If you’re looking for a museum-related holiday item to give as a gift this year, some museums offer ‘adoptions’, such as the Natural History Museum in Berlin which is looking for ‘godparents’ to sponsor new drawers for their insect collection, or the British Library’s Adopt A Book scheme. Several North American museums like the Canada Agriculture Museum and North Carolina Museum of Life and Science have Adopt An Animal programs.
And for local museums in Chicago (where you may or may not have figured out is where I live) there is the Chicago History Museum. Every year they have a different series of objects that the public can “adopt” and give as gifts. Choose one of the objects, make a contribution (of $35 and up), and your gift recipient receives a ‘personalized adoption packet’, complete with a photo of the artifact, a document outlining its historical significance, and an adoption certificate. Some of the artifacts up for adoption include:
Rush Street Bridge Diorama
Frank Lloyd Wright Window and Urn
Madame Ophelia Ooglepuss
Michael Jordan’s Sneakers and Jerseys (what Chicagoan would say ‘Sneakers’? It’s ‘Gym Shoes’!)
