Taking as a starting point my short list in Museums of Interesting Things at Interesting Thing of the Day, I set out to discover other small museums that specialize in just one specific (and typically rather odd) subject matter. I thought I’d find a few more; it turns out there are dozens. Here’s a mere sampling from around the world; for other lists, see Weird museums and America’s Weird Museums. And by the way, these are all brick-and-mortar museums; there are many more that exist only on the Web.
- Automata:
- (1) Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum (Farmington Hills, Michigan)
- (2) Musée Mécanique (San Francisco, California)—as mentioned in The Musée Mécanique at Interesting Thing of the Day
- Bakelite: (3) Bakelite Museum (Williton, Somerset, England)—as mentioned in Jackie Chappell’s article Bakelite at Interesting Thing of the Day
- Bananas: (4) The Washington Banana Museum (Auburn, Washington)
- Barbed Wire:
- (5) Devil’s Rope Museum (McLean, Texas)
- (6) Kansas Barbed Wire Museum (Lacrosse, Kansas)
- Bricks:
- (7) Frank and Jane Clement Brick Museum (Orchard Park, New York)
- (8) Haverstraw Brick Museum (Haverstraw, New York)
- (9) World Brick Museum (Maizuru City, Japan)
- Cheese:
- (10) Cheese Museum of the Netherlands (Het Hollands Kaasmuseum, Alkmaar, Netherlands)
- (11) Cuba Cheese Museum (Cuba, New York)
- Cockroaches: (12) The Cockroach Hall of Fame Museum (Plano, Texas)
- Corkscrews: (13) The Corkscrew Museum (Le Musée du Tire-Bouchon, between Cavaillon and Apt in Provence, France)
- Fans: (14) The Fan Museum (Greenwich, London, England)
- Hats:
- (15) The Hat Museum (Portland, Oregon)
- (16) Hat Works (Stockport, Cheshire, England)
- Lawnmowers: (17) British Lawnmower Museum (Southport, Lancashire, England)
- Lingerie: (18) Frederick’s of Hollywood Lingerie Museum (Los Angeles, California)
- Medical Paraphernalia:
- (19) Glore Psychiatric Museum (St. Joseph, Missouri)
- (20) The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices (St. Paul, Minnesota)
- (21) The New Orleans Pharmacy Museum (New Orleans, Louisiana)
- Pencils: (22) The Cumberland Pencil Museum (Keswick, Cumbria, England)
- Pez Dispensers: (23) Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia (Burlingame, California)
- Rice:
- (24) Muzium Padi (Rice Museum, Kedah, Malaysia)
- (25) Rice Museum (Georgetown, South Carolina)
- Shoes:
- (26) The Bata Shoe Museum (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
- (27) Deutsches Ledermuseum (German Leather Museum/Shoe Museum, Offenbach, Germany)
- (28) Giant Shoe Museum (Seattle, Washington)
- (29) Museo del Calzado (Museum of Shoes, Elda, Spain)
- (30) The Temple University School of Podiatric Medicine Shoe Museum (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
- Toilets: (31) Sulabh International Museum of Toilets (New Delhi, India)
- Water: (32) New York Museum of Water (New York, New York)
Feed the authors who feed your mind. 
September 22nd, 2006 at 2:10 pm
There’s a National Museum of Funeral History in Texas that is open seven days a week with $6 admission for adults (281-876-3063). Pretty weird stuff, but a “real museum” to be sure.
September 22nd, 2006 at 2:11 pm
are people dying to get in?
September 22nd, 2006 at 2:20 pm
Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum is not a museum, it’s a video arcade. I live nearby in a nearby city in Michigan.
September 22nd, 2006 at 2:21 pm
There is a mustard museum in Mt.Horeb, Wisconsin. http://www.mustardweb.com
September 22nd, 2006 at 2:21 pm
In my hometown there is the International Towing and Recovery Hall of Fame and Museum, which includes a wall (similiar to the Vietnam War Memorial) which lists all the men and women who died “in the line of duty” as wreckers.
http://www.internationaltowingmuseum.org
September 22nd, 2006 at 2:26 pm
The Kholer toilet company runs a museum in Kholer, Wi. I’ve been there- and I think I accidently went to the bathroom in a for-show installation.
September 22nd, 2006 at 2:34 pm
ROLLERSKATING MUSEUM LINCOLN, NEBRASKA
September 22nd, 2006 at 2:49 pm
Don’t miss the Museum of Holography in Chicago, it’s craptacular:
holographiccenter.com
“A teaching and research facility specifically dedicated to displaying, promoting, and encouraging the advancement of holography.”
September 22nd, 2006 at 2:51 pm
Glore Psychiatric Museum, St. Joseph, Missouri.
