2022 NBH Summer Museum Bingo! 🌞

NON-BORING HISTORY Visit History Museums, Have a Great Time, Report Back With Photos to Be Featured at NBH, and (if you're a Nonnie) Enter To Win A Great Prize!

How Long Is This Post? About 1600 words. Approx 8 minutes.

What Better Time Than Summer for History-related Thingies? Annette at WWII Weekend in Haworth, Yorkshire, c. 2018 (Image: Annette Laing, 2022)

Yes, folks, it’s almost summer! That means history museums are at their most open and active. Summer also means you need things to do, including on rainy days, and with or without kids/houseguests/rando friends in tow.

Time to try out those museuming skills you’re picking up at NBH!

Soon, Nonnies EXCLUSIVELY will receive Annette's Guide to Enjoying Museums as a thank you for your paid subscription. Want in on that? Become a Nonnie!

And Now . . . . It’s time for the very first Non-Boring History Summer Museum Bingo!

Any subscriber (free or Nonnie) can play 2022 NBH Summer Museum Bingo for fun, and submit photos of yourself at museums to be featured here at NBH!

And IF you are a Nonnie (paid subscriber), and in the US, Canada, or UK, you will also be entered in the Non-Boring House Gnomes' Draw for a US$50 (or local currency equivalent) gift certificate to the bookseller of your choice*!

Complete ALL the squares, and you get three entries!

Not a Nonnie? Now’s a good time!

*If the bookseller of your choice doesn’t offer a certificate the Gnomes can buy, we’ll figure something out!

Play NBH 2022 Summer Museum Bingo! Rules and Advice, too!

Basic Rules of Play

• Consulting the advice below, complete one line (horizontal, diagonal, or vertical) on the bingo card, which means three museum visits. Feeling ambitious? Do more. Or them all. :)

• Take a photo of you (or a selfie of part of your face if you’re shy!) in each museum.

• Using title SUMMER MUSEUMS 2022 (plus Nonnie if you are one) email your list of museums, in the body of your message — not as an attachment, please—telling me to which square each museum applies, and the date you visited, to nonboringhistory@gmail.com. If you’re willing to have photos featured here at NBH, tell me! But don’t send unless requested!

• DEADLINE: MONDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2022 (LABOR DAY IN US)

Prize Drawing Contest for Nonnies—paid subscribers—Only:

• Play as described above, except with the email subject line Nonnie Summer Museums 2022. Completing three squares (horizontal, diagonal, vertical) gets you one entry in the draw. Complete all the squares for three entries!

• Don’t send photos until and unless asked for them, BUT if you win the draw, you will be required to send photos before the prize is awarded to you.

• DEADLINE: MONDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2022 (LABOR DAY IN US)

• If your name is drawn, you will be asked for photos before the prize is awarded. You must be a Nonnie (paid subscriber) to enter for a prize.

Important: Finding Museums for Each Bingo Card Square

BEFORE YOU GO: Don’t just check the website. Check the Facebook page. Call to confirm. Don’t hesitate. If you have followed my adventures, you know this matters. Bring water, maybe lunch, ask about visitor facilities and services on site, especially if you have special needs. Or even if you don’t.

I'm defining each category generously, to give you plenty of choice! That said, you will find the greatest adventure in challenging yourself to go to a museum where you think you won't be comfortable. And I mean adventure in a good way, not as in “chased back to your car by crazy museum people with pitchforks”.

Need help beyond Google? Use this list from the American Alliance of Museums, but note that it only includes museums that are members, and it’s not necessarily a guarantee of quality. Google and Google Maps will help a lot!

Still Need Help? Ask in the comments on this post, which are open to ALL readers, telling us where you are or plan to be, and let’s see what we come up with.

And yes, you can go to a museum you have visited before! If it’s been a while, you might be surprised by how it’s changed . . . Or how you have.

The Squares

Historic House Museum

No matter where you are, there’s a historic house museum near you, guaranteed. In the UK? You can just chuck a stone out of the window and hit a stately home. And yes, castles (UK) and fort museums (US) count.

