To find out how the city's nearly 40 museums are faring, we visited each one several times over the past few months. Then we rated them, using a five-star system and a 25-point checklist (ranging from whether a museum's exhibits were intriguing to how it handled crowds). Here's our assessment and some basic museum facts. We left off a few museums because they are being renovated or their hours are too irregular for easy access.
One star is the lowest rating; five is tops.
American Visionary Art Museum
**** 1/2
Brainchild of founder Rebecca Hoffberger, this young museum leads the nation in showcasing works by self-taught artists. Long-term shows are whimsical, sad, poignant, crazy. Visitors are bound to wonder: "This is art?" Never boring. Opened: 1995. Staff: 14 full time, 30 volunteers. Attendance: 55,125 paid; 70,000 total. Annual operating budget: $1.4 million. 800 Key Highway
Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum
*** 1/2
Small, bright rowhouse. Chronicles life of George Herman "Babe" Ruth as well as the history of the Baltimore Orioles and baseball in Maryland. Founded: 1973. Staff: 9 full time, 60 volunteers. Attendance: 40,208 paid; 40,308 total. Annual operating budget: $684,144. 216 Emory St.
B&O; Railroad Museum
****
Train lover's dream. 19th- and 20th-century cars, locomotives and other railroad equipment, much of it lovingly restored and much housed in a grand 19th-century roundhouse. Kids can climb on things. Founded: 1953. Staff: 22 full time, 21 part time, 141 volunteers. Attendance: 91,822 paid; 94,948 total. Annual operating budget: $2.34 million. 901 W. Pratt St.
Baltimore Civil War Museum
***
Displays on Baltimore and Maryland's role in the Civil War and the Underground Railroad. Housed in restored remnant of historic President Street Station. Small, rather dry exhibit with few artifacts. Best for buffs. Founded: 1997. Staff: 1 full time, 1 part time, 10 volunteers. 1997-98 attendance: 14,570 paid; 17,850 total. Annual operating budget: $45,000. 601 President St.
Baltimore Maritime Museum
***
Three historic ships berthed at the Inner Harbor - the WWII USCG Cutter Taney, the WWII submarine USS Torsk, the lightship Chesapeake - and the Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse. Display quality varies; some tight quarters. Founded: 1972. Staff: 16 full time; numerous volunteers. Attendance: 160,000 paid; 190,000 total. Annual operating budget: $650,000. Pier 3, Pratt Street.
Baltimore Museum of Art
**** 1/2
More than 85,000 objects in collection, ranging from ancient mosaics to contemporary paintings. Highlight is the Cone Collection of modern art. Major traveling exhibits. Museums like this help make a city a city. Founded: 1914. Staff: 97 full time; 80 part time; hundreds of volunteers. Attendance: 99,000 paid (members get in free); 317,090 total. Annual operating budget: $9.1 million. Art Museum Drive.
Baltimore Museum of Industry
*** 1/2
Exhibits presenting the region's industrial heritage, such as a machine shop and an 1880 press, vie for attention with the lovely harbor view. Construction keeps the building, an 1870 oyster cannery, a little dusty. Friendly, funky, great for kids. Founded: 1981. Staff: 17 full time; 35 part time; 160 volunteers. Attendance: 110,000 paid; 125,638 total. Annual operating budget: $750,000. 1415 Key Highway
Baltimore Public Works Museum
***
Everything you always wanted to know about sewage systems - and other public works - but were afraid to ask. Prime harbor location in block-long Eastern Avenue Sewage Pumping Station. Energetic but uneven. Can be odoriferous. Founded: 1982. Staff: 5 full time; 1 part time; some volunteers. Attendance: 25,000. Annual operating budget: $198,000. 751 Eastern Ave.
Baltimore Streetcar Museum
*** 1/2
The last place in Baltimore you can still ride a streetcar. Full of nostalgia for a bygone time, its docents and drivers, mostly older gentlemen who worked on the cars, love to bend your ear. Admission includes a ride. Founded: 1966. Staff: around 40 volunteers. Attendance: 5,000. Annual operating budget: $48,000. 1901 Falls Road.
Dr. Samuel D. Harris National Museum of Dentistry
**** 1/2
They did the impossible: they made a dental museum bright, colorful and fun. Houses an entertaining mix of gear, gadgets and lore associated with dentistry and teeth. On Baltimore campus of the University of Maryland. Founded: 1996. Staff: 6 full time; 3 part time. Attendance: 10,262. Annual operating budget: $600,000. 31 S. Greene St.
Eubie Blake National Museum and Cultural Center
**
Small museum dedicated to Charm City's music greats (Blake, Billie Holiday, Cab Calloway, Chick Webb). Fire destroyed original North Charles Street home in 1993. Has struggled to keep its dream alive since then. Some biographical information displayed. Local painters are featured in temporary exhibits. Founded: 1968 as city agency; 1994 as private charity. Staff: 3 full time; 17 part time; 10 volunteers. Attendance: 2,500 paid; 5,000 total. Annual operating budget: $300,000. 34 Market Place.
