Collections & Museums
This section of our website, compiled and edited by Cole Lecter and Major Fayntley-Grey, is devoted to collections and museums of ordinary things. If you have a collection or museum to suggest for this section, please contact us using our Contact Us Form or our This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Cole Lecter
In this section, you can see displays of coat hangers, combs, shoes, toothpicks, dog collars, fire hydrants, lawnmowers, and many other ordinary things. Collections often grow into museums. There are now two types of museums: the original bricks-and-mortar museums and the new cyberspace museums. Collectors often have their own websites and bricks-and-mortar museums have websites. We combine all of them in this section. It is organized based on the types of items on display.
Major Fayntley-Grey
Airsickness Bags
The Air Sickness Bag Virtual Museum is a stunning collection of airsickness bags.
Not dull? We agree that airsickness is not dull. Collecting airsickness bags is dull, however. An airsickness bag we particularly like is one a member gets when he flies on Continental Airlines. He brings it to our meetings and uses it to reserve his seat. It is duller than any on the web site of the Air Sickness Bag Virtual Museum.
Rune's Barf Bag Collection now exhibits 1,291 different airsickness bags of 481 airlines from 133 countries. It also has identified the world's current largest bag.
Kelly's World of Airsickness Bags is Alaska's largest on-line collection of airsickness bag and other types of motion sickness bags.
Design For Chunks™ is a idea that was conceived on a flight from Hong Kong to Sydney to produce better designed airsickness bags. Designers were approached to re-design the bags with the winning design featuring in Virgin Atlantic cabins.
Design For Chunk's tagline is "Retch For The Sky". We also like Design For Chunks because they fly dullair™ - if only we could too.
Airsickness Bags
Asphalt
We realize that not everyone likes to mow laws and to do all the other chores needed to maintain a lawn.
For these people, there is a museum . . . the “World Famous” Asphalt Museum in Sonoma, California. On display is asphalt from notable highways including the original Route 66 and the Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1).
There also is asphalt from Australia and Italy. It also houses the Asphalt Art Gallery with gorgeous photographs of asphalt.
Warning: Contains a dangerous recipe for making asphalt. Do not read.
Banana Stickers
October 8, 2004
Dear DMC,
I really enjoy and relate to your site.
I indulge in the unusual pursuit of collecting banana stickers (although I can no longer prove this because AOL have removed all my content).
Brian Morgan
June 10, 2009
Banana sticker news just in from Poland: banana stickers and more stickers and even more stickers.
Banana Stickers
Bananas
The International Banana Club Museum, located in Hesperia, CA, houses the world's largest collection of banana-related items. The majority of the 17,000 plus contributions have been donated and sent by the members of the International Banana Club.
The Banana Club Museum is listed in The Guinness Book Of World Records as the the world's largest collection devoted to any one fruit.
The Washington Banana Museum
Based in Auburn, Washington, this museum is home to a fine array of banana memorabilia focusing primarily on US banana importation and consumption.
A Banana
Barbed Wire
The Kansas Barbed Wire Museum
The museum's website says it "may have the largest collection of barbed wire in the world," that is has over 2,100 varieties of barbed wire on exhibit.
The museum is in Lacrossse, Kansas.
The Devil's Rope Barbed Wire Musuem
The museum's website say is is "the largest barbed wire historic museum in the world."
The museum is in McLean, Texas.
Barbers
The Ed Jeffers Barber Museum, located in Canal Winchester, Ohio. It is easy to find . . . it is located above Zeke's Barber Shop and the Wigwam Restaurant on High Street. Canal Winchester is a port on the old Ohio and Erie Canal . . . is off U.S. 33 midway between Columbus and Lancaster.
A favorite activity of some dull men is going to a barber to watch haircutting and other barber-related activity.
Now we have found something to add to this interest . . . a museum that has recreated barber shops from bygone eras: 58 barber poles, over 500 shaving mugs and razors dating back to the 1700s.
