Take a tour of the Peale, Baltimore's Community Museum and the oldest purpose-built museum in America. In this multi-stop tour, you'll hear from experts, historians, and curators who worked on and in the building during recent renovations.

Tour Stop 1

(00:01) My name is Jackson Gilman-Forlini. My title is historic preservation officer. I work for the Department of General Services, City of Baltimore. In that role, my agency is like the property manager for city owned buildings many of which are historic landmarks. Also, many of which have been used for museums for many years, used as museums. So my job is to make sure that the city, as the property owners are stewarding these buildings to historic preservation standards.

(00:30) One of our buildings is the Peale Museum. This is a national historic landmark, which was America's first purpose-built museum founded by Rembrandt Peale in 1814. He was the son of Charles Wilson Peale. The city actually acquired it in 1830 to serve as the first City Hall. It's had a long storied history, but most recently it was left vacant in 1997. The city has really struggled for a long time to find a good use for it.

(00:58) So when I started working for the city in 2012, I initiated a partnership with the Peale Center, nonprofit organization whose mission was to restore and reopen this building for the public as a kind of museum.