#MusuemMonday What is in your collection? #Blog365 Day 103

What is a museum? How do they start? Do they have to be housed in a public space or can they be sheltered in a private abode?

Merriam-Webster defines a collection as an accumulation of objects for study, comparison or an exhibition or as a hobby.

My husband and I were talking last week about our first memory of a museum.  I don't have any memories of museums as a young child.  My first memory is from going to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science as part of a middle school Spanish trip.  Truth be told, the entire motivation for going on the trip to the museum is that it was followed up by a trip to the local Denver landmark restaurant, Casa Bonita.  As a teenager, it doesn't get any better than Casa Bonita!

In my married life, we began taking our own kids up to Denver to the Museum of Nature and Science.  We began taking trips with the first one to Kansas City.  Along the way we explored the Negro League Baseball Hall of Fame and the Jazz Museum.  We strolled through the Nelson Atkins Art Museum.  This was the beginning of many trips.

At home, I have always been a collector.  As I child I remember collecting pens and pennants.  My grandmother started a bell collection for me.  Not much has changed.  Like so many of you, I have way too many collections to keep track of and I love them all.  Friends come over to our house and believe we have our own museum.

According to Amerian Alliance of Museums, US museums protect more than 1 billion objects.  It is estimated that there are more than 35,000 active museums in the United States.

There is no way to calculate the millions of items that are in private homes as a collection.  I am intrigued by what people collect and how their collection was started.

SO...

I thought I would begin posting from time to time a piece or two from my collections. Stay tuned...