Curious Histories Fest: Color Your World
Curious Histories Fest is back! Our free annual celebration of science, history, exploration, and experimentation will feature free hands-on activities and family-friendly fun, as well as exciting talks, tours, and highlights from our special collections. Visit our museum; talk to curators and experts; take part in performances, story times, and special events; and immerse yourself in curiosity! Plus, the first 150 visitors will receive a free serving of Siddiq’s Water Ice (limit one per person).
Color Your World
Curious Histories Fest highlights a new theme each year. Inspired by our current BOLD: Color from Test Tube to Textile exhibition, this year’s “Color Your World” theme explores the color in your life.
Have you ever wondered about the color of your clothes? Or your food? Does color have a taste? How do we perceive color? Where do natural and synthetic dyes come from, and how do they work? Do you love tie-dye? And rainbows?
Join us for family activities, hands-on crafts, engaging talks, and live dyeing demos! Then visit our museum and see special collections showcasing strange and wondrous color and dye histories. Enjoy food trucks, special guests, live music, and so much more.
Activity Highlights
- arts & crafts with Fleisher’s Color Wheels
- colorful artmaking with Fleisher Art Memorial and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
- introduction to sustainable fashion with Pennsylvania Fibershed and Circular Philadelphia
- sustainable clothing and fabric painting activity with Touch Threads
- natural dyeing with the Philadelphia Guild of Handweavers
- colorful memory sharing with our Distillations podcast team
- vibrant pop-up displays from our special collections
- hands-on dyeing and sun printing activities—crafts to take home!
- presentations on the history of natural dyes and fibers
- and much more!
Food and Drink
- colorful herbal tea tastings with Oma Herbal Teas
- Siddiq’s Water Ice
- Bonjour Crêperie food truck
- Dodo Bakery food truck
- La Llamita Vegana food truck
Music
- Vinyl Tap 215 Founder DJ DuiJi Mshinda
- wild4music DJ Patrick Smith
Curious Histories Fest is open to all ages. Admission and programs are free; food trucks are pay-as-you-go. No reservations are necessary.
Major funding for Curious Histories Fest is provided by chief presenting sponsor the Bolte Family Foundation.
Additional support provided by sustaining sponsors American Chemical Society, Dow, and Arkema Inc.; and contributing sponsor Dr. Zhen Yang, YM American Academy.
Featured image: Sevron Cationic Dyes on Dacron Type 801 Polyester Fiber, cover of a dye sample book produced by E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, 1972.
More events
The Maternal Imprint
This Women’s History Month, join us for a thought-provoking presentation by leading gender and science scholar Sarah S. Richardson.
Stories of Science: 52 Weeks of Firsts
Join us as we celebrate the invention of the first paper match folder in 1892—the precursor to the modern matchbook—as part of the Philadelphia Historic District’s 52 Weeks of Firsts.
Women in Chemistry Tour
Drop in for a tour highlighting the central role of women in shaping chemistry and the material sciences throughout history.