From dreams of cops and robbers to the reality of daily service, the importance of our boys and girls in blue cannot be overlooked. The New York City Police Museum is dedicated to the honor and preservation of our brave men and women who daily risk their lives for our safety and wellbeing. Housed in the rustic First Precinct in Manhattan, the museum is a journey through time, highlighting the various traditions of the NYPD, and enhances public awareness. Visitors are encouraged to learn every aspect of the Police Department as the exhibits do more than just educate; they provide a firsthand account of the vast history of the police and New York itself. Spring 2012 continues to display the 9/11 exhibit, which acts as a memorial for all the brave men and women who unselfishly gave of their lives in service during the devastating 911 tragedy. On the lighter side, Summer 2012 finds the popular annual vintage police car show, for its twelfth season. For a chance to celebrate the heroes beyond the shield, the New York City Police Museum is essential visiting for all New York citizens.

Four floors of over forty galleries of art are rotated regularly with works from antiquity to the present in the Museum's far-reaching Collection. Included in the Collection are 15th- to 20th-century European and 17th- to 20th-century American paintings, sculpture, prints, drawings, decorative arts, photographs, and folk and self-taught art. Among the best in the nation are the Museum’s holding of American decorative arts, German Expressionism, folk and Haitian art, and American art after 1960. The Museum also holds one of the largest collections of works by Wisconsin native Georgia O’Keeffe.

Let your wild side reign free as you explore the many faces of some very unique creatures at this Brooklyn museum of life. Venture deep into the jungle as you see the animals up close. Dare to spend the day with the valor of a lion roaming with his pride. A family spending time together, appreciating nature in all its ferocious glory is what this NYC museum is all about. Take the children to the discovery center where they can try their hand at some basic veterinary skills while conducting check-ups on real live animals. Then, head over to the young naturalist camping area, cook food on a "campfire", and explore using field guides for animals that one might see on a camping trip. Feeling the urge to feed some of the animals’ springtime is the perfect time to head over and feed the sea lions - they just love the attention too. Weekends are an ideal time to visit as you can chat live with the zookeepers and learn how they care for the animals. Maybe even find out what your favorite animal does when you're not there. Overall, this taste of the wild offers a wide variety of things to do, see and learn. Spring/Summer 2012 is a great time to come see this gem.

Ground Zero Museum Workshop is the only museum of its kind in New York. You won't see images like these anywhere in the world. The museum also features lifelike "3-D Installations" that place viewers right into the "hole" at Ground Zero. We allow certain items/artifacts to be picked up and handled. This is allowed so visitors have a more interactive experience with the hopes of having a greater understanding of what took place during the Recovery. For example, visitors will be able to pick up WTC window glass and steel. Observing the weight and density of such items helps one to have a better understanding of the size and mass of the towers. Some remnants are on temporary loan from Ground Zero recovery workers and firemen. There are no "victim's identifiable personal belongings" in this museum; only remnants from September 11.

In today’s society, it is very hard not to see the influence of Chinese culture and how it has shaped everything from medicine to our economy. The China Institute in Manhattan gives a deeper understanding of China through their programs in education, culture, business and art, and gives a strengthening of the global community by enhancing the knowledge of East and West. Inside the building, visitors will find more than your traditional artwork and instead find an education hub dedicated to all forms of communication and education supporting the understanding of China. While there, one has the opportunity to explore performing arts programs, lecture series, short courses, symposia, film screenings and workshops all revolving around China. Spring 2012 has a special focus on Chinese architecture and features a book signing for the novel “Chinese Architecture and the Beaux-Arts.” This event includes an in-depth lecture on this fascinating subject and is to be used as a catalyst to better understanding the development of Chinese architecture. The China Institute is one of New York’s best and only links to our neighbor to the east and should be a destination of anyone looking to expand their minds and better their understanding of the Chinese people.

Money - to think of America and New York City, is to think of money. No other single object has been such a driving force for power and prestige than money. The Museum of American Finance houses a collaborative history celebrating money and the American free-enterprise system. Walking into the brass and concrete entrance you will see several displays focused on the growth of American commerce and the spirit of entrepreneurship. Visitors have the opportunity to look at many of the economic issues that have faced America, including exhibits dedicated to the history of money and the stock market. Spring 2012 brings two new exhibits to the museum. “Checks & Balances” focuses on the presidential side of economic security and the issues each president has faced. The second exhibit is the credit crisis which focuses on the bottoming of the stock market in 2007 and displays the vast change that resulted in the American financial institution over the last few years. The Museum of American Finance, Manhattan, is a unique perspective into a hub of the United States. If you wish to understand more about money and the desire to better the economy, then definitely make a stop in here.