Evergreen House
****
A lovingly maintained home and grounds left to Johns Hopkins University by the Garretts, one of Baltimore's leading industrial and merchant families. Rivals the old-money "cottages" of Newport, R.I. The architecture and furnishings (including post-Impressionist paintings and a 35,000-volume rare-book collection) reflect the taste of its owners. Founded: 1952. Staff: full time; 9 part time; 60 volunteers. Attendance: 10,500 paid; 22,800 total. Annual operating budget: $600,000. 4545 N. Charles St.
Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine
****
Survival of the fort's flag in "the dawn's early light" of Sept. 14, 1814, after a British naval bombardment, inspired the florid Francis Scott Key poem that became the lyrics to our national anthem. Star-Spangled Banner history is the chief draw, but rest of the fort is also intriguing. Opened: Made national park in 1925; fort was built in the early 1800s. Staff: 21 full time, 16 part time, 60 volunteers. Attendance: 661,861. Annual operating budget: $1.49 million. End of East Fort Avenue.
Great Blacks in Wax Museum
****
More than 100 lifelike and life-size wax figures representing the African-American experience from ancient Africa through the civil rights period up to today. A slave ship with its realistic sounds will haunt you. Informative and evocative. Founded: 1983. Staff: 11 full time; 9 part time, 20 volunteers. Attendance: 175,000 paid; 180,000 total. Annual operating budget: $671,850. 1601 E. North Ave.
Green Mount Cemetery
****
Fashionable Victorian resting place of many distinguished citizens, including Civil War generals (many Confederates); philanthropists Enoch Pratt, Johns Hopkins and William and Henry Walters; and spymaster Allen W. Dulles. Assassin John Wilkes Booth is also here. Beautiful, spooky; maps provided. Founded: 1838. Staff: 15 full time. (Attendance and budget figures not available.) Greenmount Avenue at Oliver Street.
Homewood House
****
Restored Federal period plantation includes many original decorative arts and furnishings. Was the home of Charles Carroll Jr., son of the signer of the Declaration of Independence. The genteel life of the Carroll family is interpreted by welcoming docents. Founded: 1987. Staff: 2 full time; 8 part time; 55 volunteers. Attendance: 7,172 paid; 8,000 total. Annual operating budget: $225,000. Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N. Charles St.
Jewish Museum of Maryland
*** 1/2
Two 19th-century historic synagogues, both on the National Register, and an exhibit of Jewish history, culture and art concentrating on Baltimore and Maryland. Exhibits vary; many poignant artifacts. Synagogues are definitely worth a look. Great delis nearby. Founded: 1960. Staff: 7 full time; 4 part time; 45 volunteers. Attendance: 6,800 paid; 16,100 total. Annual operating budget: $660,000. 15 Lloyd St.
Lacrosse Foundation Hall of Fame Museum
***
Where else but in Baltimore? Lacrosse documents, lacrosse sticks, protective gear, player and coach scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, game programs and photographs. Museum also pays homage to the sport's Native American heritage. Opened: 1991. Staff: 16 full-time; 6 volunteers. 1996 attendance: 1,600 paid; 4,000 total. Annual operating budget: $120,000. 113 W. University Parkway
Lovely Lane Museum
*** 1/2
This church-museum is the site of the seat of the American Methodist religion, but is most impressive for its 1887 national landmark building designed by architect Stanford White, now in dire need of restoration. The small museum/archives itself houses paintings, artifacts and manuscripts. Founded: 1955. Staff: 2 part time; various volunteers. Attendance: 4,000. Annual operating budget: $50,000. 2200 St. Paul St.
Maryland Historical Society
**** 1/2
State's main repository of material culture and intellectual heritage. Huge collection of paintings, prints, photographs, textiles, silver, ceramics and other objects, including the original "Star-Spangled Banner" manuscript and the Eubie Blake archives. Founded: 1844. Staff: 45 full time; 19 part time; 125 volunteers. Attendance: 103,000. Annual operating budget: $3 million. 201 W. Monument St.
Maryland Ornithological Society's Bird and Nature Museum
**
The top floors of the mansion at Cylburn Arboretum are stuffed with stuffed birds, woodland and wetland panoramas, collections of skulls, seashells, insects, bird eggs, nests and fossils. A bit of a mess, but mostly meant for kids' groups. Founded: 1961. Staff: several volunteers. Attendance: 1,000. (Funded by Baltimore Bird Club.) 4915 Greenspring Ave.
Maryland Science Center
****
A mostly kid-and family-oriented interactive fun house of science; education sneaks in while everybody thinks they're simply having fun. Almost everything is hands-on. There's also an IMAX theater and planetarium show. Opened: 1976. Staff: 100 full time; 102 volunteers. Attendance: 415,000 paid; 514,000 total. Annual operating budget: $9.7 million. 601 Light St., Inner Harbor
Mother Seton House
***
America's first saint, educator Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821), ran a school here for just one year, but took her vows as a nun in the nearby historic chapel. Tours are intriguing, but more reverential than historically minded. Interesting sidelight: Chapel houses the bequeathed heart of a former Baltimore archbishop. Founded: 1808. Staff: 15-20 volunteers. Attendance: 1,239. (Funded by donations.) 600 N. Paca St.
