My mom and I went on a little trek to see The Feline Historical Museum which is located in Alliance, Ohio. I am still not quite sure, even after reading all the information, how this happened to become home to all of the wonderful exhibits that we viewed but I was very happy that my mom had spied the article in the local paper that featured it. I took a bunch of pictures and today’s post will be the first of several that will highlight this unique and informative point of interest.
Cat eyes grace the windows of the historical renovated Midland & Buckeye Federal Savings and Loan Building to welcome visitors to the the Cat Fanciers” Association Foundation’s permanent display of artifacts and information.
Once we entered the museum we were greeted by Director and Curator Karen Lawrence who graciously answered all our questions and let us view the collections at our leisure . She was a fabulous source of information and was responsible for reorganizing the museum and ensuring that there are new exhibits that the public can view. Karen came from Canada as a consultant and director and is quite active in the Cat Fanciers’ Association. She travels extensively as a judge for cat shows (competitions) and was a delightful person to spend a few hours with as we explored the museum.
Karen Lawrence
If it had a cat on it you could find it here. Cat rugs, cat prints, cat quilts, cat dolls, cat china, cat furniture, cat books, cat carriers, cat everything! What a fun place for a cat lover or for anyone who appreciates a bit of art in interesting forms.
A complete cat library with books and more books–all feline related. If someone had a cat related question I am sure the answer could be found here.
Some of the exhibits were china and glass articles and yes—there was a whole section of cat teapots which will be a post of its own at a later date.
One of my favorites were these Staffordshire Porcelain beauties from circa 1810.
How about these Lenox fine china kitty cats??? Complete with multicolored crystals and 24 karat gold.
Another favorite area was dedicated to cat carriers used years ago. I loved the artful display of these “crates” used for transporting the felines probably on ships or trains during years gone by.
Please note the added inscription of “only” . Do you think someone tried to walk or pet or what???
Sometimes the most enjoyable things to tour are those that hold the unexpected. This museum is definitely filled to the brim with treasures and is worthy of several blog posts that are yet to be written. The history of the building that houses it, the artful hand of Karen Lawrence in designing displays and the welcoming open floorplan simply lend themselves to an enjoyable hour or two.
Well, this is my kind of place! And, as far as “only” feed & water…cats are all valuable and need love, too! Hugs.
I know—that cracked me up. Not sure what it meant!!! One can only imagine!
Seems like a cat museum should include some live cats for greeters and guides!
I am afraid they would knock a lot of stuff over—it is a place filled to the brim with breakables!!! They do have events occasionally where cats are welcomed!
We do have live cats in the museum occasionally. Just finished a week with a Japanese Bobtail and Egyptian Maus providing Feline Agility demonstrations. We’ll have lots of cats visiting every Wednesday in August. Plans are for Maine Coons, Ragdolls and Persian, plus maybe Manx, Siberian and Oriental.
Karen– thanks so much for the added info! I knew you had times when live cats were there but I obviously did not state that in this post! Thanks again for a great experience!!
My sister Lanae would love this museum. She just adopted a kitty, Cosmos, and sent out baby style photo announcements. So cute. How sweet of your mom to think of you and how much you would love seeing this.
We had so much fun that day and it was one of those “why is this museum here?” kind of things, you know? There was so much to see and photograph—the teapots will come later although they were difficult to photograph because they were in mirrored cabinets and I could not get many pictures without parts of me in them!!!
How fun! This is right up my alley.
We had an exhibit at our local museum this year – a internet cat film festival. Hysterical. I have a few of the highlights from the evening and a few videos under this post if you’re interested:
http://mylittlespacebook.wordpress.com/2013/02/16/crazy-cat-lady-dream-date-a-night-of-internet-cat-videos/
Lunar—I am going to check it out!!! This was such a fun day with my mom!!!!
I need to add this place to my bucket list……right up my alley!!! Thanks so much for sharing! Where is Alliance…..seems like I should know!
It is at 260 E Main Street—you do need to make a visit! It is a fun place!!!!
This is so interesting. I wonder if there is a canine museum somewhere. 🙂
I’d like that place -but the pressing question, did they have teapots?
Yep!!! And those will be a post of their own!
How delightful. What a find. I love places like this too and look forward to more pictures.
They will be coming one of these days!
Oh I am loving this! Thanks for sharing Beth Ann. Looking forward to more!
It was a fun place to visit!
Finally a place Att would love to visit. Of course he might get jealous.
I am sure he would get jealous—there were zillions of cats and even if they weren’t real there were a lot that were lifelike!
It was a fun day as I do not get to spend a lot of time with my daughter since I am in Ohio and she is in Iowa or Florida, North Carolina, etc. It is a fun place to go if you are a cat lover.
It was a fun day, wasn’t it??? Still ahead–showcasing the teapots and cat dolls!
wonder if they need some fur?
Haha!!! I’ve got some–do you?
You have a knack for finding fun places to visit! And I’m not kitten!
Purrrfect joke there, Katybeth!
Due to my severe allergy of everything cat-related, I’ll just enjoy the view from the safe distance of your blog.
I think that is VERY wise!!! Ah chop!
So cool! I’d like to go to a cat museum 🙂
It was a very fun place to visit! Thanks for stopping by!!!