Everhart Museum in Scranton closes until February of 2021 due to COVID-19 surge
As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to surge in Northeastern Pennsylvania, many Scranton restaurants and small businesses have been forced to close temporarily after employees tested positive for the virus. Others have shut their doors to protect their own staff members and customers.
Today, the Everhart Museum of Natural History, Science, and Art in Scranton joined them, sending the following message to patrons via email:
We join several other cultural institutions in committing to support efforts to keep our patrons, our staff, and help contain the COVID-19 pandemic in our community. Due to the rise in cases of COVID-19, the museum will be closed until February 2021, effective immediately.
Our buildings may be closed, but we’re always open online. Check out our website to explore virtual programs. Visit the Everhart Museum Culture Connect Mobile Guide App, downloadable through Google Play or the App Store, to learn how you can access rich content about the Everhart Museum’s permanent collection, temporary exhibitions, and educational program highlights. Listen to guided audio tours, view objects and artworks from the museum’s extensive collection of natural history and art, and explore educational content using the museum’s interactive mobile guide and interactive website. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for stories from the collection, artist videos, and a peek behind the scenes, and follow us on social media.
We wish you all a very happy and healthy holiday season and look forward to welcoming you back in 2021.
After closing for over six months, the museum only recently reopened at 50 percent capacity on Sept. 5 with health and safety guidelines in place. As the presidential election loomed on the horizon, it opened with an exhibit called “Eyes on America,” containing over 40 objects from the Everhart’s permanent collection that “critically explore both traditional and unconventional symbols of America in order to reevaluate what it means to be American in the 21st century. The exhibition explores four symbols of America: the working class, Native Americans, famous figures, and abstract symbols.” It was scheduled to close on Dec. 31 but can still be seen in the virtual curator’s tour on YouTube (embedded below).
Just before Halloween, the Everhart offered a one-hour guided “Flashlight Tour” about myths and superstitions on Oct. 24, which ended with a special presentation by John and Keriann Balucha of Wyoming Valley Ghost Tours discussing details of their paranormal investigation of the museum.
The Everhart Museum (1901 Mulberry St., Scranton) was founded in 1908 by Dr. Isaiah Fawkes Everhart, a Scranton physician and businessman with a keen interest in natural history. Located in Scranton’s historic Nay Aug Park, the Everhart is the largest general museum in Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is dedicated to the collection, care, and display of a diverse array of objects and specimens, including natural history, science, and fine arts. Through its exhibitions and programs, the museum has been an invaluable regional resource for educational and cultural opportunities for over 100 years.
