Join our museum’s Gallery Guides for a “drop-in” tour that explores the importance of water and the histories of pollution and protection that have changed our relationship to this vital substance.

Clean water is life, and our scientific understanding of the water cycle’s significance and complexity has grown in the last few centuries.

On this tour, you’ll learn about the gods and powerful beings that were believed to protect flowing waters, how early anti-pollution advocates dealt with crises like thousands of dead fish in the Colorado River, and how chemistry and water knowledge intersect. Find out how Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, the EPA, and scientists and activists throughout history have fought to protect our waters from contamination.

We’ll also talk about the history of our local water sources in the Delaware Valley, the technological advancements that led to the water systems we have today, and how innovators helped us observe, test, and purify water, first to make it fit for human consumption, and later as a matter of environmental ethics.


Drop-in tours are free and no reservations are necessary.

More events

September 26, 2023
Classes & Workshops

​​Coffee with a Curator: BOLD Histories of Synthetic Color​

In this course Lisa Berry Drago will lead us through the first 150 years of manufactured dyes, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the curation of the BOLD exhibition.

wood shavings on a plate surrounded by small logs
September 28, 2023
Joseph Priestley Society

Origin Materials: Paving the Way Towards a Carbon Negative Future

Tanja Gruber discusses her company’s platform for turning the carbon found in biomass into useful materials.

frontispiece plate of illustrations of the blood spectra
September 30, 2023
For Families

Stories of Science

Join us in our museum EVERY SATURDAY for a family-friendly program that highlights strange and surprising stories from the history of science!

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