Berman Museum of World History - Anniston, AL - a family's personal collection comes to life

The Berman Museum of World History in Anniston, Alabama is located at 840 Museum Drive. September to May the facility is open from 10am until 5pm Tuesday through Saturday and from 1pm until 5pm on Sundays. The months of June through August the facility is open from 10am until 5pm Monday through Saturday and from 1pm until 5pm on Sundays. The facility is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Day and Easter.

The Berman Museum of World History was opened during 1996 in Anniston, Alabama's Lagarde Park which also has the nationally accredited Anniston Museum of Natural History. The Berman's had a large amount of objects that they had shared with people through the years but only part of their collection which had over six thousand pieces was managed by the museum. Colonel Berman left the rest of the objects to the foundation when he passed away during 1999. Research is still being done into the collection at the museum.

Cost of admission to the Berman Museum of World History is $5 for adults and $4.50 for children aged four to seventeen. Those three years old and below are admitted at no cost. The exhibit halls allow both flash photography and videotaping for personal use. There is a changing exhibit gallery and four permanent exhibit halls in the museum.

The first floor of the Berman Museum of World History has the American West exhibit which takes visitors through colonization of the West. A replicated farm wagon filled with things that homesteaders used, maps of the western territories and a life sized western town saloon. Visitors can see weapons used from the Revolutionary War all the way through the Spanish American War with the focus being on the Civil War. The collection includes Remington bronze sculptures as well.

The first floor also includes the Deadly Beauty exhibit. The hall has a wide array of historic weapons that are rather unusual. There are even items that once belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte. The facility has the Persian Scimitar of Abbas I that is encrusted with fifty carats of rubies, 1295 diamonds, three pounds of gold and a ten carat emerald in the hilt.

The second floor of the Berman Museum of World History has the Arts of Asia. The hall has a number of Chinese furniture, ceramics, jade sculptures, and household `gods.' Artifacts can be found from Nepal, Korea, Japan, India, Southwest and Southeast Asia as well. Items from the Sung and Qing Dynasties can be found here as well. The second floor also has a World War I and World War II exhibit.

The silver tea service of Adolf Hitler and parachute dummies are found in this area. The entire area is dedicated specifically to this time that affected the entire world. The four permanent exhibits in addition to the temporary exhibits make it an ideal place to take the children to gain an understanding of history. Those wishing to obtain additional information about the Berman Museum of World History should contact the facility directly.