If your interested in Pennsylvania history, this is the place to be, a fantastic, educational and entertaining. Several floors. Great exhibits, and multiple interesting items on display to showcase Pennsylvania history and culture. Friendly and courteous staff too.

A nice size museum that covers the state of Pennsylvania from prehistoric times to the modern generation. It covers history, art, natural science, paleontology, space, and transportation. They also offer a highlights tour to showcase the best exhibits. It's a lot of fun! Update for 2023! Went to the planetarium and was a great experience! Lots of changes and updates to the exhibits! Always fun to explore and see new things and learn!

I love this museum. There’s never a lot of people there which is sad. We first discovered it because my daughters grandfather found a mastodon which is located at this museum. The staff is always super friendly and helpful. The place is always really clean and the price is crazy cheap.

We spent just under 3 hours there walking the displays on all the floors. It was well put together, showed a nice history of our state highlighting some key people who helped get us where we are today. Keep in mind you will need to pay for parking when you get here. $4 per hour when we were there. I particularly liked the wilderness exhibits and the "how we did it" of those exhibits. There are a few stations for kid activities to break up being in a museum. There are not many interactive displays, but it's not marketed that way. The gift shop had all the standard gift shop stuff like stuffed animals, and books. Little in the way of museum specific memorabilia ☹️

I think it's a very big building but could definitely use work for the exhibits and activities. I don't think there is a lot to see here it's just spread out, so it looks like there is. If you're looking for a more interactive museum, this is not the one for you. I wouldn't say this is even a great museum for kids, not young ones anyway. I think it could use a lot more work and ideas in there to bring it more to life! There is so much potential here. I feel like it was once a booming place, but since lost its touch and not a little boring. Don't get me wrong, there are still interesting things to see and learn, but I feel they could better bring that to life and so much to still bring. It is a nice place to visit when in Harrisburg. I just have so many ideas for them to attract more traffic and better the museum!

The children did get a little bored in some areas but overall we're entertained. I had a 4-year-old and a 9-year-old and both found something to enjoy. I really like how they have the interactive areas where the children can play I think your favorite song was the animal exhibit with the stuffed mammals because it was incredibly realistic. The curiosity connection play area was great

What a beautiful surprise this museum is. My family and I visited Harrisburg for the weekend and wanted a place to hang out with our kids. The museum has an area specific designed for toddlers and 6 under in the entrance where they can play around with crops, statued animals, and other things. The whole facility has four floors with different exhibitions thoughtfully designed for users from toddlers to elderly people. Tons of incredible information and a learning center on the fourth floor for kids. The only downside here in this place is the elevator access which a bit hidden from the public which could cause some accessibility issues.

I really enjoyed this museum!! It goes from prehistoric to modern times. My only complaint is that I wish there were more interpretation on the colonization of Native Americans, but I saw they were building a new exhibit so hopefully that will include more information! For only $7 for an adult ticket, it is WELL worth the visit.

Lovely and VERY welcoming people working there. But it was built in 1964 and not really updated since. It had several interesting items but it was all things you could see at any natural history museum. There was a few items Pennsylvania.

My younger brother and I were taken there by our mom when it opened in the mid 60s. It was woefully inaccurate but we didn't know any better. It's been upgraded since then. My dad told me Duke Ellington big band was appearing in 1978 when I was summer working in college. They were fantastic! I attended a movie screening in late 80s free. Parents really are the key and have to bring children to this state facility. Subsidized by our tax money. This Sunday the building is really beautiful in and out and I attended the making of a movie about a show band. It's been 4 or 5 years in the making and is really a good quality because I was in the band in high school. So it was real cool meeting actors playing people who I knew and played with growing up some from grade school.

A comprehensive museum covering many aspects of Pennsylvania, and a very reasonable admission price. A good overview of geology and the formation of the land. Thought-provoking displays on society from the first inhabitants through current times. Local transportation, industry, a big art exhibit, wildlife, and of course, dinosaurs. Everything you'd want except a cafe, and there are plenty of restaurants and coffee shops right next door.

