Who’s that kid who can travel through time? It’s you! This exhibit brings to life the acclaimed PBS KIDS® TV series, Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum, which follows kid adventurers Xavier Riddle, his little sister Yadina, and best friend Brad as they tackle everyday problems by doing something extraordinary: traveling back in time to learn from real-life inspirational figures when they were kids.

Follow Xavier and his friends as you sneak through a hidden passage in the Dinosaur Diorama and slide down a slide to enter the Secret Museum! Unlock your next time-traveling destination with the help of Hologram power.

Meet paleontologist Mary Anning and uncover dinosaur bones, dig for fossils and assemble your own dinosaur skeleton. Examine x-rays and conduct an experiment with lab equipment in Marie Curie’s chemist lab. Explore a Secret Garden with botanist George Washington Carver to sketch beautiful plant life and plant your own seeds.

In the Hall of Heroes, don a red cape like Xavier’s friend Brad, make a self-portrait, and learn how you can be a hero today. In the Secret Museum, go on a scavenger hunt to find special artifacts and “easter eggs”. Meet heroes like Alexander Graham Bell, Theodore Roosevelt, Sacagawea and more as you learn how they changed history!

Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum: The Exhibit is a nationally traveling exhibit created by The Magic House, St. Louis Children’s Museum in collaboration with 9 Story Media Group, Inc.

Frida Kahlo in New York, United States, by Nickolas Muray, 1946. Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Archives

Frida Kahlo, Her Photos

Name: Springfield Museums, Exhibits
Start: 2024-07-15T00:00:00-04:00
End: 2024-08-04T23:59:59-04:00
Location: Springfield Museums

June 1, 2024–September 8, 2024 D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts » Second Floor » Wheeler Gallery

This profoundly moving and intimate exhibition reveals a series of images belonging to Frida’s personal collection, which were locked up in a bathroom at the artist’s residence, La Casa Azul (now Museo Frida Kahlo), for more than 50 years.

It was only in 2003 that the numbed archive was opened and that all hidden documents and objects were known and studied. By 2009 Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, Mexican photographer and photo historian, as the curator of this exhibition, selected 241 of the newly found photographs to compose it.

Frida Kahlo, Her Photos gives us the opportunity to get to know the woman behind the artist: her origins and roots, her friendships and romantic relationships, her constant fight with her fragile health, her political tendencies and also, the strong role that photography played in her life and work.

An exhibition by
Museo Frida Kahlo Museo Anahuacalli
Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Archives
Bank of Mexico, Fiduciary in the Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Museum Trust

Sponsored locally by Excel Dryer, Raymond James of Springfield MA, and the Sachdev Family. Presented in collaboration with the Mi Museo Committee.

Image above: Frida Kahlo in New York, United States, by Nickolas Muray, 1946.

Woodcut print of a woman leaning against a tree

Look Again: Portraits of Daring Women by Julie Lapping Rivera

April 27, 2024–February 23, 2025 D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts » First Floor » Alpert Gallery

Look Again: Portraits of Daring Women by Julie Lapping Rivera is an homage to exceptional, pioneering women working across centuries. In a series of hand-carved, woodcut and collage prints, Leverett-based artist Julie Rivera (American, b. 1956) highlights the lives and achievements of women who defied the status quo. Rivera’s portraits invite the viewer to consider who is included, and omitted, from narratives of history today. “This ongoing project of woodcut portraits began five years ago in response to a growing climate of discrimination against women and other marginalized communities,” Rivera explains. “By representing brave and inspiring women, I hope to honor their achievements, bringing to mind the power and creativity that their lives exemplify.”

Look Again was originally inspired by the “Overlooked” project at the New York Times, which shares the achievements of women and other remarkable people historically overlooked by the newspaper’s obituary section. Rivera’s portraits include famous and lesser-known individuals, including Sylvia Plath, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Ida B. Wells, and Henrietta Lacks. Each print is accompanied by a poem, written specifically for the series, by local and international women poets.

