Round Museum

Spiraling downward? Ascending hopefully? Regardless of the direction the helical shape of a spiral stair presents a sense of continual movement even in narrow, compact spaces. Just keep moving.

01.20.25

Has the winter storm arrived? Have you salted the sidewalks? Did you get supplies? Is it snowing yet? How many inches are predicted in your area? There’s a little dusting on the Round right now.

01.19.25

The German air force's Halberstadt CL.IV was one of the best ground attack aircraft of World War I. With excellent maneuverability it could avoid ground fire as a low-level attack airplane, supporting the desperate German offensives of 1918. The elevated ring around the cockpit is a movable gun mount that held two fixed, forward-firing, Spandau machine guns, giving the gunner a good field of fire.

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
Chantilly, VA

01.18.25

There’s a certain satisfaction in crushing a cylindrical aluminum can into a pancake. Stomp it with your foot on the kitchen floor, or the sidewalk, or the storm grate. But don’t try it on your forehead.

01.16.25

When the temperature falls in the New Hampshire wintertime, a shallow puddle transforms from liquid splash to concentric rings in no time. The icy radial pattern is due to hydrostatic pressure as rapid freezing causes expansion and cracking, and unfrozen water drains underneath to further widen the gaps.

01.16.25

Ignore the Quaffle. Forget the Bludger. What you’re really looking for is the Snitch. Golden-Round, walnut-sized, and extremely fast with silver wings, a good Seeker must find and catch it to win at Quidditch. Grab your broomstick!

01.15.25

The Boott Mills were built in 1835 as part of group of cotton mills that ran off of hydropower from canal system in Lowell, Massachusetts. The mills operated in the area until 1958 after a long decline in the textile industry between World War I and II. The Boott Cotton Mills Museum now anchors the Lowell National Historical Park with nine factory structures and original features such as this expansive weave room with over eighty historic power looms from the 1920s. You can still see the looms in action weaving cotton cloth during interpretive demonstrations.

01.14.25

A couple inches of snow covering the sidewalk like a blanket get strolled away by footprints of passersby. Meanwhile, heat from underground utilities melts the snow around a manhole cover before anywhere else.

01.13.25

Founded in 1896 by Pittsburgh-based industrialist Andrew Carnegie, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History has one of the finest paleontological collections in the world. With more than 22 million specimens not everything can be on display. At any given time about 10,000 are on view in the museum’s 20 galleries, with an additional 1 million that are cataloged in online databases.

Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Pittsburgh, PA

01.12.25

Neil Benson (1953-2023) was a prolific photographer and community activist. He worked as a photojournalist in Philadelphia (1970-2000)–documenting the turbulent closing decades of the 20th century. His jacket features 749 Pin-back Buttons that he collected from his various assignments. Before his death, he donated a collection of over 30,000 of his photos to the Atwater Kent Museum.

Philadelphia Revealed: Unpacking The Attic Exhibition
01.11.25