About our Partners

On this page:

  1. Participant Profiles
  2. Partner Locations

Participant Profiles

  1. Intrepid
  2. New York University Ability Project
  3. Advisors
  4. Core Working Group – Historical Sites
  5. Core Working Group – Disability Advocates
  6. Past Contributors
  7. NYU Students

Intrepid

Elaine Charnov – SVP Exhibits, Education and Programming, Intrepid Museum

Color portrait of Elaine Charnov in front of a picture of NYC skyline, wearing glasses, a green sweater and black shirt.Elaine has a long history working with New York cultural institutions ranging from marble halls to steel walls. She has been with the Intrepid Museum for the past 8 years, and leads creative staff to produce and stage exhibitions and programs focusing on history and STEAM subjects, and expands our storytelling strategies to be inclusive and engaging. With a background in anthropology, culture and media, she directed an international documentary film festival, Margaret Mead, at the American Museum of Natural History (1989-2008) and served as the inaugural Director of Education, Programs & Exhibits for the New York Public Library from 2008-2012, leveraging big ideas across 90 community and four research libraries.

Louise Gormanly – Director, Grants & Foundation Relations, Intrepid Museum

Color portrait of Louise Gormanly on a white background, wearing a red shirt with black vest.Louise Gormanly has served as the Director of Grants and Foundation Relations at the Intrepid Museum since 2019. Prior to this, she worked at The Paley Center for Media as Director of Institutional Giving and Special Initiatives, where she co-developed the PALAYIMPACT initiative to explore the role of media in shaping society and culture.

Lynda Kennedy – VP, Education and Evaluation, Intrepid Museum

Color portrait of Lynda Kennedy on a yellow background, wearing a blue sweater with black turtleneck. There is a black and white horned-owl in the foreground.Dr. Lynda Kennedy serves as the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum’s VP of Education & Evaluation. A career of nearly 30 years includes positions with the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, The Museum of the Moving Image and the Brooklyn Historical Society along with adjunct faculty appointments to the Masters in Education program of Hunter College and the Masters in Arts program of Exhibition & Experience Design at FIT. Her research interests center on using resources of cultural institutions to support student engagement and teacher growth, and decreasing the opportunity gap for low-income students.

Chris Malanson – AVP Exhibits, Intrepid Museum

Color portrait of Chris Malanson on black background, wearing glasses, a white collared shirt and pink tie.Chris is a museum professional with 20 years of experience specializing in all aspects of exhibition design, space planning, historic restoration, and project management. He offers extensive experience in museum audio visual systems, including interactive, environmental experiences and exhibit lighting.

 

Alexis Marion – VP, Institutional Advancement, Intrepid Museum

Color portrait of Alexis Marion on a white background, wearing a green blazer and black shirt.Alexis Marion is Vice President of Institutional Advancement at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, where she manages a team of fundraising professionals and oversees development activities including grants, major gifts, annual giving and membership, and the Salute to Freedom gala.

Ms. Marion joined the Intrepid Museum in summer 2016 after serving as Director of Development at the Museum of the City of New York. Prior to that, she held various Corporate Relations and Strategic Partnerships positions at The New York Public Library.

Charlotte Martin – Sr. Manager of Access Initiatives, Intrepid Museum

Color portrait of Charlotte Martin on a blue background, wearing a maroon shirt.At the Intrepid Museum, Charlotte Martin oversees the team that develops programs and resources for visitors with disabilities and for veterans. These range from highly structured specialized tours for self-contained classes to online pre-visit resources for general visitors. Alongside this work in education programming, Charlotte and the Access team support the work of colleagues across the Museum, by leading professional development trainings and working with other departments to create more accessible materials and services. She coordinates advisers from outside the institution to inform and guide this work. Charlotte serves as President on the board of the New York City Museum Educators Roundtable (NYCMER).

Kyle Shepherd – Chief of Staff, Intrepid Museum

Color portrait of Kyle Sheperd in front of a lawn with tall trees, wearing a light blue button down shirt and navy blazer.Kyle Shepherd is the Chief of Staff and has worked at the Intrepid Museum since 2014. Through the Office of the President, Kyle works across all of the departments at the Museum to help ensure projects are successfully executed.

