FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Jessica Frankenfield
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215-701-4427
Curious Revolutionaries: The Peales of Philadelphia opens at the American
Philosophical Society Museum April 7, 2017.
“Amusement here with science is combin’d, to please, improve, and cultivate the mind” Charles Willson Peale
PHILADELPHIA – March 21, 2017 - The Peales were an extraordinary, and extraordinarily
curious, early American family. They were patriots, artists, entrepreneurs, naturalists, and
tinkerers whose varied interests embodied the American Philosophical Society’s (APS) founding
goal of “promoting useful knowledge.” On view April 7 to December 30, 2017 at the APS
Museum, Curious Revolutionaries: The Peales of Philadelphia explores the Peale family’s role
in shaping early American popular culture through innovations in art, science, and technology.
The exhibition will be held in the APS’s Philosophical Hall, the former home of Peale’s
Philadelphia Museum, the nation’s first successful public museum.
The exhibition follows three generations of Peales, beginning with famed Revolutionary portrait
painter Charles Willson and his brother James. The second and third generations of aptly
named Peales---most notably Rembrandt, Rubens, Benjamin Franklin, and Titian Ramsay--continued the family business as significant artists, naturalists, and inventors.
The Peales’ boundless curiosity led them to pursue a wide variety of interests, including:
 Sponsoring an archaeological dig in upstate New York to excavate the first mastodon
fossil to be shown in a museum;
 Collaborating on inventions like a silhouette-making machine, moving pictures, efficient
fireplaces, an early model of the bicycle, and false teeth;
 Painting the pantheon of early American leaders;
 Collecting and cataloguing thousands of species from all over the world and displaying
them in the Philadelphia Museum;
 Establishing the first public museum franchise.
Many of the Peales’ artistic and scientific endeavors were on display for the public at Peale’s
Philadelphia Museum, housed in the Society’s Philosophical Hall from 1794-1810 and later nextdoor in the State House (today Independence Hall). As a repository of significant artworks,
natural objects, and cultural artifacts aimed at amusing and educating the broad public, the
Philadelphia Museum set the precedent for modern museums. Peale’s innovations such as tiered
ticketing, yearly membership, advisory boards, and targeted programming are all recognizable
in today’s museums. The legacy of Peale’s democratic museum lives on, embedded in the
museums we visit today.
“It’s fitting that these collections from the Peale family will be on display in Philosophical Hall,
the original home of Peale’s Philadelphia Museum. We hope visitors can imagine themselves in
the Peale Museum and have a better understanding of Philadelphia’s role not just as a center of
political change, but also as a hub of cultural and scientific innovation,” said APS Museum
Director Merrill Mason.
Curious Revolutionaries draws on APS’s extensive holdings related to the Peale family. The
exhibition will include letters and diaries as well as sketchbooks, painting palettes, hand-cut
silhouettes, and watercolors. The exhibition will also feature pieces from the APS Museum
collections, including oil portraits of early American scientists such as David Rittenhouse,
painted miniatures of Peale family members, and patent models including miniature fireplaces
designed by Peale and his sons.
Programs accompanying the exhibition will include lectures on topics that fascinated the Peales
such as silhouette cutting, taxidermy, and the science of pigments. The APS Museum will also
participate in Second Saturdays events during the summer, offering free family activities related
to the exhibition.
Tourists and visitors from the Philadelphia area will be able to connect with early American
history through this curious family and be inspired by their creativity, entrepreneurial spirit,
and thirst for knowledge.
The exhibition will be open to the public Thursdays through Sundays from April 7 to December
30, 2017. Admission is free. Donations are encouraged. Tours for schools or other private groups
are available upon request.
About the American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society, the oldest scholarly society in the United States, was
founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin for the purpose of “promoting useful knowledge.” In the
21st century the Society honors and engages distinguished scientists, humanists, social
scientists, and leaders in civic and cultural affairs through elected membership and
opportunities for interdisciplinary, intellectual fellowship, particularly in the semi-annual
Meetings in Philadelphia. It supports research and discovery through grants and fellowships,
lectures, publications, prizes, exhibitions, and public education. It serves scholars through a
research library of 13 million manuscripts and other collections internationally recognized for
their enduring historic value.
About the APS Museum
Founded in 2001, the APS Museum is located adjacent to Independence Hall in Philadelphia’s
historic district. It develops thematic exhibitions from the Society’s collections of over 13 million
manuscripts, rare books, artworks, scientific instruments, Native American materials, and other
historical objects. Programs expand upon the themes and objects in the exhibitions and relate
them to relevant issues today.