North America Museums and Culture

    Illinois Railway Museum, United States

  7000 Olson Road - Union, IL           
All of the buildings, track, locomotives and cars were assembled here at Union on what was once farmland. Our main line trackage was laid on the vacant right-of-way of the Elgin & Belvidere Electric railway. Why would rational adults freely contribute so much of their time and treasure to creating this repository of railroad history?
To answer this question, we must remember that at one time in our nation's past the railroad industry was the largest private employer. With so many families supported by one enterprise, the widespread interest in that industry is understandable....manifesting itself in special interest groups devoted to various activities such as taking railroad pictures or publishing books on railroads, building railroad models or just "riding the rails," The Illinois Railway Museum is probably the ultimate railroad historian special interest group. Originally formed to preserve one important piece of rolling stock, it has evolved into an educational and historic preservation organization recreating possibly the largest operating demonstration railroad showcase on the North American continent.
    Georgia Museum of Natural History, United States
  University of Georgia - Athens, GA           
The science portion of the museum has fourteen different collections in Archaeology, Arthropod, Botany Herbarium, Economic Geology, Herpetology, Ichthyology, Invertebrate, Mammalogy, Mycological Herbarium, Ornithology, Paleontology, Pollen and Plant Microspore, Rocks and Minerals, and Zooarchaeology as well as more than 325,000 alcohol-preserved fish specimens. In addition, there are exhibits, archives, and entertainment for children.[4] Its more than four million objects makes it one of the largest museums in the Southeast. Source
    New Jersey State Museum, United States
  205 West State Street - Trenton, NJ            
In 1895, the New Jersey State Legislature formally established the New Jersey State Museum in the capital city of Trenton with a mission to collect and exhibit specimens in natural history, archaeology, and industrial history. The State Museum was initially accredited by the American Association of Museums in 1974. Since 1983 it has been a division of the New Jersey Department of State.
    Staff House Museum, United States
  820 McKinley Avenue - Kellogg, ID           
The Staff House Museum located at 820 W. McKinley Avenue in Kellogg was constructed in 1906 by the Bunker Hill & Sullivan Mining & Concentrating Company as the residence for Manager Stanley A. Easton and his bride, Estelle Greenough.
    North Carolina Aviation Museum, United States
  2222-G Pilots View Road - Asheboro, NC           
The North Carolina Aviation Museum is well into its second decade as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the history, as well as honoring the heritage of the wonderfully wide, wide world of flight!
    Canada Aviation Museum, Canada
  11 Aviation Parkway - Ottawa  - Ontario, CA           
The Canada Aviation Museum has avoided the tendency to concentrate exclusively on the aviation accomplishments of a single nation, or on developments within one sector of the aviation industry. Instead, the Museum’s collection policy is to illustrate the development of the flying machine in both peace and war from the pioneer period to the present time. The collection gives particular, but not exclusive, reference to Canadian achievements. Consequently, aircraft from many nations are represented in the collection—a fact that has earned it a strong international following.
The Canada Aviation Museum is recognized as having the most extensive aviation collection in Canada and one which ranks among the best in the world. In 1988, the importance of the collection was acknowledged in the opening at Rockcliffe of the first phase of a multi-phase development program to serve as the new home of the collection.
    Cooper-Hewitt Museum, United States
  2 East 91st Street - New York, NY              
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What is more life-like than life itself? The Cooper-Hewitt Museum in Manhattan asks this very question and provides a look at both the contemporary and historic design that helped shape our nation and the world. As part of the Smithsonian, one can expect an immense amount of information available for patrons that walk into this New York City museum. The curators strive to generate a more educational understanding of design and seek to show perspectives often overlooked by more conventional wisdom. The beauty of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum is not just within the museum itself but in the numerous programs endorsed by them as well. Visitors may find themselves in the design center watching today’s architects and designers formulating plans for tomorrow. They may find themselves in one of the museum’s renovation programs such as the Summer 2012 project on the Carnegie Mansion. Visitors may even find themselves attending special travelling exhibits endorsed by the museum such as the special summer exhibition of “Graphic Design-Now In Production” featured on Governors Island. The Cooper-Hewitt Museum is a very special destination and a true cultural landmark for any New York City experience.
    Reginald F. Lewis Museum, United States
  830 E. Pratt Street - Baltimore, MD            
Mission: To be the premier experience and best resource for information and inspiration about the lives of African American Marylanders. The museum seeks to realize its mission by collecting, preserving, interpreting, documenting and exhibiting the rich contributions of African American Marylanders from the state’s earliest history to the present and the future.
    Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada
  317 Dundas Street West - Toronto, ON             
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Founded in 1900 by a group of private citizens as the Art Museum of Toronto, the Art Gallery of Ontario is one of the largest art museums in North America, with a physical facility of 486,000 square feet. Currently under construction, the AGO’s new facility will boast 583,000 square feet, and will re-open in 2008 with an innovative architectural design by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry.
The AGO currently has more than 68,000 works in its collection, spanning from 100 AD to the present.
    American Merchant Marine Museum, United States
  Steamboat Rd - Kings Point, NY           
A glimpse at a map of the United States shows us that we are a maritime nation. To the east is the Atlantic Ocean; to the west, the Pacific; off our southern border, the Gulf of Mexico; in the north, the Great Lakes; and crisscrossing our states, great rivers like the Mississippi and other inland waterways.
Every hour of every day, ships of all types ply the waters in and around our nation. They leave our ports laden with U.S. goods bound for foreign markets, or arrive in our harbors with merchandise and materials for American consumers.
There are tankers traveling along the west coast with raw petroleum for our refineries; Great Lakes vessels loaded with iron ore, coal or other minerals for America's industry; huge containerships in Eastern ports, their box-like containers filled with manufactured goods; general cargo ships in the Gulf unloading pallets of coffee and crates of fruit; tugboats pushing and pulling barges carrying the Midwest's grain.
    Center for Photography at Woodstock, United States
  59 Tinker Street - Woodstock, NY           
CPW's galleries are free & open to the public Wednesday-Sunday, from 12 to 5pm year-round. CPW Offices, library, and darkroom are open Monday-Friday, 10-6pm.Staff are available by appointment.
    Musée International d'art naïf de Magog, Canada
  81, rue Desjardins, suite 100 - Magog, QC           
Welcome on the official Web site of the Museum of International Naive Art in Magog (Musée international d'art naïf de Magog).
The only Canadian Museum fully dedicated to Naive Art.
    North Carolina Museum of Art, United States
  2110 Blue Ridge Road - Raleigh, NC           
The North Carolina Museum of Art's collection spans more than 5,000 years, from ancient Egypt to the present. The ancient collection includes Egyptian funerary art and important examples of sculpture and vase painting from the Greek and Roman worlds. The collection of European paintings and sculpture from the Renaissance through impressionism is internationally celebrated with important works by Giotto, Sandro Botticelli, Raphael, Anthony van Dyck, Peter Paul Rubens, Antonio Canova and Claude Monet. American art of the 18th and 19th centuries features paintings by John Singleton Copley, Thomas Cole, Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins and William Merritt Chase. Modern art includes major works by such American artists as Marsden Hartley, Georgia O'Keeffe, Franz Kline, Frank Stella, Jacob Lawrence, Elizabeth Murray and Joel Shapiro. Modern European masters include Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Paul Delvaux, Henry Moore, Anselm Kiefer and Gerhard Richter. Galleries are also devoted to African, Ancient American and Oceanic Art, as well as Jewish ceremonial art.
    Musée des Maîtres et Artisans du Québec, Canada
  615, avenue Sainte-Croix - Montréal, QC             
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The mission of the Musée des maîtres et artisans du Québec is to promote Quebec's cultural heritage, including the traditional arts and crafts of yesterday, and those of today, among local, regional and national collectivities.
Its artistic objectives are to increase awareness of traditional craft and artisanal practices, as well as contemporary craft and contemporary art. Also, the Museum accords a large place to the artistic and artisanal expression of the different cultural communities that enrich its local population and reflect the image of Canada today.
    Greater Cape May Historical Society, United States
  653 ½ Washington Street - Cape May, NJ           
The mission of the Greater Cape May Historical Society is to collect, preserve, document , interpret and share the history of the greater Cape May area. The headquarters of this 26year old organization is the Colonial House Museum c 1775, located behind Alexander’s Restaurant and next to Cape May City Hall at 653 ½ Washington St, Cape May. This museum was originally a tavern and the family house of Revolutionary War Patriot Memucan Hughes. The front room features an annually changing exhibit. Other rooms open to the public in this unsung survivor from Cape Island’s very beginning depict a colonial era cooking/eating room and bedroom.
    National Gallery of Canada, Canada
  380 Sussex Drive - Ottawa, ON             
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From its founding in 1880 the National Gallery of Canada has grown to become the largest visual arts museum in the country.
The Gallery's outstanding holdings of Canadian art are the direct result of its unwavering commitment to the acquisition of works by living Canadian artists, a commitment that can be traced back virtually to the foundation year of the institution. By now our collection of contemporary art is truly international.
    Bytown Museum, Canada
  P.O. Box 523, Station B - Ottawa, ON           
The Bytown Museum tells the story of Ottawa’s first century.
The Museum is located in the heart of downtown Ottawa, at the Rideau Canal locks between Parliament Hill and the Château Laurier – one of the most picturesque sites in the city.
    Textile Museum of Canada, Canada
  55 Centre Avenue - Toronto, ON            
The Textile Museum of Canada is one of Toronto's most engaging visual arts organizations. With more than 12,000 objects from more than 200 countries and regions, the TMC's permanent collection celebrates cultural diversity and includes traditional fabrics, garments, carpets and related artifacts such as beadwork and basketry. The Museum offers a broad variety of exhibitions including themed shows based on our permanent collection and contemporary exhibitions of the work of Canadian and international artists.
    Western Canada Aviation Museum, Canada
  958 Ferry Road - Hangar T-2 - Winnipeg, MB            
The Western Canada Aviation Museum offers a unique mix of history and science. Enter through 'Gate 1' - the original Trans Canada Airlines (now Air Canada) passenger terminal - step back in time and let the pioneer aviators of the north take you on an inspirational journey through time!
Your visit will be filled with tales from the sky, great ideas (and not so great ideas) in flight, and a true appreciation for the adventuring spirit.
The original aircraft hangar, including several one-of-a-kind aircraft, such as Canada's first helicopter, the CL-84 Tilt-wing, our 'flying saucer' Avrocar, and of course, historic military jets, bushplanes and commercial aircraft.
    Roedde House Museum, Canada
  1415 Barclay Street - Vancouver, BC             
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Roedde House is a restored late [1893]-Victorian home, in the heart of Vancouver's "West End". Roedde House can be rented by the hour for weddings, receptions, meetings, films, photo shoots, etc. Its elegant interior lends turn-of-the-century charm to any event.
    Currency Museum, Canada
  245 Sparks Street - Ottawa, ON           
The Bank of Canada's Currency Museum was opened in 1980. It is home to the National Currency Collection, the largest collection of Canadian bank notes, coins, and tokens in the world. The Museum is located within the first Bank of Canada building (built in 1934), just minutes from Parliament Hill.
    Vancouver Maritime Museum, Canada
  1905 Ogden Avenue - Vancouver, BC            
Every day the Vancouver Maritime Museum charts a different course of adventure for all. Come aboard for fun and knowledge. Discover the rich maritime history and traditions of the Pacific Coast. Step back in time to 1944 on board Canada’s famous RCMP St Roch and explore the many permanent and changing exhibits, Children’s Maritime Discovery Centre, family activities, and the boats in Heritage Harbour.
    Durham Mining Museum
   - Greenland, GL           
"Two different accounts of the history of coal mining in County Durham are presented.
The first comes from The Victoria History of the Counties of England - Durham, published in three volumes in 1907. It contains a large section on the history of coal mining in the county. This work focuses on the detailed history and does not cover the social or practical side of the industry. We have reproduced the text up to the start of the nineteenth century.
The second comes from The History, Topography, and Directory of the County Palatine of Durham by Francis Whellan, second edition, published in 1894. Once again there is a large section of the history of coal mining in the county, however, it concentrates on the nineteenth century, but the major part covers the practical and the social side of mining during the nineteenth century.
The two works complement each other, and together present an overall history of the coal industry in County Durham. The history is nor complete without coverage of the twentieth century and the eventual demise of the industry - this topic is too large and complex to cover here and is best left to the many books on the subject. We do however, provide some information for the twentieth century in the individual pages on each colliery."
    Sisimiut Museum, Greenland
  Jukkorsuup aqq. 9 - Sisimiut, GL           
The old town quarter is characterized by its colonial age buildings. As most of the towns in Greenland, Sisimiut has been spared of large fires. Consequently, a great deal of the colony administration buildings has been preserved. The greater part of these buildings belongs to Sisimiut Museum...
    Greenland National Museum, Greenland
  Hans Egedevej 8 - 3900 Nuuk, GL           
Museet blev startet i midten af 1960`erne som det første museum i Grønland. Samlingerne er siden udvidet gennem indsamling, fra udgravninger og med tilbageført materiale fra Danmarks Nationalmuseum. Museet har landsdækkende arbejdsopgaver indenfor arkæologi, nyere tids historie, kunst og kunsthåndværk. Museet rummer de centrale registre om fredede bygninger og fortidsminder og varetager fredningslovens bestemmelser om fredning af fortidsminder og bygninger samt deltager i naturfredning og byplanlægning.