The Barber Museum attracts international visitors and house the world's largest collection of razors. A useful website explains the history of barbering from the dawn of time to the present time.
Note to dull men: This museum makes no mention of the barber's paradox.
A Barber's Shop
Biggar
Dear DMC,
I suggest you list this museum in the museums section: The Gasworks Museum in Biggar.
Warning: This page contains one exclamation mark, and several colour photographs.
Then there is the equally uninspiring Savings Bank Museum.
Andrew
Dear Andrew,
We look forward to visiting Biggar, especially to watch one of the demonstrations at the Gasworks Museum. And also to see the gasometers. But what is a retort house?
The Savings Bank Museum will be facinating to visit also. We did not know until hearing from you that Rev. Dr. Henry Duncan was the father of savings banks. It’s understandable, however — as Scots are known for frugality and saving, it makes sense that savings banks were fathered there.
Thank you,
DMC
Buses
The Oxford Bus Museum was founded in 1967 with only one bus by a group of far-sighted enthusiasts wishing to preserve these vehicles for future generations.
The museum is highly regarded with a bus collection "of national importance" according to the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Old Buses
The Cobham Bus Museum
The museum is the home of the London Bus Preservation Trust, which is dedicated to restoring and preserving its collection of historic London buses.
A Routemaster Bus
Buxton
Dear DMC,
I have yet another dull suggestion for your museum page.
The Buxton Museum is located in Buxton, Derbyshire, UK.
The highlight of this museum is the award winning 'Wonders of the Peak' gallery, where you can journey through time from the Big Bang to the Victorians. Seven environments 'Wonders of the Peak' within are recreated complete with sounds and smells:
- wander into the prehistoric forest;
- see the bear in its Ice Age cave;
- crawl inside the Neolithic burial chamber;
- salute the Roman soldier; and
- “meet” a mermaid.
I can tell you that I was eager to discover what a mermaid smells like.
This is yet another exceedingly dull museum and, so, is perfectly safe to be entered on your site and visited by members.
Many thanks again,
Terry
Calculators
The Museum of HP Calculators
The Calculator Collection of Vintage Technology is a fabulously presented collection of 555 desktop and pocket calculators made up of 112 brands.
Calculators
Candy Wrappers
The Candy Wrapper Museum
Bazooka Bubble Gum
Bazooka Bubble Gum: Bazooka Joe Comic Strip
Carrots
The World Carrot Museum is a virtual museum that attempts to collect and present information on all aspects of carrots.
The museum does not currently have a brick and mortar existence but operates only as a website. It was initiated and continues to be curated by John Stolarczyk of Bradford, England. The museum contains information on recipes, trivia, cultivation, games and toys, history, and nutrition of carrots as well as description of carrots as they exist in the wild.
This museum is open for business and DMC enthusiastically encourages dull men to take a peek.
Carrots
Coat Hangars
There were historical hangers as well as contemporary hangers. Hangers of many shapes and sizes. A collapsible hanger. Shaker hangers. A hanger that resembled a cross-bow that actually was a dual-level hanger. A hanger with a brush oh it so a coat could be brushed before being hung. “Wow,” exclaimed Homer A. Halquist when looking at one of the Shaker hangers. “What balance.” Dull Men value balance. Even Homer’s initials are in balance, two Hs with an A in between: HAH.
“That’s the great value of art,” Homer said, “making something extraordinary from the ordinary.”
A Cedar Contoured Coat Hanger
One of our members, Hank R. Rodd, came out of the closet and confessed that for several years now he’s been collecting hangers. “I’m hooked”, said Hank. He was shy at first in talking about his hangers. But then he really opened up, describing where and how he finds this hangers. Hank collects hangers on trips, mainly from hotels of course. But sometimes from airplanes. And even from restaurants. “Hotels don’t mind you taking a hanger,” Hank explained. “It’s not like taking one of those plush bathrobes. “But like most things in life, collecting hangers at times present problems,” complained Hank. “For example, it’s often hard to decide which hanger to take. They’re not all alike. Some are bent out of shape or have scratches on them. I usually take all the hangers out of the closet and put them on the bed. I then arrange them from most to the least attractive.” Hank continued, “I’ve always thought it would impress guests I have over to my house to hang their coat on one of my hangers. But what happens is that, when guests arrive, I greet them and then reach out to hang their coats, I get so flustered that I forget to point out the hanger to them.”
