Baltimore City Life Museums
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Founded in 1931, the Baltimore [City Life] Museums were a private non-profit organization devoted to preserving [Baltimore]'s history, [culture], and traditions. The group, which was granted [501(c)(3)] status in 1991, operated eight historic sites, including six on [Museum] Row, its "[campus] for city history" at 33 South Front Street near the [Inner Harbor]. BCLM also hosted the [City Life Players], the nation's first resident museum [theater] troupe.
- [Morton K. Blaustein] City Life Exhibition Center
- The [flagship] museum of the BCLM, the center was housed in a new building with a 125-year-old [cast iron] façade. It featured three [exhibit]s on three floors: "What Makes Baltimore [Baltimore natives, and how to understand them|Bawlamer]," "[Nipper]'s Neighborhood," and the Baltimore [Bicentennial] Homecoming Center. The fourth floor was used for [conference room]s.
- Carroll Mansion
- Built around 1810, this was the final home of [Charles Carroll] of Carrollton, a signer of the [Declaration of Independence] and one of the wealthiest men in early nineteenth-century America. He died there in 1832, and recently the mansion was a walk-through [restoration] of the rooms he lived in.
- 1840 House
- Adjacent to the Carroll Mansion, the 1840 House was a restored [rowhouse] that belonged to wheelwright [John Hutchinson] in the mid-nineteenth century. A "[living history]" museum, the 1840 House experience began with a [costumed interpreter] introducing the house and its [history] in a modern room and then entering the house for a [guided tour]. The House also hosted [special event]s for groups and allowed [hands-on] activities, including cooking in the [open hearth] kitchen; in December the City Life Players presented [reenactment]s of the life of Hutchinson and his family and servants.
- Brewers' Park
- Located across Lombard Street from the Carroll Mansion, this [park] was originally the site of the area's largest [brewery] from the [Revolutionary War] era. Signposts around the site point out [remnant]s of the foundations of malthouses and the brewer's home.
- Center for Urban [Archeology]
- Originally an agency within the city's [government] when it was formed in 1983, the following year the center became part of the BCLM. The museum part of the center featured [artifact]s found at [excavation] sites around the city, and the center's staff was sometimes called in for work and testing at construction sites nearby.
- Shot Tower
- The [shot tower] actually stands two blocks north of Museum Row. Sometimes called the "[factory] in a [smokestack]," it is one of Baltimore's last surviving pieces from the [Industrial Revolution]. The cornerstone was laid in 1828 by Charles Carroll. Recently, exhibits detailed the structure's history and uses, and a light and sound show was featured.
- Peale Museum
- One of the two off-campus BCLM sites, it was built by [Rembrandt Peale] in 1814 and was the first structure in the [western hemisphere] designed specifically to serve as a museum. Recently the building was home to an exhibit of Peale family [painting]s and the Museum Reference Center, which contains hundreds of thousands of images of Baltimore.
- H.L. Mencken House
- Also not on the organization's campus, this was the restored home and gardens of the "sage of Baltimore," [H.L. Mencken], who was sometimes considered the most powerful [private citizen] in the nation.
http://www.charm.net/~bclm/
http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum/socialstd/FT/BCLM.html
http://www.mdhs.org/library/collections/bclmphoto/bclm.shtml
