Group Tours & Programs

dhm tour
Adult tour

The Detroit Historical Museum and Dossin Great Lakes Museum provide engaging educational and fun experiences for people of all ages. 

Guided tours must be scheduled a minimum of four weeks in advance. Upon registration, you will receive a confirmation with an invoice. Full payment is due prior to the program date. Group tour payments are non-refundable so please ensure your guest count is accurate.

Parking in the Detroit Historical Museum lot is $9 per car and based on availability. Parking at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum is free, but vehicles must have a valid State of Michigan Recreation Passport or a Day Pass to visit Belle Isle Park. 

Please note:

  • The Detroit Historical Museum and Dossin Great Lakes Museum do not allow self-led groups of more than 30 people without a reservation. If self-guided groups are not booked in advance, they may not be granted access. Please fill out the Request a Tour form at the bottom of this page.
  • Should you need to reschedule or cancel your reservation, please contact education@detroithistorical.org as soon as possible so that we can accommodate your reservation changes.
  • Use of museum spaces on closed days or after hours is an additional charge of $150.
  • All prices listed below include general admission.

Explore More

  • Length: estimated 90 minutes
  • Cost at Detroit Historical Museum: $9 adults, $7 seniors
  • Cost at Dossin Great Lakes Museum: $5 per person

  • Length: estimated 90 minutes
  • Cost: $10 adults, $8 seniors 

 

Detroit Historical Museum Guided Tours

Join our docents on an exploration of the Detroit Historical Museum’s signature exhibits. 

  • Length: 60 minutes
  • Tour times: Wednesday - Friday at 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. as staffing allows
  • Max capacity: 25 people per tour; multiple tours may be available per timeslot
  • Cost: $11 adults, $10 seniors (includes general admission, minimum $165 for adult groups, $150 for senior groups

  • Length: 60 minutes
  • Tour times: Wednesday - Friday at 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. as staffing allows
  • Max capacity: 20 participants per tour
  • Cost: $12 adults, $11 seniors (includes general admission, minimum $180 for adult groups, $165 for senior groups)

A note to our visitors:

  • The Detroit 67: Perspectives facilitated experience is not a typical museum tour! (Typically, a museum guide will lead you through a space and talk to you about the information and objects you see.)
  • Because the Detroit 67: Perspectives exhibition is about events, people and social change, your facilitator will provide some key information regarding this history, but will then ask questions to generate dialogue and conversation about the topics in the exhibition.
  • Audience participation is a key part of this experience.
  • Detroit 67: Perspectives highlights events and ideas that have the potential to be sensitive and personal. Issues of race, social unrest and economic injustice are all a part of what led to this period of civil unrest.
  • As an institution, the Detroit Historical Society is not taking a position regarding these events, nor are we judging them. Our commitment is to present as many perspectives as possible from those who experienced the events first hand. 

Download our Detroit 67: Perspectives Educator Resource Packet

20 guests maximum per tour. Cost is the greater of $300 or $15 per person.

Tour Focus Options:

  • Doorway to Freedom: Slavery & the Underground Railroad
  • Detroit: Black Bottom & Paradise Valley
  • Motown & More: Detroit’s African American Music History
  • Detroit: African American Leaders & Heroes and Their Stories
  • Detroit: Moments in the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements
  • Forged By Fire: Detroit’s Riots & Rebellions and Turbulent Racial History  

Please let the Sales Coordinator know which tour focus you would like.  

 

StoryLiving

Bring history to life by booking a StoryLiving program at the Detroit Historical Museum or your own location. In these interactive programs, a professional storyteller shares Detroit history with your organization using drama, group pantomime, role playing, songs, and creative problem-solving.

  • At museum: $450 flat rate for up to 120 people
  • Virtual: $450 flat rate, no capacity limits
  • At your location: $500 flat rate *Mileage fee of $50.00 will be charged for venues located more than 30 miles from the Detroit Historical Museum.
The Underground Railroad

In the mid 1800s, thousands of African Americans escaped through Detroit on their way to freedom in Canada. Attendees will discover more about the Underground Railroad and the role Detroit played in it.

Block by Block: The Great Fire

It’s been over 200 years since the Great Fire set the city of Detroit ablaze displacing over 700 residents. After the destruction, Detroiters did not abandon their city. Through strength and determination they set to work to rebuild Detroit, leaving the legacy of the city we see today. Attendees will become firefighters who must work together to save the community.

The Great Migration

Over the course of six decades, nearly six million black southerners left the South and fanned out across the United States transforming urban America. Join us as we highlight three Detroit women and how the circumstances of their family’s migration and their experiences shaped who they were and defined the course of their lives in the 1920s, 1940s and the 1960s.

Other StoryLiving presentations may be available.

 

Dossin Great Lakes Museum Guided Tour

Museum educators lead an interactive tour of key maritime history exhibits.

  • Max. capacity: 25 people per tour; multiple tours may be available per timeslot
  • Length: estimated 60 minutes
  • Cost: $6 students, $8 additional chaperones, $11 adult, $10 senior (includes general admission, minimum $90 for student groups, $165 for adult groups, $180 for senior groups)
  • Tour Times: Fridays starting at 10:30 a.m. and every 30 minutes after until 3:30 p.m.
  • Virtual Tours: 60 minute virtual tours are available for $250 for up to 60 people

Detroit Historical Society Visitor Policies

Built by the River highlights the ways in which Detroiters have long used the river and lakes around us.

Request a tour

A staff member from the Education Department will contact you about your form.

Name
Group Info

Please enter the number of participants per category; use 0 if not applicable.

Address
Contact
Contact type
Membership
Are you a Detroit Historical Society member?
How did you hear about us?
Tour Info
Date & Time
Transportation method
CAPTCHA