Museums - Reading Public Museum

The Reading Public Museum dates to the early twentieth century. The current building opened in 1929, and major expansions were concluded in 1998. “True learning” was the impetus behind the initiative and effort of Dr. Levi W. Mengel, the museum’s founder and first director. As an educator, Mengel realized the importance of using three-dimensional objects for “sensory education” to motivate student participation and enrich student learning experience. Mengel obtained permission from the Reading School District to collect scientific and anthropological materials that could be used as teaching aids. His personal collection, donated during his lifetime, formed the nucleus of the present museum. The first important teaching exhibits of museum caliber were obtained at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904—nearly 2,000 items from China, Japan, India, Ceylon, the Philippines, and the Central and South American republics.
With this as a beginning, the Reading School District Administration Building was converted into a museum in 1907 and opened to the public in 1911. The present site was selected and donated to the school district by Ferdinand Thun, Henry Janssen, and Gustav Oberlaender, three textile magnates and friends of Dr. Mengel. In 1992, governance of the museum was transferred from the Reading School District to a private, nonprofit foundation. The Reading Museum contains many priceless collections that could not be duplicated today. Over 11,000 first-class specimens, the cream of several old collections purchased by Dr. Mengel in the first half of this century, make up the collection of Berks County Indian relics. Over 30,000 objects are included in the anthropological and historical collections, including sculpture from Southeast Asia, ivory and jade from China, Roman glass, Incan gold, and a large and comprehensive collection of American Indian objects and textiles, much of which is unique to the museum. The displays are extensive. The African gallery contains 172 objects; the Oceanic gallery displays 267 pieces; and the Mexico, Central, and South America gallery includes 220 pre-Columbian works including material from the Aztec, Maya, Toltec, Inca, and Carib. The largest installation is the Native American collection, with 2,322 North American Indian artifacts.
The pieces in the collection were largely acquired through donation by Mengel, Benjamin D. Bernstein, Dr. & Mrs. David C. Rilling, and a large number of other private donors, as well as by institutions such as the University Museum of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Commercial Museum, the Field Museum, and the Heye Foundation. The Levi W. Mengel Memorial Trust also has provided funds for purchase.
Some sixty to seventy percent of the collection is on exhibit at any one time. Much of the rest of the material is held in reserve to permit changes in the displays from time to time, while others are educational collections that may never be exhibited, but are preserved for scholarly study. Storage is accessible to researchers with advance notice.