Founded in 1908, the Everhart Museum is one of the oldest museums in the state and part of the early 20th-century regional museum movement. Monies and initial natural history collections were provided by Dr. Isaiah Fawkes Everhart, a Scranton physician and Civil War veteran. Everhart conceived that this museum would serve not only the immediate City of Scranton, but the whole of Northeast Pennsylvania.
The original focus was to create a comprehensive display of the state’s native birds, animals, and other wildlife, and as with many of the earliest natural history museums, the Everhart mounted scientific expeditions to increase its holdings. The museum building was expanded in 1928 with new gallery wings added to display added collections of ethnographic and archeological collections from throughout the world. In the 1940s, a significant collection of American folk art was given to the Everhart, complementing its earlier holdings in the areas of Japanese, African, and Oceanic art. Collecting continued throughout the 20th century with holdings added in 19th-cen. & contemporary American art and regionally-made Dorflinger glass.
The facility is a masonry structure built to serve its original purpose as a museum and is designed in a Beaux-Arts style in keeping with the “City Beautiful” movement of the early 20th century. There are 15 gallery spaces providing display area for permanent and temporary exhibitions. The Everhart Museum is located in Scranton’s Nay Aug Park.