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Written by a former museologist (yep, there's such a thing), this blog is dedicated to the small, random museums (and the occasional large institutions) of the world that are full of funny, ridiculous and sometimes mundane collections. And if you're easily offended, keep in mind most of these posts are indeed informative but also easily offensive.

Late last year I mentioned how much I wanted to go to the Busy Beaver Button Company here in Chicago. Well, last month during Obscura Day, a celebration of hidden wonders and unusual places in one’s hometown, I am happy to say I finally paid visit. Founded in 1995, the company expanded from a small apartment to a storefront overseeing 50,000 designs. It was the first to offer 24-karat gold plated buttons and houses the world’s largest button vending machine. Busy Beaver also found the time to open up a Pinback Button Museum, the only kind in the world. The owner Christen Carter has thousands of historically significant and one-of-a-kind buttons (or badges as they’re called in Britain where collecting them is still a thing) as part of her collection, some dating back to the mid-19th century, but only a few hundred are on display. Christen’s brother Joel enthusiastically described nearly every badge pinned to the display cases on the wall, which have been divided into categories like Innovative, Club, Political, Chicago, Advertising, Cause, Music and Social Lubricators. During my personal (and very informative) tour I must say that I have never learned so much about these mechanisms. It helped me appreciate their craftsmanship as well as see the differences in how our culture now communicates. We went from proudly wearing political slogans on our shirts like “We Want Beer” during the Prohibition-era and “We Don’t Want Eleanor Either” during FDR’s presidential campaign to hiding behind the anonymity of the internet. Now we tweet and write godawful comments at the end of news articles. Anyway, the museum is a pretty cool place and you get to make your own button too. I should have made one that said “Everybody Shut The Hell Up!” Maybe next time.

P.S. If you’re interested in knowing which pinbacks make Carter’s Top 10 all-time favorite band list, here you go.

A few months ago while visiting Evanston, a town on the border of Chicago, I stopped at Dave’s Down to Earth Rock Shop. After looking at all the various pieces of jewelry and crystal in the store I went down to the basement, where there is a collection of minerals and fossils that owner Dave Douglass has been collecting since he was a kid. After his shop opened, Dave and his wife Sandy continued on their rock quest and traveled throughout the western United States, Canada, and Mexico. Their private collection became so large that in 1988, they opened up the Prehistoric Life Museum, which is open to the public, including special tours for school groups. There are fossils from every geological time period, some billions of years old, as well as from all over the world, including a French cave bear skeleton and a Chinese dinosaur. Anyway, I must say it was weird to step down below a busy jewelry shop and see case after case full of old bones and fossils. I won’t get into the content of the museum because I nearly failed science in high school and the shit bores me, but I was amazed at the number of items in their collection, which all appeared to be quite impressive. I particularly liked the coal forming swamp forest from Coal City, Illinois (I’ve been there…don’t go!) and the fact that there appeared to be an actual documentation system for cataloging items (something that can’t be said for some real museums out there). Even though I’m not much of a shopper (I’m like a dude), I’d probably enjoy going to stores and malls if they all had little museums inside them. Someone’s gotta make this happen.

As much as I can say I’ve been to nearly every museum in the Chicagoland area, one that was always on my to-do list looks to be permanently closed (as you can see from the sign in this photo). We’ve covered museological shut downs here before (the Madison Museum of Bathroom Tissue still breaks people’s hearts) but the Museum of Holography was a place that existed for almost forty years and was so under the radar I didn’t think it’d be going anywhere. Containing the world’s largest collection of holograms, which included giant tarantulas, naked women and Michael Jordan (of course), the museum was established long before Oprah moved in across the street. Consisting of four galleries, small and large holograms were arranged without any attention to theme or subject, even though one of the rooms had a number of works by the late mathematician and holographer Art Freund. One image within an image, binoculars that revealed a parrot perched in a tree, was a particular favorite of Michael Jackson when he visited the museum in 1988. Loren Billings, who ran and lived in the museum, used extra space to host lectures and teach holography classes, but that was a long time ago. The basement, which used to house a printing press, has an abandoned lab where Billings and her late husband once made holograms. In recent years, the museum had become eerily quiet with a somewhat outdated appearance (something I studied as a museologist…how does a museum, even a small one, not become a dusty, forgotten collection of random old things?). Even though the art of holography was making a comeback with a 3-D Tupac and appears to live on in an Allentown, Pennsylvania collection, it is always sad whenever a small, random museum shut its doors. Peace out, hologram lady! (Info Source) (Image Source)

