Looking to add a bit of culture to your afternoon? There is no shortage of great museums around Baltimore. Whether it’s art, science, history, or a particular famous figure you’re interested in, there’s a place nearby to spend your day wandering and learning.

American Visionary Art Museum

This unique museum celebrating outsider art was named by Congress as the country’s official museum for self-taught art. Come for the elaborate sculptures, gorgeous drawings, and interesting assemblage pieces, then stick around to browse Sideshow, the treasure trove of a museum store downstairs. As a bonus, AVAM is free for federal employees (and up to three others) during the 2019 government shutdown with a valid ID.

For more visionary and local art, try: MICA Galleries, Eubie Blake Cultural Center

Baltimore Museum of Art

This free museum houses a collection of 95,000 works, so you’re sure to find something to interest everyone among its vast collection. Lovers of modern art will want to linger in the galleries housing the famed Cone Collection, while those looking for the more non-traditional can usually find something interesting and extraordinary in the Contemporary Wing or special exhibition galleries. Recent shows have included a John Waters retrospective, surreal visions of some of Europe’s great conflicts, and a look back at the BMA’s first exhibit to feature black artists.

For more art and antiques, try: Maryland Art Place, School 33 Art Center

Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African-American History & Culture

The Smithsonian-affiliated Reginald F. Lewis Museum is home to art, photographs, sculptures, military antiques, and ephemera chronicling Maryland’s African-American history from 1784 to the present. Although it’s connected to the Smithsonian, the Lewis Museum remains open throughout the shutdown and is offering free admission to furloughed workers and up to three guests with a valid government I.D.

For more African-American history and culture, try: Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park, National Great Blacks in Wax Museum

The Walters Art Museum

Housed across three buildings (including a historic residence) in Mount Vernon, the Walters features an extensive collection of Asian antiquities and decorative arts. Wander the Chamber of Wonders to experience what a 1600s nobleman might have shown off in his lavish home, or head to the 1 West Mount Vernon Place to see contemporary art placed alongside the preserved architecture of a 19th-century townhouse.

For more historic homes and exhibits, try: The Johns Hopkins Museums, The Star-Spangled Banner Flag House

The Baltimore Museum of Industry

Explore Baltimore’s history as a hub of business and industry at this South Baltimore museum housed in a former cannery. Exhibits include a 1900s garment loft, a recreated soda fountain, a print shop, and a gallery dedicated to how Baltimore fueled the rise of the automobile. Don’t forget to stop by the Baltimore docked outside—she’s the oldest steam-powered tugboat in the United States.

For more transportation and industrial history, try: The B&O Railroad Museum, Baltimore Streetcar Museum

Maryland Historical Society

The MdHS is the state’s oldest, continuously operating cultural institution, having been responsible for documenting Maryland history since 1844. With exhibits featuring figures such as The Catonsville Nine, Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte, and the Peale Family of painters, this collection is comprised of more than seven million items from pre-Colonial times to the present.

For more great figures from Baltimore’s past, try: The Babe Ruth Birthplace & Museum, Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum

Maryland Science Center

With a history going back to 1797 with the Maryland Academy of Sciences, this Inner Harbor spot has evolved into a family-friendly exploration of the natural world, from the smallest cells to history’s largest creatures. Visitors can also take advantage of Davis Planetarium or catch a movie on the IMAX screen, which will reopen in March after theater renovations are complete.

For more hands-on learning, try: Port Discovery Children’s Museum, Historic Ships in Baltimore

National Aquarium

Plan to spend some serious time at this colorful spot. Beyond the normal fish, rays, and other aquatic critters, you’ll find sloths, puffins, crocodiles, and more scattered across the many habitats housed in this multi-level aquarium. An indoor rainforest, a stories-high shark tank, and a living reef featuring Calypso, a rescued sea turtle, are just a few of the highlights in this gem overlooking the Inner Harbor. Book your timed entry ticket online to avoid long lines, and go first thing in the morning or late in the day to avoid the field trip crowd.

For more nature encounters, try: The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, Rawlings Conservatory

Ross Jones spent decades at Johns Hopkins University without ever learning the story of the university’s first president’s extraordinary daughter Elisabeth Gilman. A rebel in her time, Gilman traveled the country and the world advocating for those whose voices were not as easily heard as her own. She fed and entertained U.S. servicemen in World War I France, provided relief for miners and their families throughout Appalachia, called for an anti-lynching law in Maryland, and ran for several offices as a member of the Socialist Party, among other things.

Though her story was mostly lost to time, Jones has revived this 20th-century heroine in his new book, Elisabeth Gilman: Crusader for Justice. Ahead of his book talk and signing at Evergreen Museum & Library November 1, we spoke with Jones about gathering the details of Gilman’s past and what she might think about the state of the present.

How did you first come across Elisabeth Gilman’s story?
I was doing research, and this is probably 10 years ago, in the Eisenhower Library in the archives. I noticed a her name in a file and, to tell you the truth, I did not know she existed. I didn’t know that Daniel Coit Gilman had a daughter—he actually had two. It turns out that she had donated to the Hopkins Library in the 1940s all of her letters, diaries, scrapbooks, and pictures. She even did an informal memoir that was in there, and I spent about an hour or so just sort of leafing through things. I quickly came to the conclusion that this was really fascinating and it might be worth a story. So then I went back on a number of occasions just in the early days and went through the whole file and was able to read everything.

