The Museum at the Maryland Center for History and Culture (in the Meyerhoff Courtyard at 610 Park Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21201. 410-685-3750.) has a great digital collection of audio and informational exhibits on its website and available in person. It is a statewide resource headquartered in f Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighborhood cultural district, featuring over 1,000 objects on display in 15 permanent and rotating exhibition galleries and with a library housing 7 million books, documents, manuscripts, and photographs available for research and scholarship. The Center has a museum, library, holds educational programs, and publishes scholarly works on Maryland. Altogether, the Center houses one of the country’s largest collections of state heritage maintained by a private, nonprofit institution. Formerly the Maryland Historical Society, it was founded on March 1, 1844, and is the oldest cultural institution in Maryland.
There is a vast collection at the H. Furlong Baldwin Library. The online collection on segregation includes "Juanita Jackson Mitchell and Virginia Jackson Kiah interview, 1975 (1975-07-15)," Gwynn Oak Amusement Park protestors riding ‘Freedom Now’ bus (1963-07-04), and Paul Robeson and Dr. John E. T. Camper protesting Ford’s Theatre Jim Crow admission policy (1948-03). The online resources has Research Guides, Finding Aids, Educator Resources, and more. Highlights of museum collection include: Native American archaeological artifacts dating to 5,000 B.C.; the world’s largest assembly of paintings by members of the Peale family; nine portraits by artist Joshua Johnson—recognized as the first professional African American artist in the United States; and Maryland landscape painting by Francis Guy. Visit the Exhibitions page for more information about all of the current exhibitions.
The Center is a community partner of Preserve the Baltimore Uprising, a digital archive devoted to preserving and making accessible media created and captured by people and organizations involved in or witness to the protests following Freddie Gray's death in 2015. The 2016-2017 exhibit "What & Why: Collecting at the Maryland Historical Society" included items from the Preserve the Baltimore Uprising collections in a video installation.
To visit the Museum, due to hourly capacity limits it is strongly encouraged that you book your ticket in advance. The admission rates are $12 - Adults, $10 - Seniors $9 - Students, free - Members and Children under 2, free first Thursdays. The The museum and shop hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday (With extended hours the first Thursday of each month until 8:00 p.m.).
