Best City Specific History Museums-US & World (Paris, train station, Europe)
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I'm guessing at least some of us have been to these before? A museum that focuses specifically on history as it relates to a particular metropolitan area/city or region and it's history (or urban planning, etc.)
If so, which ones have you been to, and which ones did you find to be the most impressive? As much as I have traveled, it's not like I necessarily visit the history museum in cities that I visit-since I generally tend to just go about exploring the living history and architecture out within the city instead-or taking a walking tour of a neighborhood. So, my list is short as a result.
I've been to:
Western Reserve Historical Society (Cleveland-now I think called the Cleveland History Center)
Orange County Regional History Center (Orlando)
St. Petersburg (FL) Museum of History
Tampa Bay History Center
With those, I'd rank them on two separate things-collections, and overall quality of layout.
Collections: Cleveland, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando
Layout/Museum Itself: Tampa (gap) Orlando, Cleveland, St. Petersburg
Just curious on who else has been to some others around the country and world-and what thoughts are on how they compare.
One of the most underrated museums that showcases California history, is the Oakland Museum of California. It’s located in Oakland California, two blocks from the Lake Merritt BART station.
I have been to the city history museums in Jacksonville, FL - and Omaha, NE which is housed in an old train station.
I would like to visit the Heinz city history museum in Pittsburgh, PA some day, and the Tenement Museum in lower east side, N.Y. City - but probably never will.
Thank you to everyone for their recommendations-I'd say that most cities in Europe and America have some sort of local history museum of some sort-however, from research, it appears some-London for instance, have some that are better than others-for instance, London has the Museum of London, but it also has the Building Centre which seems to be more of an "urban planning" center/museum, and the London Transport Museum as well. I would also say that there are some cities outside of Europe and America that have an incredible history that isn't necessarily directly curated in a specific museum, or at least not with the level of detail/impressiveness it could be given the status of the city itself.
Thank you to everyone for their recommendations-I'd say that most cities in Europe and America have some sort of local history museum of some sort-however, from research, it appears some-London for instance, have some that are better than others-for instance, London has the Museum of London, but it also has the Building Centre which seems to be more of an "urban planning" center/museum, and the London Transport Museum as well. I would also say that there are some cities outside of Europe and America that have an incredible history that isn't necessarily directly curated in a specific museum, or at least not with the level of detail/impressiveness it could be given the status of the city itself.
Indeed most major cities have a museum marking the cities past.
I agree-but I guess my hope/perspective (or mission even) would be exposing or detailing history in places where it should be-a lot more! I mean, there are obviously clear reasons why-but for instance I can think of cities central to global history and development, that lack a history museum in the form where it really describes and discusses local/urban history-New Delhi, Johannesburg, Buenos Aires are perhaps the largest examples I can find of places that don't seem to have one properly discussing the city itself-Cusco didn't seem to have one in that sense either (though I guess Cusco, the entire city IS a museum basically, so it doesn't matter as much).
I haven't seen it, but plan to do so when I visit NY.
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another one in NYC
