Reading Public Museum - Collection

Collection

While the art of many nations and people is represented in the permanent collection, special emphasis has been placed on painting. The fine art collection includes more than seven hundred oil paintings by American and foreign artists such as Benjamin West, Milton Avery, John Singer Sargent, N.C. Wyeth, George Bellows, Raphaelle Peale, Henry Raeburn, Frederic Church, Joshua Reynolds, and Edgar Degas. In addition, the Reading Public Museum possesses over one hundred sculptures, thousands of graphics, and more than two hundred water colors. Contemporary art in the collection includes works by Dale Chihuly, Ansel Adams, and Keith Haring

Art objects of importance have come to the Reading Museum from all over the world. The series of Greek vases contain some excellent examples of the various periods and techniques which illustrate the development of this art form. The museum even features a real mummy from ancient Egypt.

The natural history collection encompasses hundreds of thousands of insects, thousands of birds and mammals, and more than 25,000 specimens that document the mineral wealth of our planet. Over 30,000 objects are included in the anthropological and historical collections, including sculpture from Southeast Asia, ivory and jade from China, a magnificent collection of Roman glass, Incan gold and a large and comprehensive collection of sculpture and textile work of American Indians, much of which is unique to the Museum. Almost all of the present exhibits and the reserve collections have been generously donated by public-spirited citizens.

The Reading Museum contains many priceless collections that could not be duplicated today. Over 11,000 first class specimens, the best of several old collections purchased by Dr. Levi Mengel in the first half of this century, make up the collection of Berks County Indian relics.