List of museums in Boston
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This list of museums in Boston, Massachusetts, is a list of museums (including nonprofit organizations, government entities, and private businesses) that collect and care for objects of cultural, artistic, scientific, or historical interest and make their collections or related exhibits available for public viewing. Museums that exist only in cyberspace are not included. Also included are non-profit and university art galleries.
Museums
| Name | Neighborhood | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abiel Smith School | Beacon Hill | African American | Part of Museum of African American History, first public school for free blacks |
| African Meeting House | Beacon Hill | African American | Part of Museum of African American History |
| Ancient & Honorable Artillery Company Museum | Downtown Boston | History | Military museum, JFK and Medal of Honor special exhibits, military relics, paintings, photographs, and library, located on the 4th floor of Faneuil Hall |
| Boston African American National Historic Site | Beacon Hill | African American | Interprets 15 pre-Civil War structures relating to the history of Boston's 19th-century African-American community, including the African Meeting House and the Abiel Smith School |
| Boston Athenæum | Beacon Hill | Multiple | Library and museum of art |
| Boston Children's Museum | South Boston | Children's | Located on Children's Wharf |
| Boston City Hall Galleries | Financial District | Art | website, Mayor's Gallery exhibits work by Boston artists, Scollay Square Gallery showcases arts organizations and artists community groups that support Boston artists |
Boston Fire Museum |
Financial District | Fire | |
| Boston National Historical Park | Boston | Historic sites | Revolutionary War trail in Boston and Charlestown, includes Old State House, Faneuil Hall, Paul Revere House, Old North Church, Bunker Hill Monument, USS Constitution
|
| Boston Public Library | Back Bay | Library | Changing exhibits of art and history from its collections at the Central Library, also at branch locations |
Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum |
South Boston | History | Reenactments, interactive exhibits, and two authentically restored ships |
| Boston University Art Galleries | Fenway–Kenmore | Art | website, Stone, 808, Annex, and Sherman Galleries |
| BSA Space | Financial District | Architecture | Changing exhibits of architecture and design by the Boston Society of Architects |
| Bunker Hill Monument | Charlestown | Military | Monument and museum about the 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill |
Center for the History of Medicine |
Longwood Medical and Academic Area | Medical | Rotating exhibits about the history of medicine from the collections of the Countway Library of Medicine |
Commonwealth Museum |
Dorchester | History | State history, operated by the Massachusetts Archives |
| Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate | Dorchester | History | Specialty museum and educational institution containing the only full-scale reproduction of the U.S. Senate Chamber. |
| Faneuil Hall | Downtown Boston | History | Marketplace and meeting hall during the American Revolution |
| Fort Warren | Georges Island | Military | Mid 19th-century fort and park |
| Gallery 360 at Northeastern University | Fenway–Kenmore | Art | website, located in Ell Hall |
| Gallery 5 at Emmanuel College | Longwood Medical and Academic Area | Art | website, exhibitions of work by professional artists, emerging artists, artist residents, outsider artists and Emmanuel College art students and alumni |
| Garner Center for Photographic Exhibitions | Fenway–Kenmore | Art | website, photography exhibitions by the New England School of Photography |
| Gibson House Museum | Back Bay | Historic house | 1850-1870s period townhouse |
| Harbor Gallery at University of Massachusetts Boston | Dorchester | Art | website, student-run gallery in McCormack Hall |
| Huret and Spector Gallery at Emerson College | Boston Theater District | Art | website, located in the Tufte Performance Production Center (10 Boylston Place) |
| Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston | South Boston | Art | Contemporary art website |
| Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum | Fenway–Kenmore | Art | Includes European, Asian and American art, including paintings, sculpture, tapestries, and decorative arts |
| James Blake House | Dorchester |
Historic house | Operated by the Dorchester Historical Society, 1661 house, oldest house in Boston |
John F. Kennedy Library and Museum |
Dorchester | Biographical | Presidential library and museum of John F. Kennedy |
| Lemuel Clap House | Dorchester | Historic house | Operated by the Dorchester Historical Society, mid 18th-century period house |
Loring-Greenough House |
Jamaica Plain |
Historic house | 18th-century period mansion |
