Civil War and Underground Railroad Museum

Another Philly [2] first, the Civil War and Underground Railroad Museum was founded in 1888 as the first chartered institution in the United States created to preserve the history of the Civil War and antislavery movement. Its nine galleries are filled with artifacts, photographs, artworks, and archival materials.

You can see weapons, uniforms, paintings, photographs, flags, receipts for the purchases of slaves, and memoirs and autobiographies of abolitionists. The library has the largest collections of Civil War material in the United States outside of government institutions.

By 2010, it will move into the First Bank of the U.S. building in the heart of Independence National Historical Park [3]. The impressive structure and prime location is fitting of the museum’s importance in local and national history, and is sure to make it one of the major stops on most visitors’ travels.