Hey, I know how it feels. It’s been day seven since my quarantine and even though I am doing my best to keep myself entertained, I think I’m slowly losing my mind. I folded my clothes, rearranged my room, cleaned all the house, experimented with a few recipes that I’ve been wanting to try for a while, watched every movie and series on my IMDB watch list and I finally got some quality sleep.
But I’m officially out of things to do…
So, I did a little research on the internet. And guess what I’ve found?
I, my friends found a treasure.
Museums, universities, libraries, and galleries across the world have officially closed their doors to visitors due to the Coronavirus outbreak, but opened their virtual gates to all of us, offering online access to all of the treasures they hold.
Image: V21 Artspace
If you are already bored, you can now go on a virtual tour in some of the world’s iconic museums or take a Harward course about something that you’ve been interested in for a very long time. It’s all free, folks.
So, what are you waiting for?
E-LEARNING
Free Online courses at Harward
Speed Art Museum: At-home art-making videos
The Field Museum: The Brain Scoop (YouTube)
North Carolina Museum of Art: Learn, (collections, videos, curriculum)
Sketchfab: 3D Models (link goes to cultural-specific search)
The Hammer: Contemporary Art programs, (YouTube)
Royal Albert Memorial Museum: Exeter Time Trail (Interactive timeline)
Les Fruits de Mer: Activities, books, films about Caribbean wildlife
Museum of Early Trade and Crafts: Recipes, Games, Coloring Pages, etc.
Museum Strathroy-Cardoc: Sydenham River Discovery online exhibit (Flash)
Denver Art Museum: Artist videos
Thomas Cole National Historic Site: Videos
Virginia Museum of History & Culture: Lecture series videos
Better World Museum: Draw Together in VR, Bob Ross-style videos
Discover XR: The Future of Social Media & Online Learning (YouTube)
KaiXR: Free Museum VR Field Trips (no VR gear needed)
HistoryView.org: Virtual Reality Tours
Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum: Activities, Coloring Pages
Paleontological Research Institution: Resources for Families, K-12 Students, College Students
VIRTUAL TOURS / ONLINE EXHIBITS
Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford: Virtual Tour
Dalí Theatre-Museum, Catalonia: Virtual Tour
The Vatican: 360-degree Museum Tours
The Palace Museum: The Forbidden City, China, 360-degree Virtual Tour
Hallwyl Museum, Stockholm: VR Tour
Byzantine and Christian Virtual Museum: Virtual Tour
The Louvre, Paris: Virtual Tour
Vatican Museums: Virtual Tours
The Hermitage, Russia: Virtual Tour (YouTube)
Westminster Abbey, London: Virtual Tour
Canadian Museum of History: Virtual Tour
The Science Museum, London: Shipping Galleries Virtual Tour
Museum of Flight: Virtual Tour
Florence as it Was: 3D models of Florentine buildings, artworks, and squares
The Kremer Museum: VR Tour
Mexican National Institute of Anthropology & History: Virtual Tours (Flash)
National Museum of Natural History, US: Virtual Tour
National Archaeological Museum, Spain: Virtual Museum
São Paolo Museum of Art: Virtual Tour
The Frick, Pittsburgh: Virtual tours, online collections, activities
Cranbrook Art Museum, Michigan: Exhibit Virtual Tours
American Battlefield Trust: 360-degree Battlefield Tours
National Museum of the Great Lakes: Virtual Tour
Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello: Virtual Tour
George Washington’s Mount Vernon: Virtual Tours, timelines, etc.