 

Irene Tsitko – AVP, Grant Management & Administration, Intrepid Museum

Color portrait of Irene Tsitko on a white background, wearing a navy shirt.Irene Tsitko oversees all government funding at the Intrepid Museum. Under her guidance, the Museum was awarded highly competitive grants from the National Science Foundation, Department of State, National Endowment on the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, including the National Leadership Grant that funds the Sensory Tools Project.

 

Jessica Williams – Curator of History and Collections, Intrepid Museum

Color portrait of Jessica Williams in front of a set of stairs and white brick wall, wearing a navy shirt.Jessica Williams is Curator of History and Collections at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. She oversees the interpretation of the Museum’s two historic vessels and curates long-term and temporary exhibitions. Jessica oversees the development and management of the Museum’s rich collections of artifacts, media, archives and oral histories. She has taught courses on interpretation at Columbia University’s historic preservation graduate program.

New York University Ability Project

Rosanna Flouty – NYU Museum Studies

Color portrait of Rosanna Flouty in front of a bookshelf, wearing a black shirt and gold chain necklace.Rosanna Flouty is Assistant Clinical Professor of Museum Studies at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at New York University, where she teaches about technology, education and accessibility. She holds over 25 years of museum experience, including positions at The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. She has completed year-long consulting projects for the BMW Guggenheim Lab, The Broad Museum in Los Angeles, Museum of the Moving Image, American Museum of Natural History, and New-York Historical Society. Her current research interests lie at the intersection of technology, expansive visitor engagement and education, with an emphasis on experimental museum practice.

Amy Hurst – NYU Ability Project

Color portrait of Amy Hurst at a desk with laptops, wearing glasses, a dark grey sweater with multicolor scarf.Dr. Amy Hurst is an Associate Professor with a joint appointment in the Department of Occupational Therapy in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development and the Department of Technology, Culture and Society in the Tandon School of Engineering. She is the director of the Ability Project, an interdisciplinary research space dedicated to the intersection between disability and technology. Dr. Hurst is passionate about understanding current social problems and identifying opportunities for technology to empower individuals impacted by those problems. Her work sits at the intersection of assistive technology, interaction design, and engineering education.

Anita Perr – NYU Ability Project

Color portrait of Anita Perr on a white background, wearing a multicolor floral print scarf.Anita Perr is a clinical associate professor in NYU’s Department of Occupational Therapy. She is especially interested in how technologies, modifications and compensatory strategies can enable people with disabilities to participate in community-based activities of their choosing. She is also interested in strategies that can be used by designers, developers and architects to allow broader access thus lessen the need for compensation.

Lauren Race – NYU Ability Project

Black and white portrait of Lauren Race on a white background, wearing a black collared shirt.Lauren Race is an Accessibility Researcher at New York University and Staff Accessibility Product Designer at Twitter. She designs and evaluates accessible user experiences through a human-centered lens, combining iterative and co-design methods. She has her masters from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) and is certified through the International Association of Accessibility Professionals. 

Cathy Xu – NYU Ability Project

Color portrait of Cathy Xu on a white background, wearing a black sweater.Cathy Xu is a rising senior pursuing a BS in Integrated Digital Media at NYU Tandon School of Engineering with a minor in disability studies and a minor in Business of Entertainment, Media, and Technology. She is passionate about designing accessible digital tools and applying principles of universal design.

Advisors

Ashley Grady – Sr. Program Manager, Smithsonian

Color portrait of Ashley Grady on a grey background, wearing a black sleeveless shirt and white and blue floral bottoms.Ashley Grady is a Senior Program Specialist at Access Smithsonian. In this role, Ashley manages pan-institutional programs for visitors with disabilities, internships for students with disabilities, and staff and volunteer training. Prior to this position, Ashley was a special education teacher.

