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Small, specific collections run by people who care far too much.
Birmingham, AL
UAB’s medical museum preserves historic surgical tools, diagnostic devices, an iron lung and other objects documenting how medicine changed over time. The collection is displayed in the Pappas Historical Collections Gallery inside Lister Hill Library.
Anniston, AL
Dioramas, fossils, minerals, mounted animals and archaeological objects fill a museum built around wide-ranging natural-history collections. The specimen-heavy galleries retain the feel of an older encyclopedic museum.
Birmingham, AL
Thousands of motorcycles and historic racing vehicles fill a multi-story museum beside Barber Motorsports Park. The sheer scale and density of machines make the collection visually unlike a normal automotive museum.
Anniston, AL
The Berman Museum displays weapons, armor, espionage objects, decorative arts and unusual artifacts collected by Farley and Germaine Berman. The eclectic collection includes objects ranging from Asian arms to twentieth-century spy equipment.
Decatur, AL
The Cook family’s collections grew from an interest in insects and pest-control education into a full natural-science museum. Today the exhibits range from preserved specimens and fossils to live animals and immersive ecosystems.
Huntsville, AL
Operating in a downtown storefront dating to the nineteenth century, Harrison Brothers preserves old counters, fixtures and merchandise displays while still functioning as a shop. It feels like a hardware store frozen between museum and working business.
Foley, AL
Foley’s first hospital has been preserved with operating-room equipment, patient rooms, instruments and displays of medical quackery. The old tools and intact hospital spaces make it one of Alabama’s best medical-curiosity museums.
Talladega, AL
Beside Talladega Superspeedway, the museum and Hall of Fame display race cars, motorcycles, trophies and artifacts covering many forms of motorsport. The collection includes machines tied to record runs and major racing figures.
Mobile, AL
Historic medical instruments, pharmacy objects, anatomical material and archival collections document centuries of medicine on the Gulf Coast. The museum occupies the Vincent-Doan House and presents tools that can look startling by modern standards.
Troy, AL
A collection of relocated historic buildings, farm equipment, a logging locomotive, grist mill and period interiors recreates pieces of rural Alabama life. The grounds function as an open-air museum rather than a single gallery building.
Scottsboro, AL
Inside the famous retailer that sells items from lost airline luggage is a museum of particularly bizarre, valuable or memorable objects recovered from suitcases over the years. The exhibit turns the mystery of lost baggage into a compact cabinet of curiosities.
