Yakima Valley Museum and H.M. Gilbert Homeplace [WA]

Description

The Yakima Valley Museum's 65,000-square-foot facility offers historical exhibits on the Yakima Valley—its natural history, American Indian culture, pioneer life, early city life, and the roots and development of the Valley's fruit industry. The museum also houses a collection of horse-drawn vehicles, from stagecoach to hearse; an historical exhibit and reconstruction of the Washington, DC, office of former Yakima resident and environmentalist, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas; and a changing schedule of special exhibitions. A special set of exhibits, the Children's Underground, provides hands-on activities that complement the core museum exhibitions; and visitors can eat and drink in a functioning replica of a late 1930s Art Deco soda fountain.

The Museum also owns and operates the restored 1898 H.M. Gilbert homeplace, which is available for tours.

The museum offers exhibits, research library access, guided tours for student groups, cultural trunks for rent, performances, and other recreational and educational events.

Smithsonian American Art Museum [DC]

Description

The Smithsonian American Art Museum, the nation's first collection of American art, houses one of the largest and most inclusive collections of American art in the world. Its artworks reveal key aspects of America's artistic and cultural history from the colonial period to today. More than 7,000 artists are represented in the collection, including major masters, such as John Singleton Copley, Gilbert Stuart, Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, Childe Hassam, Mary Cassatt, Georgia O'Keeffe, Edward Hopper, Jacob Lawrence, Helen Frankenthaler, Christo, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, Lee Friedlander, Nam June Paik, Martin Puryear, and Robert Rauschenberg.

The museum offers exhibits; tours, including self-guided and guided tours for school groups; videoconferencing "virtual fieldtrips" for classrooms; and recreational and educational events, including performances.

American Museum of Fly Fishing [VT]

Description

The American Museum of Fly Fishing maintains the world's largest collection of angling and angling-related items, numbering in the thousands. Its collections and exhibits thoroughly document the evolution of fly fishing as a sport, art form, craft, and industry in the U.S. and abroad, dating as far back as the 16th century. Rods, reels, flies, tackle, art, photographs, manuscripts, and books form the major portions of the Museum's collections.

The museum offers exhibits and occasional recreational and educational events.

Virginia War Museum

Description

The Virginia War Museum follows the history of the U.S.'s involvement in war, from the Revolutionary War to the present day, with galleries focusing on the role of women and African Americans in military history, the place of Virginia in war efforts, and the development of weaponry over the centuries.

The museum offers exhibits, educational programs and tours for school groups, in-class outreach presentations, research library access by appointment, and occasional recreational and educational events.

Texas Maritime Museum

Description

The Texas Maritime Museum provides exhibits on the history and technology of offshore petroleum production and transportation; the history and development of Texas seaports, maritime communities, and maritime commerce along the Gulf; the exploration and settlement history of the Texas Gulf Coast, including by the Spanish and the French; and an overview of the Texas seafood and fishing industry.

The museum offers exhibits, tours for school groups, in-class outreach presentations, traveling trunk "treasure chests" for loan, and occasional recreational and educational events.

Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History [TX]

Description

The Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History presents the story of a cultural crossroads of the New World. With a confluence of natural history, science, people, and environments, the South Texas area has served as a stage for the ongoing discovery of the Americas. The museum's exhibits explore natural history and South Texas history, and include full-size, functioning reconstructions of Christopher Columbus's three ships.

The museum offers exhibits, self-guided and guided tours for school groups, tours of the Columbus Ships, traveling trunks available for rent, and occasional recreational and educational events.

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum [TN]

Description

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum presents the history of country music through its permanent exhibit, "Sing Me Back Home," showcasing both the music and the artifacts behind and surrounding it—costumes, lyrics sheets, musical instruments. It also hosts traveling and changing exhibits and programs and performances.

The museum offers exhibits, tours and in-museum workshops for school groups, curriculum guides, and educational and recreational events.

Reece Museum [TN]

Description

The B. Carroll Reece Memorial Museum, part of the East Tennessee State University, houses the University's Art Department's permanent collection of works of art and a historical collection which serves to preserve the story of the settlement of Johnson City, Washington County, and the surrounding region.

The museum offers exhibits and occasional recreational and educational events, including art classes for students.

National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum [OK]

Description

The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum is America's premier institution of Western history, art, and culture, collecting, preserving, and exhibiting a collection of Western art and artifacts.

The Museum offers educational programs suitable for grades K-6, focusing on the American Cowboy or American Indian. Students spend time in a classroom setting participating in hands-on activities with Museum artifacts then take a guided tour of art and historical galleries with special exhibits supporting the chosen theme. Programs meet select Oklahoma PASS skills for Art and Social Studies.

Guided tours are provided for grades 7-12 and can be tailored to specific themes. Traveling Trunks also are available for two week periods and focus on American Indian or American Cowboy lifestyle or Oklahoma history.