 

Janet Rassweiler – Facilitator/Evaluator

Color portrait of Janet Rassweiler on a white background, wearing glasses, a mustard yellow shirt and gold pendant earrings.Janet L. Rassweiler is a consultant to museums, arts and culture and community organizations. In this capacity she assesses and plans programs with content and community experts, designs and implements audience cultivation strategies and organizational collaborations and partnerships, and facilitates strategic and interpretive planning projects and related staff development. Since 2014, Janet has served on the Board of Greater Hudson Heritage Network, from 2015-2019 as VP and on the Boscobel House and Gardens Education Committee since 2015.

Carrie Villar – National Trust for Historic Preservation

Color portrait of Carrie Villar in front of a bookshelf, wearing a red shirt with black cardigan.Carrie Villar is the John & Neville Bryan Associate Director of Museum Collections at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In this role, she oversees the collections management across the Trust’s portfolio of historic sites and staffs the Collections Committee that makes decisions regarding deaccessioning and the use of those funds for direct care. Prior to that, Carrie served as Senior Curator at The History Factory in Washington, DC, where she served as the creative lead on teams that worked with a diverse range of clients. Previously, Carrie served as the Collections and Research Director at the Baltimore Museum of Industry.

Ashley Wilson – National Trust for Historic Preservation

Color portrait of Ashley Wilson in front of an orange background, wearing a blue shirt.Ashley Wilson, AIA, ASID is the Chief Architect for the Historic Sites at the National Trust for Historic Preservation in an endowed position named the Graham Gund Architect. This position provides broad oversight responsibilities related to the conservation and preservation of the architecture and landscapes of the Trust’s twenty-eight historic sites. With over twenty-five years of experience as a Preservation Architect, Ashley specializes in modernizing and stewarding significant historic buildings to make them relevant within the modern built environment. Before working at the National Trust, she was a tenured professor at the Clemson University/College of Charleston Graduate Program for Historic Preservation in Charleston, SC and in private architectural practice.

Beth Ziebarth – Director of Access, Smithsonian

Color portrait of Beth Ziebarth in front of a wood shelf with various vases on top, wearing a purple shirt and matching necklace.Beth Ziebarth has a personal interest and professional responsibility in advocacy for people with disabilities. She currently serves as the Director of Access Smithsonian. In her position, Beth develops and implements accessibility policy and guidelines for the Institution’s 19 museums, the National Zoo, and nine research centers, ensuring that the Smithsonian’s 30 million annual visitors experience a welcoming environment that accommodates individuals of all ages and abilities. Her work includes staff training on accessibility and disability topics, facility and program technical assistance, direct accessibility services, outreach and collaboration, and five signature programs for people with disabilities.

Core Working Group – Historic Sites

Alexsandra Gizzi – Fosterfields Living Historical Farm Museum

Color portrait of Alexsandra Gizzi in front of a wooden cabinet, wearing a black graphic tee with white lettering.Allie is the Education Coordinator at Fosterfields Living Historical Farm in Morristown, NJ. Upon completing her degree in 2014, she has been working as a collections consultant and also with the Morris County Park Commission. As an employee of the park commission, she has been able to work at multiple historic sites in her career, first as an education assistant at Historic Speedwell and now as Education Coordinator at Fosterfields, where they specialize in teaching the public about all of the wonderful animals and the history of the site.

Sara Lowenburg – Louisiana State Museum

Black and white portrait of Sara Lowenburg on a white background, wearing a black dress.Sara Lowenburg is the Manager of Education at the Louisiana State Museum, where she oversees adult and student programming for the five New Orleans locations and works closely with the exhibits team to develop interactive resources. She previously worked as a Museum Educator for Access Programs at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, where she designed family programs for audiences with disabilities, and as an Education Associate at the Museum at Eldridge Street.

Merilee Mostov – Bainbridge Island Historical Museum

Color portrait of Merilee Mostov on a white background, wearing a maroon shirt.A museum change agent for more than 16 years, Merilee Mostov currently works as Director of Exhibits and Engagement at the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum. Her bold experiments in exhibit design provoke visitors to imagine, question, and reflect on diverse historic and contemporary issues.

