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The Lynx (Lynx canadensis) with her kitten. Some authorities group this animal under felis. Its urine is said to harden into precious stones.

A selection of our colleagues who demonstrate a fascination with us looking at objects, and with objects looking at us, which is why we list them (below):

Virtual Places We Like

The wondrous Dime Museum, formerly of Baltimore, is sadly no longer in one physical location. But at their excellent Web site you can learn all about this homage to the Age of Barnum.

Look! It's the FREAKATORIUM! Let's hear it for the fabulous Johnny Fox!

The Athanasius Kircher Society proves conclusively that the Internet is the 21st century's Cabinet of Curiosities.

The Lost Museum is home to a virtual P. T. Barnum's American Museum — on-line!

McGill University has a virtual Wünderkamer. Its all about History with pics.

The Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermy has a Web site. They also give tours of garbage dumpsters in Manhattan's Chinatown, in search of rare specimens.

Cabinets of Curiousity, en Francais.

Roadside America: Two words that say it all.

You will be Shocked and Amazed at shockedandamazed.com, and you'll find "A great bunch of magazines" and "A great web site!"

Weird America seems to be as enamored of the Main Street Museum as we are of Joe Citro!

Museumology: Museums-about-Museums

The City Reliquary in Williamsburg, Brooklyn is one of our favorite Civic Organizations, with a new-old perspective on New York City.

The Coney Island Museum is the only museum in the world dedicated to interpreting and preserving the history of Coney Island.

The Creation Museum in Cincinnati is a Biblical science museum — O My!

The Museum of Jurassic Technology in Culver City, California, as well as cultivating "a chain of flowers to guide us," curates and disperses to the public relics from the Lower Jurassic Era, especially those demonstrating "curious technological qualities." After all, No One May Ever Have the Same Knowledge Again...

The Mütter Museum is the museum of the College of Surgeons in Philadelphia, memorializing Chang and Eng Bunker, the original "Siamese Twins," and the "Soap Lady." And who doesn't love the Bunkers and the Soap Lady?!

The Palace of Wonders in Washington, D. C. Where will you ever see another one like it?

The Reanimation Library in Brooklyn is a specialized repository for books that have fallen out of mainstream circulation but take on new life as resource material for various cultural archeologists.

Natural History Collections

Blue Nile Botanicals offers the freshest natural products, AND a parallel universe of natural history. After shopping at Blue Nile, you can tour Howard University and Washington, D.C.'s historic Shaw neighborhood.

The Hartland Nature Club and their exhibition room of specimens are housed in Damon Hall in nearby Hartland, Vermont.

The Icelandic Phallological Museum may be the world's only museum showcasing the phalli of all the mammals found in a single country. What could be better than that?

The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts houses wonders!

Local Interest: Our Colleagues for a Great Local Trip

The American Precision Museum in nearby Windsor, Vermont is both a world renowned repository for machine tools, and a record of the Upper Valley's long history on technology's cutting edge.

AVA Gallery and Art Center, our friends and neighbors in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

The Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation celebrates and studies America's 30th president, who was born in nearby Plymouth, Vermont. You can see his boyhood home and his grave. And buy cheese!

The Dartmouth Special Collections, where our friends curate valuable collections of human hair and, of course, Daniel Webster's socks!

The Hartford Historical Society's official Web site. *White River Junction is a village within the town of Hartford, Vermont.

The Fairbanks Museum in St. Johnsbury, Vermont is located just one hour north of the Main Street Museum — an hour well spent to reach this fascinating and stately institution.

The Robert Hull Fleming Museum in Burlington, Vermont has art and Vermontiana galore! The Main Street Museum has co-curated shows of artifacts there, too.

At the Fort at Number Four in Charlestown, New Hampshire, our neighbors present living history of the Colonial period.

The Hood Museum at nearby Dartmouth College has a mermaid!

At the Rockingham (Vermont) Arts and Museum Project, they're excited about art! And downtown revitalization! And trains! Just like we are!

Check out the Vermont Historical Society. Their Pavilion Building in Montpelier is home to the stuffed catamount. And don't forget the Vermont History Center in Barre, Vermont.

Road Trips to See Relics: Real Places We Like

Visit the African Meeting House in Boston. Artifacts and more on the Black Heritage Trail.

The Anacostia Museum focuses on the families and neighborhoods of Washington, D.C. and the history and culture of African Americans nationwide.

The Home of Andrew Johnson in Greenville, Tennessee is now a National Park. Be sure to check out the willows in the back yard. They grew from little shoots taken from willows growing around Napoleon's tomb at Fontainebleau. Not kidding.

The Barnum Museum of Natural History in Bridgeport, Connecticut: Mother Nature's world — P.T. Barnum-style!

The Bostonian Society in Boston. You can search their "object catalog" online. Neat Stuff!

The Conspiracy Museum in Dallas, Texas doesnt seem to have a web-presence, but here's what Margaret Cho has to say about her visit!

The Mark Twain House Hartford, Connecticut

Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts is full of relics. No picking the flowers and no photos, please!

The Museum Of Bad Art (MOBA) are long-term friends. Conservation teams from the MSM even stabilized "Peter the Kitty", one of the master-works from this Dedham, Massachusetts, collection.

The Thurber House, in Columbus, Ohio, former home of James.

The UCM Museum in Abita Springs, Louisiana, offers you an unforgettable time, viewing dioramas of "Aliens Landing at Mardi Gras!"

Relics From the War Between the States

The Battle of Franklin (Tennessee) has a neat little museum. Check out the photos and collars of the soldiers' dogs!

Confederate Memorial Hall in New Orleans has Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard's slippers on display!

Visit the Lee Chapel at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, and see the grave of Lee's horse, Traveller (1857 – 1871)!

The Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia, is well worth a visit.

The National Park at Vicksburg, Mississippi will help you learn all about this key city on the river, and how the North besieged it. And don't forget to check out the U.S.S. Cairo and learn about underground explosions.

At the Old Courthouse Museum you can see all the cannonballs those d--n Yankees fired at Vicksburg!

And at the Museum of the Virginia Military Institute, back in Lexington, Virginia and across the street from Traveller, Little Sorrel, the horse of Stonewall Jackson, is on display.

The Bigger Picture

The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum is in Baltimore — one of our favorite cities — and is also housed in a renovated fire station!

The National Civil Rights Museum is in the former Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, and pays tribute to the struggle for civil rights. It also has a really sweet vintage Cadillac parked out front!

The Southern Poverty Law Center keeps the spotlight on many of today's concerns.