1. East India Square
161 Essex Street
Salem, MA 01970-3783
USA
Phone: 978-745-9500,
866-745-1876
Have you ever considered a museum’s
collection an invitation to investigate
your own relationship to creativity, or to
interpret art and culture?
To engage the mind and spirit, the PEM col-
lection offers outstanding works primarily
from the 1700s to today: paintings, sculptures,
photographs, drawings, textiles, architecture
and decorative objects. Our African, American,
Asian, maritime, Native American and Oceanic
art emphasizes the lively conversation that oc-
curs through creativity across time, place and
culture.
1.8 million works — many of them the first to
be collected in this country — offer experiences
unique among American art museums. At PEM,
our goal is not to hang art on the walls and then
tell you what to think. Deep and far ranging, the
collection opens windows onto how people live,
work and celebrate. Here, you can explore art
and the world in which it is made — revealing
and comparing concepts of creativity, individu-
ality, community, tradition, spirituality and even
emotion. And the connections you make, be-
cause of your own experiences, inspire a jour-
ney as important as the artworks themselves.
Open Tuesday-Sunday, 10 am-5 pm.
Closed Mondays (except holi-
days).
Museum Admission
Adults $15, Seniors $13,
Students $11
Youth (16 and under) and Salem,
Mass. residents admitted free*.
*Does not apply to youth in stu-
dent/tour groups
Plan Your event
here!
-Weddings
-Retirement Party
-Corporate events
-birthdays
Peabody
Essex
Museum

2. Paintings, furniture, folk art, needlework, toys
and costumes represent over 300 years of New
England culture. Each object reveals the values
of the communities that shaped this region of the
early United States and ultimately informs the
design and beauty of the things with which we
choose to surround ourselves today. From art we
can connect the past to the present to understand
the material world around us.
Among more than 1,000 portraits is a likeness of
Nathaniel Hawthorne that captures the author’s
inner spirit with a quality and immediacy that
practically invites you to engage in conversation.
John Singleton Copley’s Portrait of Sarah Erving
Waldo, in its original hand-carved frame, conveys
the artist’s ability to convincingly render details,
shimmering fabrics and polished fine woods char-
acteristic of the mid 18th century.
Period furniture - desks and bookcases that fea-
ture superb craftsmanship, clean lines and elegant
form - illuminates all aspects of society, from
the elite to the working class. And PEM’s shoe
collection, one of the largest in the world, reveals
attitudes about clothing, sexuality and beauty.
Oceanic Art
The Hawaiian concept of exquisite perfection is
hana no’eau. Hana is activity, and no’eau means
clever, skillful, wise and dexterous. The philoso-
phy of creating every object to the highest mark,
whether a tortoise shell fishhook or a carved ivory
neck ornament, extends to the entire collection of
Oceanic art.
Internationally recognized, the collection origi-
nated with the first works donated to the museum
in 1799. More than 20,000 objects (from more
than 36 island groups in Polynesia, Melanesia
and Micronesia) incorporate available resources,
including porpoise teeth, bark, jade, obsidian,
abalone, human hair and natural fiber. Works by
contemporary artists employ glass and synthetic
stone. As a whole, the collection reflects profound
periods of change. Objects reveal diverse materi-
als gained in trade, new ideas from non-Native
cultural influences, and evolved technology that
produced metal tools.
Made almost exclusively for and
about Africans, the objects in the
PEM collection reflect the artists’
powers of observation and abilities
to render distinct human features.
Works first acquired in the early
1800 by members of the East India
Marine Society demonstrate the
strengths of sub-Saharan and West
African artists working with ivory,
leather, wood, resin and other in-
digenous materials.
Carvings and ceremonial masks
with leopard fur and shells speak to
African relationships with Europe-
ans and other visitors interested in
trade. Early and significant works
from coastal East and West Africa,
an important body of Zulu arts
and storytelling devices illuminate
cultural traditions. PEM also has
one of the world’s finest collections
of Ethiopian Christian art - 16th- to
20th-century icons and metalwork
with roots in the late Antique and
Byzantine traditions.
American Art African Art