 

Matthew Murphy – Eastern State Penitentiary

Color portrait of Matthew Murphy in front of a metal grate, wearing a blue button down, multicolor blue tie and blue blazer.Matthew Murphy joined Eastern State Penitentiary as a Tour Guide in 2013 and was promoted to Tour Programs Supervisor in 2015. As the Tour Programs Supervisor, Matt oversees the hiring, training, and evaluation of a staff of up to 15 tour guides. Matt has spoken about the history of Eastern State Penitentiary on multiple media outlets, including P.B.S., N.P.R., and The Washington Post. Matt has worked as a heritage interpreter at major sites across the nation, including Alcatraz Island and Independence National Historical Park.

Miranda Peters – Fort Ticonderoga

Color portrait of Miranda Peters in front of five frame paintings, wearing glasses, a maroon shirt and black pants.Miranda Peters joined Fort Ticonderoga five years ago to develop a new department dedicated to documenting, preserving, and making accessible the museum’s holdings, considered one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of military material culture from the long 18th century. Under Peters’ leadership, TEAMconderoga has transformed three collections storage facilities, launched an online collections database, and is in the process of conducting a wall-to-wall cataloging/inventory project of over 200,000 objects. Peters serves as editor-in-chief of the museum’s collections-based publications, leads Ticonderoga’s dynamic exhibition program, and oversees multiple social media campaigns that share Ticonderoga’s collections with the world. In 2019, Miranda was awarded the Museum Association of New York Rising Star Award for Collections/Exhibitions.

Patricia Pongracz – Macculloch Hall

Color portrait of Patricia Pongracz on a white background, wearing a black turtleneck and grey blazer.Patricia C. Pongracz is the Executive Director of Macculloch Hall Historical Museum (MHHM) in Morristown, New Jersey, a position she has held since 2015. Prior to arriving at MHHM, she researched Tiffany Studios’ interiors designed for American synagogues from 1889 through 1930 as the Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in The American Wing during the 2014/2015 academic year. Previously, Pongracz was affiliated for fourteen years with the Museum of Biblical Art (MOBIA) in New York City, where she was the museum’s Acting Director and Director of Curatorial affairs until June 2013. Pongracz co-curated a number of exhibitions at MOBIA and co-authored and co-edited numerous publications, including Louis C. Tiffany and the Art of Devotion, Perspectives on Medieval Art: Learning through Looking, and Biblical Art and the Asian Imagination.

Laura Westmoreland – Brandywine River Museum

Laura Westmoreland is the Associate Educator for Adult & Community Programs at Brandywine River Museum of Art. She joined Brandywine’s staff in 2015 and has worked on increasing learning and engagement opportunities for artists, people with disabilities, and local community groups. She has developed opportunities for artists of all skill levels, including introductory workshops to a variety of media and in-depth classes with professional artists. She also works with regional painting and photography organizations to bring artists to Brandywine’s campus and historic properties. Additionally, she collaborates with families, educators, therapists, and self-advocates from the community to implement accessible museum programs serving people with autism and sensory processing differences as well as people living with dementia and their families. Laura works with colleagues from local cultural institutions to strengthen accessible arts programming throughout the Greater Philadelphia region.

Core Working Group – Disability Advocates

Ruth Bernstein

Color portrait of Ruth Bernstein on a black background, wearing glasses and a multicolor jacket.Ruth Bernstein is a Board member of the Hearing Loss Association of America, NYC Chapter, (HLAA NYC), on the Steering Committee of the Museum Access Consortium, (MAC), and participant in MoMA’s Staff Training Video about People With Disabilities. She volunteers with the Education Department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was, until recently, a volunteer gardener with the Central Park Conservancy. She contributes to the “Sound Advice” blog in “The Buzz”, the Center for Hearing and Communication’s (CHC) electronic newsletter. Her advocacy work has been recognized with awards from CHC: Volunteer of the Year, 2000 and the Ruth R. Green Advocacy Award, 2014. Ruth is also a member of the MAC Steering Committee.

