Kemerer Museum of Decorative Arts Reopens Its Doors After Renovation, 5/24

Historic Bethlehem Museum and Sites is holding a ceremony to announce the completion of construction on a 5,000 square foot addition to the Kemerer Museum of Decorative Arts.

The ceremony will take place Friday, May 24, at 11:15 a.m. at the Kemerer Museum, 427 N. New Street, Bethlehem. Historic Bethlehem staff and board members, government officials, community leaders and representatives of Allied Building Corporation will be present at the event. Although the exterior work is not quite finished, the interior construction is substantially completed, allowing guests and media to view the space before the collections are installed.

The new 2-story space, called the Collections Resource Center, will house the most sensitive artifacts in Historic Bethlehem's 60,000+ Collection. In addition to a children's interactive gallery and new research room, the Resource Center will provide space to showcase Historic Bethlehem Museums and Sites' collection of items spanning from the 1700s through the mid-twentieth century, including the entire distinguished E.J. Prime dollhouse and toy collection.

"This renovation not only provides wonderful access for the community to view our collections, but the venue itself is a work of art," states Historic Bethlehem and Museums and Sites President Charlene Donchez Mowers. Closed for construction since June, 2012, the Kemerer Museum is slated to officially reopen later in the summer. The Kemerer Museum sits adjacent to the recently designated 14.7 acre Historic Moravian Bethlehem, a National Historic Landmark District.