The primary mission of the Society is to preserve the heritage and to record the history of the San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) for the benefit of the citizens of San Francisco. This mission will include the conservation and preservation of the collection, display of documents, graphic items, fire memorabilia, apparatus, appliances, and other items at the Society's Museum. The award-winning Society muster team, by preserving the physical techniques of firefighting used in the past, makes the Museum a museum of living history.

The museum offers exhibits and occasional recreational and educational events.

The Society owns two Ripon houses, including one with a barn. The older of the two is the Pedrick-Lawson House which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places because of its unusual grout-block construction. Built in the 1850s, it is partially restored as it might have looked during the Civil War era. The barn is used for storage and exhibits including farm tools and equipment. A Victorian garden with markers identifying its various plants and flowers has been developed on the property. The newer of the two houses, the Pickard House, was built during the 1870s and has been remodeled and furnished to resemble a modest middle-class home in the early part of the 20th century. It contains the Society's archives, library, meeting room, and museum for both permanent and temporary exhibits. The museum collection includes Victorian and early-20th-century furniture and furnishings, men's and women's clothing, quilts and coverlets, tools and equipment for various trades and occupations, dishes and glassware, and works of art by Ripon artists. Special collections of such items as local business and professional records and artifacts, wedding dresses, children's toys, games and dolls, and war memorabilia are featured in our permanent and changing exhibits.

The houses offers exhibits and tours; the society offers research library access and educational and recreational programs.

The Museum is located in two separate buildings with historic connections to the area. Since 1972 it has occupied the former 1870 Grand Trunk Railroad Depot. On July 1 of 2004 it opened the doors to its second site housed in the 1871 Akeley Building. Exhibits at both sites explore the people, places, and things that have played key roles in the history of Northwest Ottawa County.

The museum offers exhibits, tours, lectures, film screenings, and educational and recreational programs.

The Newseum—a 250,000-square-foot museum of news—offers visitors an experience that blends five centuries of news history with up-to-the-second technology and hands-on exhibits. The Newseum features seven levels of galleries, theaters, retail spaces, and visitor services. It offers a unique environment that takes museum-goers behind the scenes to experience how and why news is made.

The museum offers exhibits, tours, film and multimedia screenings, classes, lectures, and other educational and recreational events and programs. DC Metro area schools can schedule field trips with free admission for students; both box lunches and lunch vouchers are available with payment. Students may attend one 50-min., standards-aligned, educator-led class for free during their field trip (see the list of available classes, for grade levels 3-12); and educator-led tours are available for an additional charge.

To prepare for a field trip, teachers may attend an orientation session. Groups may also schedule professional development sessions for educators—subjects relevant to U.S. history include "The Battle for the Bill of Rights: The Free Press and the Founding of Our Nation," "The Photographic Revolution: The Ethics and Impact of Seeing the Story, From the Civil War to the Slums of New York to Today," "A Global Nation: The Free Flow of Information and Media Ethics," and "Making a Change: Civil Rights and the First Amendment."

The Society operates two house museums. The 1872 Lee House was home to Dr. Norman Lee, one of Junction City's first doctors. It was originally located in Lancaster and was moved to its present location in the late 1800s using logs and a team of horses; it now displays photos, furniture, tools, and clothing from Junction City's past. The 1871 Pitney House belonged to Mary Pitney (1891—1995), a school teacher, published poet, painter, world traveler, and humanitarian. Born and raised in this house, she lived the later years of her life here; today, it is being restored and features a room devoted to Danish historical artifacts from Junction City's first settlers, a cutaway of the home in the kitchen so visitors can see how buildings were constructed in that time period, and Mary's original furniture in the living room. Next door to the Pitney House is the first jail, built in 1873.

The houses offer exhibits, tours, and occasional recreational and educational events.

The Society operates two sites, the Hanchett-Bartlett Homestead and Lincoln Center. Lincoln Center is the home of the Robert and Elizabeth Solem Museum. Located on the site of the former Lincoln Junior High School, the Center's museum offers visitors exhibit areas which focus on a variety of local historical themes. The exhibit areas include the Beloit Gallery, Arthur Missner Veterans Gallery and Memorial, the Ted Perring Sports Hall of Fame, and the Beloit Hall of Fame. The Center also houses the Beloit Historical Society's offices, archives, community room, collection storage rooms, and the Luebke Family Memorial Library. The 1857 Hanchett-Bartlett Homestead houses period artifacts.

The sites offer exhibits, research library access, tours, and occasional educational and recreational events.

Visitors can experience the tangible artifacts of Randolph County's history at the Society's Museum. Housed in the 1828 Blackman-Bosworth Store building in the center of Beverly, the museum has a broad-based collection including early settlement tools, Civil War artifacts, belongings of early citizens, store and business collections, and much more. Behind the museum, open by appointment or during special events, is an original subscription school rescued from a rural Randolph County location. This small schoolhouse originally housed a school "subscribed" by parents who would band together to hire a teacher before universal public education in the area. Today it features an extensive collection of one-room school artifacts and memorabilia. Under construction behind the museum is the relocated Stalnaker Cabin, an early settlement log cabin. Saved and moved by the Stalnaker Family Association, the cabin is being restored by the Society and will be a future addition to the museum holdings. The museum also features rotating special exhibits in the meeting room, as well as hosting the regular informative programs of the Society.

The museum offers exhibits.

The Society has its headquarters in the Center, which preserves the history of life in rural southwestern Pennsylvania from the times of the region's first farmers to the present day through exhibits, workshops, and educational programs.

The center offers exhibits, tours, workshops, and educational and recreational events.

The Rock Island County Historical Society is a non-profit organization founded in 1905 by a group of community leaders dedicated to preserving the history of Rock Island County. Its facilities are located in an 1870s home and adjoining research archival library in an historic district of Moline, Illinois. The Atkinson-Peek House Museum contains period furniture dating back to the early 1900s and is designated as a Moline historical site. The third floor room contains exhibits of a doctor's office and a dentist's office.

The society's research library features a collection of books, photographs, family histories, and maps detailing the history of the county. The library has educational and recreational programs; the museum offers tours and exhibits.

The 1876 Grand Union Hotel, also called El Hotel Grande, and eventually the Stagecoach Inn, has had a variety of uses during its existence. It has served as post office, tearoom, boys' military school, restaurant, and exclusive gift shop. A cowboy movie starring Hoot Gibson and Sally Eilers was filmed here in the 1930s. Around the Stagecoach Inn are the Tri-Village buildings, made up of replicas of a pioneer home, a Spanish-Mexican adobe, and a Chumash Ap (tule dwelling), representing the three historic eras in the Conejo Valley.

The museum offers tours, exhibits, and educational programs.