Museums of the United States

[SimonBolivar 10,959]

From the Met to the Toy Museum of Branson and everything in between. What are you favorites? I'm a huge museum nerd and will hit up any that I can whenever possible. Unfortunately, I haven't hit most of the major ones in NYC, LA, Boston, or Philly so obviously this isn't any type of exhaustive list and is Texas centric obviously.  

My two favorites mainly for their design

1.) National WWII Museum

 

Outstanding flow and exhibit structure. From the beginning to the end and so rich in detail that you could spend a week there and not see everything. The only negative I can think of would be that it's WW2. Now WW2 is of course infinitely fascinating, but in a public history setting like this you don't learn too much if you are someone that's studied the war. The exception for that is of course personal narratives. I really think this is a good blueprint for what museums of the future should look like.

 

2.) The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

 

 Like the WW2 Museum this is one that is studied for what museums should be and how to engage the public in history. The way the museum flow is designed is fantastic and the depth of information around the shooting is excellent and the use of audio really sets everything up. Negatives are of course it is limited in scale as mainly being about one event, but there is some depth around the JFK presidency as well. Even pre-covid there was quite the wait on the day I went.

 

 

Some other ones in no particular order (even the overrated ones were good times)...

 

Overrated:

1.) Bullock Museum of Texas State History (Could be so much more)

2.) Kimbell Art Museum (Largely depends on the special exhibitions)

3.) The Alamo (Is the renovation still on?)

4.) Graceland (holy hell it's expensive now)

5.) Any of the Titanic Experiences (overpriced, for profit)

 

Rated About Right:

1.) Monticello

2.) Shiloh National Military Park

3.) The Biltmore

4.) Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

5.) Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum

6.) Holocaust Museum Houston

7.) Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center

 

 

 

Underrated:

1.) Dallas Museum of Art

2.) Blanton Museum of Art

3.) San Antonio Missions National Park

4.) USS Lexington

5.) Vicksburg National Military Park

6.) San Antonio Museum of Art

7.) The Hermitage

8.) Denver Museum of Art

9.) National Museum of the Pacific War

10.) The College Football Hall of Fame (South Bend, IN location, RIP)

 

My top 3 bucket list for the future:

1.) The Metropolitan Museum of Art

2.) National Museum of African American History and Culture

3.) Tenement Museum

 

 

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

The Barber vintage motorcycle museum in Leeds Alabama is hands down the coolest museum I've ever been to, and the collection of motorcycles, and vintage race cars is more than world class, it's a solar system class.  I suggest if you're ever up that ways you should take a ganders, its quite an example.  And there's a road course where you can get behind the wheel of a Porche or other exotic, high speed vee-hicle.

Edited May 14, 2021 by Onboard 2.0

[The Ace of Aces 5,194]

Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles is the best museum for aviation in the world, imo  

Art Institute of Chicago is the best art museum in the country, I think. It’s collection is insane, diverse and unique.    

 

[Sam Lin 3,561]

Musical Instrument Museum in north Phoenix, AZ. Such a cool concept, great artist participation in providing instruments, costumes, other items. Totally interactive and multimedia, you get to see, hear, touch (in many cases) all these incredibly diverse and significant instruments. Kids have a great time, lots to play. Adults have a great time learning about some of their favorite artists or needing out about specific instruments.

The concert hall there is THE best sounding room I've been in, it was purpose built for performance acoustics and uses heavily local materials. Check the concert calendar and go to something in there, even if it doesn't seem like your cup of tea. It's small, intimate, and they bring in a hugely diverse pool of performances that really broaden musical horizons.

The onsite cafe is heavily local ingredients by a respected chef, not generic food.

It's deservedly one of the top rated attractions on TripAdvisor, nationwide!

mim.org is their site. Can't recommend it enough if you are in AZ.

 

[pantone159 719]

The mineral exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science is fantastic. I always loved checking that out. There is also a seashell collection just outside the mineral wing that is really cool as well. The best mineral collection I ever saw though, was the E. A. Seaman museum, which was (formerly) on the Michigan Tech campus in the UP. It has moved somewhere else now, and was only partially on display when I visited, but they had some really cool stuff. First there were great specimens from the Upper Peninsula (copper, silver, iron minerals), plus lots of other really cool specimens from around the world, and with a great fluorescent mineral display.

 

[mdmost 43,053]

The Museum of Pop Culture (MoPop) in Seattle is pretty badass, especially if you enjoyed the grunge era. The Chihuly Museum next to the Space Needle is also great. 

