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The oldest museums in the United States depend on what you count: an institution’s founding, its first public opening, an unbroken history of collecting, or even the age of its building. The ten institutions below appear in TheCollector’s October 21, 2025 list. Its selection includes historical societies and a museum complex as well as museums, so treat the order as that publication’s ranking—not a definitive national consensus.
How to read this list
A founding date does not necessarily mark the day a museum opened to the public, and a collection’s roots can predate the institution that now cares for it. “Oldest” can also refer to a surviving museum building or to continuous public operation. Those distinctions produce different answers, so the dates below are the years assigned by TheCollector to its ten selections; they should not be read as verified opening dates for every institution.
TheCollector gives the Massachusetts Historical Society and the Albany Institute of History and Art the same year, 1791. Their placement in consecutive positions does not establish which came first. The list also includes organizations whose historical-society origins or institutional lineages are part of their age claims.
The ten institutions in TheCollector’s 2025 list
| Position in list | Institution | Year given | Location | What it represents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charleston Museum | 1773 | Charleston, South Carolina | Established in 1773, according to TheCollector. |
| 2 | Massachusetts Historical Society | 1791 | Boston, Massachusetts | Historical society included in the list. |
| 3 | Albany Institute of History and Art | 1791 | Albany, New York | History-and-art institution included in the list. |
| 4 | Peabody Essex Museum | 1799 | Salem, Massachusetts | Dates its roots to the East India Marine Society. |
| 5 | New-York Historical Society | 1804 | New York City, New York | Historical society included in the list. |
| 6 | Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts | 1805 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Art institution included in the list. |
| 7 | Pilgrim Hall Museum | 1824 | Plymouth, Massachusetts | Opened to the public in 1824, according to the museum. |
| 8 | Wadsworth Atheneum | 1844 | Hartford, Connecticut | Year it opened to the public; the museum says it was founded in 1842. |
| 9 | Smithsonian Institution | 1846 | Washington, D.C. | Year Congress established the Institution, not the opening year of every Smithsonian museum. |
| 10 | Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology | 1866 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | Year given by TheCollector. |
Dates and positions in this table are from TheCollector’s list, published October 21, 2025. The descriptions clarify the date distinctions established by the institutions and government sources cited below.
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Why there is no single uncontested “oldest museum”
Oldest museum building: the Peale Museum in Baltimore
The National Park Service identifies the surviving Peale Museum building in Baltimore as the oldest museum building in the United States. Rembrandt Peale opened his “Museum and Gallery of the Fine Arts” to the public in 1814. The building’s later uses complicate any suggestion that a museum operated there continuously: Baltimore acquired it in 1830 for use as its first dedicated city hall, and it later housed public schools for African American pupils. The municipal Peale Museum operated there from 1930 to 1997; the renovated building reopened in 2022. The building joined the African American Civil Rights Network in 2024. The National Park Service account was last updated January 2, 2025.
Oldest continuously operating public museum: Pilgrim Hall’s claim
Pilgrim Hall Museum says the Pilgrim Society was founded in 1820 and opened the museum to the public in 1824. The museum describes itself as the oldest continuously operating public museum in the country. That is the institution’s own claim, and its scope—continuous operation as a public museum—is different from the Peale building’s age or PEM’s collecting history. Pilgrim Hall’s collection includes seventeenth-century objects, some of which it says came on the Mayflower. Pilgrim Hall’s history page gives its institutional account.
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Oldest continuously operating and collecting museum: Peabody Essex’s claim
Peabody Essex Museum traces its roots to the East India Marine Society, founded in Salem in 1799 by ship captains and supercargoes. The society’s rules provided for a cabinet of “natural and artificial curiosities.” PEM describes a lineage involving later changes and transfers among the Essex Institute and Peabody organizations, followed by their consolidation into the new PEM in 1992. The museum claims the distinction of being the oldest continuously operating and collecting museum in the United States. This is PEM’s claim about its institutional lineage and collecting continuity, not a claim that the present-day museum organization existed unchanged from 1799. PEM’s history and about page explains that lineage.
Oldest continuously operating public art museum: Wadsworth Atheneum’s scope
Wadsworth Atheneum says it was founded in 1842 and opened to the public in 1844. It claims to be the oldest continuously operating public art museum in the country. The two dates answer different questions, while the phrase “public art museum” narrows the claim’s scope. The museum’s institutional history sets out its founding and opening dates.
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What the early dates mean for the Smithsonian
Congress established the Smithsonian Institution on August 10, 1846. That date marks the institution’s establishment; it is not the opening date of each museum within the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian’s history also reaches back through predecessor collections. Smithsonian American Art Museum says John Varden began a collection in 1829 and displayed it at the Patent Office Building in 1841, before subsequent changes in collections and institutional names. The Smithsonian’s history and Smithsonian American Art Museum’s account distinguish those threads.
The Arts and Industries Building is another separate milestone. The Smithsonian says it opened in 1881 as the country’s first U.S. National Museum. It is permanently closed as a museum. On August 31, 2026, the Smithsonian Board of Regents designated it as the permanent site of the National Museum of the American Latino. That designation does not make the building a currently operating museum or change the Smithsonian Institution’s 1846 establishment date. The Smithsonian’s Arts and Industries Building page gives the current status and designation.
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Which answer fits your question?
- “What is the oldest museum building?” The National Park Service identifies the Peale Museum building in Baltimore, whose museum opened to the public in 1814.
- “Which is the oldest continuously operating public museum?” Pilgrim Hall Museum makes that claim for itself, based on its public opening in 1824.
- “Which is the oldest continuously operating and collecting museum?” Peabody Essex Museum makes that distinct claim, tracing its roots to 1799.
- “What are ten of the oldest U.S. museum institutions?” TheCollector’s 2025 selection is one answer, provided its inclusion of historical societies and its particular date choices are understood.
For a visit, these institutions also differ in subject and setting: the list spans art, history, archaeology, and broader collections across the Northeast and South. Check each institution’s official visitor information for current hours, admission, closures, and exhibitions; those details can change.
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