Founding Fossils: When Science Met Imagination

In 1801, artist-scientist Charles Willson Peale led America’s first scientific excavation, unearthing the bones of a prehistoric mastodon — a discovery that changed how we understand the natural world.

His Philadelphia-born son Rembrandt Peale would later found The Peale Museum in Baltimore, illuminating the city with gaslight and curiosity.

Their legacy lives on in Founding Fossils, a multisensory exhibition conceived by Dr. Cheryl Fogle-Hatch and produced in collaboration with Dr. Bernard Means and the VCU Virtual Curation Lab.

Visitors can touch 3-D printed replicas of fossils first collected by the Peales — the same specimens that introduced the concept of extinction to the American imagination.

The exhibition also features student-created sculptures and panels from the Founding Monsters graphic-novel series, connecting early scientific discovery with today’s visual storytelling.

Accessible to sighted and blind visitors alike, Founding Fossils reawakens the sense of wonder that defined America’s first museum of art and science.

Plan your visit → thepeale.org/exhibition-founding-fossils

The Secret City: Works on Color Film

January 14, 2026

On View: January 9, – March 29, 2026 The Secret City: Works on Color Film features new works from Baltimore photographer, Joseph Mario Giordano. Capturing glimpses of the lives and landscapes of Baltimore,

Afro House to Receive Illuminator Award for Innovation

January 14, 2026

AFRO HOUSE Baltimore, MD – The 2026 Illuminator Awards are proud to honor Afro House, a Baltimore‑based production company specializing in the convergence of disruptive sonic, kinetic, literary and cinematic interventions to create immersive experiences

Baltimore’s Colored School No. 1

January 13, 2026

Education, Resistance, and the Legacy of The Peale From 1878 to 1889, the Peale building played a pivotal role in Baltimore’s African American educational history. Known then as Male and Female Colored School No.

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