Edited May 15, 2021 by mdmost

[Pato del Muerto 52,608]

https://centerofthewest.org/our-museums/firearms/

[Mrs Whiggins 13,050]

Some of my favorites have already been mentioned (Chicago and other cities), so I'll go a different route and list some of the lesser known and quirky museums our family has visited, or I visited when I was young:

Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer (Grand Island, NE). Huge museum complex/buildings. Was a long time ago so I can't list specifics.

Adam's Museum (Deadwood, SD). There is more than one museum in Deadwood and I think this is the one that had a chair made out of antlers. For some reason, that was a big hit.

National Mustard Museum (when we went it was called the Mt. Horeb Mustard Museum) (Mt. Horeb, WI) Yes it's devoted to mustard. Why not?

Laura Ingalls Wilder Home/Museum (Mansfield, MO). Children enjoyed it; has Pa's fiddle.

Healdton Oil Museum. (Healdton, OK) The oil bidness. Very small, very high quirky quotient. If I'm remembering it right, this one had a collection of old gasoline signs. A lot of pump jacks/equipment outside too.

Philbrook Museum and Gilcrease Museum (Tulsa, OK) Loved visiting these as a child. Philbrook was the home of Waite Phillips. When I was young the museum had not had quite so many additions and still looked a lot like a 'home.' The gardens were my favorite part. Gilcrease has an amazing collection of art of Indigenous peoples and the American West.

Nebraska State Museum of Natural History (Lincoln, NE) Because: Elephant Hall, the mammoth collection. Lincoln also has the International Quilt Museum which has the largest collection (public) in the world.

Huntington Museum (San Marino, CA) Finally got to see Gainsborough's The Blue Boy. When I was a high school student learning about art, I never dreamed I would get to see such in person. The gardens were so vast I could've spent days there.

 

There's more, but that's a quick list.

Edit--Forgot to add one that is on my to visit list--the National Museum of the American Indian

 

 

Edited May 15, 2021 by Mrs Whiggins

[DallasHorn26 586]

The 9/11 Memorial and Museum is one of my most memorable visits.

[Txzen 498]

3 hours ago, The Ace of Aces said:

Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles is the best museum for aviation in the world, imo  .    

 

Came here to post this. I have memories of the Smithsonian air and space museum as a child, but discovered the Udvar-Hazy with my young son - blew both our minds. It’s simply exceptional. 

[Guest]

I've been through a metric shit-ton of military bases/ historical sites/ retired ships.  Fort McHenry still blows my mind when you stand there in the ramparts and imagine what the rebels faced.

The 9-11 Memorial moved me like nothing ever has.  Not sure I could go in there again.  It was a very tough day walking through there.  It is very well done, IMHO.  The gravity of it all is like a vice on your soul.

[HornOnTheBayou 8,947]

The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City is one you definitely need to check out if you're in the neighborhood. Then you can take walk over to the National World War I Museum which is also excellent.

[VABuckeye 2,472]

Vietnam Memorial as well.

We are currently redoing the security system in the east building of the National Gallery of Art and my guys hate that building.  Hardest set of rules to work under we've ever encountered.

[South Austin 52,617]

5 hours ago, slorch said:

The 9-11 Memorial moved me like nothing ever has.  Not sure I could go in there again.  It was a very tough day walking through there.  It is very well done, IMHO.  The gravity of it all is like a vice on your soul.

Agreed. I had to leave after about two hours. It was too much.

I’m not an art guy, but I like art enough, and the Museum of Modern Art in NYC is fantastic.

[South Austin 52,617]

10 hours ago, mdmost said:

The Museum of Pop Culture (MoPop) in Seattle is pretty badass, especially if you enjoyed the grunge era. The Chihuly Museum next to the Space Needle is also great. 

Props to both. My kids really liked them. Hoping to back to Seattle in late summer and hit those two spots again.

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

Marine corps museum at Quantico.  Cool as shit building,  you don't realize how large it is till you look up, and there are 3 -4 fighter aircraft hanging above your head.

You ain't getting out of there without an empty box of tissues. It's incredibly dusty up in that place.

[South Austin 52,617]

14 minutes ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Marine corps museum at Quantico.  Cool as shit building,  you don't realize how large it is till you look up, and there are 3 -4 fighter aircraft hanging above your head.

You ain't getting out of there without an empty box of tissues. It's incredibly dusty up in that place.

I was born in Quantico and spent about half of my childhood there. Would love to go back and see that.

[Underdog 28,775]

This is just up the road from me and I've yet to check it out...

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

35 minutes ago, South Austin said:

I was born in Quantico and spent about half of my childhood there. Would love to go back and see that.

It's an experience.

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

12 minutes ago, Underdog said:

This is just up the road from me and I've yet to check it out...