Mount Clare Museum House
*** 1/2
Literally a place out of time. Grand former home of Charles Carroll is tucked away in the gritty city park that was once its grounds. Boasts furnishings and fine and decorative arts that belonged to the Carroll family, which lived here 1760-1850. Founded: 1917. Staff: 2 part time; 65 volunteers. Attendance: 4,816. Annual operating budget: $60,743. Carroll Park, 1500 Washington Blvd.
Mount Vernon Museum of Incandescent Lighting
*** 1/2
The history of the light bulb is illuminated in a cramped, rather dank rowhouse basement. Some 8,000 light bulbs are on display, just a small part of the collection of dentist Hugh Hicks, who began collecting them as a child and still lights up about them during tours. True Baltimore oddity. Founded: 1963. Staff: 8 volunteers. Attendance: 2,500 paid; 5,000 total. 717 Washington Place
National Aquarium in Baltimore
**** 1/2
A local institution. Huge, well-staffed, with lots to see, including fascinating temporary exhibits and a rooftop rain forest. Environmental awareness theme can get a bit preachy. Don't forget to sit a few rows back during the dolphin show or wear quick-drying clothes. Founded: 1978. Staff: 300 full time; 600 volunteers. Attendance: 1.47 million paid; 1.65 million total. Annual operating budget: $22.6 million. Pier 3, 501 E. Pratt St.
Nine North Front Street
**
A modest brick townhouse in the shadow of the Shot Tower, its historic niche is as home (briefly) to Baltimore's second mayor, Thorowgood Smith. Restored and maintained by the Women's Civic League, of Flower Mart fame, there is little historic integrity left. Fine collection of Shot Tower art. Founded: house built in 1790. Staff: 1 part time; hundreds of volunteers. Attendance: 1,100 total. (Budget figures not available.) President and Fayette streets.
***
This tiny rowhouse once occupied by writer Edgar Allan Poe is as eccentric as its operator, Jeff Jerome. Faux-Poe greets intrepid visitors to this tough neighborhood. The exhibits are earnest if not extensive, but conversing with the late author (who gets to defend his sullied reputation) alone is worth the trip. Founded: 1949. Staff: 1 full time; 3-15 volunteers. (Attendance and budget figures not available.) 203 N. Amity St.
Star-Spangled Banner Flag House
**** 1/2
Home of Mary Young Pickersgill, who sewed the flag that flew over Fort McHenry during the War of 1812 and inspired Francis Scott Key. Furnishings and household objects dating from the late-18th to mid-19th centuries. As interesting for the story of a woman entrepreneur as its flag-waving history. Founded: 1927. Staff: 2 full time; 4 part time; 15 volunteers. Attendance: 7,500 paid; 9,500 total. Annual operating budget: $118,000. 844 E. Pratt St.
Top of the World Observation Level and Museum
***
Come for the incredible view, because there's not much else to see atop what's billed as the world's tallest pentagonal building. Sparse, confusing exhibits mostly distract. There is a gift shop ,and special events include a jazz series. Opened: 1979. Staff: 4 full time; 3 part time; 30 volunteers. Attendance: 127,000 paid; 160,000 total. Annual operating budget: $311,000. World Trade Center, 401 E. Pratt St.
Walters Art Gallery
**** 1/2
One of the nation's great art museums. Originally a private collection. Ancient, medieval, 19th- century art, sculpture, jewelry, armor, illustrated manuscripts, rare books. Asian art in adjacent Hackerman House. Major traveling exhibits are displayed here. Opened: 1934. Staff: 150 full time; 300 volunteers. Attendance: 285,086. Annual operating budget: $9.3 million. 600 N. Charles St.
Washington Monument and Museum
*** 1/2
Could be the cheapest health club in town. It's 228 steps (no elevator) to the top of the 178-foot column, begun in 1815 as the nation's first major monument to its first president. Restricted but impressive views at the top; lobby has exhibits on Washington, the monument and the Mount Vernon neighborhood. Opened: 1829. Staff: 3 full time; 1 part time. Attendance: 7,500 paid; 12,500 total. Annual operating budget: $55,000. Mount Vernon Place and Washington Place.
Westminster Hall and Burying Ground
*** 1/2
An amazingly spooky little graveyard (and adjacent church building housing "catacombs") in the heart of the city. Best known as burial place of mystery author Edgar Allan Poe; flowers are left every Oct. 7 to mark the anniversary of his death. Founded: 1786. Staff: 2 full time. Attendance: 2,500 paid; 12,000 total. (Budget figures not available.) Fayette and Greene streets.
Sources: Maryland Historical Trust, Maryland State Arts Council, individual museums. Attendance figures are for 1997 unless otherwise noted.
Pub Date: 8/30/98