The Mustard Museum in Middleton, WI is a great stop if you are visiting UWM. In fact the city of Middleton is quite quaint and appealing.

I also enjoy the art museums in Milwaukee (wings of the museum flap at noon each day as long as weather permits) and Indianapolis.

The Natural History museum in Denver is quite large and an interesting selection of areas.

In Chicago the Museum of Science and Industry is fantastic.

City Museum in St. Louis is an experience like no other although not really museum like.

North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences if you're near Raleigh. Big and free.

Montgomery- the Legacy Museum and the Archives

I'm adding some that others haven't mentioned.

Dallas and Fort Worth have quite a few great museums, some of which were mentioned by others. I particularly like the Kimbell Museum in Fort Worth (which is located near several other museums) and the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas (which documents the life and death of JFK in the building from where shots were fired).

I also recommend the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, NY. We've visited with young kids and teenagers and enjoyed it both times.

A more offbeat recommendation is the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia.

https://muttermuseum.org/

It's local, but if you haven't visited the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, you should check it out.

For kids:

The City Museum in St. Louis
The Science Museum in Richmond, VA

Amon Carter Museum of Art in Fort Worth.
SMU in Dallas has an excellent collection of Spanish Art.
The Texas School Book Depository in Dallas has a 6th Floor Museum re: the Kennedy Assassination
Bullock Texas History Museum in Austin
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas
World of Coca Cola, Atlanta
Buffalo Bill Center for the West in Cody, WY
Wyoming Dinosaur Center, Thermopolis, WY (you can book a day to go dig for bones)
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson, AZ

If you’re into football at all, the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, OH is really well done (as is the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY)

Nothing specific to recommend off hand, but I think some colleges have museums on campus so you might google the school name and museum and see what comes up. You might find a few gems that way!

chicago
art institute
https://www.artic.edu/

philly
https://philamuseum.org/

houston
menil collection
https://www.menil.org/

boston
isabella stewart gardner
https://www.gardnermuseum.org/experience/collection

harvard glass flowers
https://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/glass-flowers

Toledo Museum of Art is a surprising gem! A vast and high-quality collection spanning from ancient Egypt to modern. We were in town for the eclipse last spring and we're just blown away by TMA.

Toledo also has the Museum of the Great Lakes. Small but informative, and during warmer weather they have two ships you can tour. The most notable piece in the collection is the lifeboat from the Edmund Fitzgerald.

About an hour or so south of Toledo on I-75 is the Neil Armstrong Air & Space Museum. They have Armstrong's Gemini capsule, the airplane he flew as a teenager, and some other cool stuff. Obviously much small than Air & Space in DC, but a nice done museum nonetheless.

Andy Warhol on Pittsburgh is good.

Art Institute of Chicago is my favorite art museum I have ever been to- not exactly an unusual opinion.

Favorite art museums: Philadelphia Museum of Art, MFA Boston, Cleveland Museum of Art, Minneapolis Institute of Art. All museums that are less overwhelming than the Met by a long shot, very well run/excellent visitor experience. MIA in particular is probably not on one's radar, but it's absolutely worth a visit. Its setting right in the city will give you a sense of the attractions of Minneapolis-St. Paul if you're considering Macalester or UMN.

Oh, and the AGO Toronto. When I lived in Toronto 25 years ago it wasn't much to write home about, but a major remodel and bequest of additional collections has bumped it into my favorites category. Right near Kensington Market, so lots of fun places to eat and explore nearby. (Skip the ROM.)

Also in Toronto: the Bata Shoe Museum! Really!

Also in Philly: I dislike the Barnes collection, but I love their new building. And I completely adore the Rodin Museum next door: one artist, one beautiful building, a rest for the eyes after the Barnes. And the National Museum of American Jewish History is very good. I unexpectedly ended up spending most of a day there engrossed in exhibits.

Near Swarthmore: the Brandywine River Museum, in a beautiful old mill building on Brandywine Creek, and not far from there the Delaware Art Museum in a suburban neighborhood in Wilmington. Both strong on the history of American illustration (the Wyeths, Howard Pyle) and Pre-Raphaelites. Both small enough to spend an hour or so and have lunch or coffee between other appointments. And Winterthur is about halfway between the two. All very close together.

New York, besides the obvious biggies: the Tenement Museum! Book a tour early if you know you're going to be in the city.

If you're going to see Oberlin, the Allen Art Museum right on the main square in town is definitely worth a visit, and if you can get a ticket to see the Usonian house by Frank Lloyd Wright, grab the chance.

If you're driving up to Ithaca, plan to see the Corning Museum of Glass on the way.

The Civil Rights Museum in Memphis is an experience that has stayed with me. It incorporates the Lorraine Motel where MLK was shot, so it effectively combines a museum of the Civil Rights movement with a memorial site. Everybody should go at some point.

Anonymous wrote:Alexander Graham Bell Museum in Baddeck NS Canada. Best museum I’ve been to and I typically don’t like museums.

I know this isn’t what you were looking for. 😉

I welcome all museum recommendations!

Alexander Graham Bell Museum in Baddeck NS Canada. Best museum I’ve been to and I typically don’t like museums.

I know this isn’t what you were looking for. 😉

We’ll be taking a few road trips and looking at colleges over the next few years so I’m looking to compile a list of museums to visit. Happy to have recommendations for offbeat and traditional museums and attractions