Man in traditional Nipmuc Native American dress

Ways of My Ancestors: We are Nipmuc. We are the Freshwater People.

September 2, 2023–August 4, 2024 Springfield Science Museum

Extended by popular demand!A new installation celebrating the resilient, rich, and diverse culture of the Nipmuc People, featuring photography by:Scott Strong Hawk Foster is a Black-Native American photographer whose proud roots include Nipmuc, Mohegan, Blackfoot, and Cherokee lineage. Scott’s images tell a story. They enable the viewer to feel the atmosphere, mood, and emotions of his subject in that moment. He endeavors to share his artistry and experiences through the lens of his camera.Andre StrongBearHeart Gaines, Jr., is a citizen of the Nipmuc people. He serves as a cultural steward for his Tribe, is a father, public speaker, traditional dancer, Indigenous Activist for Indigenous rights, carpenter by trade and educator. Andre’s work focuses on bringing traditional knowledge back to Indigenous Peoples.Above image by Scott Strong Hawk Foster

The 200th Anniversary of the Springfield Republican

March 2, 2024–January 5, 2025 Wood Museum of Springfield History

Explore the “storied” history of The Republican newspaper as it marks its bicentennial year.

This special exhibit includes video highlights from the newspaper’s archives, showcasing the people, events, and activities that shaped not only the region, but the nation and the world. Visitors can utilize an interactive screen to view the most important front-page headlines that made the news month to month, and trace important historical events and figures in the paper’s history 1824 to today.

Samuel Bowles II traveled up the Connecticut River from Hartford with his family and his printing press to start a weekly newspaper in Springfield. Its first edition appeared on September 8th, 1824. Wearing the combined hats of editor, printer and entrepreneur, Bowles made a success of his paper, passing it to his son, Samuel Bowles III, who expanded it to a daily in 1844. Under Samuel Bowles III, The Republican achieved national recognition, playing a crucial role in ending slavery nationwide.

The Republican stayed in the hands of the Bowles family for 136 years, then in 1960, it was sold to another American family headed by Samuel I. Newhouse of New York, another classic entrepreneur. The Newhouse family still owns The Republican and operates one of the largest family-owned-and-operated print and electronic news businesses in the world.

Designing Downtown

June 8, 2024–September 8, 2024 Wood Museum of Springfield History

Have you ever wondered why Springfield looks the way it does? Why is the highway there? Who put City Hall where it is? And just what is a campanile anyway?

Explore the history of downtown Springfield through centuries of plans that were never brought to fruition. Maps, drawings, blueprints, and more documents created by local citizens and nationally known city planners offer a glimpse into Springfield as it could have been and, at the same time, how the modern city came to be.

Visitors can recreate a 1908 vote on the design of City Hall and can explore renowned landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted Jr.’s plan for a “Washington Mall”-inspired design for Court Square in expanded detail using touchscreen technology. Visitors will leave the exhibition with a new appreciation for the shape of Springfield, with an eye towards its future development as the city continues to expand.

Springfield City Hall and Symphony Hall with the campanile at the center

Springfield Museums Join the Blue Star Museum Initiative

Museum admission is free for military personnel and their families this summer

The Springfield Museums join other museums nationwide in the Blue Star Museums initiative, a program that provides free admission to currently serving U.S. military personnel and their families this summer. The 2024 program will begin on Armed Forces Day, Saturday, May 18, 2024, and end on Labor Day, Monday, September 2, 2024.

Blue Star Museums is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and Blue Star Families, in collaboration with the Department of Defense and participating museums across America.

Springfield Museums, Exhibits

July 15 - August 4

Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum: The Exhibit

Frida Kahlo, Her Photos

Look Again: Portraits of Daring Women by Julie Lapping Rivera

Ways of My Ancestors: We are Nipmuc. We are the Freshwater People.

The 200th Anniversary of the Springfield Republican

Designing Downtown

Details

Venue