Cheryl Fogle-Hatch

Color portrait of Dr. Cheryl Fogle-Hatch in front of city street, wearing a blue button down shirt.Dr. Cheryl Fogle-Hatch is an independent scholar who focuses on two areas: community engagement with museums and public outreach about archaeology. Recently, she and her colleagues designed a prototype of an accessible traveling exhibit about archaeology that uses 3-D replicas of stone projectile points (spear tips and arrowheads) that is inclusive of both blind and sighted audiences. She also served on an organizing committee for an exhibit of tactile art called “Ways of Seeing” that ran in Baltimore during the summer of 2019. In addition to her project-based work, Dr. Fogle-Hatch conducts surveys to research the attitudes of blind people towards museums.

Ellen Giusti

Color portrait of Ellen Giusti on a black background, wearing a grey collared shirt.Ellen has an extensive background as an evaluation consultant for informal/free choice exhibitions and programs. She has experience working with museum staff to help make exhibits and programs accessible to all visitors using principles of Universal Design.

Amy Gravino

Color portrait of Amy Gravino on a white background, wearing glasses and a purple shirt.Amy Gravino, M.A., is Certified Autism Specialist and international speaker. As the founder and President of A.S.C.O.T Consulting, Amy offers autism consulting and college coaching services for individuals on the autism spectrum, mentoring services for young adults with autism, and professional presentations for conferences, autism events, schools, and professional development workshops. Amy has given two TED talks, spoken twice at the United Nations for World Autism Awareness Day (2011 and 2018), and presented to numerous audiences on a variety of topics, including autism and sexuality; issues faced by girls with ASD; growing up on the spectrum; bullying and bullying prevention; and transitioning individuals on the spectrum to higher education. Amy currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Specialisterne USA, Yes She Can, Inc., and the Golden Door International Film Festival of Jersey City, and as co-facilitator of the Morris County support group chapter of ASPEN-NJ. For more information, please visit www.AmyGravino.com.

Emily Ladau

Color portrait of Emily Ladau in front of a wood background and white wall, wearing glasses and a floral dress.Emily Ladau is a passionate disability rights activist, writer, speaker and digital communications consultant whose career began at the age of 10, when she appeared on several episodes of Sesame Street to educate children about her life with a physical disability.

Emily is the Editor in Chief of the Rooted in Rights Blog, a platform dedicated to amplifying authentic narratives on the disability experience through an intersectional lens. She also provides consultation and editorial services and manages online presence and communications strategies for multiple disability-related organizations and initiatives. And, she co-hosts “The Accessible Stall Podcast,” a show that dives into disability issues.

More about Emily’s work can be found on her website, http://wordsiwheelby.com.

Nefertiti Matos

Color portrait of Nefertiti Matos in front of a wall of windows with buildings and a person in the background, wearing a red shirt and grey cardigan. Nefertiti Matos is an Assistive Technology Trainer for the New York Public Library’s Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library. In this role, she provides one on one technology coaching, creates programming, and facilitates group workshops on a range of tech topics for the blind and visually impaired community in both English and Spanish. Among other advocacy efforts, Nefertiti is a fervent supporter of the arts and committed to bringing about an inclusive society in which culture is a shared space for all. She starred in the film Magical Thinking; was featured in the acclaimed Blind Date Documentary short; and is a highly-regarded subject matter expert on cultural accessibility in New York City, consulting for such institutions as Lincoln Center, the Museum of Modern Art, the Poster House Museum and others. Most recently, PRI’s the World highlighted her work with Montclair University students in partnership with Repertorio Español as being the first to provide live Spanish-language audio description for any theater on or off Broadway.

Shira Mechanic

Color portrait of Shira Mechanic in front of several people, wearing a black shirt with a large floral print.Shira Mechanic is an occupational therapist and autism self-advocate with graduate degrees in psychology and occupational therapy. She currently works with children ages 2-5 with developmental delays and psychiatric diagnoses. She is a business owner and product designer, and is passionate about inclusive and sensory friendly products and environmental design.

