Free Museum Day!

September 26, 2014 3:27 PM

Nothing to do tomorrow (Sept. 27th, 2014)? Well, it's Museum Day Live, and you can score free admission for two at over 1,500 museums in the United States by registering at Smithsonian.com. (Search here to determine if there are any participating museums in your area.)
posted by HuronBob (18 comments total)

Neat! And thanks, HuronBob!
posted by carter at 3:38 PM on September 26, 2014

Ooh, last time I was at the Academy of Sciences in SF I noticed the de Young museum and knew I had to go. And tomorrow it's free! Maybe the Caltrain is in my future....
posted by Strass at 3:45 PM on September 26, 2014

Ooh! It's the day most people in the DC area go to those pay museums! Kreeger! Dumbarton Oaks Gardens!

Seriously, after living here for many years, it always surprises me you have to pay for museums most anywhere else when I travel.
posted by Fortran at 3:51 PM on September 26, 2014 [3 favorites]

I was disappointed to see you had to pick just one museum. I was going to go on a crazy museum binge. Oh well, still nice.
posted by geegollygosh at 4:05 PM on September 26, 2014

Museum Day is definitely great (I went to the California Museum last year, thanks Smithsonian), but what threw me for a loop is that at least one of their museums is the Creation & Earth History Museum (links to Smithsonian, not the museum homepage). Are they trying to undo all the knowledge gained by going to one of the participating natural history museums??? WTF?
posted by foonly at 4:14 PM on September 26, 2014

Wait, Austin had a museum day last weekend. How does that happen?
posted by lownote at 5:04 PM on September 26, 2014

This is cool. I'm going to ask my Director if we can get our museum signed up to participate next year!
posted by Mouse Army at 5:24 PM on September 26, 2014

Wow, I didn't know you had to pay to go to museums in the USA. That's kind of weird. Like paying to go to the library. Are they not state funded?
posted by lollusc at 5:37 PM on September 26, 2014

There are only two museums around here. One is always free, and the other is one of those highly specialized small museums that is only interesting if you are into that really specific X, and I'm not. So sad. I thought I might actually find something to do tomorrow.
posted by Aranquis at 5:46 PM on September 26, 2014

Oh cool! I am in Kansas City on a work trip, and was trying to figure out what to do tomorrow. Now I will learn about Truman. Thanks HuronBob.
posted by weathergal at 5:54 PM on September 26, 2014

We visited the Morgan Library two years ago with this program. A++, I love it!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 6:03 PM on September 26, 2014

This is cool. Now I can go to the Portland Art Museum again. Yay!!!!
posted by daq at 6:54 PM on September 26, 2014

Thanks! I'm not sure if I will visit my closest participating museum (it's unclear whether the pass will allow one access to the entire museum or just the normally-cheap parts of it), but I didn't know that closest-participating-museum even was a museum that could be visited, so that is a lovely discovery.
posted by jaguar at 7:00 PM on September 26, 2014

Also, having lived in Europe, museum entrance fees are very definitely not a strictly-American phenomenon. You have to pay to enter a large number of European churches, for heaven's sake. (Pun not originally intended.)
posted by jaguar at 7:02 PM on September 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

Walk down the Jell-O Brick Road and discover the history and mystery of Jell-O, America's Most Famous Dessert.

I am officially sad I am too far away from the Jell-o Museum to visit.
posted by louche mustachio at 1:00 AM on September 27, 2014 [1 favorite]

I work at a Smithsonian museum (Udvar-Hazy Air & Space), and it's free every day --- take the Metro then the bus, otherwise pay $15 for parking, but the museum itself is free and open every day but Christmas. Please come visit: we have space shuttle Discovery! the Enola Gay! the SR-71 Blackbird! the Concorde! the Gossamer Condor! helicopters, biplanes, hot-air balloons, warbirds, stunt planes, experimental planes, spacecraft, satellites and rockets and whole bunches of cool stuff.....

(And bring the kids on Saturday, Oct. 25 for our annual Air & Scare event!)
posted by easily confused at 6:09 AM on September 27, 2014 [2 favorites]

Wow, I didn't know you had to pay to go to museums in the USA. That's kind of weird. Like paying to go to the library. Are they not state funded?

Some of them get some government funding but most of them rely on foundations, corporate donations and individual contributions.
posted by octothorpe at 6:23 AM on September 27, 2014

Thanks! Added Port Discovery to the book festival trip after we figured out that we weren't in the typical MD Historical Society zone.
posted by childofTethys at 6:57 AM on September 28, 2014