Coming Spring 2023!
From May through December 2023, the Maryland Center for History and Culture is hosting the traveling show The Jim Henson Exhibition: Imagination Unlimited. Developed by Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI), this 5,000-square-foot, Muppet-filled multimedia exhibition is full of hundreds of objects, including puppets, character sketches, storyboards, scripts, costumes, and film and television clips.
MCHC is proud to call Jim Henson a Marylander, and we are proud to help bring Jim Henson home to Maryland!
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The Maryland Center for History and Culture is more than a Museum and Library. We provide space for discovery and developing a deeper understanding of the nation’s history and culture through the lens of Maryland.
Visions of Night
Visions of NightBaltimore Nocturnes–Open through March 2023
Artists have been creating visions of nighttime for centuries. Photographers have long attempted to capture images at night, but truly successful attempts did not come to fruition or common practice until the 1930s, when technology caught up with artistic vision. Visions of Night showcases photographs taken at night in the city from the collections of the Maryland Center for History and Culture, as well as contemporary photography, including the work of Sydney J. Allen, J.M. Giordano, John Clark Mayden, Webster Phillips III, and others. This exhibition is funded by the William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, creator of the Baker Artist Portfolios, http://www.BakerArtist.org.
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Wild and Untamed
Wild and UntamedDunton’s Discovery of the Baltimore Album Quilts—Open through March 2023
Follow Dr. William Rush Dunton Jr. on his journey to understand the Baltimore album quilt tradition and learn how quilts served as the building blocks for his groundbreaking work in occupational therapy. Explore our internationally famous quilt collection, including never-before-seen pieces, and Dr. Dunton’s personal works to unravel a narrative that connects Dunton’s views on quilts, gender, and mental health in the 1940s. Open through March 2023.
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Flickering Treasures
Flickering TreasuresRediscovering Baltimore’s Forgotten Movie Theaters—Open through March 2023
In 1896, Marylanders crowded to Electric Park to see the lights and attractions, including the very first moving-picture show. Movies were magical, transporting the viewers to new places, inviting them to escape their everyday lives, marvel at a new technology, gather news, and appreciate art. Movie theaters became symbols for the worlds they were unlocking, ethereal buildings where people gathered to take a journey together through the movie screen. Open through March 2023.
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Passion and Purpose
Passion and PurposeVoices of Maryland’s Civil Rights Activists
Marylanders have been at the forefront of the national Black freedom struggle, from lawsuits that revealed the lies of the “separate but equal” doctrine in the 1930s and ’40s, to massive protests in the streets during the 1960s that forced a nation to confront its moral consciousness. This legacy continues through today. Visitors to Passion and Purpose learn and draw inspiration from the lived experiences of these activists who make up a complex mosaic of the long and continuing fight for civil rights in Maryland and the nation. This exhibition is on long-term view.
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The Unfinished Revolution
The Unfinished RevolutionMaryland in the Wars for Independence
The Unfinished Revolution explores the turmoil of the United States’ emergence on the world stage between 1775 and 1815. The exhibition highlights two points that became certain—the country’s revolution remained unfinished, and Marylanders of many races and creeds were at the forefront of each conflict. This exhibition is on long-term view.
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Dedicated to preserving the irreplaceable history of Maryland
The H. Furlong Baldwin Library invites visitors to explore the records of Maryland’s past and preserves irreplaceable historical materials for future generations.
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Students gain essential social studies skills by engaging with our collections in person and virtually.
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Our members believe what we believe: history can illuminate the past, lend perspective to the present, and inform the future. Don’t take our word for it. Hear what they have to say.
Join or renewI am thrilled to see how [the MCHC] has become more open to the Baltimore community, especially in making materials more accessible through interactive exhibits and in research and scholarship. A membership is very cost-effective if you are actively researching in the collections.
Jean Lee Cole, Member Since 2013
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Read past issues digitized through a partnership with the Maryland State Archives. Enjoy print copies mailed to you with membership.
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Baltimore Pride: Highlighting Our LGBTQ+ Collections
June is celebrated nationwide as Pride Month. To celebrate this year’s Pride Month, we showcase some of the LGBTQ+ materials found within the Maryland Center for History and Culture’s Museum and Library collections.
Read MoreGenerous leading support for this website was provided by the Sheridan Foundation with additional support from the Helen Clay Frick Foundation.