Press Releases

The Springfield Museums’ October tour and lecture schedule features a wide range of speakers and topics, including a special lecture on Sunday, October 25 by Scott Schweigert, curator of art and civilization at the Reading Public Museum. His talk, American Impressionism through the Lens of the Artists’ Colonies, explores the effect of the art colony movement on the resident artists’ creative expression. The lecture takes place at 3 pm at the Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts, and is free with museum admission.

On September 16, the Springfield Museums welcomed two new Trustees at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Corporators and the Organizational Meeting of the Board of Trustees.

The Springfield Science Museum will host two opportunities to view the heavens in the coming weeks, including a special viewing of the total lunar eclipse on Sunday, September 27. Eclipses of this type are rare – the next such occurrence won’t take place for another 4 years, and the moon’s close proximity to the earth makes the event even more unusual.

The Springfield Museums will once again open their doors free of charge on Saturday, September 26, 2015, as part of Smithsonian Magazine’s eleventh annual Museum Day Live! On that day, the Museums and a host of others across the United States will emulate the Smithsonian Institution’s Washington-based facilities by offering free admission to those who download a Museum Day Live! ticket.

The Springfield Museums are in the final stages of purchasing the childhood home of Theodor Geisel (a.k.a. Dr. Seuss), located at 74 Fairfield Street in Springfield, MA, through support provided by the Dr. Seuss Foundation.

Peter the Great had a famously bizarre one. Robert Edmund Grant opted to live in a slum rather than sell his. A letter of reference was required to see the one belonging to Athanasius Kircher – a rule which even applied to the pope himself.

Each fall, the Springfield Museums pay tribute to Springfield’s role in transportation history at the annual “History on the Move” Car Show. The twelfth annual event will take place on Saturday, September 12, from 9 am to 3 pm on the Quadrangle green. A wide assortment of vintage early automobiles will be displayed, including many pre-1950 cars and an assortment of vintage automobiles manufactured in Springfield. The event is sponsored by AAA Pioneer Valley; MassMutual is the 2015 Premier Sponsor of the Springfield Museums.

On August 22 from 10 am–5 pm, the Springfield Museums will host the Jurassic Roadshow, which brings the science, history, and art of the Connecticut River Valley’s dinosaur footprints and trace impressions to street fairs and other events in the region. The Roadshow’s appearance will also help to highlight the unique collections of dinosaur fossils housed in Dinosaur Hall at the Springfield Science Museum.

The Springfield Museums have announced the schedule for the final two weeks of their annual “Summer Spectacular” Family Series, which runs through August 14, 2015. Every Monday through Friday, families visiting the Quadrangle will find a schedule packed with hands-on art and science activities, live reptile demonstrations, and family entertainment for all ages. All programs and performances are free with admission unless otherwise noted. The 2015 premier sponsor is MassMutual; the Summer Spectacular is underwritten by the Berkshire Bank Foundation and the Charles H. Hall Foundation (Bank of America, Trustee).