| Mary Baker Eddy Library | Fenway–Kenmore | Multiple | Includes the Mapparium, a three-story, stained-glass globe, the Hall of Ideas and changing exhibits about relating to the life of Mary Baker Eddy |
| Mary L. Fifield Art Gallery at Bunker Hill Community College | Charlestown | Art | website |
| MassArt Art Museum at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design | Longwood Medical and Academic Area | Contemporary Art | website |
| Massachusetts College of Art and Design Galleries | Longwood Medical and Academic Area | Art | website, 9 galleries featuring mostly student work: Arnheim Gallery, Brant Gallery, Doran Gallery, Frances Euphemia Thompson Gallery, Godine Family Gallery, Student Life Gallery, Tower Gallery, and North Crackertorium Gallery |
| Massachusetts Historical Society | Back Bay | History | Exhibits from its collections of American history, life and culture |
| Museum of African American History | Beacon Hill | African American | Includes the African Meeting House and Abiel Smith School |
| Museum of Fine Arts, Boston | Fenway–Kenmore | Art | Contains over 450,000 works of art |
Museum of Science, Boston |
Downtown Boston | Science | Includes over 500 interactive exhibits, 100 animals, planetarium and IMAX theater |
| Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists | Roxbury | Art | Contemporary and historical expressive arts from the global Black world, located in Abbotsford house |
| Nichols House Museum | Beacon Hill | Historic house | Turn-of-the-century townhouse with period rooms |
| Old North Church | North End | Historic site | 18th-century church, location from which the famous "One if by land, and two if by sea" signal is said to have been sent in 1775 |
| Old South Meeting House | Financial District | History | Operated by Revolutionary Spaces , Organizing point for the Boston Tea Party, includes museum
|
| Old State House Museum | Financial District | History | Operated by Revolutionary Spaces , 18th-century Colonial state house, served as the first state house for the newly formed Commonwealth of Massachusetts
|
| Otis House Museum | West End | Historic house | Owned by Historic New England, also known as Harrison Gray Otis House, post-Revolutionary house |
| Paul Revere House | North End | Historic house | Late 17th-century period house, home of American Revolutionary patriot Paul Revere, also adjacent Pierce–Hichborn House |
| Photographic Resource Center | Fenway–Kenmore | Art | website, photography and related media |
| Pierce House | Dorchester | Historic house | Owned by Historic New England, 17th-century period house, open twice a year |
| Roxbury Heritage State Park | Roxbury | Historic house | 1750 Dillaway–Thomas House restored to show how it changed over two centuries |
| Russell Museum of Medical History and Innovation | West End | Medical | website explores history of medicine and health care at Massachusetts General Hospital |
Shirley-Eustis House |
Roxbury | Historic house | Restored 18th-century mansion of Royal Governor William Shirley |
The Sports Museum |
West End | Sports | Celebrates Boston sports, located in TD Garden |
| Suffolk University Gallery | Downtown Boston | Art | website, exhibition space for the New England School of Art and Design in the former Paine Furniture Building |
| Trustman Art Gallery at Simmons University | Longwood Medical and Academic Area | Art | website, professional and student work |
USS Cassin Young |
Charlestown | Maritime | World War II destroyer museum ship |
| USS Constitution | Charlestown | Maritime | "Old Ironsides", wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy, launched in 1797 |
| USS Constitution Museum | Charlestown | Maritime | Privately run museum is located at the former Charlestown Navy Yard near the US Navy's USS Constitution
|
| Vilna Shul | Beacon Hill | Ethnic | Boston's center for Jewish culture |
| Warren Anatomical Museum | Longwood Medical and Academic Area | Medical | Housed in Harvard Medical School's Countway Library of Medicine |
| Waterworks Museum, Boston | Allston–Brighton | Technology | website, late 19th-century former pumping station for the Chestnut Hill Reservoir |
| West End Museum | West End | Local History | West End neighborhood history and culture |
| William Clapp House | Dorchester | Historic house | 19th-century house, home of the Dorchester Historical Society |
William Hickling Prescott House |
Beacon Hill | Historic house | Operated by The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America , 19th-century home of author William Hickling Prescott
|
Defunct museums
- Boston Marine Museum
- Boston Museum (theatre)
- The Boston Museum
- Chinese Museum (Boston)
- Columbian Museum
- The Computer Museum, Boston
- Linnaean Society of New England
- Market Museum (Boston)
- New England Museum of Natural History
- New-England Museum (Boston)
See also
- List of museums in Massachusetts
- Franklin Park Zoo
- New England Aquarium
- Sites of interest in Boston