Museum of the American Revolution Receives $50 Million


Museum of the American Revolution where George Washington was restored field tent and many other war artifacts took about $50 million from its founding president’s estate, HF Lenfestwho was known as Gerry.

Museum announced Tuesday marks the fifth anniversary of the museum’s opening and the 247th anniversary gift of “the bullet heard around the world” in Concord, Mass., which started the revolution. The funds will be allocated to the museum’s donation, which was previously valued at $47 million.

The founding president of the museum, Lenfest, died in 2018. The museum’s president and CEO, R. Scott Stephenson, said in a statement that the museum is “extremely grateful” to the Lenfest family.

“Gerry understood the critical role a strong donation plays in the financial stability of a nonprofit like ours,” Stephenson said. “As we celebrate our fifth anniversary and look forward to the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding in 2026, this extraordinary gift will strengthen our ability to keep the word of the American Revolution alive.”

Although Lenfest and his wife, Marguerite Lenfest, donated more than $60 million to the museum during her lifetime, $50 million is the largest gift in museum history. The museum building was dedicated to the couple in 2016 and was named after them.

The museum is located in historic Philadelphia, a few blocks from Independence Hall (where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were discussed and adopted) and opposite Alexander Hamilton’s First Bank of the United States. It opened in 2017 and was built for more than $150 million, mostly through private donations.

Nearly 500 objects, many from the Valley Forge Historical Society, are on display, including bronze reliefs of Washington that crossed Delaware and the signing of the Declaration of Independence, as well as what is believed to be the largest in history. only known wartime depiction Washington’s tent by a witness (This was Washington’s future planner, Pierre Charles L’Enfant.)

While the museum clings to some of the ancient heroic narratives, it also acknowledges the flawed history surrounding the founding of the nation.

The museum’s ability to play the game the role of the common man For example, a mafia equestrian statue George III (once located at Bowling Green in Lower Manhattan).

The paintings and galleries also make it clear that “freedom” does not mean the same thing to everyone, including enslaved African Americans, Native Americans, and other marginalized people.

The Lenfest Institute for Journalism, founded by Lenfest in 2016, announced on Tuesday that it will receive approximately $50 million from Lenfest’s estate. This fund will help.”building a livable future For local, public service journalism in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and across the country.”



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