Established | 2001 |
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Location | 74 Main Street Bangor, Maine, United States |
Coordinates | 44°48′00″N68°46′18″W / 44.8000°N 68.7717°W |
Website | mainediscoverymuseum.org |
The Maine Discovery Museum, located in Bangor, Maine, is Maine's largest children's museum and the largest located north of Boston, Massachusetts. [1]
It opened in 2001 in the converted Freese's Building department store [2] following several years of planning and fundraising. Maine Discovery Museum is a member of the Association of Children's Museums.
In 1996, Sean Faircloth had the idea for the Maine Discovery Museum and led the project through completion of a $4.5 million facility in 2001. [3] Then-Congressman John Baldacci said that Maine Discovery Museum “restored the heart” to downtown Bangor. [4] At that time, the Maine Discovery Museum was the largest children's museum outside Boston in New England.
MDM boosts three floors of interactive exhibits, including its newest addition NANO, a permanent exhibit donated by NISE Network. NANO is an interactive exhibition of nanoscale science, engineering, and technology. Hands-on exhibits present the basics of nanoscience and engineering, introduce some real-world applications, and explore the societal and ethical implications of this new technology. [5] MDM was selected by the NISE Network to receive this donated exhibit valued at $50,000 in recognition of their work to educate in the field of science.
Celebrating ten years in the community, the Maine Discovery Museum was named Nonprofit of the Year in 2012 by the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce. [6] Also in 2012, MDM was chosen as the Grand Marshal of the city's historic Independence Day Parade and celebration and also launched its Capital Campaign.
MDM is also a member of Bangor Arts, a group that strives to support the arts and cultural scene in the Bangor region.
Maine Discovery Museum is a "Let's Move!" institution, partnering with the First Lady Michelle Obama's initiative to fight childhood obesity. In early 2012, the museum opted to remove all traditional vending and dining options in the museum and replace them with vending machines offering natural and organic snacks, juices and soda as well as gluten and dairy free foods and vegan options. The change was made to kick off a new healthy kids initiative. Many exhibits within the museum focus on both gross motor and fine motor movements.
The largest and longest running fundraising effort of the museum is its Annual Auction held in the fall. Artists from across the state and beyond donate works to be auctioned at the auction banquet.
The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry is a science and technology museum in Portland, Oregon, United States. It contains three auditoriums, including a large-screen theatre, planetarium, and exhibition halls with a variety of hands-on permanent exhibits focused on natural sciences, industry, and technology. Transient exhibits span a wider range of disciplines.
The Lawrence Hall of Science is a public science center in Berkeley, California that offers hands-on science exhibits, designs curriculum, aids professional development, and offers after school science resources to students of all ages. The Lawrence was established in 1968 in honor of physicist Ernest Orlando Lawrence (1901–1958), the University of California's first Nobel laureate. The center is located in the hills above the University of California, Berkeley campus, less than a mile uphill from the University's Botanical Garden.
The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2022, with 3.9 million visitors, it was the most-visited museum in the United States.
Brevard Zoo is a 75-acre nonprofit facility located in Melbourne, Florida, United States, that is home to more than 900 animals representing more than 195 species from Florida, South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. The zoo features animal feedings, kayak tours, behind-the-scenes tours, and a train ride, along with the attraction Treetop Trek. The zoo has also featured a dinosaur exhibit several times in its past, including one titled "Dinosaurs are Back", which ran from November 2017 to April 2018. Brevard Zoo is a nonprofit organization accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
The Science Museum of Minnesota is an American museum focused on topics in technology, natural history, physical science, and mathematics education. Founded in 1907 and located in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit institution has 385 employees and is supported by volunteers.
The Creative Discovery Museum is a children's museum located in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was opened on May 26, 1995. The museum contains art, music, and field science areas, along with a water-themed zone called RiverPlay, a rooftop exhibit, an inventor's workshop, and a temporary exhibit space. Exhibits are mostly designed for children aged 18 months to 12 years.