Roadside Attraction Museum

It's a tourist trap. It's not professionally curated. That doesn't mean it's not fun or thought-provoking! Examples: Harold Warp Pioneer Village (US), Mother Shipton's Cave (UK) (UPDATE: No, forget Mother Shipton's, which is now massively overpriced! A tourist trap indeed). Alternatively, think of a museum you don’t normally associate with history: Elvis Presley’s Graceland. The Lawnmower Museum (UK). The Dad’s Army Museum (UK)

Museum on a Subject You Don’t Find Appealing

Hate military history? Visit a Civil War battlefield museum! Vegetarian? Go to the Spam Museum! (Yeah, that's a thing) If you’re a Republican, maybe visit the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta. If you’re a Democrat, maybe visit the Richard Nixon Library and Museum (actually, visit that one no matter your views, because it’s very good).

Two Museum Displays in Random Places

Find a display of several photos and or artifacts in a casino, a shop, or….? You won’t have to look far, which is why I want you to find two of them. You'll be amazed at how many there are when you start looking.

Your Choice!

Whatever history museum floats your museum boat.

Local History Museum (Event)

US: City or county historical society museum, university museum. UK: Any town or village museum, preferably with enthusiastic volunteers.

If possible, don’t go on any old day. Go when a museum has some special event going on, even if that means it’s a bit busy (and only if you’re comfortable being around crowd in COVID times).

Living History/Open Air Museum

That's a museum made up of old buildings, possibly with costumed volunteers.

US (EXAMPLES ONLY)

Colonial Williamsburg, Old World Wisconsin, Conner Prairie (IN). There are many more, so ask in the comments if you get stumped.

UK (EXAMPLES ONLY)

The Black Country Museum, Beamish, St. Fagans (near Cardiff), Blists Hill Victorian Town in Ironbridge Gorge.

Culturally-Specific Museum

Those listed below are examples only! There are so many, many more than I list. And don’t forget Culturally-Specific Museums when looking to check off other boxes! I strongly urge everyone to get out of your comfort zone, no matter your identity, politics, or beliefs. Challenge yourself. You will be welcomed!

US (EXAMPLES ONLY)

National African-American History Museum (Washington DC) and African-American history museums and displays around the US. Black history walking tours are also available in many cities and rural areas.

Navajo Nation Museums or any tribal/American Indian museum around the nation.

Irish-American Heritage Museum (Albany, NY)

El Museo Latino (The Latino Museum) in Omaha, Nebraska (didn’t expect that, did you?)

Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles (and museums about the Holocaust and Jewish life in America around the US)

Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles

GLBT Museum in San Francisco

Chinese American Museum of Chicago

UK (EXAMPLES ONLY)

National Museum of Wales (any part of it!)

Museum of London’s exhibit on Black Londoners

American Museum and Gardens (near Bath)

Jewish Museum London

Professionally-Curated Museum

Finding Hint: It should have a really nice website, and be a non-profit/charity (UK).

US (EXAMPLES ONLY)

Any National Park Service Museum, like the Martin Luther King National Historic Park in Atlanta, or a Bureau of Land Management museum (like this one that I totally adore: National Historic Trails Interpretive Center in Casper, Wyoming. I thought they were run by the NPS, but no!) Federal museums are typically top of the line, and many are free. Honestly? The less a museum is just about making money, the better it is. Sorry, Libertarians.

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (Cincinnati). UK: Any major museum in London or large city. English Heritage/Non-stately home National Trust properties also count.

Any Smithsonian museum or Smithsonian Affiliate.

Some local museums (ask the community for suggestions in the comments on this post only).

UK (EXAMPLES ONLY)

Any of the big London museums

National Museum of Scotland

National Museum of Wales

National Anti-Slavery Museum (Liverpool)

Most of All, Have Fun!

Annette at Fort Bridger, Wyoming, having driven from Independence, MO. Now that was an adventure! Not your idea of fun? No worries There’s still a museum for you. Image: Annette Laing, 2018

Even if you're short of cash, or travel isn't happening, you should be able to complete at least one row with a bit of imagination, short day trips, and free/ low cost museums. 😀

Need Help for a specific square and/or area? Ask the Community! PLEASE NOTE: Comments for this post are open to all subscribers, free readers as well as Nonnies.

Know someone who might want to play? Share this with them!

And don’t forget . . .Anyone can play, but if you want to be entered in the drawing, you must be a Nonnie (paid annual, monthly, or Founding subscriber):

Non-Boring History is written by me, Dr. Annette Laing, British missionary for history in the US, with the assistance of a team of Gnomes who live in the basement of Non-Boring House, in Madison, Wisconsin. Annette is your friendly guide to US and UK history (and all the connections), including the work of academic historians and museums, all written for people like you who never in a million years thought they would get interested in stuff like this. Not a subscriber? Join us!