Hang in there Hank.
Combs
Comb Museum in Jiangsu, China
Click here to read a few points about this wonderful museum . . . 300 combs . . . including combs made of bone, bamboo and wood.
Miller Comb Museum in Homer, Alaska, USA
A museum of 3,000 ornamental hair combs in their home. According to the Antique Comb Collectors Club International, it is the largest collection on the planet.
A Comb
Cricket
The MCC Museum
Located at Lord's Cricket Ground, London, England claims to be the world's oldest sports' museum.
The museum is best-known for being the home of The Ashes.
A Cricket Ball
Curling
Turner Curling Museum, Weyburn, Saskatchewan
Curling Glossary
There's a helpful glossary of curling terms on Wikipedia, which is useful to have at hand when watching the sport on TV and find that you are wondering what they are talking about.
Dog Collars
The Dog Collar Museum is housed in Leeds Castle, Kent.
A unique collection of historic and fascinating dog collars has been built up over the years and is now the only one of its kind in Great Britain. Mrs. Gertrude Hunt most generously presented our collection of collars to the Leeds Castle Foundation in memory of her husband, John Hunt, the distinguished medievalist. The collection of over 100 collars and related exhibits has since been added to and enhanced by the Foundation itself.
Spanning five centuries, the collection contains examples of collars from fearsome fetters for the great hunting hounds of the past, to canine couture for 21st century pooches.
Medieval Dog Collars
Egg Cups
Dull men love eating eggs, in particular boiled eggs. Dull men like to watch eggs boil.
An Egg Cup
Everyday Objects
Dear DMC,
Here is a link to a news item about small museums, together with attached correspondence from DPLU (dull people like us). Mrs R and I rather like the museum in Kitzbuehel, which we visit most years. (There is an even smaller museum in St Johann in Tirol.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4764827.stm
Steve Reszetniak
Fans
Dear DMC,
I have another dull suggestion for your museum page.
The Fan Museum is housed in two Georgian townhouses in Croom's Hill, London in UK. May I reassure members that this museum doesn't not collect sports fan of any kind (not even fans of golf).
This is another exceedingly dull museum, and so is perfectly safe to be entered on your site and visited by members.
Many thanks,
Terry
Fans
Gas
The National Gas Museum, located in Leicester, UK, holds the biggest collection of gas and gas related artefacts in the world.
[Thank you Mike West for telling us about this site]
Gaslights
Grocery Shopping Lists
Thanks to a reader's letter, we searched the web for collections of grocery shopping lists left in shopping carts.
As we suspected, there are collectors and collections out there. Click here for a wonderful web site, the Online Museum of Shopping Lists. And click here for The Grocery List Collection.
A Grocery Shopping List
Hallucinogenics
We haven’t, yet, been able to find the link to this museum.
Perhaps the museum is located only in someone’s mind.
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Hotel Soap
Little Bars of Soap
We were curious how — why — he started collecting little bars of soap. “I wasn’t originally a collector of little bars of hotel soap,” the Colonel said. “You might say that it was forced upon me. It began many years ago, in a hotel room, back when I was only a Major. I was doing a lot of traveling at the time.” He then handed us a file of letters he’d exchange with the hotel’s Housekeeping staff:
The editor of our new “Dull Collections” section, Colonel Ector, collects those little bars of soap found in hotel rooms. He now has well over seventy, each one different from the other.
Dear Maid,
Please do not leave any more of those little bars of soap in my bathroom since I have brought my own bath-sized Dial. Please remove the six unopened little bars from the shelf under the medicine chest and another three in the shower soap dish. They are in my way.
