Mission

Founded in 1799, the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) is America's oldest continuously operating museum. The mission of the PEM is to celebrate outstanding artistic and cultural creativity by collecting, stewarding, and interpreting objects of art and culture in ways that increase knowledge, enrich the spirit, engage the mind, and stimulate the senses. Through its exhibitions, programs, publications, media, and related activities, PEM strives to create experiences that transform people's lives by broadening their perspectives, attitudes, and knowledge of themselves and the wider world. PEM's collections - many ranking among the finest of their kind - include 854,000 works of art and culture. Peabody Essex collections also encompass twenty-two historic buildings, including Yin Yu Tang, the only complete Qing Dynasty house located outside China.