Jan 1st

Exhibit: Actively American

The gallery explores artworks from the museum’s permanent collection focusing on American artists over the past 250 years.

Feb 7th

Our History Poetry Night

Listen to poetry and bring your own writing, all responding to the prompt, “What does Our History mean to you?” In partnership with The Colored Girls Museum.

Feb 28th

52 Weeks of Firsts: First public Protest Against Slavery

Commemorate the bold 1688 petition by German Quakers, the first recorded public protest against slavery in America.

Feb TBD

“Black Resistance to Quaker enslavement”

Jim Fussell will discuss enslavement and discrimination in Quaker history and explore the many ways that Black individuals asserted their agency and fought against their enslavers.

Feb TBD

Exhibit: One museum Nine rooms

A girl tells her story through connecting with each room in the house.

FEB TBD

Tavern Night

An evening of storytelling and merriment, complete with 18th-century beer, cocktails and hearth-cooked food.

Mar 15 – Apr 19

Making paper for the Declaration

See the work of Common Press’ residency at the papermill at Historic Rittenhouse Town where they will be turning the cloth collected during their community rag collection into large sheets of handmade paper.

Mar 18th

“Single Womanhood in Early America”

Annual Women’s History Lecture with Julia Bouwkamp, University of Pennsylvania.

Mar 18th

For the Common Good
Film Debut

This docuseries will tell the vivid stories of nine pioneering women who made important contributions to the founding of America.

Apr 9th –
Jul 5th

Radical Americana

A series of exhibitions organized by a consortium of Philadelphia’s arts and cultural institutions, including Stenton, Cliveden and The Colored Girls Museum. The series celebrates how today’s artists continue the city’s legacy as a center for creativity and civic engagement.

April 15th

Victorian Easter Egg Roll

May 1st

2026 Tour Season opens at Cliveden

A new installation will focus on the site’s first period of occupation by the Chew family, people enslaved by the Chews and their laborers, and engage with themes of identity, consumerism, material culture, service and revolution.

May 16th

Legacies of Civic Engagement

A powerful panel of legendary leaders and scholars will share with community the histories of significant civic engagement movements.

May 25th

memorial day celebration

June 6th

Dinner with Dinah

Created and led by poets Trapeta B. Mayson and Yolanda Wisher, this project inspired by the life of Dinah, an African American woman who was enslaved and later freed at Stenton, is a poetic, immersive work reimaging Dinah’s life through performance, shared meals, community engagement, and historical reflection.

June 27th

52 Weeks of Firsts: First Papermill

Long before Wi-Fi and word processors, there was paper and it all started at RittenhouseTown. Discover the handmade beginnings of America’s paper trail and the mill that made it happen.

July 4th

Independence day Celebration

July 4th

July 4th celebration

July TBD

“An Un-Pleasant Affair”

The Pleasants Family, Charles Logan’s In-laws, and Quaker Slaveholding in Henrico County, Virginia.
Presented by Bill Hardin.

July TBD

Visitors Center Grand Opening

Featuring a new exhibit: Germantown Revolutions, which explores the presence of the ideals of the American revolution in Germantown from the 17^th century to today.

Aug TBD

“Architectures of Slavery Across the Atlantic Basin”

Presented by Louis Nelson.

SEPT TBD

“Christianity and Slavery”

1688 Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery. Presented by Katharine Gerbner.

nov TBD

Veterans day celebration

Dec tbd

1876 Centennial Christmas celebration

Highlighting innovations of the centennial and the creation of Wannamaker’s department store.

Date TBD

Spirits of Independence

Scholar David Hancock talks about the colonial wine trade. Includes tasting of related wines.

Date TBD

“The ‘Endings’ of Chattel Slavery in the United States”

ZOOM Program with Sarah Gronningsater.

DATE TBD

“Crafting China in Miniature”

Learn about Quaker Collectors and Chinese Export in Nineteenth Century Philadelphia.