Thank you,
Major Ector
Dear Room 635,
I am not your regular maid. She will be back tomorrow, Thursday, from her day off. I took the 3 hotel soaps out of the shower soap dish as you requested. The 6 bars on your shelf I took out of your way and put on top of your Kleenex dispenser in case you should change your mind. This leaves only the 3 bars I left today which my instructions from the management is to leave 3 soaps daily. I hope this is satisfactory.
Kathy, Relief Maid
Dear Maid,
I hope you are my regular maid. Apparently Kathy did not tell you about my note to her concerning the little bars of soap. When I got back to my room this evening I found you had added 3 little Camays to the shelf under my medicine cabinet. I am going to be here in the hotel for two weeks and have brought my own bath-size Dial so I won't need those 6 little Camays which are on the shelf. They are in my way when shaving, brushing teeth, etc. Please remove them.
Major Ector
Dear Major,
My day off was last Wed. so the relief maid left 3 hotel soaps which we are instructed by the management. I took the 6 soaps which were in your way on the shelf and put them in the soap dish where your Dial was. I put the Dial in the medicine cabinet for your convenience. I didn't remove the 3 complimentary soaps which are always placed inside the medicine cabinet for all new check-ins and which you did not object to when you checked in last Monday. Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.
Your regular maid,
Dotty
Dear Major,
The assistant manager, Mr. Kensedder, informed me this A.M. that you called him last evening and said you were unhappy with your maid service. I have assigned a new girl to your room. I hope you will accept my apologies for any past inconvenience. If you have any future complaints please contact me so I can give it my personal attention. Call extension 1108 between 8AM and 5PM.
Thank you.
Elaine Carmen, Housekeeper
Dear Miss Carmen,
It is impossible to contact you by phone since I leave the hotel for business at 745 AM and don't get back before 530 or 6PM. That's the reason I called Mr. Kensedder last night. You were already off duty. I only asked Mr. Kensedder if he could do anything about those little bars of soap. The new maid you assigned me must have thought I was a new check-in today, since she left another 3 bars of hotel soap in my medicine cabinet along with her regular delivery of 3 bars on the bath-room shelf. In just 5 days here I have accumulated 24 little bars of soap. Why are you doing this to me?
Major Ector
Dear Major Ector,
Your maid, Kathy, has been instructed to stop delivering soap to your room and remove the extra soaps. If I can be of further assistance, please call extension 1108 between 8AM and 5PM. Thank you,
Elaine Carmen, Housekeeper
Dear Mr. Kensedder,
My bath-size Dial is missing. Every bar of soap was taken from my room including my own bath-size Dial. I came in late last night and had to call the bellhop to bring me 4 little Cashmere Bouquets.
Major Ector
Dear Major Ector,
I have informed our housekeeper, Elaine Carmen, of your soap problem. I cannot understand why there was no soap in your room since our maids are instructed to leave 3 bars of soap each time they service a room. The situation will be rectified immediately. Please accept my apologies for the inconvenience.
Martin L. Kensedder, Assistant Manager
Dear Mrs. Carmen,
Who the hell left 54 little bars of Camay in my room? I came in last night and found 54 little bars of soap. I don't want 54 little bars of Camay. I want my one damn bar of bath-size Dial. Do you realize I have 54 bars of soap in here. All I want is my bath size Dial. Please give me back my bath-size Dial.
Major Ector
Dear Major Ector,
You complained of too much soap in your room so I had them removed. Then you complained to Mr. Kensedder that all your soap was missing so I personally returned them. The 24 Camays which had been taken and the 3 Camays you are supposed to receive daily (sic). I don't know anything about the 4 Cashmere Bouquets. Obviously your maid, Kathy, did not know I had returned your soaps so she also brought 24 Camays plus the 3 daily Camays. I don't know where you got the idea this hotel issues bath-size Dial. I was able to locate some bath-size Ivory which I left in your room.
