10 Awesome Pennsylvania Virtual Museum Exhibits and Tours
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Whether you’re stuck at home or just itching to see something new and exciting, you can “visit” Pennsylvania’s museums online. Online or virtual museum experiences are great resources for times when you’re unable to visit a museum in person. Online museum tours and exhibits are also excellent teaching tools for online classrooms, remote teaching, or for a virtual in-class experience!
If you can’t visit a museum in person, you can tour Pennsylvania’s museums and exhibits virtually! In this list, we are featuring virtual museum galleries and tours from some of the best museums in Pennsylvania! So let’s tour a museum from the comfort of our couch!
Browse Pennsylvania Virtual Museum Experiences
Because of COVID-19, museums and historic sites across the globe have closed their doors for public health and safety. Even though you can’t physically visit these learning spaces right now, museums are working hard to bring museum collections, exhibits, learning tool, and tours to you through virtual experiences.
Another great way to stay in touch with your favorite museums is to follow along with them on social media. Live session, IG and Facebook stories, TikTok, and Youtube are great ways to stay connected with museums through this difficult time.
The Frick Collection, Pittsburgh
The Frick Pittsburgh is one of Pittsburgh’s niche museums that features the personal collections of the Frick family. The museum and grounds focus on the interpretation of the life and time period of Henry Clay Frick, a Pittsburgh industrialist and art collector. At the Frick, you can see artworks, sculpture, the Frick’s collection of vehicles, and their Gilded-age family home (known and the Clayton). In the Frick’s virtual tours, you can see the permanent collection, the carriage house, the grounds, and the first floor of the Frick estate.
Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Strasburg
The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania provides a historical account of railroading in Pennsylvania by preserving artifacts and archives of railroad companies in the state. The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is now offering a virtual tour of its collections. In these tours, you can see historic trains and train cars.
Betsy Ross House, Philadelphia
The Betsy Ross House is purported to be the site where the seamstress and flag-maker Betsy Ross lived when she is said to have sewed the first American Flag. The Betsy Ross House in historic Philadelphia has virtual tours of the home on their website.
Penn Museum, Philadelphia
The Penn Museum, located at the University of Pennsylvania, features artworks and artifacts that represent human civilization from around the globe. Here, you can learn about the human experience through virtual tours of the museums Central America, Africa, the Middle East, and Mexico galleries.
Valley Forge Virtual Tour
Valley Forge was one of the major encampments of Continental soldiers during the American Revolution. Here, George Washington remained there with his 12,000 soldiers during the winter of 1777. Today, you can tour both Washington and Varnum’s Headquarters online.
Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh
The Carnegie Museum of Natural History has made remote learning accessible through their online resources. The museum updates their page frequently with new activities and learning tools for families and educators.
You can also learn about the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s collections on their TiKTok Account! Mollusk Monday has recently gone viral with the museum’s expert, so follow along and take a peek into what goes on behind in the scenes at the Museum.
Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia
Looking to visit something spooky and historic? You can tour the Eastern State Penitentiary online! Eastern State Penitentiary was once the most famous and expensive prison in the world, and today you an visit it online with a virtual tour!
Museum of the American Revolution, Philadelphia
The Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia is one of the historic district’s newest museums. The museum tells the story of the American Revolution through several thousand objects including artwork and sculpture, textiles and weapons, manuscripts and rare books. Museum of the American Revolution has added a virtual field trip where you can explore the museum’s collection with a guided tour!
Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh
The Heinz History Center offers virtual tours of past and present exhibitions! The Heinz History Center offers a diverse look into southwestern Pennsylvania history. You can tour exhibitions on Pittsburgh’s Innovations, Pennsylvania sports, and past rotating exhibits. Check out their Museum From Home page for special online exhibits, collections, and videos.
Westmoreland Museum of Art, Greensburg
The Westmoreland Museum of Art located in Greensburg is now offering a virtual museum experience so you can visit the museum from home!