Event

Curious Histories Fest: Color Your World

Curious Histories Fest is back! The Science History Institute’s 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 the 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.

Participating Vendors and Partners

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
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
Colorful herbal tea tastings with Oma Herbal Teas
Bonjour Crêperie food truck
Siddiq’s Water Ice
La Llamita Vegana food truck
Dodo Bakery food truck
Music by Vinyl Tap 215 founder DJ DuiJi Mshinda
And much more!