History
Learn how it all began.
Founded in 1976 by Montessori educator Portia Sperr, Please Touch Museum began as a 2,200-square-foot pilot project nestled among the dinosaur skeletons and woolly mammoths in Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences.
In 1978 Please Touch Museum expanded our hours and relocated to a larger space on Cherry Street.
In 1983, only seven years after our founding, Please Touch Museum purchased and renovated a three-story, 30,000-square-foot building on North 21st Street, in the heart of Philadelphia’s museum district. During the next nine years, attendance and membership grew while we were accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, launched the first publishing award that honored books for young children and purchased the building next door to expand exhibit space.
In 2005, Please Touch Museum began an extensive, three-year restoration of Memorial Hall, which was constructed as the art gallery for the 1876 Centennial International Exhibition, the first World’s Fair in the United States. This historic building has been our home since our grand opening in 2008.
Leadership
Great minds shaping greater minds.
Please Touch Museum Board of Trustees
Officers
- Benjamin L. Johnson, Chair
- Christine Campbell, Chair-Elect
- Aisling Murphy, Secretary
- Nikki DiCaro, Treasurer
- Patricia D. Wellenbach, President & CEO
Members
- David M. Davis
- Karen Griffith Gryga
- Kristen D. Han
- Ron Koch
- Arianna Orpello Lewko
- Sara C. McGowan
- Angela Monaco
- Christyn L. Rossman
- Tracey Santilli
- Christopher Scarpa
- Steven A. Singh
- Salima Suswell
- Richard (Dick) Tewksbury, Jr.
- Shawn Tuli
Ex Officio Members
Joshua M. Cohen
Chief of Staff
Office of Councilman Curtis Jones Jr.
Representing The Honorable Darrell Clarke
Philadelphia City Council President
Marcella Daniels
Chief of Staff
Office of Senator Vincent J. Hughes
Representing The Honorable Vincent J. Hughes
Member, Pennsylvania Senate
Kelly Lee
Chief Cultural Officer
Office of Arts, Culture & the Creative Economy
Representing The Honorable James Kenney
Mayor, City of Philadelphia
Tiffany W. Thurman
Chief of Staff
Philadelphia Parks & Recreation
Representing Kathryn Ott Lovell
Commissioner, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation
Emeritus
Elizabeth B. Cartmell
Sharon G. Coghlan, Esq
Anne F. Hamilton
Sally W. Stetson
Portia Sperr, Founder, Please Touch Museum
The Parkside Community Advisory Council
Ron Allen
Office of Senator Vincent Hughes
Barry Becker
Please Touch Museum
Yolanda Braxton
Office of Representative Vanessa Lowery Brown
Mike Burch
Editor of Parkside Weekly
Calla Cousar
East Parkside Residents Association
Ruby Davis
First African Presbyterian Church
Evon Delee
New Church Down the Way Ministries
Julia Diggs
West Philadelphia Senior Center
Loretta Dixon
39th and Poplar Street Organization
Pam Evans
Mayor’s Office of Education
Juanisha Everett
Merakey
Darryl Felder
Black Bottom New Generation
Lorraine Gomez
Viola Street Resident’s Association
Cass Green
The Church Down the Way/Mill Creek Community Partnership
Monica Harmon
SE PA Area Black Nurses Association
Tina Harris
Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church
Evelyn Hudson
Parkside Association of Philadelphia
Luncinda Hudson
Parkside Association of Philadelphia
John Jordan
Discovery Charter School
Charlene Mills
Parkside Association
Pastor Joe E. Nock
Second Antioch Baptist Church
Kelly Thomas
People’s Emergency Center
Trish Wellenbach
Please Touch Museum
Larry White
Office of Representative Vanessa Lowery Brown
Delcina Wilson
Urbanoasis
Alice Wright
United Black Captains Association