Elaine Carmen, Housekeeper
Dear Mrs. Carmen,
Just a short note to bring you up-to-date on my latest soap inventory.
As of today I possess:
- On shelf under medicine cabinet - 18 Camay in 4 stacks of 4 and 1stack of 2.
- On Kleenex dispenser - 11 Camay in 2 stacks of 4 and 1 stack of 3.
- On bedroom dresser - 1 stack of 3 Bouquet, 1 stack of 4hotel-size Ivory, and 8 Camay in 2 stacks of 4.
- Inside medicine cabinet - 14 Camay in 3 stacks of 4 and 1 stack of 2.
- In shower soap dish - 6 Camay, very moist.
- On northeast corner of tub - 1 Cashmere Bouquet, slightly used.
- On northwest corner of tub - 6 Camays in 2 stacks of 3.
Please ask Kathy when she services my room to make sure the stacks are neatly piled and dusted. Also, please advise her that stacks of more than 4 have a tendency to tip. May I suggest that my bedroom window sill is not in use and will make an excellent spot for future soap deliveries. One more item, I have purchased another bar of bath-sized Dial which I am keeping in the hotel vault in order to avoid further misunderstandings.
Major Ector
The above exchange of letters was copied/adapted from something that has been floating around the internet for several years now, we think it originally appeared in The Times of London.
This was adapted from something we came across flying through cyberspace which we understand may have come from A Hotel Is a Funny Place by Shelley Berman . . . click here to get the book.
Here is Patty Robert's fabulous collection of hotel and motel tiny guest soaps from the 1950s and 1960s:
Hovercrafts
The Hovercraft Museum is located in Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire, UK.
It is home to the world's only collection of historic hovercraft.
Hymnals
Click here to enter The Exciting World of Hymn Books
Click here for The Hymn Society of Great Britain & Ireland
For further reading take a look at Hymnology by David W. Music
Some Hymnals
Knitting
The Framework Knitters's Museum
In Ruddington, one of Nottinghamshire's award-winning museums . . . explore cottages restored to 1850 and 1900 conditions with their communal pump, wash house, privy, and pigsty . . . training facilities on sock machines and knitting frames . . . and a primitive Methodist chapel.
[Thank you Jamie Regan for telling us about this site.]
Knitting [Not Machine Knitting]
Lavatories
International Lavatory Musuem
Located in Sulabh, India, the International Lavatory Museum housing a collection of lavatory items.
The highlight of the collection is a replica of Louis IXV's throne with a hidden commode. The monarch is allowed to pass his motion while going through the motions of the day, attending the court and listening to his visitors.
Iranian Toilet Sign
The Toilet Museum
A Toilet
Lawnmowers
The British Lawnmower Museum in Southport, Lancashire, UK, has a fascinating display of over 100 lawnmowers.
There are lawnmowers made by Rolls Royce, Daimler, Hawker Sidley and British Leyland. There are lawnmowers of the rich and famous.
There is fascinating information about the history of lawnmower racing, which we think is a good form of safe excitement. Lawn mower racing had its origins in a meeting of enthusiastic beer drinkers at The Cricketers Arms, Wisborough Green, West Sussex.
The first British Grand Prix meeting for lawn mowers ran at Wisborough Green, West Sussex in 1973 and attracted 35 drivers who drove mowers ranging from a 1923 Atco to a brand new eight horsepower Wheel Horse. There were races for run-behind mowers, towed-seat mowers and the type you sit on top of. These formed the classification system for present-day lawnmower racing, which are Class 1: Run Behind, Class 2: Towed Seat Type and Class 3 , The Sit on Type.
Warning: music on website; we think country & western.
[Thank you Dan Appleby for telling us about this museum and website.]
A Lawnmower
License Plates
The Argentina License Plate Museum
An Argentine License Plate
The License Plate Museum or Nummernschildmuseum is a German museum located in Grossolbersdorf, Chemnitz (near the Czech border).