Riiiiiiiiveting........  I believe that's right down the street from that guy with the largest ball of twine in America.

[Guest]

The bottle museum( and such) is interesting to me with a background in the consumer packaged goods industry.  

That being said, it seems like a trap to get hustled into paying to see someone's junk collection/ hoarding.

[Underdog 28,775]

Admission is free but donations are always welcomed.  I have yet to make it down to the NYS Museum, it just recently reopened from the pandemic. 

 

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

25 minutes ago, slorch said:

The bottle museum( and such) is interesting to me with a background in the consumer packaged goods industry.  

That being said, it seems like a trap to get hustled into paying to see someone's junk collection/ hoarding.

Yeah actually kind of cool. Relic hunting with my dad as a kid, I'd rummage around the old house sites we'd find back in the woods.  You'd find 19th c. bottles mixed in with some cool early 20th century stuff.

[RollLeft 5,045]

The Getty in L.A. is beautiful.  The exhibit is fine but the museum itself is a major work of art.

I'll never forget the national Holocaust Museum in D.C.

Your bucket list for art Galleries including the MET is correct.  The national Gallery is also nice.  

Henry Ford Museum and grounds is worth it.    

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

Loved touring the Biltmore. Appomattox is underrated, I think. And there's several pirate-themed museums all up and down the Atlantic coast, and I want to visit each and every one of them. Probably my favorite so far has been in Beaufort, NC, but there's a ton of smallish but good ones.

[Upgrayedd 5,821]

15 hours ago, Sam Lin said:

Musical Instrument Museum in north Phoenix, AZ. Such a cool concept, great artist participation in providing instruments, costumes, other items. Totally interactive and multimedia, you get to see, hear, touch (in many cases) all these incredibly diverse and significant instruments. Kids have a great time, lots to play. Adults have a great time learning about some of their favorite artists or needing out about specific instruments.

The concert hall there is THE best sounding room I've been in, it was purpose built for performance acoustics and uses heavily local materials. Check the concert calendar and go to something in there, even if it doesn't seem like your cup of tea. It's small, intimate, and they bring in a hugely diverse pool of performances that really broaden musical horizons.

The onsite cafe is heavily local ingredients by a respected chef, not generic food.

It's deservedly one of the top rated attractions on TripAdvisor, nationwide!

mim.org is their site. Can't recommend it enough if you are in AZ.

 

^Seconded

 

 

[CHIEF 5,095]

One of my parents favorites was the Arabia Steamboat Museum in Kansas City, MO https://www.1856.com. It sank into a mud bank overnight and everything was completely preserved.

CHIEF

[VABuckeye 2,472]

The Tequila Museum, Playa del Carmen

[Underdog 28,775]

6 hours ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Riiiiiiiiveting........  I believe that's right down the street from that guy with the largest ball of twine in America.

Not anymore, feral cats got to it. 

[TexPx 2,324]

I’m a modern architecture fan so the FW Modern may be my favorite in D/FW. Love this Tadeo Ando building.
Also love The Nasher.
Underrated is The Crow Museum of Asian art across from the Nasher.

My highlight was a Wassily Kandinsky exhibit at The Guggenheim.

[CooterBrown 18,031]

Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles is the best museum for aviation in the world, imo  .    
 

The USAF Museum at Wright Patterson AFB is pretty goddamn awesome if you just care about walking right up to a huge chunk of military planes that have ever been in service.

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

3 hours ago, TexPx said:

I’m a modern architecture fan so the FW Modern may be my favorite in D/FW. Love this Tadeo Ando building.
Also love The Nasher.
Underrated is The Crow Museum of Asian art across from the Nasher.

My highlight was a Wassily Kandinsky exhibit at The Guggenheim.

That's damned nice. Love me an Ando building. What that man has done with concrete over his career is mind blowing.

Had a professor in school whose family commissioned one of the first early modern houses in Europe designed by Gerrit Rietveld.

[Mo Horn 8,855]

Holocaust museum in D.C. is awesome, and disturbing, but is a must for everyone. 

[wood 11,268]

On 5/14/2021 at 6:24 PM, SimonBolivar said:

9.) National Museum of the Pacific War

Definitely underrated. Cannot recommend it highly enough.

[Brisketexan 105,373]

A reminder that some of the best museums are small, local, nobody-knows-about-them museums.  They often have artifacts and objects from local families, and are staffed by people who know stories to go with all of them.  You get an intimate snapshot of the area and community, and the people there.

A great example is the West of the Pecos museum, in Pecos:

 

 

It's loaded with cool shit.  So many towns in the US have something similar, and they're some of our favorite places to visit.

