parlor question:

[queenlua]

What's the most niche museum you've ever been to?

(derived from a delightful lunch conversation, in which we discussed some tribal-black-magic museum so obscure Google could not summon it, and a telecommunications museum that apparently is like church: only open Sundays, and a couple very niche artists' museums, etc)

My own answer is probably either the National Ainu Museum in Sapporo, or the Fillmore County Historical Society Museum in Fountain, Minnesota, which punches SHOCKINGLY far above its weight—I was there mostly because I happened to be in the area, and I found myself totally enthralled with all these old musical instruments you were allowed to just... play? and old Civil War diaries you could read with your own two hands? and just so much totally random Americana stuff in a giant room for you to sift through? Delightful.

(Also, while I don't think this makes the cut because it's technically not niche enough, it's so cool I always have to mention it: the Living Computer Museum is an absolute delight; it's packed with a bajillion old computers and you are allowed to play with ALL OF THEM; it's so fun and god I hope they come back post-covid and such...!)

Feel free to answer here, if you so choose! or just save it in your back pocket next time you need entertaining cocktail party discussion-starters :P

ETA (Sept 28, 2022): someone made a Twitter thread to this effect & the replies are great

Comments

[a_j]

This makes me feel like I've really missed out on some cool things. I've only been to a few museums in my entire life and nothing as wildly nifty as these. That living computer museum sounds really fun, ngl.

[garonne]

Ah, great question, though I can't think of an answer right now. That County Historical Society museum sounds amazing.

[kradeelav]

Oh man, this is a fun one. Weirdly enough there's a crapton of high quality museums in GA, because I could easily come up with a list of like, ten? Or maybe being a weirdo daughter of an architect/ex-biology teacher was a blessing there as far as ALL THE ART AND SCIENCE lol. When we travel it's all about the museums and food XD

Top two, probably:

- Booth Western Art Museum - random ass museum in the middle of bumfuck north GA that is HUGE and on par with new york ones, except it's all about western art? like literal cowboys and indians western paintings except 20 and 30 feet long.

- Museum of Aviation - went there back in January, also in the middle of GA, and the second largest airplane museum in the entire US. Absolutely bonkers amount of planes on display in their 5 warehouses that are converted to hold the craft and seeing the SR-71 in the flesh was kind of a religious moment if you're the least bit into military aircraft. Shit was so good it was surreal.

that communications one sounds amazing but also lol at the hours, bless them xD

[chocochipbiscuit]

These sound so cool, and make me want to seek out obscure museums in my area!

The most obscure one I've ever been (and haven't been to since I was in grade school, alas) was the mercury mining museum, because my hometown used to be home to mines! There were a lot of plaques and models of the area, but the thing that really stood out to me as a child was being allowed to (carefully) hold one of the fancy old-school glass mercury thermometers, and holding a small glass vial of pure mercury so I could feel how dense it was.

[threewalls]

Nicosia in Cyprus has a fairytale museum, open mornings Tues-Sat only. It's a two storey house converted to whimsical rooms, props and enormous books. They have costumes (admittedly for small children, mostly) so you can dress up while you're there. The museum door is within eyesight of one of the military observation towers/bases at the edge of the border between occupied and unoccupied Cyprus, which cuts through the city.

I've also been to a number of museums that are essentially 'history of the theme park you are currently visiting', and my favourite is Efteling's in the Netherlands. It's properly curated with little plaques beside displays and audio-visual presentations, plus one room of topical exhibition.

[autumndaze]

Hmm... I'm not sure anything I've done really qualifies as a niche museum. Most of the museums I've been to are either in well known city centers, are popular tourist destinations, or are a regular part of the local landscape, like any battleground around here (which usually dates to the US Civil War). Or it's not a museum, it's just a still functional monument that allows tours lol The most I can think of is Lacock Abbey, which is in Lacock, Wiltshire, England, where they filmed a lot of scenes for the Harry Potter films and some of the "Pride and Prejudice" 1995 miniseries. The inside has a lot of historical art and artifacts, and is quite neat.

The other one is Giverny, in France, where Claude Monet lived. We actually weren't planning to go that one - it was a "random" add-on to a trip to Versailles - and it ended up being our favorite part of our trip lol The house itself is a museum of sorts and the paintings inside are, I believe, reproductions from lots of different artists. The garden itself is still cared for, and quite gorgeous.

[lassarina]

I think the two most interesting niche museums I've visited are the Johnny Cash museum in Nashville (self explanatory, probably?), and the Chester Beatty library in Dublin--Beatty was an avid collector of all manner of books and manuscripts, and the museum is full of neat information about the books he collected and how books are made and so on.

[helicoprion]

Maybe stretching the definition of "museum," but mine is Agecroft Hall, which was a Tudor-era English manor that some crazy 20th-century rich guy had DISASSEMBLED AND SHIPPED TO AMERICA AND REBUILT IN THE ENVIRONS OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA because that's a thing you could do in the 1920s? You can putter around the house and grounds and look at historical furniture and sometimes they have theater productions on the lawn.

ETA actually I think the harness racing museum in Goshen, NY might be more niche than that

[airlock384]

a misfortune of mine is that I got dragged to visit a whole bunch of interesting cultural places when I was far too young to understand or enjoy what was going on, but now that I am old enough, I only ever end up on trips that are about shopping and sunbathing and whatnot. not that these aren't good things (although I'm never going to understand what's supposed to be FUN about TRAVELING to SHOP and it's NOT EVEN FOR NICHE MERCH), but I'd almost feel like it was a waste if it wasn't merely, in fact, terrible child management on my father's part,

which is why I couldn't tell you much about the place, but I believe the most niche museum I've ever been to was one in Spain, dedicated exclusively to pirates. not all that niche in that at least it's a historical topic, but eh, it is a bit overly specific! it was a pretty cool place in itself, too, seeing as it was, best as I recall, a literal pirate cove on the shore that was repurposed into the museum!