The Rhode Island Quonset Air Museum (QAM) preserves, interprets, and presents Rhode Island's aviation history through collections, research, education, and exhibits. The air museum educates the public in the state's rich aviation legacy and displays collections that document the contributions of Rhode Island to the growth and development of aviation and space exploration.
The museum offers exhibits, tours, and educational programs.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame presents displays consisting of approximately 75 historic vehicles, more than 30 of which are Indianapolis 500 winners. The museum itself is located within the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The hall of fame offers a 20-minute film, exhibits, and guided grounds tours.
The Lincoln Fire Department Museum presents the history of Lincoln, Nebraska's firefighting department, founded in 1886. Collections include historic firefighting equipment, photographs, and other related artifacts. Highlights include a fire trumpet, period uniforms, and a 1911 American LaFrance motorized fire engine.
The museum offers exhibits.
The Hollywood Historical Society is dedicated to preserving and disseminating the history of Hollywood, Florida. The society runs a research center, which is open to the public year round, and the Hammerstein House, which is open on the first Sunday of the month during the fall and winter months. The Hammerstein House serves as a historic house museum and gives visitors a glimpse into life in Hollywood during the 1920s and 1930s.
The society offers annual home tours, guided tours of the Hammerstein House, and research resources. The website offers visitor information, a brief history of the Hammerstein House, and information regarding upcoming events.
The Heritage Society is a 10-acre museum consisting of nine historic structures. These structures date from 1823 to 1905, and were selected to present the history of Houston settlement and daily life. The 1847 Kellum-Noble House; circa 1850 Greek Revival Nichols-Rice-Cherry House; the 1868 San Felipe Cottage, built by German immigrants; 1868 mid-Victorian Pillot House; 1891 St. John Church, an Evangelical Lutheran place of worship; circa 1823 cabin, known as The Old Place; 1905 Staiti House; 1870 Yates House; and the circa 1860 Fourth Ward Cottage, a working class home, are located on site. The Yates House was built by Reverend Jack Yates, a freed African American man, religious leader, and advocate for African American education, only five years after emancipation.
The museum offers exhibits, 75-minute guided house tours, cell phone tours, group-rate guided tours for six or more students and/or Scouts, hands-on activities, outreach presentations, and library and archives access. School tours are curriculum-based. Access to the library and archival materials is by appointment only.
The Cuneo Museum is a great example of elegant living in the Gilded Age. Built as a home for Samuel Insull in 1914, the house was bought by the Cuneo family in 1937. The house was designed in the Venetian style of architecture and is filled with antique furnishings and artwork.
Group guided tour and self-guided tours (with a booklet) are available. The estate also includes extensive gardens, a tropical plant conservatory, and deer and peacock pens.
The Soldiers and Sailors Military Museum and Memorial presents the military history of Pennsylvanians from the Civil War to the War on Terrorism, and commemorates the veterans and fallen of past and present military action. Exhibits include a wide range of wartime artifacts and artwork, including a comprehensive range of prosthetic limbs and military headgear. All military branches are represented.
The museum offers exhibits, one-hour or 270-minute guided educational tours, 150-minute guided educational tours with hands-on activities, outreach presentations, camps, and Scout programs. Tour topics include both World Wars, the Homefront, the Civil War, women and war, African Americans and war, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The website offers veteran and fallen solider listings.
The Studebaker National Museum presents the history of the Studebaker Corporation, an automobile manufacturer; and, in doing so, displays U.S. transportation history. The Studebaker brothers' blacksmith shop, founded in 1852, would eventually be reconfigured as the world's largest wagon manufacturer and the producer of both military and civilian vehicles. Collection highlights include a 19th-century Conestoga wagon; military vehicles from six wars; and the presidential carriages of Ulysses S. Grant, Benjamin Harrison, Abraham Lincoln, and William McKinley. Lincoln's carriage is the vehicle he used to travel to Ford's Theater the night of his assassination. The Studebaker Archives house more than 50,000 images, engineering drawings, and 500 motion picture titles comprising the corporate archives of the Studebaker Corporation, the Packard Motor Car Company, and local South Bend industries. The museum structure itself incorporates design elements of Studebaker dealerships of the 1920s and 1930s.
The museum offers exhibits, tours, archival access, and research assistance. Both archival access and research assistance require payment.
The Greek Revival Rotch-Jones-Duff House was built in 1834 for whaling merchant William Rotch, Jr. The interior is furnished to the different periods of the residence's occupation (1834-1981). The home was also occupied in turn by the Jones and Duff families, ship's agents and coal, whale oil, and oil transportation professionals. The surrounding gardens most closely reflect the period 1851 to 1935.
The museum offers period rooms, exhibits, 30-minute self-guided tours of the home, gardens, one-hour guided group tours, guided group tours with tea or a luncheon, fourth and fifth grade educational programs, lectures, and educational programs. The website offers background information for the educational programs.
Thomas Edison and Henry Ford Winter Estates preserves the winter homes of Thomas Edison (1847-1931) and Henry Ford (1868-1947), today furnished to period style. Sights include the homes; a 20-acre tropical garden which began as Edison's experimental garden; Edison's laboratory where he, Thomas Ford, and Harvey Firestone collaborated in a search for a more affordable rubber alternative; and a museum, displaying Edison's inventions and possessions, including more than 200 Edison phonographs and his prototype Model T Ford. Edison's estate, known as Seminole Lodge, was completed in 1886; and Ford purchased the neighboring home, "The Mangoes," in 1916. Edison is best known for the invention of the phonograph and electrical light bulb. Thomas Ford is known for inventing assembly line production.
The estates offer films; exhibits; guided tours of the homes, laboratory, gardens, and museum; botanical tours; lectures; school tours; outreach presentations; living history docents; and a picnic area. Wheelchairs are available on request. Two weeks advance notice is required for group tours of 20 or more. The website offers suggested writing activities for use by teachers.