Central Insurance started out in 1876 as a fire insurance company. The threat of a disastrous fire was always very real and the equipment used to fight fire primitive. F. W. "Bill" Purmort, Jr., President of Central from 1964 to 1994, first took an interest in collecting fire equipment in 1969. He gradually built Central's museum into one of the finest privately owned collections in the U.S. The museum exhibits a collection of leather fire buckets dating back to the 1700s; over 600 antique fire toys consisting of cast-iron, rubber, glass, tin, and wood construction; a large display of fire extinguishers and glass fire "grenades" dating from the 1850s; a rare and valuable collection of "firemarks" dating back to 1720; a wardrobe of antique fireman helmets and uniforms; Van Wert's first hand-drawn pumper used in 1871; an Ahrens horse-drawn steam pumper which was purchased new in 1907 by the city of Van Wert and restored by Central; and a 1926 Ahrens-Fox pumper, the Rolls Royce of firetrucks.

The museum offers exhibits and tours.

Historic Ritzville maintains two museums. The Burroughs Home was the residence of Ritzville's pioneer physician, Dr. Frank R. Burroughs. It has been restored to its original condition and its collection highlights clothing and household items from the 1890s to the 1920s. The Depot features commercial artifacts relevant to Ritzville around the turn of the century. These include the town's original horse-drawn hearse and a working telegraph machine.

The Museum preserves the site on which Whitney constructed the first American factory in 1798. The Museum celebrates the Whitney tradition of learning by experiment. The Museum designs, produces and teaches projects that engage hands, eyes, and minds and that blend art, science, and invention.

The museum offers exhibits and educational programs, in which students learn about history and other subjects while making crafts and conducting experiments.

The Society maintains three historical properties, including the Beall-Dawson House, the Stonestreet Museum of 19th-century Medicine, and the Waters House History Center. Visitors can learn about the county's beginnings at the historic 1815 Beall-Dawson House, an elegant federal style townhome that features period rooms and changing exhibits. The museum tour highlights the culture and daily life of both the upper-class Beall family as well as the enslaved African Americans who labored in the house and on the adjacent property. The Stonestreet Museum offers an insider's look into the developments in medical science that occurred during the career of Dr. Edward E. Stonestreet. Built in 1852, this unique one-room Gothic Revival doctor's office features medical artifacts and implements that demonstrate the fascinating changes that occurred in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Waters House History Center is housed in oldest house in Germantown—built in three parts, the oldest dates to the mid-1790s. It offers exhibits related to local history.

The Society offers educational programs and lectures; the Beall-Dawson House offers exhibits, tours, and occasional educational and recreation events and programs; the Stonestreet Museum offers exhibits and tours; the Center offers exhibits and occasional recreational and educational programs.

Completed in 1841 when Florida was still a territory, the Union Bank is the state's oldest surviving bank building. Chartered to help finance local cotton plantations, it ultimately closed because of crop failures, the Second Seminole War, and poor management. After the Civil War, it reopened as the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company for emancipated slaves and later served several other functions. In 1971, the Bank was moved from its original site, and, after restoration, it was opened as a museum in 1984. The Union Bank now serves as an extension of the Florida A&M University Black Archives, Research Center, and Museum and is open to the public and school groups only on weekdays. Artifacts and documents reflecting black history and culture are on display, and public programs are provided by Black Archives staff.

The bank offers exhibits.

The Museum is a tribute to Delaware's native son, Eldridge Reeves Johnson, who founded the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1901. Exhibits include phonographs, recordings, memorabilia, trademarks, objects, and paintings that highlight Mr. Johnson's successful business enterprises and chronicle the development of the sound-recording industry.

The museums offers exhibits, tours,

The Museum brings to life the 3,000-year history of farming and ranching in New Mexico. The main building contains more than 24,000-square-feet of exhibit space, along with catering space for meetings and events, a mercantile, and theater. Visitors can watch a cow being milked, stroll along corrals filled with livestock, enjoy several gardens, or watch one of a growing number of demonstrations.

The museum offers exhibits, tours, demonstrations, classes, lectures, and other educational and recreational events and programs.

The Seneca Museum celebrates historic Seneca Falls, Seneca County, and the Finger Lakes region of central New York State. The Museum illustrates how the Seneca River and the Cayuga-Seneca Canal powered the rise of industry and fostered cultural development, helping to spread social reform movements.

The museum offers exhibits and educational and recreational programs and events.

The Museum features interactive exhibits that combine history and technology. Visitors of all ages will experience what it is like to pilot a tugboat, participate in a Coast Guard rescue on the Columbia River Bar, and live in Astoria during the height of the salmon fishing. Huge windows make the Columbia River a living backdrop for classic fishing vessels and Coast Guard rescue craft. Visitors can experience first hand how the Bar Pilots work the dangerous wind and waves during a fierce winter storm in the award-winning orientation film "The Great River of the West." They can walk on board the bridge of a World-War-II-era US Navy Destroyer; see the world-class collection of maritime artifacts; and then walk out to the dock to explore the Lightship Columbia, a floating lighthouse.

The museum offers a short film, exhibits, tours, and educational and recreational events and programs.

The Museum operates as a source of curricula, historical references, creative works, and media about the African-American experience. The Museum maintains a collection of multimedia presentations, rare artifacts, African art, original sculptures, paintings, musical recordings, and local Black newspapers. Visitors can explore the history of Africans in Chattanooga, a region where most Africans were bought to be personal servants or laborers, rather than field hands.

The museum offers exhibits, tours, and occasional recreational and educational events.