Everhart Museum
Everhart Museum
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| Established | 1908 |
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| Location | 1901 Mulberry Street Nay Aug Park, Scranton, Pennsylvania |
| Type | Art, natural history |
| Curator | Nezka Pfeifer |
| Website | www |
The Everhart Museum of Natural History, Science & Art is a non-profit art and natural history museum located in Nay Aug Park in Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1908 by Dr. Isaiah Fawkes Everhart, a local medical doctor and skilled taxidermist. Many of the specimens in the museum's extensive ornithological collection came from Dr. Everhart's personal collection.
In addition to the zoological displays, the permanent collection includes works of visual art (many by Northeastern Pennsylvanian artists), ethnological artifacts, and fossils. The museum has an excellent permanent display of American folk art.
The Everhart Museum of Natural History, Science & Art was founded by Dr. Isaiah Everhart, a Scranton-area philanthropist and ornithological enthusiast. When the museum opened its doors on May 30, 1908, there were only eight other public museums found in the Commonwealth, none of which were located in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Dr. Everhart’s gift to the City of Scranton was intended to bring the world to his community. His goal was to create an institution that would “educate and delight for generations to come.”
Following military service as a surgeon during the Civil War, Dr. Everhart conceived the idea of assembling a comprehensive collection of Pennsylvania's native birds and animals. A skilled taxidermist, he built a collection of mounted specimens which soon expanded into one of the finest and largest collections in the United States. In 1905, he composed a will specifying that funds from his estate be used to construct the "Dr. I.F. Everhart general museum to be built in Nay Aug Park in the City of Scranton, Pennsylvania," and that additional funds were to be used for an endowment to support such an institution. Dr. Everhart continued to collect specimens and three years after his will was prepared recognized the need to build the museum during his lifetime. In 1907 he publicly announced that he would provide funds and guidance for the creation of a museum "for the young and old of this generation and for all of those who follow after ... for their pleasure and education." Plans in the "modern Renaissance" style were made by Scranton architects Harvey J. Blackwood and John Nelson. Construction soon began and the original core building of the Everhart Museum was dedicated on Memorial Day, May 30, 1908. At that time, the Museum's collections primarily consisted of Dr. Everhart's ornithological specimens.
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