Guided tours of the historic Rosenbach home, led by specially trained museum staff, are offered Tuesday-Sunday on the hour between 10am-4pm, with an additional 6:30pm tour on Wednesdays. A house tour is included with the price of admission.

Museum docents will guide small groups of visitors through the beautifully-appointed period rooms of the Rosenbach brothers' 19th-century townhouse. The tour includes Dr. Rosenbach's rare book library, Philip Rosenbach's elegant sitting room, and the recreation of modernist poet Marianne Moore's Greenwich Village living room. Tours end on the 2nd floor, where visitors may wander the Highlights Gallery and Maurice Sendak Gallery.

Groups are welcome! Visit our group tour page for details.

Experience a new side of the Rosenbach through a series of newly developed hands-on house tours. This dynamic spin on the Rosenbach house and its treasure trove of collections offers a fresh and in-depth glimpse into the exciting stories behind the Rosenbach brothers, their collecting passions, and the world their collections chronicle.

Made in Philadelphia

The first in this new series of intimate tours, Made in Philadelphia focuses on decorative arts made here in Philadelphia between 1750 and 1850. Visitors are invited to look closely and even to handle selected pieces of furniture and silver as the tour explores issues of craftsmanship, style, and the changing world in which artisans and their patrons lived and worked.

This tour is available the 1st Wednesday of the month at 3 :00pm.

Image: McMullin & Black, tankard. Philadelphia, 1813. Gift of Henrietta Gratz Clay. 1970.4.

Philadelphia Artists

Philadelphia Artists delves into the Rosenbach’s collection of early nineteenth-century works by Philadelphian Thomas Sully and members of the famous Peale family. Participants will look closely at a selection of  paintings, miniatures, silhouettes, and engravings and will handle selected pieces as a way of exploring artistic style, materials, and process, as well as the way these nineteenth-century images were produced and consumed.

This tour is available the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 3:00pm.

Image: Anna Claypoole Peale, Julia Rush. Baltimore or Philadelphia, ca. 1820. Gift of Mrs. Isabel Ault and Mrs. Philip D. Armour. 1980.1.

The Wild West

On The Wild West tour visitors will have a hands-on experience with books from the Americana collection. Focusing on the period between 1780 and 1860, we will read from immigrant guides and travelogues, and examine maps of travel routes and settlements. These books and papers were often the only tool settlers had when traveling into the wilderness of the Western territories. We will discuss the deceptions, motives and passions which lay just below the surface of these printed materials.

This tour is available the 3rd Wednesday of the month at 3:00pm.

Image: Enfield and Thayer’s Map of the West. A848en.

All Hands-on Tours are free with museum admisison. It is limited to six guests, age 8 and up. No RSVP required. Free for members!