As much as I can say I’ve been to nearly every museum in the Chicagoland area, one that was always on my to-do list looks to be permanently closed (as you can see from the sign in this photo). We’ve covered museological shut downs here before (the Madison Museum of Bathroom Tissue still breaks people’s hearts) but the Museum of Holography was a place that existed for almost forty years and was so under the radar I didn’t think it’d be going anywhere. Containing the world’s largest collection of holograms, which included giant tarantulas, naked women and Michael Jordan (of course), the museum was established long before Oprah moved in across the street. Consisting of four galleries, small and large holograms were arranged without any attention to theme or subject, even though one of the rooms had a number of works by the late mathematician and holographer Art Freund. One image within an image, binoculars that revealed a parrot perched in a tree, was a particular favorite of Michael Jackson when he visited the museum in 1988. Loren Billings, who ran and lived in the museum, used extra space to host lectures and teach holography classes, but that was a long time ago. The basement, which used to house a printing press, has an abandoned lab where Billings and her late husband once made holograms. In recent years, the museum had become eerily quiet with a somewhat outdated appearance (something I studied as a museologist…how does a museum, even a small one, not become a dusty, forgotten collection of random old things?). Even though the art of holography was making a comeback with a 3-D Tupac and appears to live on in an Allentown, Pennsylvania collection, it is always sad whenever a small, random museum shut its doors. Peace out, hologram lady!

(Info Source) (Image Source)



I can’t say this blog has been to Estonia before, but when the largest collection of toys in the Baltic States calls out to you, well, you can’t pass that shit up. The Tartu Toy Museum (Tartu Mänguasjamuuseum..say that ten times fast) has over 5,000 toys on display in one of the oldest wooden buildings in town (dating back to 1770s, kids). The exhibits are divided into various sections over two floors: “Toys of City Children”, “Toys of Farm Children”, “Paper Toys”, “20th Century Toys”, “Outdoor Toys”, “Handicraft and Artist Made Toys”, “Boys’ Toys”, “Dolls and Toys of the World”, and “Estonian Toy Manufacturers”. Don’t ask me why there isn’t a Girls’ Section…we’re always second class citizens, I guess, even when it comes to freakin’ toys. Upstairs there is a dwarf house and playroom, while outside sits an old medieval house that is a separate museum full of old Estonian puppets. There is also another building, which puts on live theatre shows. Oh, and let’s not forget the museum’s official mascot, Karu Lillekäpp aka Teddy Flower-paw, who has her own books, postcards and has appeared on many television shows. Her name comes from the national folk costume skirt that is usually made out of a flower-patterned cloth. I bet you didn’t know about that toy, which is popular all over the country.

(via puntianak)

Final drawing for “Higglety Pigglety Pop! Or, There Must Be More to Life”, 1967. Part of the Maurice Sendak Collection at the Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadephia, home to over 10,000 Sendak objects, including original drawings, preliminary sketches, manuscript materials, photographs, proofs and rare prints of his books. R.I.P. 1928-2012

Final drawing for “Higglety Pigglety Pop! Or, There Must Be More to Life”, 1967.

Part of the Maurice Sendak Collection at the Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadephia, home to over 10,000 Sendak objects, including original drawings, preliminary sketches, manuscript materials, photographs, proofs and rare prints of his books. R.I.P. 1928-2012

Our ancestors were lucky if they had a single photograph of their wedding day, if they had any at all. That’s nothing compared to the brides and grooms of today who have thousands of pics (and changed facebook statuses) to prove to the world they are married, are important and indeed exist. My favorite story about a modern day bride is an old school friend of mine who had three photographers document every single moment…she even had a separate photo album of her make-up and hair sessions. It’s like everyone thinks they’re a celebrity posing in some magazine. Did you know white did not become a popular option for wedding dresses until 1840, when Queen Victoria got married? She wore a white gown because she was really into lace and everyone likes to follow a queen’s lead. So think of that next time you go on about traditions and shit, especially when the color red is most popular in Eastern cultures. What’s right and what’s wrong? Speaking of Victoria (and Albert)…at their little museum in London you can see the above dress, and believe it or not, it’s from an actual 18th century wedding. This mantua, a type of court dress, is associated with the wedding of Isabella Courtenay to Dr. John Andrew in Exeter Cathedral on 14 May 1744. She might not have worn it during the ceremony, we will never for sure (remember no photographs, people) but it was most likely part of the reception, you know where everyone double fists during the open bar. (Image Source)

Our ancestors were lucky if they had a single photograph of their wedding day, if they had any at all. That’s nothing compared to the brides and grooms of today who have thousands of pics (and changed facebook statuses) to prove to the world they are married, are important and indeed exist. My favorite story about a modern day bride is an old school friend of mine who had three photographers document every single moment…she even had a separate photo album of her make-up and hair sessions. It’s like everyone thinks they’re a celebrity posing in some magazine.