Not exactly a weird subject, but the exhibits within showcase some of the most freaky patient and doctor behavior from the last 100+ years of mental health.
for a small taste: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/MOSTJglor.html
September 22nd, 2006 at 2:59 pm
I was so surprised to see Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum on this list! That place is such a treasure in Michigan; a good part of my childhood was spent there playing the arcade games and looking at all of the quirky things they had there.
Thanks for honoring that truly deserving museum
September 22nd, 2006 at 3:14 pm
http://www.tesla-museum.org in Colorado Springs. I went, and all of the perpetual motion machine prototypes had signs on them that said “out of order.”
September 22nd, 2006 at 3:22 pm
Let’s not forget the Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame in St. Louis, MO
http://www.bowlingmuseum.com
September 22nd, 2006 at 3:25 pm
museum of sex – manhattan, new york – http://www.museumofsex.com
September 22nd, 2006 at 4:29 pm
Nam co, M, Chad, Steve, Leigh, Bitslicer, and Jevin: Thanks for your excellent additions to the list!
T and DTam: I’ll let the two of you fight it out as to whether Marvin’s is really a museum. I haven’t been there, but since the name includes the word “museum,” I figured it counted.
Zanthany: Yep, the Glore Psychiatric Museum is on my list (#19).
Keep those wacky museum suggestions coming!
September 22nd, 2006 at 4:37 pm
Museum of Ham – Madrid (It was really as shop, but it is called the Museum of Ham and it is wall to wall, floor to ceiling – ham.)
September 22nd, 2006 at 5:14 pm
There’s a rosery museum in the Columbia Gorge in Washington, which I’ve driven by a couple of times. It is so big, it’s even been featured in Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, but I don’t think the rosery museum has its own home page—seems to be part of the Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center Museum. http://www.columbiagorge.org/exhibits http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1116644
September 22nd, 2006 at 5:44 pm
[...] Here’s a list of 32 weird museums. The big question is why these museums are necessary. Do we really need 3 museums dedicated to bricks? Or a museum of rice? And how about a museum of bananas? These are all real museums you can go and visit, and this list doesn’t include any of the Internet museums that also exist to document completely pointless things. You could plan your next holiday around visiting some of these museums, if you don’t have a life. [...]
September 22nd, 2006 at 8:21 pm
There’s the hammer museum in Haines Alaska, the curator is very interesting also. Do you know the difference in a hammer and a mallet. Now I do.
September 22nd, 2006 at 8:25 pm
You’re missing the Icelandic Phallological Museum (aka penis museum)!
http://www.phallus.is
September 22nd, 2006 at 9:37 pm
There is a bead museum in Washington DC: http://www.beadmuseumdc.org
September 23rd, 2006 at 12:27 am
There is a really ‘craptastic’ museum in london that deals with the most random shit ever made.
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern
September 23rd, 2006 at 1:27 am
Wouldn’t imagine most of these existed :)
September 23rd, 2006 at 1:28 am
There is a penis museum in Iceland called The Icelandic Phallological Museum
September 23rd, 2006 at 1:44 am
[...] 32 Weirdly Specific Museums [...]
September 24th, 2006 at 11:35 pm
San Jose, California has a Quilt museum.
I’ve been to the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum and the Iga-Ueno Ninja Museum. Here in Ehime prefecture, There’s Asakura Towel Museum in Imabari, as well as a paper museum in Mishima and a sex shrine/museum in Uwajima (www1.quolia.com/dekoboko).
September 26th, 2006 at 5:39 am
In Sparta, Greece, there is a Museum of the Olive, and in high Wycombe, England, a Chair Museum.
September 26th, 2006 at 9:58 am
Don’t forget the Antique Washing Machine Museum in Mineral Wells, Texas. Drove by it many times before actually stopping in–it was certainly worth the 20 minutes.
September 26th, 2006 at 10:47 am
Be sure to check out the Mike Weaver Drain Tile Museum outside of Geneva, NY!
http://www.genevahistoricalsociety.com/Johnston.htm
September 26th, 2006 at 11:06 am
When in Atlanta, don’t miss the Museum of Patriotism…
http://www.museumofpatriotism.org
September 26th, 2006 at 11:12 am
Mushroom Museum Phillips Mushroom Place 909 East Baltimore Pike Kennett Square, PA 19348-1896 (610) 388 6082
September 26th, 2006 at 11:50 am
There’s also the Eichenau Peppermint Museum in Germany.
Besides having recipes, and other assorted mint facts on their website, they offer free e-cards. A good way to blow someone’s mind!
September 26th, 2006 at 12:48 pm
A museum all about paperweights!