Love the planetarium. I’ve gone here over a dozen times and I am always able to find something new about the place. Very inexpensive way to spend a rainy day.

The State Museum of Pennsylvania and State Archives building are abstract surprises in the small, traditional city of Harrisburg. It's not as popular/crowded as those famous museums, but exhibitions cover a wide range of topics.

We walked through all of the floors' shows for just under three hours. It was nicely put up and provided a wonderful overview of our state's history, highlighting a few significant figures who contributed to our current condition. Remember that parking will cost money when you arrive. At the time, we were paid $4 per hour. The exhibits that showed "how we did it" in the outdoors were my favorites. A few kid-friendly stations provide a break from the museum experience. It's not marketed that way, but there aren't many interactive displays. The gift shop had all the typical items seen in gift shops, such as books and stuffed animals. There's hardly much museum-specific material 🙂

I was very impressed with their exhibits. My favorites were from the early days of Pennsylvania, how it formed, gots its name, etc. I love History and this museum did not disappoint.

This museum has history, art, and dioramas galore! Some of our favorites were the prehistoric section, the covered wagon, seeing all the goods manufactured in Pennsylvania, and the replica of a Native American long house! Oh! Also the yellow plane is pretty cool! Definitely worth the price!!

The State Museum is a great place to bring Children. I could spend hours here looking at Pennsylvania History. The exterior look with that Rotundra and the tall tower holding the state archives are a site to behold once you cross the Susquehanna River.

The museum was fairly small but full of exhibits. There were a couple areas that were closed off while there were updating or replacing them. The best part was the 3rd floor. The dinosaur exhibit was wonderful. They even had a geological exhibit that you don't see many places. It was very clean and pleasant, the staff was very friendly. Will need to go back again to catch a show in the planetarium as we missed the show times. Overall very good value.

I was actually very pleasantly surprised by this museum. Especially their Geology / Paleontology exhibits which are often lacking in other museums. The carboniferous exhibit was exceptional. And the entry fee at 6 dollars just can't be beat.

What no one dares to say is that the museum is really old and stuffy. The layout is very confusing, the walls are high, and it's easy to lose a child because it's literally a maze inside. There are 3 floors with different themes on each floor, but when you get off the elevator there isn't a "start here" sign so I'm sure we didn't follow the intended flow, if there was one. Nothing is interactive, you have to do a lot of reading and looking. There are some interesting artifacts but nothing you can't find elsewhere. The most impressive thing was this massive painting of the battle of Gettysburg. Oh, and the air circulation is so bad we actually all felt drowsy. Once we left the building we were invigorated again. I should not have trusted the 4.6 star average review here. Let me caveat this by saying I love museums and learning about new things. This museum is frozen in time with that 60's-80's vibe.

What an amazing museum! Great displays/historical information and art/paintings... (the staff are super-helpful and friendly, too). Especially love the information about Pennsylvania's founding/+Civil War and all the artifacts and history. I spent a few hours here--- but well worth a day easily if you're really interested. The entrance fee is $7--- very affordable (cheap) and the best entertainment I've had in a long time!!

Great experience, well worth the $7 admission price for adults. I would recommend allowing yourself plenty of time as the museum has three floors of exhibits, which will take several hours to see at a leisurely pace. I spent about two hours there and only saw about half of everything on display. The exhibit highlighting civil rights history in Pennsylvania ("A Place for All") is exceptional. Also, there's a replica of the Liberty Bell that can be found outside the museum, sans crack. So if you've ever wanted to see that without the crowds and how it might have looked in its original form, it's right there.

Such a great place to visit. Even as an older adult, I still find museums fascinating! The staff is really friendly here and I had a great time.

Lovely place, really! A lot of interesting and a lot of things that just blows your mind! Friendly and very helpful staff, amazing exhibits and so on. But it really seems to me that this museum needs some upgrade or something like that. Maybe even new approach to the same exhibits will help a lot