Michael Tranquilli

Color portrait of Michael Tranquilli on a black background, wearing a white and grey striped button down, grey tie and grey sweater.Michael Tranquilli is an Occupational Therapist specializing in the rehabilitation of physical disabilities. An alumnus and adjunct professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy at New York University, Michael was a 2018 Research Fellow at Open Style Lab. He has joined the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum and the NYU Ability Project to further advance accessibility solutions and inclusive design technologies for persons with disabilities.

Past Contributors

Alli Hartley-Kong – Formerly with Fosterfields Living Historical Farm Museum

Alli Hartley-Kong was formerly the Senior Historical Programs Specialist at Fosterfields Living Historical Farm museum in Morris County NJ. She participated as part of the Historic Sites Core Working Group in the first convening of the Sensory Tools team.

Maren Levad – Formerly with Minnesota Historical Society

Maren Levad was formerly the Access Specialist at Minnesota Historical Society. She participated as part of the Historic Sites Core Working Group in the first convening of the Sensory Tools team.

Sheri Levinsky-Raskin – Former AVP, Research & Evaluation, Intrepid Museum

Sheri Levinsky-Raskin was the former Assistant Vice President for Research and Evaluation at the Intrepid Museum. She contributed to conceptualizing the project and participated in the first convening of the team.

NYU Students

Spring 2020
 Fabiha Ahmed
 Bo Byun
 Saarah D’Souza
 Abigail Faelnar
 Themis Garcia Cadiz
 Deborah Gorelik
 Antônio Guimarães
 Dina Khalil
 Myra Khan
 Daisy Lei
 Sarah Liriano
 Jennifer Novicki
 Keita Ohshiro

 

Spring 2021
 Elizabeth Betts
 Melissa Canavan
 Lynda Carreno
 Caitlin Gebhard
 Nelson James
 Daniel Ryan Johnston
 Lilly Lin
 Shehara Ranasinghe
 Ling-Hsuan Wang
 Cameron Womack
 Cathy Xu
 Dazhen Yang

Partner Locations

Map of the United States with markers showing where each partner institution is located on map.

 

 

 

 

Bainbridge Island Historical

Large tree in foreground with red single story barn on the right of tree and blue building on the left of the tree.

 

 

 

 

 

Our Mission

To preserve and share the stories of Bainbridge Island to promote a greater understanding of our community and the world in which we live.

The Bainbridge Island Historical Museum (BIHM) is a small community museum located near the Island ferry terminal and downtown business corridor. Started as an informal group in the 1930s, the Museum now offers a well-used research library and an engaging selection of monthly programs, virtual content, and exhibits.

The primary exhibit, An Island Story, highlights some of the people and events from the Island’s complicated history, including logging and shipbuilding in the 19th century, the Japanese American Exclusion during WWII, and the invention of pickleball on the Island in the 1970s.

BIHM also actively collects and preserves more than 10,000 cultural materials, photographs, and oral & video histories about the Island’s past and present. For more information, see the Museum website.

215 Ericksen Avenue NE,
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
206-842-2773

https://bainbridgehistory.org/

Bainbridge logo

Brandywine River Museum of Art

Glass building on the edge of Brandywine River.

 

 

 

 

 

Our Mission

The Brandywine River Museum of Art engages audiences through its presentation and interpretation of American art with a particular focus on the Wyeth family and other artists of the Brandywine region.

Discover a distinguished collection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century American art, housed in a renovated nineteenth-century mill with a dramatic steel and glass addition that overlooks the bucolic Brandywine River. The extraordinary site—the intersection of art and nature—emphasizes the Brandywine Conservancy’s commitment to the preservation of the natural, cultural and scenic resources of the region.

Renowned for its holdings of the Wyeth family of artists, the Museum features galleries dedicated to the work of N.C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth and Jamie Wyeth, along with shuttle tours to the N. C. Wyeth House and Studio, the Andrew Wyeth Studio, and Kuerner Farm. The Museum’s outstanding collection is a cross section of American art, with a special focus on artistic practice in the Brandywine valley. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century landscape paintings testify to the beauty which drew well-known artists to the area. Important portraits, still life paintings and notable holdings in American illustration add diversity and breadth to this unique collection.

