The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History received $47,000 from the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission, which announced nearly $4 million in cultural and historical support grants on Sept. 10. This year’s funding will empower 182 eligible museums and official county historical societies across 60 counties.
“These funds strengthen the Weitzman’s ability, as the nation’s Jewish museum, to share the stories of Jewish Americans and the extraordinary ways they have shaped our nation’s history,” Jacqueline S. Glodstein, chief of development at Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia, told JNS.
“Such support is essential in allowing us to expand educational initiatives, public programming, timely exhibitions and opportunities for audiences, locally and across the country, to encounter the American Jewish experience,” she said. “At a moment when understanding our shared history has never been more important, this support helps ensure that the American Jewish experience is preserved, understood and recognized for what it has always been: an essential part of the American story.”
Designed to fortify Pennsylvania’s foundational history and museum community in America’s 250th year, the grant program provides unrestricted operating support to institutional recipients. To qualify for the 2026-27 grant cycle, eligible museums must maintain an annual operating budget of more than $100,000 (excluding capital and in-kind contributions) and employ at least one full-time professional or an approved equivalent.
Awards are calculated based on a percentage of each organization’s annual operating budget, ranging from a minimum of $4,000 to a maximum of $47,000.
Weitzman received the maximum allotted amount, along with 29 other entities statewide, most of them in Philadelphia County. Those include the American Philosophical Society, College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site Inc., Franklin Institute, Historic Philadelphia Inc., Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Independence Seaport Museum, Library Company of Philadelphia, Museum of the American Revolution, National Constitution Center, National Liberty Museum, Please Touch Museum, Science History Institute and the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania Penn Museum.
Six entities in Allegheny County, home to Pittsburgh, the second-largest city in the state, also gained grants of $47,000.
“Museums and historical societies all across the commonwealth share in telling the story of Pennsylvania, its diverse communities and regions, and the important role they have played in our nation’s story,” stated Andrea Lowery, executive director of PHMC.
This is the 15th year that the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission has worked with the state legislature to secure funding for museums and historical societies through the grant program.