Yellowstone National Park, US: Virtual Tours
Yosemite National Park, US: Virtual Tour
Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum: Virtual Tour
Cliffe Castle Museum: Virtual Tour
National Museum of the U.S. Air Force: Virtual Tour
Arizona State Museum: Virtual Tour
Vizcaya Museum and Gardens: Virtual Tour
ONLINE EXHIBITS
Girl Museum: Online Exhibits
Virtual Migration Museum: Interactive Online Experience / App
JFK Library: “Moonshot” App and Online Interactive
Virtual Museum of Canada: Virtual Exhibits and Cultural Content
Museum of Ontario Archaeology: “History of Ste. Marie II” Online Exhibit
Monterey Bay Aquarium: Animal Live Cams
Canadian Museum of History: Online Exhibitions
Remembering Lincoln, Ford’s Theatre: Interactive online exhibit
M Woods, Beijing, China: Experimental Online Exhibition
Second Canvas Apps: 30 Museum Apps (Google Sheet)
Reina Sofía Museum Radio: Audiovisual resources; an acoustic museum experience
Smithsonian Latino Virtual Museum
National Museum of the U.S. Navy
National Women’s History Museum
PORTALS
Google Arts & Culture: +2000 partners from +80 countries
Heritage on the Edge: A project of Google Arts & Culture
Europeana: 50,000,000 European works of art, books, music, and more
Smithsonian Open Access: Search 2.8 million images and 3D Models
ArtUK: Art collections from 3,200 UK organizations
Mexican Ministry of Culture: Short films, books, radio, paintings, from all cultural orgs
Memorica: Open access Mexican culture content portal
China’s National Cultural Heritage Administration: Virtual portal of 100 institutions
OpenGLAM: Aggregates 88 unique open collections
NASA Image & Video Library: All NASA content is in the public domain
DPLA: Digital Public Library of America
MIMO: Musical Instrument Museums Online (64,000+ instruments)
BioExplora: Natural science open collections portal (3D images, bio diversity)
Science Museum Group: Collections from five UK science museums (325,000+ objects)
York Museums Trust: Collections from various museums in Yorkshire, UK
Archaeological Analytics: Archaeological Open Access Collections
Digital Agnes: Canadian portal for curatorial research and online exhibitions
English Heritage: Variety of mediums of British content (Podcasts, videos, etc.)
Creative Commons: Aggregates all CC-licensed content and collections globally
Wikimedia Commons: Over 20,000,000 open images
Wikidata: “The Sum of all Paintings” metadata initiative via Wikimedia
GLAM Portals Google Search: Courtesy of Mia Ridge (context on her blog)
Open Culture Coloring Pages: 113 museum coloring books
Global Museum: Portal for museum news, jobs, and resources
V21ArtSpace: Over 100 exhibit virtual tours
Arte.tv: Cultural documentaries, films, and more.
CREATED FOR KIDS
Tate: Tate Kids (Games and quizzes, videos, kids’ art, etc.)
Metropolitan Museum of Art: MetKids
Exploratorium: Science Experiment “Snacks”
American Museum of Natural History: Ology science website for kids
Shedd Aquarium: Sea Curious- Kid Questions, Animal Answers (YouTube)
Glazer Children’s Museum: Online Activities
Children’s Museum of South Dakota: Recipes for Play
Suzhou Museum: Online Mini-Games
Pittsburgh Children’s Museum: The MAKESHOP Show (Makerspace Blog)
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis: Museum at Home
Long Island Children’s Museum: Play Outside Ideas
Norton Simon Museum: Art Projects for Kids (scroll to section)
The Kennedy Center: ArtsEdge, art education resources
Canadian Museum of Nature: Coloring Pages, Arctic, Garden, Dinosaurs
MCA Chicago: “Art Like Me” Culturally-Relevant Art Workbook for Kids
National Museum of Australia: “Fun at Home” DIY activities
Smarthistory: Source of history content for Khan Academy
Frist Kids: Art activities and videos
iCivics: Virtual games (free beginning with Covid-19)
International Association of Children in Museums: Coronavirus Guide
DIGITAL ARCHIVES & LIBRARIES
Trove: National Library of Australia images, books, newspapers, maps, etc.
Endangered Archives, British Library
Louisiana Digital Library: 400,000+ digital items from archives, libraries, museums
Internet Archive: The Wayback Machine, digitized film, books, music, etc.
American Literature Portal, WikiSource
English Literature Portal, WikiSource
New York Public Library: 880,000+ digitized prints, manuscripts, videos, etc.
British Library of Illuminated Manuscripts
Arctos Database: Access to 3 million specimens and observations in 210 collections.
Source: Mcn.edu
