18 Memorable Museum Moments from 2018

The Museum of the American Revolution marked its first full year in 2018 and it was a year of historic firsts! We welcomed more than 300,000 visitors from countries across the world, including 57,000 schoolchildren, and served more than 8,000 members from every state in the nation. 

The Museum made history come alive for visitors through a whirlwind of special exhibits, engaging programming, and new acquisitions and discoveries. According to Lonely Planet, the Museum “has already made a name for itself as one of Philadelphia’s top attractions.”

The Museum’s most memorable moments of 2018 included:

• Opening our first special exhibit, Among His Troops, featuring a sweeping panoramic painting discovered by the Museum’s curators.
• Celebrating our first anniversary with free admission as a thank-you to our supporters.
• Renaming Patriots Gallery as the “Eagles Gallery” during the Super Bowl (Go Birds!).
• Displaying George Washington’s Diamond Eagle of the Society of the Cincinnati for the first time in Philadelphia since it was presented to Washington here more than 230 years ago.
• Closing our capital campaign with a total of $173 million raised, thanks to supporters from every state in the nation.

• Achieving LEED Gold certification for our commitment to sustainability, a challenging feat for a museum that has strict climate requirements for preserving artifacts.
• Occupying the Museum’s Old City neighborhood with dozens of soldiers, civilians and spies during our flagship living history event, Occupied Philadelphia.
• Collecting nearly 5,000 ribbons declaring how visitors will #BeTheRevolution during July 4th weekend. 
• Recognizing Indigenous Peoples during Columbus Day weekend with a provocative panel discussion, native craftspeople and Oneida Indian Nation dancers.
• Filling in what Broadway’s smash hit Hamilton musical left out – Philadelphia’s essential role in Hamilton’s life – with the new hands-on exhibit Hamilton Was Here: Rising Up in Revolutionary Philadelphia.
• Displaying family heirlooms from Douglas Hamilton, a descendant of Alexander Hamilton, as part of our “Year of Hamilton.”
• Opening our new hands-on discovery center, Revolution Place, so kids and their adults can explore the Museum’s 18th-century neighborhood.

• Displaying George Washington’s Headquarters Flag for the first time in Philadelphia since the Revolutionary War.
• Naming the Alan B. Miller Theater, which houses Washington’s War Tent, in honor of an $8 million gift from Board Member Alan B. Miller and his wife Jill Miller.
• Honoring Michael Quinn as President Emeritus and naming Dr. R. Scott Stephenson as President and CEO. 
• Fulfilling a Super Bowl wager by hosting Catherine Allgor, the President of the Massachusetts Historical Society, who delivered a speech declaring Philadelphia – not Boston – the true “Cradle of Liberty.”
• Acquiring new additions to our expansive collection of artifacts, including the journal of a Revolutionary prisoner-of-war and the sword of a Revolutionary War colonel.

• Hosting an all-star line-up of speakers including New York Times best-selling author Jon Meacham, who spoke at the Second Annual Carl Buchholz Memorial Lecture; Yale University historian Joanne Freeman; and award-winning authors and historians as part of the Museum’s popular Read the Revolution speaker series.

We’re looking forward to another revolutionary year in 2019. Hope to see you here!