1 Hoffman’s Mill Road,
Chadds Ford, PA 19317
610-388-2700

https://www.brandywine.org/museum

Brandywine logo

Eastern State Penitentiary

Overhead view of penitentiary with skyline of Philadelphia in the background.

 

 

 

 

 

Our Mission

Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site interprets the legacy of American criminal justice reform, from the nation’s founding through to the present day, within the long-abandoned cellblocks of the nation’s most historic prison.

When Eastern State opened more than 180 years ago, it changed the world. Known for its grand architecture and strict discipline, this was the world’s first true “penitentiary,” a prison designed to inspire penitence, or true regret, in the hearts of prisoners. The building itself was an architectural wonder; it had running water and central heat before the White House, and attracted visitors from around the globe.

Eastern State Penitentiary was once the most famous and expensive prison in the world, but stands today in ruin, a haunting world of crumbling cellblocks and empty guard towers. Its vaulted, sky-lit cells once held many of America’s most notorious lawbreakers, including “Slick Willie” Sutton and “Scarface” Al Capone.

2027 Fairmount Avenue,
Philadelphia, PA 19130
215-235-5111

www.easternstate.org 

Eastern State Penitentiary logo

Fort Ticonderoga

Fort building on top of hill surrounded by trees with a river in the background.

 

 

 

 

Our Mission

To preserve, educate and provoke active discussion about the past and its importance to present and future generations. We foster an on-going dialogue surrounding citizens, soldiers, and nations through America’s military heritage.

Fort Ticonderoga, a private 501(c)3 not-for profit educational organization, museum, and cultural destination, sits at the southern portion of the Adirondack Park on Lake Champlain in New York State. Fort Ticonderoga preserves one of the most significant and historic military landscapes in North America. From Euro-Native encounters as early as 1609, to the bloodiest battle in the 18th century (Battle of Carillon in 1758), to the first American victory in the Revolutionary War, the 2,000 acres preserved by the museum are a catalog of North America’s military history. In 2018, the Board of Trustees approved an updated mission to “preserve, educate, and provoke an active discussion about the past and its importance to present and future generations. We foster an on-going dialogue surrounding citizens, soldiers, and nations through America’s military heritage.” This new mission seeks to move past simply discussing battles and victories and encourage us to think more broadly about the overall military experience. It also drives us to connect military history to political, social, and cultural history, giving context and meaning to lessons and conversations that are still relevant today.

Fort Ticonderoga
102 Fort Ti Road
Ticonderoga, NY 12883
(518) 585-2821

https://www.fortticonderoga.org/

Fort Ticonderoga logo

Fosterfields Living Historical Farm

Farm with two pastures with a red barn in background, and trees and a mountain behind the barn.

 

 

 

 

 

Our Mission

The Mission of the Morris County Park Commission’s Fosterfields Living Historical Farm is to advance the public’s awareness, appreciation and understanding of the social, agricultural, and architectural history of the Morristown area from the period 1880-1930. Fosterfields pursues its Mission through authentic restorations, artifact collections and archives, exhibits, and dynamic living-history interpretations portraying the history of the Revere/Foster farm during this time period. In this manner, Fosterfields reflects and complements the goals of the Morris County Park Commission, which include preserving local heritage and protecting open space, consistent with the donor’s wishes.

Fosterfields Living Historical Farm is on the National Register of Historic Sites and is located in Morristown, New Jersey. The farm is comprised of over 200 acres and was donated to the Morris County Park Commission in 1979 by Caroline Foster. The site has been documented as a farm since the 1770’s and to this day continues operate as both a farm and an educational site. Fosterfields is complete with farm animals, crops and several original buildings, including the barnyard complex, 1915 farmhouse and the Willows mansion. Our large interpretive time period from 1850 to 1930, allows us to teach the public about the unique agricultural and social developments during the advance of a modern United States.

At the farm we are lucky to teach what we love and are happy to impart to the public about how important farms are to a community. Through our interactive animal classes, crop farming programs, historic tours and school group lessons we hope to continue to inspire our visitors for years to come.

