• A Museum for All People: It will be a major national educational and cultural resource.  At a time when some people have less historical perspective and are less connected to synagogues, Israel, and the Holocaust, this Museum will educate Jews and non-Jews alike about how Jews used the opportunities of freedom to make diverse contributions to American life, while also recording the experiences of other ethnic groups.  Most importantly, the coming generations will have a better understanding about who they are and where they came from. 
  

• Architecture:  James S. Polshek of the internationally acclaimed architectural firm Polshek Partnership Architects, LLP is designing the new building.  His recent projects include the Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, the William J. Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, and the Cultural Resource Center of the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, in Suitland, Maryland.

• Core Exhibit Design: Patrick Gallagher of Gallagher & Associates, one of the leading exhibition design firms in the country, is designing the core exhibition.  Gallagher recently completed the core exhibition design of the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., and is currently working on exhibits for Gettysburg National Military Park, the Jamestown Settlement in Williamsburg, Virginia, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture in Baltimore, Maryland, and the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

• Historians: Jonathan D. Sarna, Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University is chairing a committee of nationally noted historians.  His field embraces all aspects of American Jewish history, from the colonial  period to the twentieth century, with special emphasis on social, cultural and religious history.  He also chairs the Academic Advisory and Editorial Board of the Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives and the online Judaic Studies network, H-Judaic.  Dr. Sarna has written, edited and co-edited fifteen books, including The American Jewish Experience: A Reader; People Walk on Their Heads; Jacksonian Jew: The Two Worlds of Mordecai Noah; JPS: The Americanization of Jewish Culture 1888-1988.  His most recent work, American Judaism: A History, has been praised as being "the single best description of American Judaism during its 350 years on American soil."  It won numerous awards including the 2004 Everett Family Foundation "Jewish Book of the Year" award from the Jewish Book Council.                 
  

• Education: Reflecting the themes of the core exhibition and the mission of the organization, the Museum is coordinating educational programs that will include schoolchildren, teachers and families as well as an online learning center, a fully interactive resource that will extend the reach of the Museum well beyond the borders of Independence Mall.  This valuable resource will allow our current and new audiences to experience the Museum even as it is being built.  
  

• Funds Raised to Date:  In the three years since announcing the Capital Campaign in November 2002, the Campaign Steering Committee has raised more than $101million toward the $150 million goal.  The $101 million raised to date represents nearly 68% of the funding needed to build, outfit, and endow the new Museum.  Contributions to the campaign include 24 gifts of $1 million and above and 55 gifts of $100,000 - $999,999.
  

• National Museum of American Jewish History Announces New Location for Building
  The National Museum of American Jewish History has announced that it has exercised an option on the “KYW Building” at 5th and Market streets and will construct its new building at the site.Currently, the Museum is located a half block away from 5th and Market streets. “Right now we are on the fifty yard line on Independence Mall. With our new location, we will be in the owner’s box,” said Museum board member and Capital Campaign Chairman George M. Ross.
  

• Four Renowned Consultants Lend Their Skills to the New National Museum of Jewish American History
  "We have a wonderful opportunity to build this Jewish museum on Independence Mall, the site of the signing of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights," said Mr. Polshek. "Our design for the museum expresses our liberties as Americans and our identity as Jews.

• To be Jewish and Free
  (Bradford R. Pilcher, Jewsweek, 11/15/2003)

• Museum rendering
• Independence Mall map

National Museum of American Jewish History
Independence Mall East • 55 North 5th Street • Philadelphia, PA 19106-2197
tel 215-923-3811 • fax 215-923-0763 • nmajh@nmajh.org

 

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