM in early 2006. The exhibition featured 300 works of art from the collections of Vatican museums.
Research and collections
Totaling 4 million artifacts, research and collections at the Milwaukee Public Museum include: