The Three Types of Museums

As you already know, tourism is one of my top interests. There are some types of attractions I like going to more than others. If I can go anywhere, the top kind of attraction I would go to is an amusement park. But my second choice would have to be museums.

Nearly every major city in the world has at least one museum, whether it be as small as a one-room gallery to as large as a grand museum. However, despite seeing many kinds of museums, there are only three types of museums. They are:

• Science Museums
• Art Museums
• History Museums

Another thing worth mentioning. They don’t have to follow the strict definition of what these museums are about. They don’t even have to be traditional.

Science Museums:

As you know, science museums are museums that have exhibitions of the natural world. The most common kind of science museums are fossil museums. For as long as the subject is about nature, anything can be a science museum. Examples of scientific subjects for a museum include:

• Prehistoric life
• Energy Resources
• Mineralogy
• Geology
• Seismology
• Vulcanology
• Hydrology
• Meteorology
• Astronomy
• Chemistry
• Physics
• Engineering
• Technology
• Computer Science
• Cell Biology (including genetics)
• Marine Biology (both plants and animals)
• Ichthyology
• Ornithology
• Entomology
• Ecology
• Botany
• Mycology
• Nutrition
• Medicine
• Diseases
• Athletics

Now what about zoos, botanical gardens, and aquariums. Although an exhibition displaying robotic animals or statues of animals would count as a science museum, zoos themselves do not. When I define a word, I define it by the strict definition. Animal houses are a bit more debatable. However, it’s not unusual for a science museum to have an aquarium or a bug house. The Houston Museum of Natural Science has a butterfly house, which is tall, humid, and conical-shaped.

Technology museums are kinda mixed on whether they be science museums or history museums. On the science side, they can teach about physics, electricity, or how they work. But on the history side, the history of inventions or how inventions applied to everyday life would make them part of a history museum. The history of science is still history. But the science of history is science.

Art Museums:

Museums for the sole focus of displaying arts, whether it be traditional art or abstract art (like performance arts) are art museums. This is where you’ll see your paintings, statues, or other forms of art.

The following subjects count as art, regardless of location:

• Painting
• Watercolor
• Printmaking
• Sculpting
• Ceramics
• Metal Art
• Clothing Design
• Interior Design
• Culinary Design
• Furniture Design
• Performance Arts
• Photography
• Holography
• Cinematography
• Music

While art and history can be intertwined, any of the arts used in history would belong to an art museum instead, but sometimes, they can go to a history museum. If the purpose is to show the art, it would go to an art museum. Otherwise, it would go to a history museum.

Typically, these kinds of museums are the largest museums, in terms of size. After the Dadaist movement, we are taught to believe that anything can be art for as long as it shows expression and meaning. Although some arts are ridiculous and aren’t really “art”, it doesn’t have to be paintings and statues. See those light displays every Christmas? That’s art. See those model homes in interior design class? That’s art. See those odd projects in Food Network’s cooking shows? That’s art. As long as they put enough time and effort into it, and as long as they show designing skills, the project would be classified as art.

History Museums:

The other type of museums are history museums, which have artifacts about the past. Pretty much every kind of museum not discussed above would classify as a history museum, including the Nintendo Museum, the Guinness World Records Museum, and any toy museum. However, traditional history museums are about history, geography, politics, or economics. The following types of museums would definitely fall under history museums:

• Culture
• Geography (both domestic and global)
• War (including the Holocaust)
• Archeology and Ancient History
• Government
• Invention and Innovation
• Money and Finance

Going to that aforementioned example of a science museum, the Houston Museum of Natural Science, the first, second, and fourth floors from the permanent exhibits have many science displays. But the third floor is when it becomes a history museum. In the third floor of the Houston Museum of Natural Science, they have exhibits on Ancient Egypt, Mesoamerican civilizations, indigenous cultures, and any limited-edition exhibitions like the Titanic exhibition back in 2012.

Special Cases:

Some museums are a mix of two or three categories. For a recall, science museums are about nature, art museums are about design projects, and history museums are about the history of anything, whether it be a brand or a nation. However, it’s not impossible to have all three categories all in one. Here are some examples:

Radio and TV Museums:

Where would these kinds of museums fall under? Would they be science, art, or history? Let’s take a look:

• Science – the study of how TVs and radios were made or how they work would be science since they are applications of electricity, magnetism, light, and sound. Explanations of how older TVs last longer than newer TVs would also fall under science.
• Art – the many different designs of TVs and radios besides generic designs would fall under art, and so would stuff like filmography and discography.
• History – showing how TVs and radios worked over time and looked over time would fall under history.

Crime and Mystery Museums:

Museums about crime investigations and solving mysteries could mostly fall under history or science. But they could also be about art.

• Science – forensics is a science. It’s how detectives can use clues to prove someone innocent or guilty, such as DNA, fingerprints, time of death, and the science behind murders.
• Art – the Sherlock Holmes Museum in London technically counts as an art museum since it’s about a famous literary series: Sherlock Holmes.
• History – history of past cases or how law enforcement works counts as history. They could also cover the issues surrounding the case.

Jewelry Museums:

Ah yes, crystals and gems. Typically, we mostly associate this with science, but here’s how they can apply in these categories:

• Science – the studies of crystals and gems could count as minerology, a branch of geology. And believe it or not, the study of magic is science too.
• Art – jewelry displays or arts involving gems could count as art. Artists have used jewelry as part of their art, like Fabergé and necklaces.
• History – the importance of crystals and gems over time or in other cultures can fall under history.

Museum Quiz:

After covering enough details, let’s see how much you would know about museums when taking the museum quiz.