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| Established | June 2017 |
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| Location | Springfield, Massachusetts |
| Type | Literary and children's museum |
| Website | springfieldmuseums |
The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum is a museum in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States located in the William Pynchon Memorial Building, which until 2009 housed the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum. The museum opened in June 2017. [1] [2] It is located on the Quadrangle along with the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden and other museums.
In 1927 a new building was constructed to hold the collections of "natural, civil, military, literary, ecclesiastical and genealogical materials" belonging to The Connecticut Valley Historical Society, which had previously stored its collections at the City Library. [3] [4] It was designed by local architect Max Westhoff. [3]
By 2007 plans had been made to renovate the building and repurpose it for a Dr. Seuss themed installation (later expanded into a full museum). [4] The materials hosted in the museum were moved to a nearby office building in 2009. [5]
In March 2015, the Springfield Museums announced the opening of the new Seuss-focused museum. [5] At the time, plans were made to open the first floor of the museum in June 2016, with the second floor to follow in 2017. [5] Ultimately, both floors opened in June 2017.
The museum has several rooms on the main floor which contain a "Seussian version of Springfield", [5] with interactive sculptures, exhibits, and original and reproduced artwork from Dr. Seuss. [6] The upper level has original oil paintings, a recreation of Geisel's La Jolla studio, complete with his drawing board and other original items, and family and fan correspondence. [7] [8] The basement, called Cat's Corner, has art workspace and copies of Dr. Seuss Books to read. [9]
The Readingville Exhibit houses The ABC Wall, an interactive larger-than-life wall version of Dr. Seuss's ABC , which allowed children to touch various letters, hear the phonetic sound of the letter being pressed, and see the artwork from the book appear on the wall with the associated text below. [10] [11]
The Seuss Museum was set to host a Children's Literature Festival featuring three children's authors, Lisa Yee, Mike Curato, and Mo Willems on October 14, 2017. On October 5, the three authors posted a statement on their Twitter accounts explaining their reason for canceling, namely, a recently painted mural featuring a Chinese racial stereotype from Seuss' first book And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street . The museum canceled the event and also decided to remove the mural. The event was not rescheduled despite the authors thanking the museum for its quick action and offering to fulfill their speaking engagements. [12]
Theodor Seuss Geisel was an American children's author and cartoonist. He is known for his work writing and illustrating more than 60 books under the pen name Dr. Seuss. His work includes many of the most popular children's books of all time, selling over 600 million copies and being translated into more than 20 languages by the time of his death.
Springfield is the most populous city in and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern Mill River. At the 2020 census, the city's population was 155,929, making it the 3rd most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the 4th most populous city in New England after Boston, Worcester, and Providence. Metropolitan Springfield, as one of two metropolitan areas in Massachusetts, had a population of 699,162 in 2020.
Forest Park in Springfield, Massachusetts, is one of the largest urban, municipal parks in the United States, covering 735 acres (297 ha) of land overlooking the Connecticut River. Forest Park features a zoo, aquatic gardens, and outdoor amphitheater, in addition to design elements like winding wooded trails, and surprising, expansive views. The site of America's first public, municipal swimming pool, currently, during the holiday months Forest Park hosts a popular high-tech lighting display, known as Bright Nights. Contrary to popular belief, the park was not designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, although it was designed by his firm.
William Pynchon was an English colonist and fur trader in North America best known as the founder of Springfield, Massachusetts. He was also a colonial treasurer, original patentee of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the iconoclastic author of the New World's first banned book.
The Quadrangle is the common name for a cluster of museums and cultural institutions in Metro Center, Springfield, Massachusetts, on Chestnut Street between State and Edwards Streets.
And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street is Theodor Seuss Geisel's first children's book published under the name Dr. Seuss. First published by Vanguard Press in 1937, the story follows a boy named Marco, who describes a parade of imaginary people and vehicles traveling along a road, Mulberry Street, in an elaborate fantasy story he dreams up to tell his father at the end of his walk. However, when he arrives home, he decides instead to tell his father what he actually saw—a simple horse and wagon.
The Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden is a sculpture garden at the Quadrangle in Springfield, Massachusetts, which honors Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, who was born in Springfield in 1904. The monument was designed by Lark Grey Dimond-Cates, the author's stepdaughter, and created by sculptor and artist Ron Henson.
The Connecticut Trolley Museum, also known as the Warehouse Point Trolley Museum, is the oldest incorporated museum dedicated to electric railroading in the United States. Founded in October 1940, the museum is located in East Windsor, Connecticut and is open to the public April through December. The museum features static and moving displays, and self-guided tours of the state's trolley history.
The Holocaust Museum Houston is located in Houston's Museum District, in Texas. It is the fourth largest holocaust museum in the U.S. It was opened in 1996.
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 American Swedish Historical Museum is the oldest Swedish-American museum in the United States. It is located in Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park in South Philadelphia, on part of a historic 17th-century land grant originally provided by Queen Christina of Sweden to settlers of New Sweden.
The Mob Museum, officially the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, is a history museum located in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.
Mulberry Street is a historic street and tourist destination in Springfield, Massachusetts. Made famous by Dr. Seuss' first children's book And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, the street is less than one mile from Springfield's Metro Center neighborhood, the Springfield Armory, and the Quadrangle. It is also less than one mile southwest of Dr. Seuss' boyhood home on Fairfield Street.
Metro Center is the original colonial settlement of Springfield, Massachusetts, located beside a bend in the Connecticut River. As of 2019, Metro Center features a majority of Western Massachusetts' most important cultural, business, and civic venues. Metro Center includes Springfield's Central Business District, its Club Quarter, its government center, its convention headquarters, and in recent years, it has become an increasingly popular residential district, especially among young professionals, empty-nesters, and creative types, with a population of approximately 7,000 (2010.)
The Six Corners and Maple Heights neighborhoods are located in Springfield, Massachusetts. They are often combined for political purposes, although they feature dramatically different political and socioeconomic characteristics.
The history of Springfield, Massachusetts dates back to the colonial period, when it was founded in 1636 as Agawam Plantation, named after a nearby village of Algonkian-speaking Native Americans. It was the northernmost settlement of the Connecticut Colony. The settlement defected from Connecticut after four years, however, later joining forces with the coastal Massachusetts Bay Colony. The town changed its name to Springfield, and changed the political boundaries among what later became the states of New England. The decision to establish a settlement sprang in large part from its favorable geography, situated on a steep bluff overlooking the Connecticut River's confluence with three tributaries. It was a Native American crossroad for two major trade routes: Boston-to-Albany and New York City-to-Montreal. Springfield also sits on some of the northeastern United States' most fertile soil.
The Zoo In Forest Park and Education Center, also known as the Forest Park Zoo, is a nonprofit zoo situated in Forest Park, Springfield, Massachusetts. It spans an area of four acres and is home to a variety of exotic, native, and endangered species.
Stone Dog II is a granite statue of a golden retriever posed standing guard in front of the Zoo at Forest Park in Springfield, Massachusetts. This 2013 statue, crafted by Getty Granite in Connecticut, replaced the original Stone Dog which went missing from the park in 1987, and continues a tradition with roots in the late 19th century. The present statue is almost identical to the original, measuring about 2.5 feet tall, 4 feet long, and 2 feet wide, and weighing approximately 1,000 pounds.
42°06′14″N72°35′13″W / 42.104°N 72.587°W
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