Now they call it PEM. The Peabody Essex Museum is currently billed as among the
largest museums on the East Coast. We were duly impressed by the arching glassed
ceiling that unites an array of exhibit buildings. The museum now covers three
city blocks including 20 other historic properties in downtown Salem, MA.
The museum is famous for taking rooms and buildings apart in one place and moving
them to the exhibit space. We saw the amazing Yin Yu Tang building, a huge 200-year
old Chinese home rebuilt on the campus. The museum has been doing this since 1865.
PEM is the nation’s oldest continually-operated museum. We’re not sure exactly
what that means, but it was founded in 1799, long before the MET and the MFA.
The museums collections run to nearly two and a half million pieces. Drop those
into a $150-million renovation, add more programs, expand the scope of the mission
– and you’ve got one buzzing place. We wandered for hours and just scratched the
surface, and the research and educational departments go deeper still.
Pictured here are some of our favorites from the Maritime Art collection. This
is Salem’s cultural link to the world, begun when its tall ships explored the
world in search of commercial gain, and brought back cultural treasures as well.
Today PEM is well respected for its Asian, Native American, Oceanic and African
collections too.
There are always new and extremely well-designed exhibits. The new-improved PEM
offers the latest in portable audio visual aids for self-guided tours. The spaces
are diverse, some dark, some open and light. There are high-tech large screens
with video displays, a growing number of digitally controlled exhibits, even in
older areas. The web site too is a powerful educational tool, well designed and
rich with content.
Following is just a teaser display of pictures from the New England area, just
one exhibit among dozens of galleries at the expansive new PEM. And no, not a
witch exhibit among them, despite Salem’s tourist promotion as a Supernatural
City. – JDR
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