73 Kahdena Rd,
Morristown, NJ 07960
973-326-7645

https://www.morrisparks.net/index.php/parks/fosterfields

Morris County Park Commission logo

Intrepid Museum

 

 

 

 

Our Mission

The mission of the Intrepid Museum is to promote the awareness and understanding of history, science and service through its collections, exhibitions and programming in order to honor our heroes, educate the public and inspire our youth.

The Intrepid Museum is a non-profit, educational institution featuring the legendary aircraft carrier Intrepid, the space shuttle Enterprise, the world’s fastest jets and a guided missile submarine. Through exhibitions, educational programming and the foremost collection of technologically groundbreaking aircraft and vessels, visitors of all ages and abilities are taken on an interactive journey through history to learn about American innovation and bravery.

The Intrepid Museum was founded in 1982 with the acquisition of the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, now a National Historic Landmark, which served tours of duty in World War II and the Vietnam War, and was a recovery vessel for the Gemini and Mercury space missions.

Pier 86, W 46th St,
New York, NY 10036
212-245-0072

https://www.intrepidmuseum.org

Intrepid Museum logo

Louisiana State Museum

3 Story red brick building with white flowers in foreground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our MIssion

The Louisiana State Museum is a historical, cultural, and educational institution whose primary purpose is to collect, preserve, and present, as an educational resource, objects of art, documents, artifacts, and the like that reflect the history, art, and culture of Louisiana.

The Louisiana State Museum (LSM) is a state-run system of nine historic sites and museums around Louisiana. Within these landmark buildings, LSM preserves, researches and exhibits artifacts from a permanent collection of nearly 500,000 objects including decorative arts, costumes and carnival ephemera, musical artifacts, and extensive archives from colonial times to the present.

One of five museum locations in the historic French Quarter of New Orleans, the 1850 House is a historic home in the Lower Pontalba building in Jackson Square. The Pontalba buildings were designed and financed by the Baroness Micaela Almonester de Pontalba. Inspired by the imposing Parisian architecture the Baroness favored, the distinctive rowhouses were intended to serve as both elegant residences and retail establishments. The 1850 House doesn’t represent any single family’s house, rather, it reflects mid-19th century prosperity, taste and daily life in New Orleans.

751 Chartres St.,
New Orleans, LA 70116
1-800-568-6968

www.LouisianaStateMuseum.org

Louisiana State Museum logo

Macculloch Hall Historical Museum

2 story colonial building with shrubs in foreground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Mission

Established in 1950 by W. Parsons Todd (1877-1976), Macculloch Hall Historical Museum preserves and interprets its historic house and gardens, unparalleled collection of the work of political cartoonist Thomas Nast (1840-1902), fine and decorative arts collections and Macculloch family archives, inspiring visitors to experience everyday American history where it happened. The museum’s unique historic setting, its period rooms and professional galleries excite and educate visitors of all ages, connecting present to past in a dynamic cultural environment. On site, online and through outreach, MHHM serves local, state, national and international communities.

George and Louisa Macculloch built Macculloch Hall in 1810. By 1819, they tripled the size of their Federal-style mansion as their family’s prominence grew. The concerns of the lives that were lived at Macculloch Hall from 1810 to 1947, and the collection that grew into MHHM, are microcosms of what was happening in the larger world.
Founded by local Morristown philanthropist W. Parsons Todd in 1949, Macculloch Hall Historical Museum (MHHM) is unique for its state of preservation. The Macculloch-Miller-Post family who lived at Macculloch Hall for almost 150 years lived history. The family, the enslaved men, women and children, the paid laborers, and those who interacted with them, grappled with issues of their day—politics, war, equality, philanthropy, and day-to-day living.

MHHM’s collection of the work of political cartoonist, Thomas Nast (1840-1902) illustrates the perspective issues of his day like: graft, the Civil War, race relations, immigration, and veterans’ affairs. Beginning in 1872, Nast created his Harper’s Weekly illustrations at his home across Macculloch Avenue.

45 Macculloch Ave.,
Morristown, NJ 07960
973-538-2404

www.maccullochhall.org

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