License Plates
Miniature Objects
D.D. Smalley’s Hyde Park Miniature Museum, based in Houston, Texas, features a collection of pencil stubs, radio tubes, telescope lenses, arrowheads, postage stamps, cucumber seed, costumed fleas and found on the Capital Grounds in Washington DC . . . a petrified mastodon tooth.
The items in the museum were collected by David David Smalley. He was a mapmaker for the South Pacific Railroad, a job that required keen observation, a stead hand, and patience. He was our kind of guy.
Smalley was an avid collector, as well as an amateur scientist, inventor, and folk artist. He carefully assembled all that he collected, labelled each item in precise, impeccable lettering. You can see pictures of Smalley here.
His parents named him David David, once for his grandfather and once for his uncle. In this description of him and his museum, we call him Smalley. We would have referred to him as David, but we were not sure which David he would have preferred: the David from his grandfather or the David from his uncle. Calling him David David would have looked strange: so we called him Smalley.
The museum was in the attic of Smalley’s house. It was opened to the public on weekend until Smalley’s death, at the age of 73, in 1958. In the 1970s, Frank Davis, Smalley’s grandson, reopened the attic museum. The first task was to clean off decades of dust. In a gesture Smalley would certainly have approved of, the dust was saved in a jar.
You can read even more about it in a newspaper article here.
Nails
The Nail Museum
Located in Finland on the site of a nail factory founded in 1804, the Nail Factory houses all sorts of nails.
Some Nails
Needles
Dear DMC,
I found the The Needle Museum quite interesting but the situation was rescued by the museum being in Redditch.
However, a word of warning: the cafe sells Cornetto ice creams, which every dull man knows is dangerously bordering on the exciting. I took a bottle of water with me.
Simon B
Dear Simon,
Thank you so much for this news. We went to their web site and are really interested . . . we looking forward to traveling to Redditch . . . to Needle Mill Lane . . . to spend a lot of time at what appears to be a truly fascinating museum.
As for the Cornetto ice cream, there might be no need to be worried. We went to the ice cream company's web site (http://www.unilever.co.uk/ourbrands/foods/Cornetto.asp). We see that they have vanilla. Let's hope that, among the flavors served at this museum, they include vanilla.
DMC
Needles
Outdoor Fire Hydrants
Outdoor Fire Hydrant Museum
This museum is indeed unique: it is missing. Apparently, no one knows where it is. In an attempt to find it, a website about fire hydrants (http://www.firehydrant.org) pleas, "We do not know where this outdoor fire hydrant museum is and of course are quite anxious to find out. If you have even seen this place or know where it might be, please send us an email and let us know."
Click here to see a picture of the museum. There are 24 hydrants in the picture, including a two Ludlow Valve hydrants, one Glamorgan hydrant and two Corey hydrants. There are no dogs in this picture.
Packaging
Museum of Brands, Packaging & Advertising
Around the corner from Portobello Road Market in Notting Hill you'll find a unique look at the last 250 years. Marvel at 12,000 items of vintage design in our decade-by-decade galleries. Chart the evolving taste of the British consumer by discovering what made the Victorian shopper tick, what your ancestors bought and what the modern consumer demands. Whether you visit to awaken memories of your childhood or to be charmed by the retro styles on show you're sure to learn something new about something old at the Museum of Brads, Packaging and Advertising.
The museum's shop has a nice selection of refrigerator magnets, postcards, posters, coasters, mugs, and other items with brands from yesteryear on them.
Pencils
The Cumberland Pencil Museum
A fascinating museum. And a fascinating web site.
It has the history of Cumberland graphite. First discovered about 1500 near Keswick by shepherds and was first used for marking sheep.
About 50 years later, the first pencils ever made were produced from the graphite. Pencils were made in the beginning by cutting the graphite and wrapping it in sheepskin. A wooden holder was then developed in Italy. A cottage industry making pencils grew in Keswick. The web site and museum have pictures of these early days of pencil manufacturing.
