Reading Public Museum
Hands-on learning was the impetus behind, and the direct result of the initiative and effort of Dr. Levi W. Mengel, the Reading Public Museum's founder and first director. As a teacher at Boys' High School in the Reading School District with an extraordinarily broad background and interest, Dr. Mengel realized the importance of using three dimensional objects for a "sensory education" to motivate student participation and enrich the student learning experience. Two of Dr. Mengel's quotes describing his philosophy for this type of learning, are still very relevant today. "The eye can see more in a minute than a half hour's descriptive reading will tell. Giving a child a chance to see and handle the things about which they study is not only the greatest timesaver, but the most effective way of giving an absolutely correct impression. With careful training and having the attention called to peculiar characters, not only is knowledge imparted but the habit of attention and close observation is developed." The second is, "The function of The Museum is to furnish food for thought and to expand the human intellect by bringing in contact with the senses, the actual material whereby knowledge may be gained direct."
Through his insistence, Dr. Mengel was granted permission by the school district to collect scientific and anthropological materials that could be used as teaching aids and to house them in the former administration building of the Reading School District. The use of ancient coins from his growing collection so stimulated one class that it encouraged Dr. Mengel to write in his diary, "...this history class may be said to be the starting point of The Museum...."
Dr. Mengel's personal collections, donated during his lifetime, formed the nucleus of the present Museum. The first important teaching exhibits of museum calibre were obtained at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. Nearly 2,000 items were obtained from China, Japan, India, Ceylon, the Philippines and the Central and South American Republics.
With this as a beginning, the third floor of the Reading School District administration building at Eighth and Washington Streets was converted into a museum in 1907. A plan to open The Museum for the public developed in 1913, and the first suggestion was made that an art gallery be incorporated into the plan. Several paintings were presented and the name of the infant museum became the READING PUBLIC MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY.
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