This list of museums in Kansas City, Missouri encompasses museums which are defined for this context as institutions (including non-profit organizations, government entities, and private businesses) that collect and care for objects of cultural, artistic, scientific, or historical interest and make their collections or related exhibits available for public viewing. Also included are non-profit and university art galleries.
Name | Neighborhood | Type | Summary |
---|---|---|---|
American Jazz Museum | 18th and Vine | Music | History of jazz music, located in the same building as the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum |
American Royal Museum | Greater Downtown | Agriculture | Open by appointment, exhibits about horse and livestock shows, rodeos and agriculture |
Arabia Steamboat Museum | River Market | Museum ship | Recovered mid-19th-century side wheeler steamboat and artifacts |
Battle of Westport Museum & Visitor Center | South Kansas City | History | website, located in Swope Park, history of the Battle of Westport |
Belger Arts Center | Crossroads | Art | Features a fine art collection and also holds exhibitions of art in various media |
Black Archives of Mid-America | 18th and Vine | History | website, features permanent exhibit about the story of African Americans in the Kansas City |
Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center | East Side | African American | Legacy of Kansas City's early African-American pioneers, artistic, cultural and social history of the African-American experience |
College Basketball Experience | Downtown | Sports | Includes the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, interactive history of men's college basketball in the United States |
Greenlease Art Gallery | Plaza area | Art | Part of the Center for Arts and Letters at Rockhurst University[1] |
Hallmark Visitors Center | Greater Downtown | Commodity | website, exhibits of historic Hallmark cards, ornaments, art, collectibles and Hallmark Cards company history |
Harris-Kearney House | Westport | Historic house | Operated by the Westport Historical Society, mid 19th-century Greek revival house |
John Wornall House Museum | Brookside | Historic house | Pre-Civil War era house |
Kansas Fire Brigade Museum | Downtown | Firefighting | Located in a historic fire station[2] |
Kansas City Garment District Museum | Downtown | History | Clothing, hats, photos of the period, period tools of the trade such as sewing machines, scissors and industrial fabric cutters |
Kansas City Irish Center | Broadway Gillham | Ethnic | Irish and Irish-American community, culture, history, and heritage in the greater Kansas City area and region |
Kansas City Museum | Northeast | Multiple | History, natural history, art |
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art | Southmoreland | Art | Works created after the 1913 Armory Show to works by present-day artists |
Missouri Quilt Museum | North | Quilting and Sewing | World's Largest Spool of thread, over 1000 toy sewing machines, antique treadles, quilt galleries, anything and everything sewing related. www.missouriquiltmuseum.com Located in Hamilton, MO |
The Money Museum | Greater Downtown | Numismatic | Exhibits on the Federal Reserve, nation's financial system, coin collections; operated by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City |
National Airline History Museum | Northeast | Aviation | Located at the Kansas City Downtown Airport, history of commercial aviation |
National Museum of Toys and Miniatures | Plaza area | Toy | Classic toys and fine-scale miniatures (formerly the Toy and Miniature Museum of Kansas City) |
National World War I Museum and Memorial | Greater Downtown | History | World War I artifacts in interactive displays |
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum | 18th and Vine | Sports | History of the Negro leagues, located in the same building as the American Jazz Museum |
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art | Southmoreland | Art | Collections include European paintings, Asian art, American paintings and photography |
Science City at Union Station | Greater Downtown | Science | Over 120 hands-on science exhibits, planetarium |
Shoal Creek Living History Museum | Northland | Living | website, 19th-century Missouri life, over eighteen buildings and log cabins dated from the 1800s relocated from surrounding counties to create a small village setting, on 80 areas in Hodge Park |
The Ginger House Museum | East | History | website, Birthplace of famed actress/dancer Ginger Rogers, restored to 1911 period [closed since 2019] |
Thomas Hart Benton Home and Studio State Historic Site | Midtown-Westport | Biographical | Home and studio of artist Thomas Hart Benton |
Trailside Center | South Kansas City | History | Exhibits memorabilia from the Battle of Westport and the Santa Fe, Oregon, and California trails. |
United Federation of Doll Clubs Museum | Northeast | Doll | website, antique, vintage, and modern, play and artist dolls |