Links

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

Links

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, electronically, for your illumination and erudition, 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. You can see more research at the Show History site of James "Showman" Taylor. (See below)

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

J. Tithonus Pednaud presents a compendium of human oddities, Albino; Bearded; Conjoined; Deformed; Dwarfism; Fakes… Etc.

The Athanasius Kircher Society proves conclusively that the Internet is a 21st century version of the Cabinet of Curiosity. (Note: Fall, 2008, we hope this link will be back up soon. —”ed.)

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

McGill University has a virtual Wunderkammer. Its all about History and interaction.

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!"

Our colleague James Taylor presents an encyclopedia of novelty & variety performers & showfolk!

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

They're Blogging About Us!

VermontArtZine Learn about art—in Vermont!

Museology: 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 Mutter 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? and check out the Show History site of James "Showman" Taylor. Two Headed Calves! Human Pin Cushions! JoJo the Dog-Faced Boy!

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 ”and Other Great ”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 Marvelous Kunstkammer of Peter the Great in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts houses wonders!

The Pitt Rivers Museum is Oxford's great collection”of everything.

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.

Bread and Puppet our outstanding, brave, colorful, merry, fierce colleagues in all things theater ”and they even have their own museum in a barn!

The Center for Cartoon Studies. Who knows, perhaps White River Junction was a cartoon before it was a town. Sometimes it seems that way and so a "Cartoon College" is a natural fit for our Downtown. "Hey CCS! Youre the Best!"

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!

Northern Stage right here in White River Junction is a great place for live theater. Check out a show after visiting the Museum!

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 a real (stuffed) catamount. And don't forget the Vermont History Center in Barre, Vermont.

White River Junction has its own page here. "Rio Blanco; No es Tan Malo!"

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 Cazenovia Public Library in Middle-New York State has a museum, with an Ethiopian neck rings and an Egyptian mummy!

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 Lightner Museum is only one thing to do in moss-draped St Augustine, Florida.

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 stabilized "Peter the Kitty", one of the master-works from this Dedham, Massachusetts, collection.

The Christian Sanderson Museum in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania is something "anyone born in the 20th century" should see. (Maybe anyone born in the 21st as well...)

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

Little People of America—advocacy at its best.

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.