Last updated: 1/9/2011
208 West Market Street
Snow Hill, MD 21863
Adults, $2
Children 5-12, $.50
Under 5, no fee
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Ms. Mary St. Hippolyte
phone: 410-632-0515
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Claire Otterbein
phone: 410-632-0515
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The Julia A. Purnell Museum is sometimes described as a large museum in a small building. The museum has experienced significant growth in the past decade and is now poised on the brink of further expansion. The organization takes particular pride in the quality of its conservation and exhibitions as well as its efforts to engage the public with meaningful programs. As a local history museum, the Purnell Museum maintains a close relationship with the region's communities. Current projects include a focus on children's programming. Several new field trip programs have been developed for students in grades K-12. The museum's Heritage Arts After-School program for grades 6-8, held at a local middle school, is in its third year. The success of the after-school program led to the creation of a Heritage Arts Summer Series for children. Future plans for the museum include expansion to a second site in order to display more of the 10,000 items in the collection and to facilitate further educational programs.
The Julia A. Purnell Museum was founded in 1942 to display the needle art of Julia A. Purnell (1843-1943). After Julia Purnell's death, citizens donated items of regional importance to the collection, and as a result the Purnell Museum evolved into a regional history museum. In the 1950s, the museum moved to its current site in the former St. Agnes Catholic Church, erected in 1891. In the 1970s, museum by-laws were drafted and a paid museum professional was employed. In the last 30 years, the museum has experienced growth and progress-both financial and otherwise.
The collection contains more than 10,000 items related to the history of Worcester County, Maryland. Significant holding include collections of local Native American artifacts, costumes, textile production artifacts, carpentry and farm implements, household items, and the needle art of Julia A. Purnell.
The artifacts in storage and the archives are available to scholars by appointment. The Purnell Museum does not maintain a research library due to limited space. Those seeking further academic resources are usually referred to the Worcester County Room of the Worcester County Library, Snow Hill Branch and the Nabb Center for Delmarva Research at nearby Salisbury University.
School-based programming is directed by the school curriculum, and the requests of teachers. Along with general educational presentations about Worcester County history developed for school-age children, more specific programs are offered. These include talks by museum staff about African American history, women's history, and Native American history. The museum also has developed and teaches the Heritage Arts After-School Program at Snow Hill Middle School, which targets at-risk youth. This program teaches local history themes-such as maritime, agricultural, Native American and Victorian Era history-through the creation of art. The development of educational programs is based on our mission of providing the public with information about Worcester County history. Each year concerts, a Victorian Christmas Celebration, Julia Purnell's Birthday Party, and exhibits of work by local artists are held, each of which is appropriate for adults and children. The museum has also hosted several festivals, including a Native American Festival. The museum has made strident efforts to offer programming that interprets the history of the diverse peoples of the region, including Native American, African American, European American and women's history.
Three times per year the museum produces a newsletter called The Purnell Sampler. Other Purnell Museum publications include the booklets People of the Pocomoke and Smoke on the Pocomoke: Military Activity on the Pocomoke River. Also produced are the annual Snow Hill calendar of events, and the Snow Hill Historic Walking Tour brochure.
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