The poetry jukebox at the Morven Museum & Garden is a unique interactive installation officially known as a Poesiomat.
It allows visitors to select and play tracks, bringing music, poetry, and spoken voices from Morven’s past and present directly into the historic gardens.
The concept originated in Prague and has spread across Europe. Morven Museum & Garden is the second location in the entire United States to host a Poesiomat.
The jukebox is highly fitting for the site, as Morven was originally the home of Richard Stockton (a signer of the Declaration of Independence) and his wife, Annis Boudinot Stockton, who was one of America's first published female poets and one of her poems is included in the playlist. In the playlist you'll find a variety of tracks as the memories My Father, the Governor, Morven in 1880 written by Mary Hodge, Morven's Kitchen Garden, Memo from Morven by Betty Hughes, or Declaration of Independence, read by Stocton descendant.
The Poesiomat is permanently installed outdoors. While the museum building has designated operating hours, the Morven Historic Garden is free to the public and open daily from dawn to dusk, meaning you can visit and use the jukebox anytime during daylight hours.