[Thank you Mark Malik for telling us about this museum and website.]
Pinball Machines
National Pinball Museum (Silver Spring, Maryland)
This museum does not exist yet. It is a dream of David Silveman. David, who lives in Silver Spring, Maryland and is a landscaper specializing in Japanese gardens by day, is a self-confessed full-tine pinball fanatic. He has collected 867 pinball machines over the past 30 years.
You can read more about David and his collection in an article "Maryland man with 867 pinball machines dreams of opening museum" in The Washington Post on January 2, 2010.
it looks to us that David's museum will hold the record for number of pinball machines in a museum. The Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vega, described next, is a museum of pinball machines also. The information about it does not say exactly how many pinball machines are housed in it; the information only says there are approximately 2000 machines in the museum.
Pinball Hall of Fame (Las Vega, Nevada)
The Pinball Hall of Fame, www.pinballmuseum,org, is sponsored by the Las Vegas Pinball Collectors Club to
Postcards and Greeting Cards
The first such museum on the Internet. Over 900 cards on exhibit.
The site has something that is truly fascinating: The History of Greeting Cards
The first card was a Valentine, back in the 1400s. It is now housed in the British Museum.
There are exhibits of cards for New Year's, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Birthdays and more.
A caution to dull men: this site uses exclamation points.
Boring Postcards just as they are: click here
Boring Postcards USA: click here
Potted Meat
Dear DMC,
My fellow dull men will surely enjoy an online visit to The Potted Meat Museum at www.pottedmeatmuseum.org. Not a great site for vegetarians, it must be said.
Best wishes,
Steve Reszetniak
Please note: The Potted Meat Museum is currently closed for maintenance.
Potted Meat On An Attractive Blue Truck
Rowing
Rowing Museum
This is a museum of the sport of rowing (rather than a record of famous rows.)
The River & Rowing Museum
RVs and Caravans
RV Museum
Located in Elkhart in Indiana, the home of the RV. For readers in the UK, an RV is a caravan.
Dozens of vintage and contemporary RVs. The vintage RVs include a Q1Q920s pop-up tent trailer, a 1938 Covered Wagon with a camping lodge-style interior, a 1957 Airstream Caravanner and a 1960s hippie Byus.
The Caravan Museum
Located about 6 kms from Les-Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer on the right hand on the road to Arles in France.
A Caravan
Salt
The Salt Museum
Located in Northwich, Chesire in the UK, the Salt Museum conserves and promotes the history of the salt industry of the Cheshire salt towns.
There are photographs from the 1870s onwards that show many aspects of the salt industry such as mining and trasporation. There are publications for sale such as "The Supply of Brine" (45 pence), "Roman Salt Making" (25 pence), "The Salt Tax" (25 pence), and "Salt in the Home" (35 pence).
[Thank you Mike West for telling us about this museum]
Sand
Collect sand?
Sand
Yes, it is done. Click here - we notice it also seems to stimulate a great deal of comment too...
Museum of World Sands
Sewing Machines
Dear DMC,
I have a suggestion for your museums page.
The Sewing Machine Museum located in unglamorous Tooting Bec, London, UK.
This is an exceedingly dull museum, and is perfectly safe to be entered on your site and visited by members.
Many thanks,
Terry
Shopping Carts
Dull men love shopping carts. They are practical, beautifully designed and we love to see them raced. Here is a history of the shopping cart.
A Shopping Cart
Sod Houses
Sod House Museum, Gothenburg, Nebraska
Sod House Museum, Wheatridge, Colarado
Sod House Museum, Aline, Oklahoma
Sod Houses
Staplers
Antique staplers and other paper fasteners are on display at what is officially named The Early Office Museum.
Steam
The Kew Bridge Steam Museum is recognised as the most important historic site of the water supply industry in Britain. The steam engine pumped water to supply the needs of London. The museum explains how London's water supply has evolved from Roman times to the present day.
