The Kazoo Museum is a museum dedicated to the history of the kazoo, located in Beaufort, South Carolina. The museum houses one of the largest collections of kazoos in the world. [1] Originally established in 2007 in Seattle, Washington, [2] The Kazoo Museum opened in its current location in Beaufort on October 6, 2010. [3] The museum is located in the Kazoobie Kazoos Factory and features a collection of kazoos, kazoo recordings and kazoo memorabilia. [4]
Kazoobie Kazoos is one of the world’s largest distributors of kazoos, founded by Rick Hubbard and Gayle Andrus [3] in 1997 as an Internet retailer of kazoos. [5] Previously based in Hilton Head Island and in Florida, the company returned to South Carolina in 2009 and settled in co-owner Steven Murray's home town of Beaufort. [3] In this location, Kazoobie expanded into a 6,500 square feet (600 m2) warehouse and showroom [5] and in 2010 added a gift shop and became home to The Kazoo Museum. [6]
A forerunner of The Kazoo Museum was created by television personality and kazoo enthusiast Boaz Frankel in 2007, located in Seattle. [2] From there the collection moved to Portland, Oregon in 2008, where it was not available for public viewing, except via The Kazoo Museum's website. [2] At this time the collection comprised approximately 100 kazoos, including some of the first kazoos to be manufactured, and various pieces of memorabilia including books, patents, sheet music and records. [2] By 2010 the collection had expanded to around 200 pieces. Upon the invitation of the Kazoobie Kazoos factory, the museum took up residence in Beaufort and officially opened to the public at that location on October 6, 2010. [3]
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at Kazoobie Kazoos on the opening day of The Kazoo Museum, attended by local people, curator Boaz Frankel and the owners of Kazoobie Kazoos. [4]
Museum visitors can learn about the history of the kazoo, from its invention in the 1840s through to the present day at the museum and can tour the working factory to see modern production techniques. [6]
The museum's collection is made up of nearly 200 kazoo-related items, [3] making it one of the world's largest private kazoo collections. [1] All items are kept in glass cases in a dedicated building at the Kazoobie Kazoos factory. [1] Kazoos in the collection include one used in the television program The Partridge Family , kazoos shaped like famous cartoon characters, electric kazoos [6] and kazoos that are over 100 years old. In addition, the museum features an old press used to make kazoo parts, kazoo music sheets and various pieces of memorabilia. [3]
The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
The Museum of Pop Culture or MoPOP is a nonprofit museum in Seattle, Washington, United States, dedicated to contemporary popular culture. It was founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in 2000 as the Experience Music Project. Since then MoPOP has organized dozens of exhibits, 17 of which have toured across the U.S. and internationally.
Beaufort is a city in and the county seat of Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1711, it is the second-oldest city in South Carolina, behind Charleston, which was established in 1670. A city rich in history, culture, southern hospitality, and a seaside charm, Beaufort is affectionally known as the "Queen of the Carolina Sea Islands". The city's population was 13,607 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Hilton Head Island–Bluffton metropolitan area.
The kazoo is an American musical instrument that adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of mirliton, one of a class of instruments which modifies its player's voice by way of a vibrating membrane of goldbeater's skin or material with similar characteristics.
Hard Rock Cafe, Inc. is a chain of theme bar-restaurants, memorabilia shops, casinos and museums founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton in London. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and roll memorabilia, a tradition which expanded to others in the chain. In 2007, Hard Rock Cafe International (USA), Inc. was sold to the Seminole Tribe of Florida and was headquartered in Orlando, Florida, until April 2018, when the corporate offices were relocated to Davie, Florida. As of July 2018, Hard Rock International has venues in 74 countries, including 172 bar or cafe-restaurants, 37 hotels, and 4 casinos.
Studio glass is the modern use of glass as an artistic medium to produce sculptures or three-dimensional artworks. The glass objects created are intended to make a sculptural or decorative statement. Though usage varies, the term is properly restricted to glass made as art in small workshops, typically with the personal involvement of the artist who designed the piece. This is in contrast to art glass, made by craftsmen in factories, and glass art, covering the whole range of glass with artistic interest made throughout history. Both art glass and studio glass originate in the 19th century, and the terms compare with studio pottery and art pottery, but in glass the term "studio glass" is mostly used for work made in the period beginning in the 1960s with a major revival in interest in artistic glassmaking.
The Seattle Art Museum is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington, United States. It operates three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) in Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill, and Olympic Sculpture Park on the central Seattle waterfront, which opened in January 2007.
The Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) is a history museum in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the largest private heritage organization in Washington state, maintaining a collection of nearly four million artifacts, photographs, and archival materials primarily focusing on Seattle and the greater Puget Sound region. A portion of this collection is on display in the museum's galleries at the historic Naval Reserve Armory in Lake Union Park.
The National Football Museum is England's national museum of football. It is based in the Urbis building in Manchester city centre, and preserves, conserves and displays important collections of football memorabilia.
The Stephen Collins Foster Memorial is a performing arts center and museum which houses the Stephen Foster Archives at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. It is dedicated to the life and works of American songwriter Stephen Foster.
Boaz Frankel is an American television personality who hosted and co-created the television show Clips & Quips and created the video series The Un-Road Trip, slated to become a television series on Halogen TV in 2011.
The Mint Museum, also referred to as The Mint Museums, is a cultural institution comprising two museums, located in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Mint Museum Randolph and Mint Museum Uptown, together these two locations have hundreds of collections showcasing art and design from around the globe.
The Bunny Museum is a museum dedicated to rabbits that was opened to the public in 1998, located in a mid-century building in Altadena, California, US. The museum currently holds more than 35,000 rabbit-related items across 16 galleries in a 7,000 square foot space. Amongst the ever-expanding collection there are ceramic rabbits, rabbit antiquities, stuffed rabbits, cookie-jar rabbits, 9 Rose Parade float rabbits, freeze-dried rabbits, and more. The museum has held the world record for "owning the most bunny items in the world" since 1999 when it was acknowledged by Guinness World Records. At that point in time, it housed 8,473 pieces of rabbit memorabilia. The slogan of the museum is "The Hoppiest Place in the World". It also houses three live rabbits.
A mall museum is a shopping mall integrated with a museum. It is a new development resulting from the 2007–2010 global recession, when museums took over large spaces within shopping malls, making beneficial use of the space and leveraging the foot traffic of the malls to bring more people into museums, exhibits and other educational venues. The trend has occurred in various countries including Iran, Turkey, Spain and the United States.
JRG Halad Museum is a musically-themed museum in Cebu City, Philippines that pays homage to the musical heritage of Cebu.
Pizza Brain is a pizza culture museum and pizzeria based in America, home to the world's largest collection of pizza memorabilia and collectibles. Pizza Brain is currently headquartered in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, United States, with a flagship restaurant on Frankford Avenue.
Sherman, Clay & Co. was an American musical instruments retailer—mainly pianos—and a publisher and seller of sheet music, founded in San Francisco. Founded in 1853 as A. A. Rosenberg, it was sold to Leander Sherman and Clement Clay in 1870 and was incorporated as Sherman, Clay & Company in 1892. During the 20th century, it gradually expanded its retail operation into a nationwide chain of stores, and by the 1980s it had around 60 stores. It was based in San Francisco until at least the 1970s. In 2013, the company closed or sold its last retail stores.
The Houdini Museum of New York is a museum exhibiting memorabilia related to the escape artist, Harry Houdini. It is located at Fantasma Magic, a retail magic manufacturer.