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis is the world's largest children's museum. It is located at 3000 North Meridian Street, Indianapolis, Indiana in the United Northwest Area neighborhood of the city. The museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. It is 472,900 square feet (43,933.85 m2) with five floors of exhibit halls and receives more than one million visitors annually. Its collection of over 130,000 artifacts and exhibit items is divided into two domains: Arts & Humanities and the Natural Sciences. Among the exhibits are simulated Cretaceous and Jurassic dinosaur habitats, a carousel, a steam locomotive, and the glass sculpture Fireworks of Glass Tower and Ceiling. The museum's focus is family learning; most exhibits are designed to be interactive, allowing children and families to actively participate.
The Museum of Discovery and Science is a museum focused on science located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States.
The Wyoming Dinosaur Center is located in Thermopolis, Wyoming and is one of the few dinosaur museums in the world to have excavation sites within driving distance. The museum displays the Thermopolis Specimen of Archaeopteryx, which is the only real specimen of this genus on display outside of Europe.
The Burpee Museum of Natural History is located along the Rock River in downtown Rockford, Illinois, United States, at 737 North Main Street.
Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose(CDM) is a cultural institution serving children, families, and schools in the Silicon Valley/San Francisco Bay Area. A member of the Association of Children's Museums and the Association of Science-Technology Centers, Children's Discovery Museum is located in downtown San Jose, California on Woz Way. The street is named after Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer whose nickname is "Woz." Wozniak was the single largest private donor during the original capital campaign that funded the museum.
The Koch Family Children's Museum of Evansville is an interactive children's museum in Evansville, Indiana. The museum educates and inspires children about the world. Exhibits include deconstructing objects, a water exhibit that spans multiple floors, experiences about the human body and its senses, and a gallery for freedom of expression.
The Orlando Science Center (OSC) is a private science museum located in Orlando, Florida. Its purposes are to provide experience-based opportunities for learning about science and technology and to promote public understanding of science.
Sciencenter is a hands-on science museum in Ithaca, New York. It was founded on February 28, 1983 as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit educational organization. The Sciencenter grew out of the volunteer-run hands-on science program run for 15 years at several elementary schools in the Ithaca City School District. The community-based tradition continued as the museum grew to be nationally known, despite not having a paid staff until the 1990s. The Sciencenter is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), and is a member of the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) and Association of Children's Museums.
Discovery Station, is a hands-on, family-friendly museum in downtown Hagerstown, Maryland, United States that opened to the public in 2005. The museum's focus is to create an environment that stimulates curiosity for discovery, exploration, and further investigation through exhibits and programs that focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) principles. The museum is a member of the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC), the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), and the NASA Museum Alliance.
The Dinosaur Discovery Museum in Kenosha, Wisconsin, United States, is dedicated to the exploration and explication of the relationship between modern birds and ancient carnivorous biped dinosaurs, the theropods, which include Carnotaurus, Tyrannosaurus rex, and Archaeopteryx. This link is especially well documented in the fossil record. The museum has the largest skeletal cast collection of theropods (meat-eating) dinosaurs in North America and is the only museum to focus a gallery specifically on the evolution of birds from non-avian dinosaurs, with a second smaller gallery focusing on "Little Clint", a three-year-old Tyrannosaurus uncovered by a dig conducted with the Carthage Institute of Paleontology.
Maine Maritime Museum, formerly the Bath Marine Museum, offers some exhibits about Maine's maritime heritage, culture and the role Maine has played in regional and global maritime activities. Maine Maritime Museum has a large and diverse collection, made up of millions of documents, artifacts and pieces of artwork and includes an extensive research library.
The Morrison Natural History Museum is a natural history museum located in Morrison, Colorado. The exhibits include several dinosaur fossils that were found nearby. Hands-on exhibits are designed to appeal to both children and adults, scientists and non-scientists.
Ancient Echoes Interpretive Centre is a community-based museum and interpretive centre, founded in 1994, that educates, conserves, protects, and promotes the history, the peoples and the assets of the land forming the Eagle Creek Valley and Coal Mine Ravine located in Herschel, Saskatchewan, Canada.