What's your favorite museum I haven't heard of?

The Arts and Industries Building is the second oldest of the Smithsonian museums on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. (135 years old)
Do a search of images...even great on the inside.


It's reopening after over 10 years of renovation...how soon I don't know.

But I was asked by one of the Smithsonian directors to throw my hat into the ring to set up the IT infrastructure and technology.

 

I'm going to assume that living museums like botanical gardens count.
The UC Botanical Garden is absolutely beautiful. Gorgeous views of the Golden Gate Bridge, and a stunning array of plants are in bloom year-round.
UC Botanical Garden

 

Thanks for the tip. Sig and I will be passing through the Tucson area on March 12th - 13th. I hope it's not one of those "closed on Monday" museums.

We're also hoping to have time for the General Patton Museum east of Palm Springs off of I-10.

I love to museum crawl, even little non-descript small town and county historical museum. You don't need to be the Smithsonian or MOSAI to have and interesting story to tell. I love the Buffalo Bill Center in Cody, WY and the California Railroad Museum in Sacto. The International Quilt Study Center & Museum is right here in Lincoln. I've been to about a doozen of the Presidential Libraries or Presidents Homes.

An advantage to my aversion to flying is that it's very easy to take a little side trip to something interesting, like the Studebaker Home or museum in South Bend, IN. Not so easy from 30,000 feet up in the air, but a short side trip off of I-80/90 in northern Indiana. Or the Shrine to Music Museum in Vermillion, SD. Probably the best musical instrument collection in the world.

 

The Queens Art Museum. It's one of my favorites because it houses the Panorama of the City of New York. It is one of my favorite places to visit in NYC where I can take in the entire city in one eyeful. I can see all the buildings that I have worked in NYC. I can also see most of the places I have lived. I for sure like when I see it in the movies can yell out, "There's our apartment!" I haven't been there for a number of years. I really need to go there one of these days. I will make a point of suggesting it to the next visitor that comes to town and bring them there.

It is one of the places where the World Trade Center Twin Towers still stand.

 

The name has changed to the National Music Museum. Here's a link:
Home | National Music Museum

And Trip Advisor:
National Music Museum (Vermillion, SD): Top Tips Before You Go - TripAdvisor

 

It's a very small museum but it is very interesting. I have been there several times.

 

I forgot to mention the Huntington Library and Gardens in San Marino, CA.

Among the treasures for research and exhibition are the Ellesmere manuscript of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, a Gutenberg Bible on vellum, the double-elephant folio edition of Audubon’s Birds of America, and a world-class collection of the early editions of Shakespeare’s works.

Blue Boy and Pinkie look at each other across the formal dining room.

Admission is kind of stiff at $25 but also includes the world class botanical gardens.

 

I don't know if I'd call it a museum...but there are "antiquities" there.
The old graveyards in New Orleans.
Fascinating.

I highly recommend a stroll through them (in the daytime, of course...not because of the current "residents" bothering you...but a few of the "less than goodly" locals may ask for more than you bargain for)

 

Well, I'd say that was the acid...not the graveyard.
No ones bothered me in one yet.

Personally, I find them very interesting...and yet for a secular person like me, I still have a lot of reverence for them when I'm there.

But the it's the character and look of the graveyards in NOLA that are especially intriguing.