Making plans for your kiddos this summer? Don't miss out on Mercer Wizarding Academy Summer Camp 2025! This July, we're bringing back our popular half-day summer camp program, open to witches and wizards-in-training from ages 7-12 🪄 This magical week features classes in Potions, Care of Magical Creatures, Herbology, Quidditch, and more! An indoor-outdoor summer camp experience, Wizarding Academy connects history, science, literature, and yes, a little magic ✨️ in a one-of-a-kind setting inside of the Mercer Museum and on its grounds. There are four weeks to choose from but they are filling up fast! Click here for more info and to register today: https://www.mercermuseum.org/wizardingcamp (fb)

Today marks the 162nd anniversary of the Siege of Vicksburg, an important Civil War campaign. In 1905, museum founder Henry Mercer entered this plaster architectural model in an open competition held for the design of the Pennsylvania Memorial to be built on the site of the Vicksburg Battlefield in Mississippi (today managed by the National Park Service as Vicksburg National Military Park).⁠ ⁠ Sponsored by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the selection jury reviewed ninety-two designs submitted by seventy-four competitors. Mercer’s entry proposed a freestanding arch to be constructed of red brick and inset with large mosaics depicting soldiers, Civil War battle scenes, and the arms of Pennsylvania and Mississippi. The inscription on the front reads “In Memory of the Soldiers of Pennsylvania Who Fought at Vicksburg.”⁠ ⁠ Although he did not win the commission (Albert Randolph Ross was selected), this is the first instance in which Mercer thought of himself as a professional architect. Over the next decade, Mercer would design and built two concrete castles in Doylestown, Fonthill Castle and the Mercer Museum. ⁠ ⁠ This object can be viewed as part of the special Behind the Scenes Tours of Fonthill Castle this June!⁠ ⁠ Gift of Ms. Ruth Miller, 1986⁠ ⁠Accession #86.23.001 Henry Mercer’s Vicksburg Memorial Competition Entry (fb)