It contains the world's largest collection of steam pumping engines, many of which you can see working, and London's only working steam railway.
Steam
Street Signs
A great collection of street signs by Steve Salcedo from Indiana. Steve emphasises on numerous occasions that his collection is legal.
Taxes
Here is a museum about something that is right up our alley: taxes. Our attention is grabbed because we understand that the purpose of this museum is to learn about the routine work of the tax department. Wow, it doesn't get much better than that for dull men: routine, tax and dull.
The purpose of the Museum of Tax, Israel is to:
- Centralize a collection about taxes in the ancient world and in Jewish communities of the Diaspora, and also about taxation in Israel, through its history.
- To be a "show window" through which the public can learn about the development of taxes, and about the routine work of the tax department.
Activities offered by the museum are:
- Tours for individuals and organized groups; [does this mean that disorganized groups cannot join the tours?]
- Professional guidance (optional); [does this mean that the other activities are mandatory?]
- Recommended as a source of information and inspiration for research and study activities in the field of taxation; [we look forward to going there for inspiration.]
- There also is a page about the History of the Museum. The history is a full 43 words long.
[Thanks to Josh Segal from Harvard Law School for informing this about this museum]
The Tax History Museum is a virtual museum which provides a synthetic overview of the history of American taxation (1660 - present). Incorporating both narrative text and multimedia source materials, the museum offers a concise summary of American revenue policy and politics.
Grover is happy beyond words to learn about this museum.
Tax
Tennis Rackets
Vintage Tennis Rackets is a museum tracing the racquet evolution from the beginning of lawn tennis to the present day.
The evolution of racquet design and technology is interesting and has had profound impact on the game. The evolution accelerated significantly in the late 20th century with the use of new materials which allowed greater design flexibility and creativity.
A highlight is a wooden racquet design features chart and racquet terminology information.
Tennis Rackets
Toothbrushes
The Toothbrush Musuem is the largest toothbrush museum in the world and is very well illustrated.
It contains more than 2500 beautifully displayed images of toothbrushes. The collection is noted in the Swedish Guinness Book of Records.
A Toothbrush
Traffic Signs
Willis Lamm's Traffic Signal Collection is a beautifully laid out and beautifully index website showing a fabulous collection.
Warning to dull men: There are many traffic signal collection websites, some of which seem exciting. Be careful.
A Traffic Signal
Trains
The National Railway Museum
The Museum Of The Great Western Railway
Birmingham Railway Museum - the custodian of the Tyseley Collection of railway engines & railway artefacts.
A Train
Typewriters
The Virtual Typewriter Museum is based on private collections of antique typewriters from around the world.
Lady Typewriter is a virtual museum containing postcards of typewriters, antique typewriters and typewriter ribbon tins.
Chuck & Rich's Antique Typewriter Museum is a growing collection of over 500 different typewriters.
A Typewriter (From 1930)
Underpants Museum
Belgian Underpants Museum
Vacuum Cleaners
The Cyberspace Vacuum Cleaner Museum is the creation of Charles Richard Lester.
Vacuum Cleaners
Vinegar
The International Vinegar Museum
Located in Roslyn, North Dakota, USA, the International Vinegar Museum houses an international collection of vinegars.
Bottles of Malt Vinegar
Washing-Up Bowls
Dear DMC,
I‘m making a collection of photographs of washing-up bowls in sinks. Can you or your members help please?
John Rand
Rayleigh, Essex
Dear John,
This is a worthy undertaking. We will do all we can to help.
Do you have a website of the photographs you have collected so far? If, so what is the URL? We would like to link to it.
If readers of this blog posting have pictures of washing-up bowls, please forward them to us and we will pass them on to John. If you don’t have these pictures yet, get your cameras out and start snapping.
Sincerely*,
Grover
*Dull men are always sincere, mostly.
Windmills
Wimbledon Windmill Museum
[We had written a description of this museum. We were reading it on a nice day - outdoors. It suddenly blew away. We are writing it again. Stay tuned.]
