Peabody Essex Museum

Introduction

The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) traces its roots to Salem’s East India Marine Society, founded in 1799, and is considered to be the oldest continuously operating and collecting museum in the U.S.

Art and Artists

Jewish representation in PEM’s collection is strong, with several exhibitions featuring Jewish artists in recent years. Some of the collection pieces include a Normandie side chair designed in part by Jewish designer Jean-Maurice Rothschild and Ethiopia at the Crossroads, which included material on Beta Israel, the Ethiopian Jewish community.

Israeli representation is weaker: the research found no verified Israeli artist in PEM’s collection or exhibition history. No public Nazi-era provenance program was found either.

Policies

PEM provides a visitor-feedback channel, and its online community guidelines prohibit hate speech targeting people based on categories including religion, ethnicity, and national origin.

However, no public policy was found that names antisemitism directly. While PEM does have an internal policy addressing protests and solicitation in the staff handbook, this policy is not publicly accessible.

Naming antisemitism and establishing a defined reporting process would make PEM’s protections considerably stronger.

Community Engagement and Programming

PEM’s strongest Jewish representation appears in educational programming. Its PEMreads book club has featured Edmund de Waal’s The Hare with Amber Eyes, the story of the prominent Jewish Ephrussi family, in a discussion led by curator Karina Corrigan. GenPEM has screened The Nita & Zita Project, about Hungarian-Jewish immigrant sisters who became New Orleans performers and outsider artists, followed by a director Q&A moderated by PEM’s curatorial leadership.

In 2018, PEM collaborated with the Jewish Arts Collaborative and Jewish artist Julia Vogl on a social sculpture inspired by the Passover story, gathering visitors’ ideas about freedom to help shape a temporary installation on Boston Common. Beyond this, partnerships with Jewish institutions remain limited.

Problematic Events

In October 2025, an anti-Israel activist organization organized a “Gaza Genocide Projection” at the Peabody Essex Museum, using the museum as the location for a public video projection and flyer distribution concerning the war in Gaza.

Bottom Line

PEM has demonstrated some willingness to engage Jewish history and identity. However, what is missing is depth in the permanent collection and institutional framework: stronger Israeli representation, explicit antisemitism protections and reporting, a public Nazi-era provenance effort, and sustained Jewish community programming would turn promising individual efforts into a more durable commitment.