Kemerer Museum of Decorative Arts is a

decorative arts ] The decorative arts are arts or crafts whose object is the design and manufacture of objects that are both beautiful and functional. It includes most of the arts making objects for the interiors of buildings, and interior design, but not usual ...

museum at 427 N. New Street in

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...

run by Historic Bethlehem. The Kemerer Museum is housed in three mid-nineteenth century houses, which are interconnected. Founded in 1951 the Kemerer Museum is the only decorative arts museum in Pennsylvania, and one of only fifteen nationwide devoted exclusively to decorative arts.

History

The Kemerer Museum of Decorative Arts is named after Annie S. Kemerer (1865-1951), a reclusive collector of antiques, furniture, paintings, and other decorative objects, who left her collection to the City of Bethlehem to start a museum after her death. With $300,000 from Kemerer and her collection, the Annie S. Kemerer Museum Association was founded in 1954."A legacy lives on ** Kemerer Museum's founder may have been a mystery, but the appeal of her collection reaches out to all" By Marguerite Smolen Special to ''The Morning Call'' - Freelance The Morning Call • Oct 03, 2004 https://www.mcall.com/news/mc-xpm-2004-10-03-3579221-story.html In the 1960s

William J. Murtagh William J. Murtagh (1923-2018) was a historian who served as the first “Keeper of the Records” for the National Register of Historic Places. Murtagh was a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and received undergraduate and graduate degrees from ...

, the first keeper of the Records for the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

, served as a president of the museum. The museum has featured exhibitions by notable artists, including

Ricardo Viera Ricardo Viera (December 1945–April 1, 2020) was a Cuban artist specializing in painting, drawing, and engraving. In 1973 he studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts. In 1974 he graduated with a Master of Fine Arts ...

References

External links

Official website
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