Museums
George Walker Vincent Smith Art Museum in Springfield, MA
George Walker Vincent Smith Art Museum in Springfield, MA
21 Edwards St.
Springfield, MA
01103
1-800-625-7738
The George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum is one of the two Springfield Museums dedicated to fine and decorative arts. It represents the very personal taste of the Victorian collector whose name it bears. The Museum was built in 1895 in the style of an elegant Italian villa and opened to the public in 1896 as the “Art Museum.”
The avid collectors acquired a renowned collection of Japanese arms and armor, including many fine examples from the time of the Samurai; Japanese ivory carvings, intricate lacquers, decorative and utilitarian ceramics; and the largest collection of Chinese cloisonne in the Western world. A focal point of the collection is an elaborately carved Shinto shrine.
The Museum’s collection of Middle Eastern rugs is ranked among the top 10 collections of these objects in the United States. Since many of the rugs were not antique when purchased, they are still in extremely good condition. While oriental rugs were an important part of most Victorian collections, they were usually treated as furnishings. Smith, however, considered rugs to be art objects and hung many of them on the walls next to paintings, elevating them to equal status with the “fine” arts.
Throughout his life G.W.V. Smith supported the American artists of his time. Some of the earliest art works he bought were paintings by artists he knew in New York City in the late 1850s and early 1860s. The Smith collection is especially strong in landscape paintings, particularly those by Hudson River School artists, fine genre paintings, and seascapes by A. T. Bricher. The Museum holds the largest collection of works by J.G. Brown (1831-1913) in a public museum, including the much-reproduced painting, The Berry Boy.
Classical and Renaissance art is represented in the Museum’s rare collection of 48 plaster casts. In Victorian America’s art museums, casts provided what was for most visitors the only contact with ancient sculpture. The casts in the G.W.V. Smith Art Museum are remarkably accurate reproductions of these masterpieces, made from molds taken directly from the originals.
Hasbro Games Art Discovery Center
The elaborately decorated Hasbro Games Art Discovery Center, opened in 2002, offers hands-on activities that introduce families and children to the Museum’s Asian collections. Children can make their own Asian-inspired art, take part in craft activities and try on costumes of Samurais, Sultans, and Victorian gentry. The Discovery Center is a bright, airy space decorated with brilliant hand painted murals that reflect motifs taken from the Museum’s extensive Chinese and Japanese art collections.
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Springfield Science Museum in Springfield, MA
Springfield Science Museum in Springfield, MA
21 Edwards St.
Springfield, MA
01103
1-800-625-7738
Visitors to the Springfield Science Museum will find a world filled with the wonders of natural and physical science. The Museum also is home to a live animal center with fish, insects, reptiles and amphibians in such realistic natural habitats as an Amazon rainforest, coral reef, and New England harbor.
In Dinosaur Hall delight in a full sized replica of Tyrannosaurus rex which towers over you, and also peer directly into his fierce jaws from a window on the second floor. Be on safari in a R.E. Phelon African Hall which takes you from the plains of an African savannah up to a bird’s eye view of the animals, including lions, a huge African elephant, a giraffe and an ostrich. African Hall also offers a glimpse of several traditional African cultures.
You can take imaginary voyages to the farthest corners of the universe in the Seymour Planetarium. Just outside the planetarium, you’ll walk beneath a replica of the solar system and touch rocks from outer space. Earth Hall will amaze you with its extensive collection of crystals, minerals, and fossils. Aviation buffs won’t want to miss the 1937 Zeta aircraft, one of only three remaining Springfield built Gee Bee airplanes. In the MASSPOWER Science Discovery Laboratory, families can experiment to discover the mysteries of everyday science.
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U.S. Navy Submarine Force Library and Museum in Groton, CT
U.S. Navy Submarine Force Library and Museum - Home of the USS Nautilus (SSN 571) in Groton, CT
1 Crystal Lake Road
Groton, CT 06340
800-343-0079
The Submarine Force Museum, located on the Thames River in Groton, Connecticut, maintains the world’s finest collection of submarine artifacts. It is the only submarine museum operated by the United States Navy, and as such is the primary repository for artifacts, documents and photographs relating to U.S. Submarine Force history. The museum traces the development of the ”Silent Service” from David Bushnell’s Turtle, used in the Revolutionary War, to the modern Los Angeles class submarines, Ohio, Seawolf and Virginia class submarines.
Originally established as “The Submarine Library” by Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in 1955, the Submarine Force Library and Museum soon gained respect for its archival and research value. In April 1964, the entire collection was donated to the Navy and relocated to the Naval Submarine Base, New London, Groton, Connecticut. The name “Submarine Force Library and Museum” was officially adopted in 1969.
The museum’s collections include more than 33,000 artifacts, 20,000 significant documents and 30,000 photographs. With so many holdings, the displays change frequently and a return visit will be a new experience. The 6,000 volume reference and research library is a world-renowned collection relative to the history of U.S. submarines and is open to anyone looking for information on submarines or submarine history.
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