 

[Jameslaw121 4,448]

For those with Kids, we had a Membership to the Perot Museum in Dallas pre covid and it was worth ever cent to take my (5-6 yo old at the time).  Took a day off and he and I went once. Then had lunch at the hooters down the street. Fun day!

[Baboontyme 2,825]

I don't have a lot of experience visiting museums and I know I have recommended it to others here, but if you ever find yourself in the greater Detroit area, the Henry Ford museum mentioned above is fantastic. It has many cool artifacts, but the big 3 are pretty cool. They have the chair Abe was shot in from Ford's theater. They have the limo JFK was shot in. And they have the bus that Rosa refused to give her seat up on. 

[Gunsup 56]

The Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola is amazing, but I don't think you can get in right now without a gov't I.D.

[BearSchlong 8,114]

I'll say it, the WWI museum in Kansas city is very impressive, but is so damned depressing.  Tune out the fact that millions were cannon fodder and the technology, tactics, and weapons are pretty cool.

Would not go back, but glad I went.

Headed to Chicago in August, will be spending 2 days in museums.  Is the Museum of Science and Industry worth it?

[SimonBolivar 10,959]

5 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

A reminder that some of the best museums are small, local, nobody-knows-about-them museums.  They often have artifacts and objects from local families, and are staffed by people who know stories to go with all of them.  You get an intimate snapshot of the area and community, and the people there.

A great example is the West of the Pecos museum, in Pecos:

 

 

It's loaded with cool shit.  So many towns in the US have something similar, and they're some of our favorite places to visit.

 

I remember loving 2 as a kid. One was some museum in Jacksonville (TX) and the other was the old Strecker Museum which was in the basement of a building at Baylor. I can still smell the old Strecker.

[BabaYaga 15,321]

Nimitz Museum is a must see (National Museum of the Pacific War) when in the area.

Texas Ranger Museum is pretty damn cool as is the Buddy Holly Center.

 

[RollLeft 5,045]

7 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

A reminder that some of the best museums are small, local, nobody-knows-about-them museums.  They often have artifacts and objects from local families, and are staffed by people who know stories to go with all of them.  You get an intimate snapshot of the area and community, and the people there.

A great example is the West of the Pecos museum, in Pecos:

 

 

It's loaded with cool shit.  So many towns in the US have something similar, and they're some of our favorite places to visit.

 

Judge Roy Bean museum comes to mind.

[TexArcher 38,073]

The Met is the coolest building I've been in so far.

Honorable mention to The Smithsonian.  The Air and Space Museum when I was 12 was amazing.

And the Holocaust Museum in Houston is the least fun I've ever had in a museum, but by far the most deeply moving experience.  It should be on everyone's list.

[Jerry Callo 8,728]

16 hours ago, TexArcher said:

And the Holocaust Museum in Houston is the least fun I've ever had in a museum, but by far the most deeply moving experience.  It should be on everyone's list.

My exact thoughts on the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C.

[Cheeseweasel 26,438]

Fort Ticonderoga / Mount Defiance is beautiful and amazing:

[Shoxthemonkey 1,983]

The MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA, Has lots of cool egghead stuff. The kinetic sculpture display was a particular favorite.

 

[Native Horn 3,516]

This non-Jew found the Museum of Jewish Heritage in NYC to be pretty fascinating.  It focuses on much more than just the Holocaust.  In my opinion, in a city full of great museums, it ranks up there.

As some have stated already, the 9/11 Memorial and Museum is a huge gut-punch, but it is without a doubt the best "history-of-a-day" museum I have visited.  Although, I'm not sure there are any other museums that focus on a single day in history.

[Shoxthemonkey 1,983]

While it may not be a museum by the strictest definition, the Monterey Bay Aquarium is is one of the best "living museums" I have been in.

[Larry Sellers 8]

I'll say it, the WWI museum in Kansas city is very impressive, but is so damned depressing.  Tune out the fact that millions were cannon fodder and the technology, tactics, and weapons are pretty cool.
Would not go back, but glad I went.
Headed to Chicago in August, will be spending 2 days in museums.  Is the Museum of Science and Industry worth it?

Museum of science and industry is great. Not sure about post COVID but it used to be very interactive. They have a German u boat as well. If you read the book The Devil in the White City it makes the museum even cooler. As I believe the science and industry museum is still the only building remaining from the Worlds fair in 1893.

[Bender Bending Rodriguez 1,693]

21 hours ago, Shoxthemonkey said:

While it may not be a museum by the strictest definition, the Monterey Bay Aquarium is is one of the best "living museums" I have been in.

Yep. That place is a must visit if you’re in the area.