Did you know white did not become a popular option for wedding dresses until 1840, when Queen Victoria got married? She wore a white gown because she was really into lace and everyone likes to follow a queen’s lead. So think of that next time you go on about traditions and shit, especially when the color red is most popular in Eastern cultures. What’s right and what’s wrong?

Speaking of Victoria (and Albert)…at their little museum in London you can see the above dress, and believe it or not, it’s from an actual 18th century wedding. This mantua, a type of court dress, is associated with the wedding of Isabella Courtenay to Dr. John Andrew in Exeter Cathedral on 14 May 1744. She might not have worn it during the ceremony, we will never for sure (remember no photographs, people) but it was most likely part of the reception, you know where everyone double fists during the open bar.

(Image Source)

Thanks to that movie Amélie everyone thinks they’re being cute or adventurous by taking a gnome with them on a trip. A few years ago an acquaintance of mine was “doing Europe” (that shit makes me groan) by seeing like 15 countries in 60 days. If you figured out this ridiculous math problem, then your answer would be 4 days per country. I’d rather spend 60 days in one country to tell you the truth. It’s a more meaningful way to experience the culture’s in and outs, then just getting another stamp on your passport and showing off to your friends that you saw Italy, even though you were there for five seconds. Anyway, the point of this story is the dude’s gnome broke in half while he was in the first country. That might be a sign of bad luck, and even though he had a great time, he admitted that he should have gone to less places. No, really? DUH!!!

Well, if he wasn’t so busy traveling from Denmark to France and back to Greece and stopped to take a goddamn breath, then he could have paid a visit to the Gnome Reserve and Museum. On England’s Devon/Cornwall border lies a magical world, home to over a thousand garden gnomes. There are ponds, woods, meadows, streams and flowers, which is lovely for picture-taking I’m sure, but people just want to see the freakin’ fantastical “Earthmen” (that was a geeky Narnia reference for you). The reserve is recommended for “adults whose sophistication has robbed them of a freshness of vision”…um, does that mean pessimists are allowed? Cool! Even though it costs money, there are free gnome hats and fishing poles as well as the opportunity to see the pottery pixies made on site. Oh, and there is tea! Remember it’s not the destination that’s important, it’s the journey. And the journey is sitting quietly with tea and cake and scones while surrounded by gnomes. Word.

(Image Source 1, 2, 3)

Happy May Day! No, I’m not talking about the celebration of spring, like in the film Wicker Man, today is about honoring the international labor and left-wing movements from around the world. It all started in Chicago on May 1, 1886 when unionists, reformers, socialists, anarchists and workers got together to fight for the eight-hour work day. The Haymarket Massacre, which occurred after an unknown person threw a bomb at police as they dispersed a public assembly during a general strike and eight of the unionists were found guilty, has been remembered ever since as a day to honor those fighting for the rights of all workers. The Chicago History Museum has a great collection of items related to the events, including this cabinet card photograph, published by the David Bradley Manufacturing Company a year or two after the riot. Many portraits were made during and after the trial. This one is a composite showing the views of the three buildings near Haymarket Square: Grief’s Hall, Crane’s Manufacturing Company and David Bradley (the company who made the card). Along with the portraits of the men convicted in the trial (from left to right: August Spies, Louis Lingg, Samuel Fielden, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Oscar Neebe, Michael Schwab, and A. R. Parsons) there is also a view of a Haymarket alley with a label: “place where the bomb was thrown.”

Happy May Day! No, I’m not talking about the celebration of spring, like in the film Wicker Man, today is about honoring the international labor and left-wing movements from around the world. It all started in Chicago on May 1, 1886 when unionists, reformers, socialists, anarchists and workers got together to fight for the eight-hour work day. The Haymarket Massacre, which occurred after an unknown person threw a bomb at police as they dispersed a public assembly during a general strike and eight of the unionists were found guilty, has been remembered ever since as a day to honor those fighting for the rights of all workers.

The Chicago History Museum has a great collection of items related to the events, including this cabinet card photograph, published by the David Bradley Manufacturing Company a year or two after the riot. Many portraits were made during and after the trial. This one is a composite showing the views of the three buildings near Haymarket Square: Grief’s Hall, Crane’s Manufacturing Company and David Bradley (the company who made the card). Along with the portraits of the men convicted in the trial (from left to right: August Spies, Louis Lingg, Samuel Fielden, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Oscar Neebe, Michael Schwab, and A. R. Parsons) there is also a view of a Haymarket alley with a label: “place where the bomb was thrown.”

