Discover these quaint collections of historical artifacts in your area
If you’re looking for a fun, economical and educational activity to enjoy with your family or friends before school starts, during the autumn months or when the temperature drops, you might consider visiting a unique museum in your area.
Both urban areas and small towns in Missouri offer a variety of historical collections for you to explore. Museums allow you to learn in-depth about different time periods, ideas or artifacts at your own pace and in a comfortable environment.
The museums profiled on these pages feature collections of cookie cutters, space artifacts, small electric appliances, printing equipment, vintage toys and video games, Kewpie memorabilia, exhibits on money and the economy and corn cob pipes.
Make plans to visit a local museum soon and enjoy the experience as history comes to life right before your eyes.
Call or visit the museum websites and Facebook pages for more details.
Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s Money Museum
1 Memorial Dr., Kansas City
816-881-2683
The Money Museum shows how the bank processes millions of dollars in currency each day. You can lift a real gold bar and explore the historic Harry S. Truman Coin Collection. Enjoy interactive exhibits as you learn about the U.S. economy.
Retrograde Charitable Toy and Video Game Museum
112 E. Market St., Warrensburg
660-362-1881
The Retrograde Charitable Toy and Video Game Museum exhibits thousands of video games, vintage toys, collectibles and cartoon artwork. Enjoy more than a thousand arcade games and multiple arcade machines, pinball machines and board games.
Missouri Press Association Print Shop Museum
310 Main St., Arrow Rock
660-837-3231
The Missouri Press Association Print Shop Museum has a collection of letterpress printing equipment. Learn about the Linotype, a newspaper flatbed press, hand-set type and other printing tools. The museum also contains the oldest known George Washington hand press in North America.
Corn Cob Pipe Museum Missouri Meerschaum Co.
400 West Front St., Washington
800-888-2109
At the Corn Cob Pipe Museum you will learn the history of cool-smoking corn cob pipes and how they began to be manufactured in the town of Washington over 155 years ago.
The Space Museum and Grissom Center
118 East School St., Bonne Terre
573-358-1200
The Space Museum and Grissom Center displays a collection of aerospace artifacts from the beginning of space exploration to the spacecraft of today. Many significant relics of the Space Race are housed in the museum, and the galleries continue to grow.
National Cookie Cutter Historical Museum
504 S. Schifferdecker Ave., Joplin
417-623-1180
The National Cookie Cutter Historical Museum has a varied collection of cookie cutters, which include tinsmith’s cutters, advertising cutters and European cutters from different time periods in history. There is also an archive of advertising and newsletters pertaining to cookie cutters.
Located inside JR’s Western Store
51 Hwy. 59, Diamond
417-793-7936
JR’s Appliance Museum displays more than 3,500 American small electrical appliances from the 20th century. The wide array of collections include toasters, percolator coffee pots, blenders, waffle irons, mixers, hot plates, popcorn poppers, fans, hair dryers, razors and more.
485 Rose O’Neill Road, Walnut Shade
417-561-1509
Rose O’Neill’s Bonniebrook Museum features a recreation of the artist’s historical mansion. You can tour Rose’s art gallery, which features illustrations, paintings and sculptures. Enjoy the Kewpie Museum, where you can find Kewpies and other characters created by Rose and popular in the 20th century.