Free Admission In July 2019 At National Museum Of American Jewish History In Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA—The National Museum of American Jewish History (NMAJH) is pleased to announce free admission for all visitors throughout the month of July, thanks to the support of Parkway Corporation.

Free admission includes complimentary access to the Museum’s Core Exhibition highlighting more than 360 years of life in America, told through a Jewish lens, plus complimentary access to the current special exhibition, Sara Berman’s Closet.

In addition to regular Museum hours, NMAJH will now be open Mondays from 10am–5pm starting on July 8, and open late on Thursdays, from 10am-7pm, starting July 11.

“This year the Museum will be free for the entire month of July! Come and share the gratitude we have for our freedoms and the opportunities they provide all of us. Celebrate your ‘Only in America’ story by learning about our ‘Only in America’ story,” says NMAJH Board Chair, Phil Darivoff.

Parkway Corporation’s Chairman and NMAJH Trustee, Joe Zuritsky says, “Tourists and local residents come to Independence Mall, especially in July, to explore America’s founding through our nation’s most treasured buildings and artifacts. The National Museum of American Jewish History helps bring that history to life through the specific but universal stories of how an immigrant community and religious minority shaped, and was shaped, by this country.”

Parkway Corporation’s support is making free admission in July possible.

The Museum is thrilled to feature extraordinary original documents and images from defining moments in American history that speak to the ideal of freedom:

 George Washington’s handwritten 1789 proclamation establishing November 26 as a national day of thanksgiving. Washington celebrated the “tranquility, union, and plenty” that had accompanied Constitution’s ratification, highlighting “the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed.”

These words foreshadow Washington’s historic 1790 letter to the Jewish community of Newport in which he bravely proclaimed that the nation’s new government would give “to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance,” and quoted the prophet Micah to assure “the Children of the Stock of Abraham” all Americans “shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”

 And they are recalled in a signed copy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms Speech, his 1941 State of the Union Address – on view at NMAJH for the first time – in which he declared that all people had a right to the freedom of speech, the freedom of worship, the freedom from want, and the freedom from fear.

 Roosevelt’s speech will be accompanied by original printings of the four iconic Norman Rockwell posters depicting each of the four freedoms, later reproduced in the Saturday Evening Post. According to a 1945 New Yorker article, these images were “received by the public with more enthusiasm, perhaps, than any other paintings in the history of American art.”

FDR’s speech and Rockwell’s posters will be displayed on the Museum’s first floor along with a visitor-centered interactive asking visitors to suggest what they believe should be a fifth freedom. “These documents and images vividly illustrate our nation’s essential values,” states Dr. Josh Perelman, Chief Curator and Director of Exhibitions and Interpretation, “and remind us about our roles as ensuring they are extended to all, now and in the future.”

On July 4, in conjunction with Wawa Welcome America, visitors are invited to celebrate Independence Day here at NMAJH. Visitors can watch Philadelphia’s 4^thof July parade from the Museum’s fifth floor terrace with sweeping views of Independence Mall, and enjoy interactive gallery talks, story time, arts and crafts projects, and meet celebrated artists Maira Kalman and Alex Kalman, who created the Museum’s buoyant current special exhibition, Sara Berman’s Closet, about Sara’s journey from Belarus to Tel Aviv to New York and making a life of meaning.

SPECIAL PROGRAMS
Free Admission throughout July
Admission is free for all visitors during the month of July, and includes complimentary access to the Museum’s core exhibition highlighting more than 360 years of life in America told through a Jewish lens and complimentary access to current exhibition, Sara Berman’s Closet. Advanced tickets are not required but recommended. To reserve, nmajh.org/letfreedomring.

Visitor Guides are available in five languages at the Museum and online. A new guide for July will be available in three languages.

Throughout the Summer
“Sara Berman was wild about Fred Astaire and watched all his movies.” Enjoy drop-in screenings of Sara Berman’s favorite Fred Astaire and Danny Kaye films. For dates, nmajh.org/sbc.

For more information, visit nmajh.org.