From Battery Park, you can take the ferry across to the famous Ellis Island Immigration Museum. You will be astounded by the wealth of information they have. Make sure you check out the American Family Immigration History Center where you can access passenger records. A great sense of pride comes with finding out about your family’s history by accessing this great interactive exhibit. The museum is also currently featuring a special exhibit in the west wing “The Spirit of America” Gibson Les Paul guitar is up on display. Made of artifacts preserved during the centennial restoration of the island, this exhibit is an amazing mixture of art, culture and beauty. Wood grain details from the preserved steps and doors of the main building really catch the eye, while the copper inlay is composed of copper preserved from the Statue of Liberty National Monument. While the creators seem to use the universal language of music to send a message of freedom and convey a great sense of pride for the land we call America. Visit often during the year to experience some of the most intriguing New York museums and culture. You may find you can spend a whole day lost in history at this one of-a-kind museum.

Located in San Diego's beautiful Balboa Park, the Timken Museum of Art houses the world-class Putnam Foundation Collection of European old masters American art, and Russian icons.
Artworks in the collection range from 13th-century altarpieces through 18th-century portraits to 19th-century still lifes. Represented are the works of Dutch, Flemish, French, and Italian painters, including Rembrandt, Rubens, Petrus Christus, Fragonard, Jacques-Louis David, and Veronese, as well as American artists such as John Singleton Copley and Eastman Johnson.
Admission to the Timken Museum of Art is always free.

Feast your eyes on some of the rarest and most beautiful cars ever created at the San Diego Automotive Museum.

The Skagway Museum contains a fine collection of gold-rush artifacts and other items reflecting Skagway's colorful history.

As one of the world's most innovative museums of modern and contemporary art, SFMOMA has had an active Web presence for over nine years (a very long time, when measured in Internet time). During this period we have redesigned our site twice, always with the idea that a museum such as ours should continually strive to improve the ways in which it serves a diverse public. And, as our collective understanding of emerging digital technologies has increased, we felt that perhaps it was time to use the Web to explore our understanding of the museum itself.

The Florida Keys History of Diving Museum is a not-for-profit educational institution focused on the story of Man’s Quest to Explore Under the Sea.
The Museum is dedicated to collecting, preserving, displaying and interpreting artifacts, antiques, books, documents, photographs and oral history relative to the History of Diving.

A hands-on, interactive, and educational play place for children ages 0-10 years and their families. Visitors learn while they play, touch, explore and discover in a variety of “Our Town” exhibits that have been created to stimulate children's imagination and to provide rich play experiences.

The museum occupies a 44,000 square feet facility that includes 3 full-size exbition galleries, a theater gallery, a 14,000 square foot Sculputure Court, a conference center/special events room, an archive and research library, administrative offices, exibit design and artifact storage areas.

The Warhawk Air Museum is a not for profit organization funded entirely by individual donations and private foundations. The mission of the museum is to teach and preserve World War II history from the home front to the war front and aviation history from the advent of flight through the space age. The Warhawk Air Museum encourages an educational experience about the technology, culture, and social changes that have occurred in North America since World War II.
The Warhawk Air Museum welcomes the opportunity to serve the community by allowing special-event use of the museum. The museum's Facility Use Policy must be adhered to at every event.

View the history of Alaska through the beauty of Orthodoxy at the Russian Orthodox Museum - icons, needlework, and artifacts dating from 18th Century Russian America to the present. http://www.russianorthodoxmuseum.com/

The Upcountry History Museum's mission is to promote, present and preserve the history of Upcountry South Carolina through education, research and service.

The Pasadena Museum of California Art (PMCA) is dedicated to the exhibition of California art, architecture, and design from 1850 to the present. Informed by the state's rich mixture of cultures and inspired by its impressive geography, California art has long been defined by a spirit of freedom and experimentation. PMCA exhibitions and educational programs explore the cultural dynamics and influences unique to California that have shaped and defined art in all media.

