Hands-On Tours

Get in touch with objects that are not usually on view to the public. Each staff-led tour explores a theme, with new tours regularly added to the mix. Recommended for adults and children eight and older. Hands-on Tours are offered every Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday at 3:00 p.m.

Sarony Studio, Portrait of Marianne Moore. New York, 1924. 2006. 5116
Hands-On Tour
Friday, February 10, 2012 - 3:00pm - 4:00pm
Marianne Moore, like Pablo Picasso, broke free of tradition and reassembled the pieces in a new and sometimes confounding way. In this tour, we will study her letters, clippings and the objects she surrounded herself with to find out more about the sources for her revolutionary and groundbreaking work. More
George Cruikshank, hand colored woodcut print. London, ca. 1840. 1954.1880. 3871
Hands-On Tour
Sunday, February 12, 2012 - 3:00pm - 4:00pm
From the aching yearnings of poet John Keats for his beloved Fanny Brawne to the dying wishes of a Civil War solider writing home to his family, the Rosenbach is home to a variety of love letters. Join us for this rare peek into some of the most personal and emotional writing in our collections. More
A Treatise on Dress: Intended as a friendly and seasonal Warning to the DAUGHTER
Hands-On Tour
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 - 3:00pm - 4:00pm
The tour brings together objects from across the Rosenbach’s collections: etiquette guides, cautionary tales for children, recipes for homemade cosmetics, trial accounts, paintings, and household furnishings. More
Rockwell Kent, The Masthead, illustration for Moby Dick, Random House edition.19
Hands-On Tour
Friday, February 17, 2012 - 3:00pm - 4:00pm
“Yes, as every one knows, meditation and water are wedded for ever”, from Moby Dick. Throughout history authors have used the Sea as a metaphor for birth, adventure, isolation, a moral testing ground, and more. More
Dudley Adams, Celestial Globe. London, ca. 1800. 1954.0324.001.
Hands-On Tour
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 - 3:00pm - 4:00pm
How did people travel in 19th-century America? In this hands-on tour we hear from gold rush emigrants, settlers, soldiers, Indians, and European tourists. More
Cash & Godshaw, photograph of Adolph Rosengarten. Louisville, Ky, 1862. 2006.674
Hands-On Tour
Friday, February 24, 2012 - 3:00pm - 4:00pm
From the writings of Abraham Lincoln, to the wartime letters of Col. Alexander Biddle of the 121st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, to a Confederate children’s textbook, this tour provides a glimpse into the lives and thoughts of those who shaped and survived America’s worst conflict. More
Jean Baptiste Le Prince, Habillement du Peuple Russe: illustration for Jean Chap
Hands-On Tour
Sunday, February 26, 2012 - 3:00pm - 4:00pm
Alice in Wonderland famously asked, “What's the use of a book without any pictures or conversations?” More
George Cruikshank, Spirits of Wine.  Wood engraving, 1827.  1954.1880.2083.
Hands-On Tour
Wednesday, February 29, 2012 - 3:00pm - 4:00pm
We’ll sample Shakespeare’s sherry from Henry IV, Leopold Bloom’s burgundy in Ulysses, a wine-stained Passover Haggadah, and George Cruikshank’s anti-alcohol prints. More