Museum Day is a wonderful annual program run by the Smithsonian Institution in the United States. Museum Day is a one-day event in which participating museums and cultural institutions across the United States provide free entry to anyone presenting a Museum Day ticket. Participants may download one ticket per e-mail address. The ticket provides free general admission on Saturday, September 22, 2018, for two people.

Here is the link to find out more, select a museum, and create the ticket: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/. Visitors to the page can search for a museum by location or by subject. More than 1,250 museums participate in the event. Participating is free, it is easy, and the Smithsonian does not bombard people who sign up with spam or sell the captured information (name and e-mail address) information. Spread the word!

By the way, a museum does not have to be a Smithsonian Affiliate to participate in the Museum Day program. The museum does have to be located in the United States. Here is the link to learn more and register a museum: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/registration/.

Graphic Arts Industry-Related Museums

Of course, there are many different kinds of museums participating; but a quick search for museums related to printing turned up more than 100! A search for museums related to the graphic arts and design turned up hundreds more.

Here are only a few of the many museums, large and small, related to printing, the graphic arts, and design participating in Museum Day 2018:

• The American Bookbinders Museum (San Francisco, California);
• The Cooper Hewitt Museum (New York, New York);
• The George Eastman Museum (Rochester, New York);
• The International Printing Museum (Carson, California);
• The Museum of the American Printing House for the Blind (Louisville, Kentucky);
• The Museum of Arts and Design (New York, New York);
• The Museum of Craft and Design (San Francisco, California);
• The Museum of Printing (Haverhill, Massachusetts); and
• The National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington, DC).

Please note, the Print Center in Philadelphia is also participating in the program, but this particular museum does not charge admission at all. In fact, many of the printing and design museums do not charge admission and yet participate in order to boost their visibility. So, go! Take a friend!

And, please spread the word to managers of industry related museums not yet participating in the annual program. Participating is free and an excellent way to get attention, visitors, and (potentially) donations.

Please share a link to this page and to the Smithsonian Museum Day information far and wide. Let’s fill up our country’s museums on Saturday, September 22, 2018!