The Brooklyn Children's Museum is a children's museum in the Crown Heights neighborhood of

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Founded in 1899, it is the first

children's museum Children's museums are institutions that provide exhibits and programs to stimulate informal learning experiences for children. In contrast with traditional museums that typically have a hands-off policy regarding exhibits, children's museums fea ...

in the United States – and according to some, the first one worldwide. It is unusual in its location in what is predominantly a residential area. Housed in a multi-level underground gallery, the museum underwent an expansion and renovation to double its space, reopened on September 20, 2008, and became the first green museum in New York City.

Exhibits

The museum's collection and exhibitions reflect its long history as well as the changes in children's educational needs over time and the changing environment. Its original focus was the presentation of natural science to children raised in an urban environment, but following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, technology and cultural awareness became more important. The underground gallery in which the museum was located following a 1975 move provided the ideal location for arranging evolving exhibits. The museum was not intended to solely attract the interest of a young audience, but rather to engage their minds from a young age. Children contribute extensively in the planning of museum exhibits, and have done so for a significant part of its history.

History

Original museum

The Museum was founded following a proposal from the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences (now the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

) on December 16, 1899, in the Adams House. The museum operated under the direction of the Brooklyn Institute and received approximately $70,000 in funds from

each year to supplement the donations it received. Attendance grew quickly, with monthly visitation exceeding 13,000 by October 1905. In 1929, the museum opened the Smith House annex. In the 1930s, the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

supplied hundreds of workers to the museum, which thrived in the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. Among these workers was Ellis Credle, who painted murals before her career as an author began. By October 1930, monthly visitation had reached 60,000 and by 1939, the museum had received move than 9 million visitors since it opened 40 years prior. In 1968 the Brooklyn Children's Museum opened MUSE, the Bedford Lincoln Neighborhood Museum.

Brower Park space

In 1975, the museum moved to a new space, housed underneath Brower Park at St Mark's and Brooklyn Avenues, following the demolition of the Victorian houses that served as its prior home. In 1996, the museum was once again renovated at a cost of $7 million to include miniature amphitheaters and a number of new galleries. Two years later, it became a part of Heart of Brooklyn, a cultural partnership established to promote tourism to Brooklyn. In 2005, it was among 406 New York City arts and social service institutions to receive part of a $20 million grant from the Carnegie Corporation, which was made possible through a donation by New York City mayor

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman and politician. He is the majority owner and co-founder of Bloomberg L.P., and was its CEO from 1981 to 2001 and again from 2014 to 2023. He served as the 108th mayo ...

. In the same year, work began on the $43 million expansion that was to nearly double the size of the museum, and handle more than 400,000 visitors each year. As part of its commitment to environmental integrity and energy efficiency, the institution has taken credit for being the first New York City museum to use geothermal wells for heating and cooling purposes. A section of the museum's building was converted into space for the Brower Park branch of

Brooklyn Public Library The Brooklyn Public Library is the public library system of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is the sixteenth largest public library system in the United States by holding and the seventh by number of visitors. Like the two Brooklyn Publ ...

, as part of a wider partnership between the museum and the library system. It opened in July 2023. Gans and Company was hired to design another renovation of the Brooklyn Children's Museum, which commenced in August 2024 at a cost of $15 million. The renovation was planned to include a courtyard, as well as a new retaining wall along Brower Park, and was to be completed in 2025.

References

External links