GEM at Home

Discover photography, film, and the legacy of George Eastman from home!

This page includes activities, resources, video, audio, and more relating to the museum’s collections. 

Contents:

DIY Activities
Cookbook
Zoom & Computer Backgrounds
Virtual Tours
Collections Online
Digitized Films Online
Dryden Theatre Recommends
Video & Audio
Badly Photoshopped Cats

DIY Activities

Coloring Pages & Activity Packets

Enjoy a selection of coloring pages and games that feature George Eastman, the historic mansion and gardens, and objects from our collection

Coloring Pages:

• Mansion & gardens
• Story of George Eastman & Kodak
• Dutch Connection flowers
• Film stills from the Moving Image Collection

Activity Packets:

• George Eastman crossword puzzle, word search, and secret decorder
• Dutch Connection crossword piuzzle and word search

Moving Image Activities

These activities are designed to demystify the illusion of motion. All types of moving image devices—from simple flipbooks to motion picture film—operate on a basic set of principles. By making your own motion-picture devices, you will learn how our eyes perceive motion where there is only a series of still images. 

Videos:

• How to make a flipbook
• How to make a thaumatrope

PDF instructions: 

• How to make a flipbook
• How to make a thaumatrope
• How to make a phenakistoscope

Photography Activities

These activities are a fun, hands-on way to explore the basics of photography using objects you can find around your home.

Videos:

• How to turn a room into a camera obscura
• How to make a pinhole camera
• How to make a miniature photoshoot

PDF Instructions

• How to turn a room into a camera obscura

George Eastman's Camp Cookbook

Ready to put your cooking skills to the test? Try making one of George Eastman's recipes from 1919!

• PDF: George Eastman's Camp Cookbook
• Video: How to make Eliza's Bread Pudding from George Eastman's Cookbook
• Article: Cooking by the Book: Making Eastman's Camp Recipes (Eliza's Bread Pudding & Rice Pudding)
• Article: Trying More Recipes from George Eastman's Camp Cookbook (Cheese Pudding & Onions Au Gratin)

Zoom & Computer Backgrounds

These images from the Eastman Museum have been taken to make it appear like you're actually sitting in George Eastman's library, or just about to enjoy a film in the Dryden Theatre.

View & Download

Virtual Tours

Explore the museum from home with our virtual tours. Through the links below, you can access the historic mansion, see select behind-the-scenes areas, and tour the gardens in full bloom. 

Available Virtual Tours:

• Current Exhibitions
  • Gathering Clouds: Photographs from the Nineteenth Century and Today
  • James Welling: Choreograph
  • History of Photography: Commemorating Ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment
• Past Exhibitions
  • Bea Nettles: Harvest of Memory
  • Alejandro Cartagena: Photo Structure / Foto Estructura
  • History of Photography: Through the Immigrant Lens 
• Historic Mansion & Landscape
  • Historic Mansion
  • West Garden
  • Rock Garden
  • Library Garden
• Behind the Scenes
  • Kay R. Whitmore Conservation Center
  • Technology Vault
• •  

Browse the Museum from Home

Online Collections

Did you know we have more than 250,000 objects from our collection online? Search the collection, browse objects from past exhibitions, and dive into the museum’s vaults using our Collections Online.

• Browse the Collection
• Past Exhibitions
• Advanced Search

Watch Digitized Films from the Collection

Enjoy digitized selections from the George Eastman Museum's Moving Image collections online. All the films are preserved at the George Eastman Museum and are available for archival film projection as well as digitally. 

• Digitized Films Online

Dryden Theatre at Home

The Dryden Recommends is a series of video introductions for films streaming on various platforms that you can watch at home. Most of the films have screened at The Dryden in the past, allowing our audience to catch up on films they may have missed while slaking their thirst for quality programming while stuck at home.

• Watch Streaming Recommendations

Video and Audio

Ready to dive deep into photography, film, and George Eastman’s history? We have lots of videos and audio recordings available!

• Visit our YouTube channel for our historic photographic process series, past lectures, and new tutorials
• Listen to audio from past exhibitions and lectures on SoundCloud
• Enjoy music from past exhibitions on Spotify
• Listen to George Eastman's favorite songs, played on his own Aeolian Pipe Organ on Spotify

Behind the Scenes at Eastman Museum, featuring Badly Photoshopped Cats

We asked what content you wanted back in March, and the response was for behind the scenes content and cats. In response, we created "Behind the Scenes at Eastman Museum, featuring Badly Photoshopped Cats." Enjoy some of our past cats, and follow along on social media as the badly photoshopped cats travel around Rochester using #EastmanKitties.