Tell me a bit about the research process. After that first file, where do you go from there?
I concentrated on her letters first. There were many of them and she, fortunately for me, wrote in a nice hand. Most of the letters were written from during World War I and to her sister. She had gone over as a volunteer with the YMCA, which ran a canteen in Paris for soldiers coming off the front for rest and recreation. And she was in a hotel that was taken over by the military, 450 residents whenever the soldiers were there, and she would provide food and entertainment, and she wasn’t alone. There were several women who did that. She was there for about two years and she wrote letters to her sister two or three times a week. And so you got this picture of what life was like in Paris during the war, what she was up to, entertaining the troops, and some of the things that were happening to her. Her enthusiasm for her job was very, very touching.

That habit of letter writing has really gone by the wayside. It’s a shame people won’t have those kids of materials for research in the future.
It’s really a lost art in many ways, and I don’t know what we’re going to do now that we just have everything online, you know. There’s no original materials anymore. One of the things that really fascinated me was Elisabeth, in the winter of 1917, had to buy an overcoat, and she wanted to tell her sister. She wrote to her sister about it and she cut a little swatch of the material, a kind of blue and black wool, and pinned it to the letter. Well, it’s still there. That really amazed me, over 100 years old now and still has its colors.

Gilman was quite the radical in her time. Can you talk a little about how she came to be that way?
I would characterize her as being the centerpiece for social reform and social justice in Baltimore for the first half of the 20th century. She was into so many things. She started out as a social worker. In 1916 she went up to Boston and heard a professor from Wellesley who was an Episcopalian, like Elisabeth was, and also was a socialist and it a Elisabeth’s introduction to socialism. She came back to Baltimore and, lo and behold, almost as soon as she got home, she had an invitation to go to an international socialist rally. It was a weeklong rally held in, of all places, Sherwood Forest. It’s hard for me to believe that anything like that would be held there!

Anyhow, she met a radical Episcopal priest named Mercer Green Johnston. He had just been dismissed from his church in Newark, New Jersey, because he was too radical. They were birds of a feather and a kind of reinforced each other’s idealism and interest in socialism. And then the war came along. Johnston signed up to go drive an ambulance in France, his wife went over as a volunteer for what was called the National Surgical Bandage, Committee, and they asked Elisabeth to go with them.

She came back in 1919 and then she really got revved up doing all kinds of activities. She was the secretary of the West Virginia Miners Relief Association, she went to Washington, D.C., to testify at a meeting of the House Immigration and Naturalization Committee, she held a meeting at her home in 1931 a where the Maryland chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union was founded. She was nominated for governor in 1930 by the Socialist Party and lost by huge, huge margin. But she used the platform to talk about her liberal views, and her message was that the Socialist Party wants to make the world a better place for everyone to live. She said that over and over again. She ran twice for the United States Senate. She ran for mayor of Baltimore, even sheriff. So she really was a pistol. When she wasn’t running, she was doing things like badgering Congress for relief funds for workers during the depression and she was always speaking out against racial discrimination.

The word socialism can sort of scare people off sometimes. Can you tell me a little bit more about sort of what the concept meant to her?
Well, the concept meant to her that the government would own major industries. Many of the things that she was pushing for prior to FDR’s election were actually put in place by his administration. I think she was a kind of a quiet socialist in the sense that she wasn’t super radical. She just saw and felt that the working people of the country, men and women and their children, weren’t getting a fair shake. She pushed for cheaper trolley fairs in Baltimore. She wanted to lower gas rates, electric rates, and water charges. She was fighting against a big business that she felt was taking advantage of working class people.

Where do you think Elisabeth would fit into today’s world?
She would be having a ball today. Everything going right now is just the opposite from what she believed in, what she fought for for all those years. I think she might be a little sad to come back and see some of the things that are happening today. Voices like hers need to be heard, and I think they are being heard more and more. She might be a little disappointed that racial relations are not as positive as she might’ve hoped. For her to have fought it for that then and to realize that that the racial discrimination, the issues with the police and African-American men, and other things that are going on today I think would have disappointed her very greatly.

How do you hope people remember her?
I would always hope that people would read the book, and then maybe if anyone should ask them today who Elisabeth Gilman was, they would tell you what a champion she was for liberal causes and how dedicated she was to the advancement of social justice and the well-being and working people in her day.

Fluid Movement
July 29-Aug. 6.  July 29-30: Druid Hill Park, 800 Wyman Park Dr. Aug. 4-6: Patterson Park, 148 S. Linwood Ave. Fri.-Sun. Times & prices vary. One of the city’s most weirdly wonderful summer events is the Fluid Movement water ballet. This summer, the avant-garde group delves into the 16th-century Renaissance as aquatic ballerinas re-imagine Shakespearean classics such as Hamlet, Macbeth, The Tempest, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Expect loads of glitter and good times as the local troupe fuses Old English prose with Baltimore swimming pools.