September 26th, 2006 at 12:48 pm
http://www.paperweightmuseum.com/history/
September 26th, 2006 at 6:50 pm
[...] A couple of days ago, we saw a huge spike in the number of visitors to SenseList, thanks to a mention on digg. That was pretty cool, especially since SenseList hadn’t yet attracted a great deal of attention since we launched the site in July. But today, we saw an even bigger surge of interest, this time due to a mention in Yahoo TV’s daily The 9 (we were #5). In both cases, the post that attracted so much attention was 32 Weirdly Specific Museums. Which is funny, because that was, for me, one of those off-the-cuff, phone-it-in kinds of posts, based on an article I wrote for Interesting Thing of the Day way back when: Museums of Interesting Things. [...]
September 26th, 2006 at 6:55 pm
Banknotes.com has a World Currency Museum/Gallery
September 26th, 2006 at 6:57 pm
And Canada has an actual physical museum where they invite you to: “explore the evolution of money around the world and through the ages at the Bank of Canada’s Currency Museum. A fascinating variety of media of exchange including shells, teeth, and cocoa beans, as well as today’s currency, tells us about the societies where they originated.”
September 28th, 2006 at 1:57 pm
Don’t forget the Hair Museum
October 1st, 2006 at 11:13 pm
These are all outstanding additions to the list—thanks everyone! (And a special nod to Del; I’ve been to the Tate Modern and I agree with your assessment. Sorry, modern art fans!)
A couple more suggestions that came in by email:
Another Bead Museum, this one in Glendale, Arizona: thebeadmuseum.com
The 400 museums around Basel, Switzerland. The 400 museums around Basel, Switzerland. This article lists 30 of them, including the paper mill museum (Basler Papiermühle).
October 24th, 2006 at 3:55 am
Congratulations, you made it in the top list of lists. Please take a look here: http://uberlogging.blogspot.com/2006/10/top-list-of-top-lists.html
October 25th, 2006 at 12:42 pm
Museum of stained glass art and enamelling art in Ravenstein, the Netherlands ( museum voor vlakglas- en emaillekunst ) http://www.vlakglas-en-emaillekunst.nl
January 12th, 2007 at 7:16 am
The Spam museum in Austin, MN.
January 23rd, 2007 at 6:15 pm
Is the Mütter Museum weirdly specific or just weird?
Or perhaps it’s just too much awesome.
Las Vegas is also great for odd museums, such as the Liberace Museum. After all, where else are you going to get a sequined potholder?
February 14th, 2007 at 11:37 am
The Pencil Museum – never take the thing fo granted again – Lake District England
April 13th, 2007 at 8:18 am
Museum of Bad Art
http://www.museumofbadart.org/
May 8th, 2007 at 11:13 am
Great list!
The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices has a new web address:
http://www.museumofquackery.com
Thought you might want to update your link!!
May 23rd, 2007 at 7:13 am
there is a parasite museum in Tokyo. They have the worlds longest tape worm. Pretty gross.
August 21st, 2007 at 9:07 pm
may i add the museum of butter in maslovice czech republic – if you are nearby well worth a visit, bring your own bread!
November 8th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
[...] read more | digg story No Comments so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI Leave a comment Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong> [...]
December 11th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
i’ve been driving by this place in Connecticut for years and maybe one day will stop. The Golden Age of Trucking Museum. has anyone been there?
http://www.goldenagetruckmuseum.com/about.shtml
March 24th, 2008 at 11:12 am
[...] 32 museos a cada cual más rarosenselist.com/2006/09/18/32-weirdly-specific-museums/ por gr42321 hace pocos segundos [...]
May 20th, 2008 at 7:19 am
Two more additions from Bradford Pennsylvania – the Zippo lighter museum (some great war stories with returned zippos) and the Buck pen knife museum. Both associated with factories.
August 25th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
[...] read more | digg story Posted in Uncategorized. [...]
September 27th, 2008 at 7:10 am
The BarbWire Museum is awesome. The building was once a bra factory. Not only do you learn about the of history of barbwire and ranching in Texas, but the evolution of the bra.
September 29th, 2008 at 9:58 am
let’s not forget the Crayola Museum in Easton, PA (US)
October 3rd, 2008 at 12:56 pm
The “Hand Museum” in Lausanne, Switzerland
Most of the time medical oriented exhibitions, but boring all the time !
November 4th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
St. Petersburg, Russia has a “Hygeine Museum” designed to scare schoolchildren into washing their hands. Exhibits include Pavlov’s real dog, a smoker’s lung, and lifesize models depicting victims of various diseases (plague, cholera, etc.)
May 23rd, 2009 at 12:02 am
Two weirdly specific museums in one: a) Zane Grey Museum (author, notable for westerns) b) National Road Museum Each worth the price of admission. http://ohsweb.ohiohistory.org/places/se07/index.shtml
Also I’ve been to the Pedaling History Bicycle Museum in Orchard Park, NY. Too bad it’s closing its doors. http://www.pedalinghistory.com/
June 29th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
I found senselist.com very informative. The article is professionally written and I feel like the author knows the subject very well. senselist.com keep it that way.