An international museum, based in San Francisco, MoAD is committed to showcasing the "best of the best" from the African Diaspora. To facilitate this, MoAD reaches out and initiates collaborative ventures with institutions of similar vision from around the world. Already, the museum has forged rich relationships with the British Museum, the Museum of African Art (NY), Eileen Harris Norton and Peter Norton, and the University of California Berkeley, amongst others.
Drawing from the collections of museums, institutes, organizations, universities and private citizens, MoAD is a collector of stories—a repository of information to be shared with all who wish to know about the African Diaspora.

Located at the corner of Fifth Street and Home Avenue, the Hartsville Museum and the Sculpture Courtyard anchor the cultural plaza in downtown Hartsville, SC. The museum, founded in 1980, is a local history museum. Housed in a 1930’s Post Office Building, the museum has kept many of the unique architectural features of the building. The skylight, original to the building, has been retrofitted with stained glass panels depicting the flora and fauna significant to the area. The Sculpture Courtyard added in 2000 features many different types of sculpture. The Showcase Gallery presents special exhibits focusing on history, the arts or present day events.

A volunteer run, non-profit organization whose mission is to preserve Indiana's railroad history, educate the public in the history of the railroad, and provide our visitors with an opportunity to experience railroad travel as it used to be. We operate on 38 miles of track once known as the Indianapolis & Peru, and more recently, as the Nickel Plate Road.
The Museum and restoration facilities are located in Noblesville, Indiana, only 20 miles north of downtown Indianapolis. The Museum is located in Forest Park which is less than 1 mile north of State Route 32 on State Route 19, North and West of downtown Noblesville. Enter at the South entrance and follow the main road to the Museum.

The Ava Gardner Museum is an interpretive museum which describes her life, from growing up near Smithfield, NC, to her discovery by Hollywood, her progress as an actress, her loves, her friends and her travels. A film star of Hollywood’s Golden Era, she was acclaimed as the world’s most beautiful woman was sought by both famous photographers and filmmakers to grace their film.
The Ava Gardner Museum is home to an extensive collection of historic documents, scripts, photographs, costumes, clothing and paintings. Each object in the museum was either owned by Ava Gardner or her family, used in her films or had a special meaning or relationship to Ava.

Learn about Cordova's colorful and fascinating history at The Cordova Historical Museum.

The KMA’s predecessor, the Dulin Gallery of Art, opened in 1961 in a beaux-arts mansion in West Knoxville. By the middle 1980s the Dulin had outgrown its quarters, and a major community effort raised $11 million for a new museum in downtown Knoxville at the site of the 1982 World’s Fair. The Knoxville Museum of Art opened in March 1990 in a state-of-the-art, 53,200 square-foot facility designed by renowned museum architect Edward Larrabee Barnes. The building, clad in Tennessee marble, is named in honor of local philanthropist Jim Clayton, the largest donor to the building fund.

The University of Oregon Museum of Natural History was established to further the general mission of the University by enhancing public knowledge of the natural history and anthropology of Oregon and the broader world.

All of the buildings, track, locomotives and cars were assembled here at Union on what was once farmland. Our main line trackage was laid on the vacant right-of-way of the Elgin & Belvidere Electric railway. Why would rational adults freely contribute so much of their time and treasure to creating this repository of railroad history?
To answer this question, we must remember that at one time in our nation's past the railroad industry was the largest private employer. With so many families supported by one enterprise, the widespread interest in that industry is understandable....manifesting itself in special interest groups devoted to various activities such as taking railroad pictures or publishing books on railroads, building railroad models or just "riding the rails," The Illinois Railway Museum is probably the ultimate railroad historian special interest group. Originally formed to preserve one important piece of rolling stock, it has evolved into an educational and historic preservation organization recreating possibly the largest operating demonstration railroad showcase on the North American continent.

The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza contains nearly 400 historic photographs, six documentary films, an audio tour and a range of artifacts and interpretive displays to document the life, times, death and legacy of President John F. Kennedy. The 9,000 square-foot museum recreates the social and political context of the early l960s, chronicles the events of November 22, l963, and analyzes Kennedy's lasting impact on American culture.

These last few months following Hurricane Katrina’s impact on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast have left us all ready to enjoy the normal and healthy activities of playing with our children. At the Louisiana Children's Museum, we suffered wind damage, roof damage and water intrusion throughout the building. Our staff has shrunk from 40 to 4, and we are desperately trying to rebuild, repair and get ready for company again. If you are interested in helping us on a volunteer basis, we would greatly appreciate the support!