---

Flicks From The Hill
July 6-Aug. 24. American Visionary Art Museum, 800 Key Hwy. Thu. 5-9 p.m. Free. 410-244-1900. Baltimore is home to a hoard of outdoor movie options throughout the summer, but for our money, you can’t top AVAM’s Flicks From the Hill. Perched atop Federal Hill with a sweeping view of the city skyline, it’s the place to be on warm Thursday nights, as the art museum projects big-name blockbusters, cult classics, and family favorites onto a 30-foot screen. Spread out a blanket, unpack your picnic, and best of all, enjoy free museum admission during each and every show.

---

Little Italy Open Air Film Festival
July 7-Aug 25. High and Stiles streets. Fri. 7 p.m. Free. 410-558-0022. Every Friday night through August, set up some lawn chairs, grab some free popcorn, and bring friends to watch open-air flicks projected onto the outside wall of Ciao Bella. This year, catch classics like Moonstruck, Grease, Rocky, The Godfather I and II, and, of course, Cinema Paradiso.

---

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
July 7-23. Evergreen Museum & Library, 4545 N. Charles St. Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 4 p.m. Free-$20. 410-662-9455. One of Shakespeare’s most popular plays will certainly feel like a summer dream in the grassy meadow at the historic Evergreen Museum. In this magical setting, join the Baltimore Shakespeare Factory for a mischievous, laugh-filled love story.

---

David Blaine
July 8. Hippodrome Theatre at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center, 12 N. Eutaw St. 8 p.m. $74.50-127. 410-837-7400. Known more for death-defying illusion than rabbits and top hats, magician, illusionist, and stunt artist David Blaine promises to mesmerize a packed house during his first-ever North American tour. For one night only, let down your guard and prepare to be wowed.

---

Merriweather 50th Anniversary Concert
July 15. Merriweather Post Pavilion, 10475 Little Patuxent Pkwy., Columbia. 6 p.m. $55-125. 410-715-5550. It’s been 50 years since Merriweather, arguably Maryland’s best music venue, opened in the Columbia woods. To celebrate its half-century, the iconic stage is in the midst of a major summer lineup—from Jack Johnson and John Legend to Paul Simon and Santana—and now it’s about to kick off a four-act anniversary concert of epic proportions. In one night, hear fiery singer Grace Potter, eccentric songwriter Father John Misty, and two legendary headliners, the ever-gentle Jackson Browne and the pot-smoking country poet Willie Nelson, with his family band. 

---

Baltimore Caribbean Carnival
July 15-16. Clifton Park, 2701 St. Lo Dr. Sat. 12-10 p.m., Sun. 12-9 p.m. Free. Take a trip to a Caribbean island this summer without even leaving Baltimore. During this weekend-long celebration of paradise in Clifton Park, soak up the sounds of steel drums, dig into endless authentic eats, and see the colorful costumes at the lively parade. 

---

Artscape 2017
July 21-23. Mount Royal Avenue & Cathedral Street. Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.- 8 p.m. Free. 410-752-8632. The long stretch of iconic art cars, outdoor concerts, and local food vendors will once again take over the heart of Baltimore. Embrace all the youthful excitement that comes with the tradition of summer camp with this year’s theme.

---

Zoo Bop Kids Music Festival
July 29. The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, 1876 Mansion House Dr. 12-4 p.m. Free-$25. 410-396-7102. Finally, kids have a music festival to call their own. The Zoo Bop outdoor concert will feature two kid-approved artists—Baltimore’s own Baby Beats and Latin Grammy winner 123 Andrés, pictured. When the kiddos aren’t grooving to the tunes, they can visit activity tables and food trucks, and partake in all-day admission to view the zoo’s own young ones, like Willow, the baby giraffe.

Evergreen: The Garrett Family, Collectors and Connoisseurs

(Johns Hopkins University Press)

From its beginnings as a symbol of Baltimore’s gilded age to its golden years as a crown jewel of The Johns Hopkins University campus, Evergreen has remained an icon of Baltimore’s history. This book takes us inside the home of the Garrett family, which is now a museum and library. (If you don’t recognize the name, know that Mary Elizabeth Garrett was a guiding force behind funding Hopkins’ graduate medical school and insisting that women be included—in 1892, no less.) Its sumptuous pages give us a glimpse of Evergreen’s splendid architectural detail and the family’s impressive 20th-century art collection, including the likes of Degas and Picasso. You can see the magnificence yourself when Hopkins hosts a launch party May 21.

Urban Forests

Jill Jonnes (Viking)

Even for those of us who live in cities, it likely doesn’t take long to think of a tree we’ve loved for its shade, accessible branches, or beauty. That’s thanks to dozens of scientists, politicians, and activists who worked for hundreds of years to ensure that each of us had access to species that were pretty to look at, but also hearty enough to withstand urbanization and the pollution and development that come with it. Jonnes—a local writer and founder of the Baltimore Tree Trust—chronicles the urban forestry movement, and how it reflects our history, with well-researched depth and detail.