Museum of Everyday Life

Five miles south of Glover village (population three hundred) is a museum filled with things you have seen many times. The Museum of Everyday Life is a selfservice joint, where you are free to roam from 8 to 8. If you’re perusing solo, start your adventure by quite literally turning on the lights, then prepare yourself for a one-of-a-kind museum that is wholly uninterested in one-of-a-kind pieces. Instead, it showcases objects we use daily: pencils, mirrors, toothbrushes. Its goal is to “defy the commodity-based model of collection” while elevating the mundane to art.

This unusually usual collection is maintained by volunteers as a celebration of community and a reminder that perhaps we all need to spend more time examining safety pins. Past exhibits have focused on locks, scissors, knots, and dust—before it blew away.

Yes, the ordinary can be extraordinary, when we change our gaze. And of course there’s beauty to be found in entirely common items. But be aware that the only bells and whistles on offer here are actual bells and whistles. Just don’t forget to turn off the lights before you leave.

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