Virtual Programs

In 2014, ahead of the Museum of the American Revolution’s construction, a team of archaeologists discovered remarkable artifacts from the people who once lived on the block the Museum now occupies. Investigate the neighborhood’s trash piles, buried for over 200 years, to understand what they add to ongoing research about the people who called this neighborhood home during the Revolution.

Eighteenth-century Philadelphia was a complex place where global trade brought new goods and new ideas to the people who became revolutionaries. Follow one artifact — a punchbowl uncovered in an archaeological dig on site of the Museum of the American Revolution — on a virtual tour of the city, and find yourself in market stalls, coffeehouses, illegal taverns, churches, and the halls of government.

The Revolutionary War offered new opportunities for women from all backgrounds. Thousands of women chose sides and contributed to the American Revolution. They made supplies for the armies, managed and defended their households, and challenged the old political order. What do their individual experiences, documented in travel diaries, memoirs, court records, and commonplace objects tell us about their experiences, the War, and its legacy?

The Revolutionary War has begun and the Continental Army needs supplies! But who will make the firearms, flags and weapons required to fight the British? Philadelphia was a hub of military production. Workshops and army supply centers filled the neighborhood where the Museum is today. Discover the challenges and successes of artisans like Thomas Palmer, Jacob Eckfelt, and Rebecca Flower Young, who made the war materiel that led to victory.

Military families have always played an important role in supporting those fighting on the front lines. During the Revolutionary War, they raised children, worked with the armies on campaign, held down the home-front, made supplies, and raised funds. Explore the stories of the women and children who supported the military on and off the battlefield and learn how their experiences compare to military families today.

The Museum of the American Revolution opened in 2017, but it has a history that reaches back over a century. Where did our collection come from? How did an Episcopal minister in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, acquire Washington’s war tent, and what did that acquisition have to do with the American Civil War? How did our Museum end up in downtown Philadelphia? What new discoveries have we made from recent acquisitions? This presentation highlights key artifacts and reveals how things work behind-the-scenes at the Museum.

Recommended for grades 4-12

Historians use objects, documents, and contextual knowledge to build an understanding of the past. In this experience, students will do the same, using their powers of observation and critical thinking skills to explore what objects and documents can tell us about the past.

Recommended for grades 9-12

After two paintings by Italian artist Xavier della Gatta were found to show remarkably accurate depictions of the Battles of Paoli and Germantown — battles the artist had not participated in, in a land he had never visited — historians were left with a mystery: How did he know so much about what had happened? It took the work of multiple historians over 60 years to find an answer. Can your students find one in 60 minutes? As students examine clues from 18th-century artwork and documents, they also will explore the challenges and opportunities of being a soldier — and a survivor — of the Revolutionary War.