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Discover the APS Museum

Discover the rare, the curious, and the authentic. Learn about American history and innovation. Make connections between art and science.

At the APS Museum, you will see exhibitions featuring treasures from the Society’s collections—perhaps Thomas Jefferson’s hand-written draft of the Declaration of Independence, a notebook from Lewis and Clark’s Western exploration, a rare 18th century astronomical clock, or a suite of exquisite botanical drawings by William Bartram.

With each exhibition, you can also enjoy imaginative programs that interpret the historical themes and objects on view and connect them to relevant issues in the world today.

The Museum is currently closed to install our next exhibition. Gathering Voices: Thomas Jefferson and Native America will open in April 2016.

What’s ‘Philosophical’ about the Museum?

In 1743, when Benjamin Franklin and his friends decided to establish the American Philosophical Society (APS), they studied the natural world and called themselves natural philosophers. Now we’d call them scientists.

For more than 270 years the APS has gathered and preserved a rich collection that traces American history and science from the Founding Fathers to the computer age. It includes over twelve million manuscripts plus scientific specimens and instruments, patent models, rare books, portraits, maps, prints, photographs, and watercolors.

The Museum resides in Philosophical Hall, completed in 1789. Now a National Historic Landmark, it was once home to Charles Willson Peale’s famed natural history and portrait museum–the first successful museum in the nation.

Philosophical Hall (view from the south)             Jefferson_visitors_CROPPED FOR WEB

The APS Museum is located in Philosophical Hall, 104 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106. For directions and hours click here.

Learn about our upcoming exhibitions on Thomas Jefferson.

Exhibitions and programs at the APS Museum are supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, donations by visitors to the APS Museum, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, the TD Bank Foundation, and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund.