Museums are Closing

With the economic downturn of the last decade, many museums found themselves scrambling for funds. Not all were able to find them. Here’s a list of ten museums that are no longer on display.

1: National Pinball Museum

David Silverman is a bit of a polymath. An artist, craftsman and businessman, he also has a passion for pinball machines, amassing as many as 800 at one time. That’s about the length of 40 truck trailers.

After starting a museum in Washington D.C., he moved it to Baltimore where the multi-story building housed his collection, a workshop, and a large arcade.

It displayed everything from the earliest form of “pin” ball machines found in French parlors, through the illicit bar scene of Chicago up through today’s multi-media experiences. For a small fee, you could take the stairs up one floor and play any one of dozens of vintage pinball machines as long as you wanted: no quarters required. If you were never quite able to activate the gumball machine on Twilight Zone or get downstairs in Addams Family, you could work at it to your heart’s content here. Even the gift shop was unique: it sold parts to repair pinball machines you might have at home.

Sadly, the landlord upped the rent beyond the museum’s means and the collection was auctioned off. The National Pinball Museum is no more. College of Curiosity featured a Mystery Object from this museum in 2013.

Fans of pinball can still visit the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas. You will need to bring your quarters, but they go to a good cause: your entertainment, and local charities.

Pinball Hall of Fame: Official Site

2: Art of the Olympians

What’s an Olympian to do after they’ve won gold at the games? Create art and public works, of course. The museum was founded by Al Oerter to embody one of the original intentions of the Olympic games: fostering people as ambassadors to good will. As such, artifacts from the Olympics and artwork by olympiads were on display at this Fort Myers, Florida museum until July of 2013, when the board of directors closed the doors. The organization still exists though, and continues to provide art classes and other outreach to the community.

Art of the Olympians: Official Site

3: Corcoran Gallery of Art

Once the largest privately supported cultural institution in Washington D.C., the famed Corcoran Gallery of Art is no more. Founded in 1869 by banker William Wilson Corcoran with his own private collection, the museum employed nearly two hundred people and occupied 135,000 square feet. It contained art by Monet, Picasso, Degas and Delacroix among many others. It was the center of an obscenity controversy when the works of Robert Mapplethorpe were planned for exhibition, only to be cancelled by museum’s conservative board. 700 people demonstrated in protest, other artists cancelled their exhibitions, and some philanthropists publicly announced that their money would be going elsewhere.

Art from the museum will be dispersed to the National Gallery of Art. But there’s still time! Unlike most of the museums on this list, the Corcoran is still open, for the time being. If you’d like to visit, don’t delay.

Corcoran Gallery of Art: Official Site

4: Higgins Armory Museum

Perched upon a hill overlooking an industrial section of Worcester, Massachusetts, the Higgins Armory Museum was the project of steel industrialist John Woodman Higgins. The building itself was a museum piece, being the first building in the United States made of only steel and glass. At one time, Higgins’ collection housed all manner of steel objects, from airplanes to shoe polishers, but eventually the museum was devoted to an enormous collection of armor, much of which was housed in a recreation of a medieval hall.

Suits of armor from around the world lined the walls as though ready for battle. Some of the more unusual objects on display included chastity belts and a suit of armor for a dog.

The Worcester Art Museum will gain much of the collection, but the fate of the unique building remains unknown.

Higgins Armory Museum: Official Site

5: Erotic Heritage Museum

Las Vegas is the town that invented sex, or at least likes to think so. As such, it seems appropriate that it should be home to the Erotic Heritage Museum, and it was, until earlier this year.

Founded with a donation by Harry Mohney, owner of the Deja Vu chain of strip clubs, the museum contained art, film and sexual objects from history and the present. Though partnered with the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, the museum was unable to overcome a dispute with Mohney over rent and perpetual staffing problems. It is hoped that the museum’s library containing several thousand pieces of media can remain in Vegas and eventually be digitized. For those looking for a similar experience, the Museum of Sex is still open in New York City.

Las Vegas Weekly: Las Vegas’ Erotic Heritage Museum Closes Its Doors

6: Wax Museum at Fisherman’s Wharf

Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco is a place that fisherman avoid and tourists seek out, and for the past fifty years, many of them stopped at the Wax Museum. Started by Chinese immigrant Tommy Fong, the museum housed replicas of U.S. presidents, Hollywood starlets, famous artists and religious figures. It’s estimated that over 12,000,000 visitors graced its halls.

But all is not lost. Madame Tussauds and the San Francisco Dungeon are moving into the space, and while the legacy of Tommy Fong has come to a completion, tourists in San Francisco will still be able to pose with wax versions of Madonna and Eddie Murphy.

The Wax Museum: Official Site

7: “Lest We Forget”

Not to be confused with Lest We Forget Black Holocaust Museum of Slavery, “Lest We Forget” Military Exhibit was one of those charming small museums that are usually found in small towns like Marshfield, Wisconsin. Part of the Thomas House Center for History, the “Lest We Forget” exhibit featured life-sized and miniature recreations of some of the United States’ proudest and most horrific moments. Artifacts including uniforms, flags and medals were on display.

Space constraints are cited as the primary reason that the collection is now in storage, looking for a new home. There are numerous other museums like this throughout the country, including one at the Volo Auto Museum and another at the Russell Military Museum.

Thomas House Center for History: Current Exhibit

8: CREHST

The Columbia River Exhibition of History, Science & Technology of Richland, Washington is no more. Famed for its exhibits on the “secret city” of the Hanford Site, the museum had elaborate displays on the creation of plutonium used for the first nuclear bombs. One of the favorite activities found museum visitors using a geiger counter to determine the levels of radioactivity in various household objects. Other items on display were objects of native culture, airplane models and retired local buses.

While a bit unnerving to the uneducated, the museum was one of few places where the important subject of radiation could be explored. It was created in 1995 when the Hanford Science Center closed, and now some of it collection has merged with the Hanford Reach Interpretive Center which opens July, 2014.

Columbia River Exhibition: Official Site

9: Museum of Funeral Customs

Formerly located in Illinois’ capital city of Springfield, the Museum of Funeral Customs was one of few places in the world where you could explore the trappings of death. From a 1920s embalming room to coffins and a replica of Lincoln’s funeral train, visitors were able to explore things that are usually kept hidden from the world of the living.

The gift shop featured such items as coffin-shaped chocolates and t-shirts bearing the motto, “Death is only the beginning.”

Sadly, the museum suffered from a lack of attendance and funds and closed in 2009. Some of the historic collection moved to the Kibbe Hancock Heritage Museum. You can find a similar museum in Houston, Texas called the National Museum of Funeral History, but the chocolate coffins may be gone for good.

DwellerB YouTube Channel: The Museum of Funeral Customs

10: The Women’s Museum

Where are all the women? A museum highlighting and honoring the contributions of women throughout history is sorely needed, and we had one, at least for a little while.

After extensive renovations on an historic Fair Park coliseum building in Dallas, Texas, The Women’s Museum opened in 2000 with a striking art deco edifice featuring a looming statue of a woman emerging from cactuses, which was left over from the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition. It seemed like the start of something important.

Affiliated with the Smithsonian, the museum’s ultra-modern displays included artifacts from the women’s suffrage movement, objects from Eleanor Roosevelt’s personal collection, and a special focus on the role of black women in history.

Unfortunately, the museum was considered dull by many visitors and they stopped coming. The building was closed in 2011, though the organization still exists to promote women’s issues.

Efforts are underway to build a national women’s museum in Washington, D.C.