In case you’ve never heard of a magic lantern, let me tell you. That’s why I’m here. The earliest known slide projector, Laterna Magica as it is sometimes called, dates all the way back to the seventeenth century when a German Jesuit first wrote about directing a light through a lens to project an image. Therefore, a camera obscura captures images, while magic lanterns cast them. Those images were first painted on glass and then projected with oil lamps (with much improved light over time) onto buildings, cloth drapes or wet screens. Unfortunately, most machines were kept in a separate room, with only the aperture visible, in order to scare people into thinking they were seeing magic or ghosts. Actually the first ever projected image in 1671 was of a person burning in hell. Nice. Until the use of the motion picture camera in the 1890s, the magic lantern and the zoopraxiscope were considered the only projection technology available. It is weird to think how magic lanterns impacted the world for over two-hundred years and then just disappeared into history, kind of like VHS and eight-track. Today the Magic Lantern Castle Museum in San Antonio, Texas houses a private collection of these historic projectors with 75,000 related objects, ephemera and historic text. Owned by Jack Judson, who started restoring and collecting them in 1986, the museum is by appointment only. But it is the only museum in the world dedicated to magic lanterns, proving once again there is a museum for everything. (Image Source)

In case you’ve never heard of a magic lantern, let me tell you. That’s why I’m here. The earliest known slide projector, Laterna Magica as it is sometimes called, dates all the way back to the seventeenth century when a German Jesuit first wrote about directing a light through a lens to project an image. Therefore, a camera obscura captures images, while magic lanterns cast them. Those images were first painted on glass and then projected with oil lamps (with much improved light over time) onto buildings, cloth drapes or wet screens. Unfortunately, most machines were kept in a separate room, with only the aperture visible, in order to scare people into thinking they were seeing magic or ghosts. Actually the first ever projected image in 1671 was of a person burning in hell. Nice. Until the use of the motion picture camera in the 1890s, the magic lantern and the zoopraxiscope were considered the only projection technology available. It is weird to think how magic lanterns impacted the world for over two-hundred years and then just disappeared into history, kind of like VHS and eight-track. Today the Magic Lantern Castle Museum in San Antonio, Texas houses a private collection of these historic projectors with 75,000 related objects, ephemera and historic text. Owned by Jack Judson, who started restoring and collecting them in 1986, the museum is by appointment only. But it is the only museum in the world dedicated to magic lanterns, proving once again there is a museum for everything.

(Image Source)

HAPPY 4-20! I dedicate this post to my high school stoner pals who used to smoke up in Shabbona Park and various other places on Chicago’s NW Side. Something tells me they’re still hanging out there. Or at least their spawn are. Crazy to think my best friend during my teen years is a mother of a teen. And right about now that kid is probably smoking a doob, just like his parents. Kind of sweet. On this annual holiday, where people gather to celebrate and consume cannabis, I’d like to put culture into the word counterculture by telling you about the Museum of Marijuana in Denver, Colorado. The small house, surrounded by small offices and retail stores along South Broadway, lacks an internet identity, with the exception of this blog. According to the blogger, even with a strong odor in the air, the place does not appear to be open…or maybe the stoner curator lost the key in a cloud of smoke. Sad. I guess there is always the Hash Museum in Amsterdam. But that just sounds like a tired, boring cliché, like every coffee shop full of pot smokers wearing Bob Marley t-shirts. Yawn. Anyway, I failed in my attempt at making today more cultural. It seems like you’re better off learning about the history of cannabis on Wikipedia than going to the Weed Museum here in the United States. (Image Source)

HAPPY 4-20! I dedicate this post to my high school stoner pals who used to smoke up in Shabbona Park and various other places on Chicago’s NW Side. Something tells me they’re still hanging out there. Or at least their spawn are. Crazy to think my best friend during my teen years is a mother of a teen. And right about now that kid is probably smoking a doob, just like his parents. Kind of sweet.

On this annual holiday, where people gather to celebrate and consume cannabis, I’d like to put culture into the word counterculture by telling you about the Museum of Marijuana in Denver, Colorado. The small house, surrounded by small offices and retail stores along South Broadway, lacks an internet identity, with the exception of this blog. According to the blogger, even with a strong odor in the air, the place does not appear to be open…or maybe the stoner curator lost the key in a cloud of smoke. Sad. I guess there is always the Hash Museum in Amsterdam. But that just sounds like a tired, boring cliché, like every coffee shop full of pot smokers wearing Bob Marley t-shirts. Yawn.

Anyway, I failed in my attempt at making today more cultural. It seems like you’re better off learning about the history of cannabis on Wikipedia than going to the Weed Museum here in the United States.

(Image Source)

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